Alfa Laval to Supply Evaporators for Vedanta Resources' Aluminum Plants

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Vedanta Resources (LSE:VED) (London), a leading aluminum producing firm, has finalized a contract to supply three evaporation systems with Swedish engineering major Alfa Laval AB (STO:ALFA) (Lund). The contract is expected to be worth about $21.7 million. Alfa Laval has had a presence in India since 1937 with manufacturing operations in Pune, Maharashtra. The order was signed directly with the parent company in Sweden. In 2004, Alfa Laval also supplied two evaporation systems to Vedanta.

Vedanta has operations in Zambia, Australia and India, with 29,000 employees. The company also has interests in iron ore, zinc, copper and lead. Vedanta has earmarked $9.8 billion to expand and integrate its aluminum smelting units and plans to increase its smelting capacity to 2.6 million tons per year. After the project is complete, Vedanta will be among the top five global integrated aluminum producers and the largest in Asia.

Aluminum production presently consumes 3% of the power generated globally. The industry has been working to embrace new technologies that are energy efficient and cut costs. The process of producing aluminum has two stages -- extraction of alumina from bauxite using caustic soda and refining this product to produce pure aluminum. Both of these phases consume large amounts energy. Alfa Laval's plate heat exchanger system that is used in this process is helping manufacturers save up to 30% energy and operational costs. The evaporation systems ordered by Vedanta will not only assist in reducing energy consumption but also assist in recycling caustic soda.

This year, Alfa Laval bagged several large contracts to supply plate heat exchangers. The company will supply Packinox plate heat exchangers to the Ras Tanura refinery in Saudi Arabia at a cost of $7 million by 2009. Wartsila has ordered air heat exchangers at a cost of $8.46 million. This is expected to be completed by end 2008. This will be part of the diesel engine cooling system at the company's power plant in Brazil. Alfa Laval will also supply plate heat exchangers to the Russian power industry and the Chinese petrochemical industry. These orders will be completed by 2009.

Alfa Laval is a world leader in providing solutions for energy efficiency and engineering optimization, with clients in 100 countries. The 125-year-old company has 12,000 employees. In 2007, Alfa Laval's global sales totaled $3.67 billion. The company works with large conglomerates and organizations in chemicals, mining, food and beverages, chemicals and power. The company has been working toward developing products and solutions that will contribute toward creating a cleaner and a more sustainable environment.

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