Emirates Global Aluminium PJSC (EGA) renewed its ongoing partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) this week, adding nine masters and Ph.D. student engineers to work with EGA’s in-house talent.
All told, EGA has welcomed nearly 50 students from MIT’s David H. Koch School of Chemical Engineering Practice to its alumina and aluminium operations at Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah. The partnership EGA has with MIT is intended to merge academia with industry to find new solutions in aluminium production and use.
The eight-week program will have about four dozen EGA engineers working with the MIT students on areas of common interest, with the alumina refining process to be chief among them this year.
Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said in a press release that the program has added a great deal of value for his firm.
“Continuing our partnership with MIT reaffirms our commitment to advancing R&D and equipping the next generation of industry leaders with the skills and experience they need to succeed. These post-graduate students will have an opportunity to apply their academic knowledge and expertise by suggesting ‘out of the box’ solutions to industrial problems. At EGA, one of our values is to continuously improve our business, operations, and ourselves through innovation. I look forward to witnessing the innovative outcomes from this year’s programme.”
Abdalla Al Zarooni, Vice President of Technology Development and Transfer at EGA, was eager to see the results of the ongoing partnership.
“EGA’s previous projects with MIT have already delivered more than a million dollars a year in cost savings, in addition to performance improvements. I look forward to the findings of this year’s cohort which will continue to support us in innovating the future of aluminium production.”
Based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Emirates Global Aluminium is an aluminium conglomerate created by the merger between Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL) and Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) in 2013. EGA had an estimated enterprise value of US$15 billion at the time the merger took place. The firm is owned equally by Mubadala Development Company of Abu Dhabi and Investment Corporation of Dubai. Emirates Global Aluminium holds interests in bauxite/alumina and primary aluminium smelting.
