The Alba Potline 6 Project – a great team achievement

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The pride of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Line 6 Expansion Project, one of the largest of its kind in the last decades in the world of aluminium, is set to make Alba the world’s largest aluminium smelter. 

With the First Hot Metal from Potline 6 achieved on 13 December 2018, the Middle Eastern aluminum giant is now amongst the privileged club of 1 million-metric tonne smelters in the world.  Upon completion in 2019, the Line 6 Expansion Project is supposed to boost Alba’s annual production by 540,000 metric tonnes, bringing Alba’s total production capacity to 1.5 million metric tonnes per year.  For the last three years, STAS has been closely involved in this pharaonic project, together with the EPCM contractor Bechtel, to make this production dream come true.

 

 

We are very proud of this achievement. The Alba Potline 6 Project’s 24-month schedule from Notice to Proceed (NTP) to First Hot Metal, or first aluminum, is six months faster than the industry standard. This is a world-class achievement for the country, Alba, Bechtel and STAS. This success was only made possible thanks to the very strong collaborative relationship that we haver formed with our partners and customer. Working with Alba in Bahrein and Bechtel has been a huge learning experience for our entire team. Dozens of STAS employees had the chance to visit the site and to work closely with our Bahraini counterparts. 

We can proudly say that all our 160 employees have worked on the project – directly or indirectly – and contributed to its success.  

To name only a few, milestones achieved at Alba include:

  • Delivery of 44th Treatment of Aluminum in Crucible (TAC) & Skimming system with the latest Wall Follow technology, a smart skimming feature for optimal aluminium treatment
  • 1st TAC ready for operation in mid-December 2018 and is the first system to be ready and operational in the Casthouse Area; a great achievement
  • Earned 3 Safety and excellence STAS awards  
  • The First of STAS LSTK (LumpSum Turn Key Project) project completed successfully, setting the table for more similar projects to come
  • 60,000 manhours without Lost Time Injury (LTI)
  • Over 30 equipment units sold and installed including Degassing systems, Siphon Pipe cleaners, Hot Aluminium Crucible cleaners, Deep Bed Filters and Flux feeders, all of which guarantee productivity improvement, low operation and maintenance costs as well as safe operating and environment standards.

For STAS, this represents the most important contract in the history of the company which in 2019 celebrates its 30th anniversary. In the next couple of months, the focus will be on making sure our equipment is fully operational and that everyone involved in the production is 100% satisfied. Our entire team, in Bahrein and in Quebec, will accept nothing but complete customer satisfaction!