Rockwell Automation to build PLC based pot control system for DUBAL’s smelter

Dubai Aluminium, which owns and operates one of the world's largest aluminium smelters, has engaged Rockwell Automation and its Global Solutions team to provide a commercial pot-control system for its proprietary DX+ Technology, currently being installed in the Phase II expansion at Emirates Aluminium in Abu Dhabi. The system is a major part of a multi-million dollar project that will add 520,000 additional tonnes of capacity to EMAL's potlines, which convert alumina powder into molten aluminium. Once completed, EMAL will be one of the largest single-site aluminium smelters in the world, with a total production capacity of 1.3 million tonnes per year.

"We needed a flexible, robust and scalable commercial solution. Rockwell Automation met our needs with its Logix-based architecture, and by showcasing its existing installed base in smelters around the world," said Ali Hussain Ahmed M Al Zarouni, DUBAL Vice President Smelter Operations. "This is a significant expansion, and it's important that we can easily make upgrades and modifications. We now have that capability with Logix."

Rockwell Automation employed a commercial off-the shelf pot-control solution using EtherNet/IP, the scalability of its Logix control platform, its global resources and a 24/7 helpline capacity. The work includes hardware and network design, assembly, factory acceptance testing, project management and start-up procedures.

"This project is a great example of our ability to deliver a large turnkey solution using global resources," said Terry Gebert, Vice President and General Manager, Rockwell Automation Global Solutions. "We are utilizing engineering in the United Kingdom and France, assembly and testing in Poland, and commissioning and support in the United Arab Emirates. Our experience, domain expertise and global resources will help DUBAL achieve its goal of building the required state-of-the-art pot control system for this project."

DUBAL currently operates the world's largest single-site aluminium smelter using pre-bake anode technology. Built on a 480-hectare site in Jebel Ali, the complex's major facilities comprise a one million metric tonne per annum primary aluminium smelter, a 2,350 megawatt power station (at 30°C), a large carbon plant, casting operations with a capability of more than one million metric tonnes per annum, a 30 million gallon per day seawater desalination plant, laboratories, port and storage facilities.