# National Aluminium Company

National Aluminium Company Limited (abbreviated as NALCO; incorporated in 1981) is an Indian public sector company having integrated and diversified operations in mining, metal and power. Presently, the Government of India holds a 51.28% equity stake in NALCO, while the Ministry of Mines has administrative control over the company.
It is one of the largest integrated bauxite–alumina–aluminium–power complex in the country, encompassing bauxite mining, alumina refining, aluminium smelting and casting, power generation, rail and port operations.
The company pursues its R&D activities fervently and has already filed 36 patents out of which 17 patents have been granted and 5 have been commercialized until Dec 2018.
The company is the lowest-cost producer of metallurgical grade alumina in the world and lowest-cost producer of bauxite in the world as per a Wood McKenzie report. With sustained quality products, the company's export earnings accounted for about 42% of the sales turnover in the year 2018–19 and the company is rated as third-highest net export earning CPSE as per a Public Enterprise Survey report.
The company is harnessing renewable energy aligning to the ambitious programmes of the Indian government. The company has already commissioned 198 MW wind power plants and further 50 MW wind power plants are in pipeline, making it the highest producer of renewable energy among PSUs.

## Operations

NALCO is headquartered at Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
NALCO operates from two major Units
* Mining and Refinery (M&R) complex
* Smelter and Power (S&P) complex
* Port Facilities at Visakhapatnam and Paradip.
* Wind Power Plants
** Gandikota, Andhra Pradesh – 50.4 MW (2.1MW, 24 nos. WEGs)
** Ludarwa, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan – 47.6 MW (0.85 MW, 56 nos. WEGs)
** Devikot, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan – 50 MW (2 MW, 25 nos. WEG)
** Sangli, Maharashtra – 50.4 MW (2.1MW, 24 nos. WEGs)
* Solar Power at Nalco Corporate Office, Bhubaneswar & NALCO Research & Technology Center, Bhubaneswar
* Regional offices at Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai & Bangalore
* 10 operating stockyards at various locations in the Country

## Products

Main products of NALCO are as follows:
Aluminium Metal
* Ingots
* Alloy Ingots
* T-Ingots
* Sows
* Billets
* Wire Rods
* Cast strips
Alumina & Hydrate
* Calcined Alumina
* Alumina Hydrate
Rolled Product
* Aluminium Rolled Products
* Aluminium Chequered Sheets
Power
* Thermal Power
* Co-generation Power
* Wind Power
* Solar Power

## Employees

As of June 2019, there were 6496 employees on the company's roll.

## Expansions

* To be more resilient to the vagaries of market, the company has prepared a New All-Weather Business Model. It has extensive plans for brownfield and greenfield expansion projects, which include the ongoing 5th Stream Refinery project of 1 MTPA capacity in existing Alumina Refinery at Damanjodi (Brownfield), development of Pottangi bauxite mines, Utkal D&E coal mines in Odisha, establishment 5 lakh TPA brownfield Smelters in Odisha.
* As part of backward integration, the company is establishing a caustic soda plant in JV with Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals Limited (GACL) in Gujarat and a CT Pitch plant in JV with NINL in Odisha.
* The company has formed JV Company named ‘Angul Aluminium Park Private Ltd’ (AAPPL) with Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) to give a boost to ancillary, upstream & downstream products related to aluminium industry.

## Research and development

NALCO has set up a research center, the NALCO Research & Technology Center (NRTC), at Gothapatana, Bhubaneswar. This research center is equipped with QEMSCAN (SEM-EDX), XRD, XRF, ICP-MS, Sedigraph, Laser Particle size analyser, UTM, DSC, TGA, ICP-OES, BET Analyzer, Potentiometer, OES, CHNS Analyzer, Metallurgical Microscope, Whiteness Index meter etc. The testing activities at NRTC have been conducted on a regular basis starting in 2019. The R&D wing of the NALCO Research and Technology Center has been recognized by DSIR, Government of India, on 29 May 2020. Testing of outside samples on chargeable basis has been started, and detailed information is available on the NALCO website.

### List of breakthroughs

* NALCO has developed AL-59, composed of aluminum with small amounts of magnesium and silicon, it offers good resistance to corrosion, This alloy is used for overhead electrical transmission lines to provide high strength and excellent conductivity.It has contributed with Apar Industries for deploying transmission cables made out of AL-59.
* The company has developed Strontium Modified Aluminium Billets CH-91 grade, it will improve energy consumption in production of billets.
* The company has also successfully commissioned a first of its kind de-fluoridation process based on nano-technology to de- contaminate the effluent water of Smelter solving a long-standing fluoride contamination problem of the area.
* As a part of its effort to convert waste to wealth, the company is endeavoring to salvage iron concentrate from red mud, Gallium from spent liquor.

## Right to Information Act

Since NALCO is a public authority, it comes under the Right to Information Act. Thus, NALCO is required to provide information to various RTI queries asked by general public.