UAE’s petcoke import to log double digit growth reaching 819,318 tonnes in 2017

Petcoke requirement of the UAE has been surging riding humongous demand growth from the end user industries namely, energy, steel and aluminium. According to the global export-import data, the country’s petcoke imports will grow 12.2 per cent on a yearly basis reach 819,318 tonnes in 2017. In 2016, UAE’s petcoke import totalled 729,781 tonnes, up 6.5 per cent from the previous year.

Calcined petcoke, which is obtained by further heat-treating petroleum coke is used to manufacture prebake anode used in the electrolysis process of aluminium smelting through Hall-Heroult Method. The biggest aluminium conglomerate in the UAE- Emirates Global Aluminium procures a substantial volume of its CPC requirement from China. In H1 2016, it imported 167,966 tonnes of anode grade CPC (at US$273 per tonne rate) from China. In 2015, UAE’s total CPC import from China stood at 405,518 tonnes.

The major anode-grade suppliers from China to UAE include ZGCC/SURUN, SUYADI and Sinoway.

In October 2011, Mubadala Industry, a business unit of Mubadala Development Company, an investment and development company owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi and ZCGG through its subsidiary Jiangsu Surun High Carbon Company, a leading producer of calcined petroleum coke in China, announced a joint venture partnership, Jiangsu Suyadi Tancai Company Limited to build a high-quality CPC production facility in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China. The facility supplies upstream resources for the production of anodes in UAE’s Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) smelter complex.

EMAL’s Port facilities operate to the highest standards for unloading calcined petroleum coke at 550 tonnes per hour rate. The carbon raw material is received by ships having capacity to carry 25,000 tonnes for calcined petroleum coke.