EGA marks 50% milestone for UAE’s major recycling facility

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) on Tuesday announced that construction of the UAE’s largest aluminium recycling plant has reached 50 per cent completion, 42 days ahead of schedule.

The 170,000 tonnes per year facility is being built next to EGA’s existing smelter in Al Taweelah.

So far, more than 1.2 million hours of work have been completed on the project, with zero Lost Time Incidents.

The largest furnace in the UAE, with a melt rate of 17 tonnes per hour, is on track to be fully installed in June.

The new plant will process post-consumer aluminium scrap and pre-consumer aluminium scrap into low-carbon, high-quality ‘premium aluminium’ billets, which will be marketed by EGA under the product name RevivAL.

Most aluminium scrap generated in the UAE is currently exported for processing outside the country and is lost to the national economy. When the recycling facility is complete, EGA expects to become the largest consumer of aluminium scrap in the UAE.

First hot metal is expected from EGA’s new recycling plant in Al Taweelah in the first half of 2026.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said, “Recycling is a key global growth opportunity for our industry and for EGA. We have made decisive steps in developing a global recycling business and here in the UAE, with the construction of the recycling plant. The facility will enable us to expand our low-carbon metal portfolio for our local and global customers, and is a new milestone for Make it In the Emirates.”

Global demand for recycled aluminium is expected to double by 2040. During 2024, EGA made material progress in the development of a global aluminium recycling business with the acquisitions of Leichtmetall, a European specialty foundry, and Spectro Alloys, a leading secondary foundry alloy producer in the United States.

EGA was the first company to produce aluminium commercially using solar power, which is marketed under the product name CelestiAL. In 2023, EGA expanded its low-carbon metal portfolio, combining solar and recycled aluminium to achieve even lower carbon intensity.

Meanwhile in September 2024 Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest ‘premium aluminium’ producer in the world, today announced the completion of the acquisition of a majority stake in American aluminium recycling firm Spectro Alloys Corporation.

The acquisition means that EGA now has production on four continents, from bauxite mining to aluminium recycling.

Spectro Alloys adds significantly to EGA’s existing business in the US with domestic metal production. The US was already one of EGA’s largest global markets.

In 2023, EGA sold approximately 550,000 tonnes of primary aluminium in the country.

Demand for recycled aluminium in the US is expected to reach some 7.6 million tonnes per year by 2033, according to CRU, an independent business intelligence organisation. The US is currently the world’s second biggest recycled aluminium market.

EGA has acquired 80 per cent of Spectro Alloys, with the company’s owner-managers retaining a 20 per cent shareholding.

Funding of the transaction is in accordance with EGA’s green finance framework, which was announced earlier this year.

Spectro Alloys is a leading secondary foundry alloy producer in the United States, with some 110 thousand tonnes of aluminium ingots production. The company is implementing an expansion plan at its Rosemount site that will add around 55,000 tonnes per year of secondary billets production capacity in the first, which is expected to be completed in 2025.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said, “Aluminium is an essential material for the development of a more sustainable society, and demand for low carbon primary and recycled aluminium will grow significantly over the decades ahead. Developing a global business in recycling is a key strategic priority for EGA. We are taking rapid and decisive action, now with recycling operations in both the United States and Europe and our greenfield plant in the UAE progressing well. I welcome our new colleagues in Minnesota to EGA.”

Luke Palen, President of Spectro Alloys, said, “Becoming part of EGA is an exciting new chapter in Spectro Alloys’ five decades-long journey.

EGA’s global resources and strength in marketing aluminium in the United States will accelerate Spectro’s growth.”

“We are now well-placed to develop even further as a leading recycling company, serving our customers even better, creating more job opportunities for people in Minnesota, and contributing to the production of aluminium products that are both environmentally responsible and Made in America.”

Aluminium is infinitely-recyclable. Recycling aluminium requires 95 per cent less energy than making new metal, generating a fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions.