Emirates Aluminium (Emal) has awarded a $10 million (Dh36 million) contract to Italian manufacturerSocietà per Impianti Generali (SPIG) for the supply of cooling towers for the world’s largest, single-site aluminium production facility, set to come up in Taweelah, Abu Dhabi.

The 6 sq km production facility is currently being built in two phases and is set to become the world’s fifth largest aluminium producer. Phase One, to be completed by 2010, will have a production output of approximately 700,000 tonnes. At full capacity, it will boast an output of 1.4 million tonnes of primary aluminium for the world’s manufacturing, packaging and construction sectors.
“Emal’s power plant will use SPIG’s cooling tower technology to reduce the temperature of the water used during the energy production process and ensure that water is returned to the sea within a 1 deg C temperature range,” says a spokesman for the project. This is well within Abu Dhabi Environmental Agency guidelines, which allow up to a 5 deg C increase.
“At Emal, we are committed to using the most environmentally-sound technology available and the SPIG cooling tower technology helps safeguard the delicate marine eco system of Al Taweelah,” says Duncan Hedditch, CEO of Emal.
The two cooling towers, to be engineered, designed, supplied and installed by SPIG, will be the largest sea water cooling facility in the UAE.
SPIG cooling towers are specifically designed to withstand the effects of sand storms and control noise emissions. The cooling towers include seismic design vibration control and reduced energy consumption.