Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has announced that it has completed a three-year, $300 million project to replace older production lines at its Jebel Ali aluminium smelter, said a report.

EGA completed the feat with its own UAE-developed technology, boosting production capacity and reducing costs and environmental emissions, reported state news agency Wam.

EGA said that all its 2,777 reduction cells, the swimming-pool sized tanks in which aluminium is smelted, now run on home-grown technology.

The company produces one out of every 25 tonnes of aluminium made worldwide, making the UAE the world’s fifth biggest aluminium producing nation. Aluminium is the largest made-in-the-UAE export after oil and gas.

EGA has focused on innovation for over 25 years and has used its own technology for smelter expansions since the 1990s, including the construction of EGA’s Al Taweelah smelter in Abu Dhabi which was the largest in the world when built.

The 520 reduction cells at Potline 1 and Potline 3 at EGA Jebel Ali were the company’s oldest and were originally built from 1979.

The new reduction cells each have the capacity to produce 20 per cent more aluminium than those they replaced, with 10 per cent less specific energy consumption to manufacture each tonne of metal, added the report.