| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2023 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
60 Years of Taking Aluminum Smelting Research and Development from New Zealand to the World: An LMD Symposium in Honor of Barry J. Welch
|
| Presentation Title |
Impact of Aluminium Reduction Cell Parameters on Feeder Hole Condition |
| Author(s) |
Pascal Lavoie, Mark P. Taylor |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Pascal Lavoie |
| Abstract Scope |
Aluminium reduction requires alumina to be fed and dissolved into electrolyte. The feeder hole condition may impact severely the ability to dissolve the added alumina. In this study, two sets of observations were made on a large sample of aluminium reduction cells to understand the feeder hole condition progress during feed events and determine which reduction cell parameters affect the feeder hole condition and the progression pathway of the feeding event sequence.
The results show that feed rate has a major impact on the initial feeder hole condition and is determinant to the pathway of the feeding sequence. Higher superheat, lower excess AlF3 and longer time since the last anode change increased the probability of finding feeder hole conditions conducive to dissolution. The observations of blocked feeder holes were found to be linked to abnormal process conditions or a mechanical issue.
Changes made to the feeding strategy between the two observation sets led to a significant improvement of the feeder hole condition. The proportion of opened feeder holes increased from 12% to 41%, resulting in a more than 50% reduction of the anode effect frequency smelter-wide. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: Light Metals |