Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) said it played a key role at the recent annual Asian Petcoke Conference by sponsoring the event held at Hong Kong under the theme "East meets West: Petcoke’s Unity in Diversity."

The event provided some of the industry’s leading experts in anode-grade and fuel grade petroleum coke with the opportunity to learn of new trends and developments in the industry, address issues and concerns facing the industry and meet potential customers and suppliers.

Commenting on the company's participation in the conference, Alba's COO Isa Al-Ansari said: "Alba is one of two aluminium smelters in the world to have a dedicated petroleum coke calciner plant. This places the company in a unique position as it allows us to have total control over the quality of anodes being produced and consequently in developing a positive impact on the aluminium production process."

Alba’s sponsorship, he stated, emphasises the company’s determination to support the growth of the petroleum coke industry both regionally and globally.

"We are proud to once again give our support to the conference as it addresses matters that are crucial to our operations namely, issues related to the availability, production and quality of green and calcined petroleum coke as well as global economic trends," he added.

Alba’s carbon operations manager Daniel Suleiman Asghar presented a paper on: Use of Under-Calcined Coke to Produce Anodes at the event held in the Harbour Grand Hotel, HK from October 7 - 9.

Also attending the conference were the procurement & warehousing manager, Ali Al Baqali, strategic supply & planning manager, Marius Esterhuizen, and head of supply, Nader Assad.

Alba's petroleum coke calciner plant was commissioned in May 2001, and was built on 140,000 sq.m of reclaimed land at Alba's marine terminal. Total annual production of calcined petroleum coke is 550,000 metric tonnes per annum.

It is used as a major raw material in the production of carbon anodes used in the aluminium smelting process. Having a dedicated petroleum coke calciner plant in Alba's strengthens the company's strategy of self-reliance and eliminates the need to import calcined coke.-TradeArabia News Service