UAE-based aluminum producer announces healthy profits for the first half of 2022.
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) says it more than doubled its profits in the first half of 2022 compared with the prior year’s first half. The United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based producer of primary aluminum announced earlier in the year that it is building its first scrap-fed aluminum furnace in Dubai, UAE, with that project underway.
The company’s announced 150,000 metric tons per year recycling line will have ambitious profit margins to match EGA’s primary production, based on its most recent results.
In the first half of 2022, EGA says it earned $2.1 billion in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), which compare with $950 million earned in the first half of 2021.
EGA says its sales volume of cast aluminum increased by 11 per cent to 1.31 million metric tons in the first half of this year, compared with 1.18 million metric tons made in the first half of 2021,
The longtime primary aluminum producer announced in February that it plans to build a 150,000 metric tons per year aluminum recycling facility, which will be EGA’s first and will be the largest such secondary melt shop in the UAE, according to the firm. EGA says it intends to market recycled-content aluminum under the product name EternAL.
The facility “will process postconsumer aluminum scrap such as used window frames, as well as preconsumer aluminum scrap from extrusion production, into low-carbon, high quality aluminum billets,” EGA says.
The company says aluminum scrap for the furnaces will “mainly be sourced from the UAE and the wider region.” EGA says more than half the aluminum scrap generated in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region “is currently either disposed of or exported.”
CEO Abdulnasser Bin Kalban says, “End users of aluminum—from auto manufacturers to beverage makers—are increasingly committing to net zero in response to the expectations of society. This, our first recycling facility at EGA to produce EternAL [recycled content billets] is one of the steps we plan to take to provide low-carbon metal for our customers around the world.”
Bin Kalban continues, “This facility will also strengthen EGA’s position as global leader in billet production, growing our capacity from some 1.15 million metric tons per year to some 1.3 million metric tons amid ever-increasing demand from our customers for this value-added product.”
EGA says production ramp-up at the scrap-fed melt shop could begin as early as 2024.
Government official foresees India surpassing China as the world’s largest steel producer.
India’s Minister of Steel Jyotiraditya M. Scindia reportedly has expressed confidence that his nation is poised to become the largest steel producing country in the world at some future point.
Media outlets based in the country, including the New Delhi-based Business Standard, have quoted Scindia as having made the remarks at a recent metals and minerals conference.
“Our target policy and focus also has been to turn India from just another player in the steel sector to becoming a force to reckon with,” he is quoted as saying Tuesday at the conference. Scindia also offered that India “has moved from becoming the net importer of steel to the net exporter of steel,” according to the Business Standard.
The Minister of Steel also said India’s per capita consumption of steel had increased from 57.8 kilograms (127 pounds) in 2013-14 to 78 kilograms (172 pounds) currently. Overall, India’s government intends to reach 300 million metric tons of steel production annually by 2030, Scindia said, up from 118.1 million metric tons in 2021.
The 2021 figure comes from the Brussels-based World Steel Association (Worldsteel), which also indicates India has produced 73.3 million metric tons in the first seven months of this year. That puts India on pace to grow its steel output by 8 percent this year to roughly 127.5 million metric tons.
Although China seems to be fading from its peak steel consumption output, down 6.4 percent year to date according to Worldsteel, it remains a lofty target for India. In the first seven months of 2022, China has produced more than 600 million metric tons of steel compared with India’s 73.3 million.
In terms of ferrous scrap consumption and importing, India has procured 210,000 metric tons from sources in the United States in the first five months of 2022. That ranks it just behind neighboring Pakistan at 234,000 metric tons and at a level only one-third of that of neighboring Bangladesh, which has purchased 667,000 metric tons of U.S. ferrous scrap so far in 2022.
International Solid Waste Association will convene Sept. 21-23 in Singapore.
The Netherlands-based International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) has started formulating the programming for its 2022 World Congress, which will take place Sept. 21-23 in Singapore.
Sessions at the three-day event, held at Singapore’s iconic Marina Bay Sands (pictured), focus on a wide variety of waste collection, diversion and recycling topics, with speakers and panelists drawn from several companies and countries.
On Wednesday, Sept. 21, session titles include: “Creating a Sustainable Living Environment;" "Making Waste Management Sexy and Intelligent through Technologies;" "Being Circular is the New Trend, Are You In or Out?;” and “Marine Litter is About People, Not Waste!”
The following day, sessions will examine some of those same topics and include one session focusing on Health and safety waste management requirements.”
On the closing day of Friday, Sept. 23, topics include “Waste Management in an Era of New Energy;" "Making Sound Decisions in Waste Recovery;" "Governance and Legal Compliance beyond the Waste Sector;” and “Financing Waste Management.”
Speakers addressing a variety of topics will arrive from Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman, the Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Technician Ricardo Diaz of Sierra International and manager Bill Abraham of Company Wrench to offer updates at September equipment expo.
Scrap dealers, demolition contractors and auto dismantlers who cut and bale scrap metal will receive updates on those processing techniques at the Scrap Expo equipment demonstration and display event, being held Sept. 13-14 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
On Tuesday, Sept. 13, Lead Technician Ricardo Diaz of California-based Sierra International Equipment will provide insight into making dense bales, tight logs or solid hulks with baler/loggers and car flatteners.
The workshop has been designed to provide operators with the insights needed to perform basic maintenance that ensures peak performance from their machines, covering all makes and models, says the Recycling Today Media Group, organizer of the expo.
Or on Tuesday afternoon, Scrap Expo attendees can sit in on a presentation from Bill Abraham, a territory manager with Ohio-based Company Wrench. Abraham will discuss matching the best attachment for the job to help increase productivity in scrap processing applications.
On Wednesday, Sept. 14, additional equipment-related presentations will be made, including a second one by Diaz on two-ram baler maintenance; Constantino Lannes and Daniel Jacome of North Carolina-based Sennebogen LLC will examine material handler applications; and Gordon Driscoll of New York-based GreenSpark Software will provide insight into assessing software options in the scrap sector.
At the event, attendees shopping for equipment will, in some cases, be able to try out machinery before buying it. Unprocessed scrap metal is being brought onto the site so prospective buyers of material handlers, loaders, shears, loggers and end-of-life vehicle depollution equipment can see and feel how the equipment operates.
The live demo area at Scrap Expo will feature many makes and models of scrap machinery that can be tested out by potential buyers, according to Recycling Today.
The list of exhibiting companies, which stands at 47 as of late August, can be found here.
The two-day event also features equipment maintenance and scrap commodity informational sessions, and live recordings of industry podcasts. The schedule for those activities can be found here.
Those seeking information on registering for the event can visit this web page.
Kent will provide project management and engineering services for new facilities that will produce PCR pellets.
Engineering company Kent Plc, with global headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and a U.S. office in Houston, has signed a three-year master services agreement with Avangard Innovative LLC for plastic recycling facilities in the United States.
Kent’s scope is to provide project management and engineering services, including preliminary front-end engineering design (pre-FEED), FEED and detailed design, for new facilities that will produce postconsumer resin (PCR) pellets. The company's recycled linear-low density and low-density polyethylene pellets are marketed under the Natura PCR brand.
Houston-based Avangard Innovative has more than 30 years of plastics recycling experience and currently processes 1 billion pounds of plastic annually.
Tom Bullard, executive vice president of Operations Americas at Kent, says, “We are very excited to work with Avangard Innovative to help them optimize and monetize their recycling and waste management programs across the U.S. while building a long-term partnership. Building on a track record of similar projects focused on a circular economy model, this win is a testament to the strength and capability of our team and Avangard’s trust in us to deliver great work at the highest standard.”
Rick Perez, founder and CEO of Avangard Innovative, adds, "We are excited to have Kent as our key engineering process partner. We believe they have the expertise and acumen required to help us achieve our near-term and future goals. With Kent supporting our project management operations, processes and procedures, we will continue to build the largest and best environmental additives provider in the world."