Aluminium Zeitung 01-02-11

Special: The global alu-
minium smelting industry

Outotec: "The developing
countries are calling the
tune"
Retrofit of a 500 kA
into a 600 kA cell design
Market report on alu-
minium production,
consumption and prices
Volume 87 January / February 2011
International Journal for Industry, Research and Application 1/2
O
u
t
o
t
e
c
Special: The global alu-
minium smelting industry
Outotec: "The developing
countries are calling the
tune"
Retrofit of a 500 kA
into a 600 kA cell design
Market report on alu-
minium production,
consumption and prices
Volume 87 January / February 2011
International Journal for Industry, Research and Application 1/2
O
u
t
o
t
e
c
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MEETING your EXPECTATIONS
ALUMINIUM 1-2/2011
E d i t o r i a l
Nach der groen Rezession 2009 hat sich die
Weltwirtschaft im vergangenen Jahr erstaun-
lich schnell erholt: Die Weltproduktion legte
2010 voraussichtlich um 4,8 Prozent zu und
auch fr das vor uns liegende Jahr stehen die
Zeichen auf eine weitere Erholung. Allerdings
hat die weltwirtschaftliche Expansion im Jah-
resverlauf an Schwung verloren, der Welthan-
del ist in der zweiten Jahreshlfte 2010 kaum
mehr gestiegen. Viele volkswirtschaftlichen
Analysten erwarten fr dieses Jahr eine Pha-
se moderaten globalen Wachstums unter vier
Prozent.
Wie in den vergangenen Jahren sind es die
groen Schwellenlnder der BRIC-Gruppe,
die die Weltwirtschaft auf Touren halten. Ihr
Anteil an der Weltproduktion liegt inzwischen
bei fast einem Fnftel. Das reicht zwar noch
nicht an die globale Wirtschaftskraft der USA
heran, aber die Wachablsung ist am Horizont
erkennbar. Der Wirtschaftsblock Europa wird
sich 2011 sehr unterschiedlich entwickeln:
Deutschland hat sich zu einer starken Kon-
junkturlokomotive entwickelt, whrend an-
dere groe EU-Staaten eher an der Nulllinie
verharren. Von Japans Wirtschaft sind kaum
nachhaltige Impulse zu erwarten.
Auch die Aluminiummrkte haben sich
im Zuge der allgemeinen wirtschaftlichen
Gesundung erholt. Die Notierungen an der
Londoner Metallbrse LME sind seit Mitte
2010 um rund ein Viertel gestiegen, die Mar-
ke von 2.500 US-Dollar wird voraussichtlich
in diesen Tagen geknackt. Viele Htten haben
die Wiederinbetriebnahme stillgelegter Kapa-
zitten angekndigt oder fahren sie derzeit
schon hoch. Andere Htten nehmen Moderni-
sierungs- und Erweiterungsinvestitionen vor,
wieder andere prfen die Errichtung neuer
Kapazitten.
Neue Htten oder Erweiterungen werden
nur an Standorten mit langfristig gnstigen
Energiekosten durchgefhrt: an erster Stelle
im Mittlerer Osten, aber auch wasserreiche
Regionen wie Kanada sind prdestiniert fr
die Aluminiumproduktion. In Europa wird
sich die Metallerzeugung bzw. die Gewich-
tung von Primr- und Sekundrproduktion
in Zukunft strker zugunsten des Recyclings
verschieben. Als eine Region mit besonders
hohem Pro-Kopf-Verbrauch an Aluminium
und einem gut funktionierenden System der
Sammlung, Sortierung und Wiederverwertung
des Leichtmetalls flieen hier mittel- und lang-
fristig immer grere Mengen des Metalls zu-
rck in den Wirtschaftskreislauf. Auch wenn
Aluminium nicht zu den Seltenen Erden ge-
hrt diese heimische Metallfraktion ist
auch ein Stck Rohstoffsicherheit fr die me-
tallverarbeitenden Unternehmen in Europa.
After the major recession of 2009, last year
the world economy recovered astonishingly
quickly: in 2010 worldwide production was
up by 4.8 percent (provisional figure) and
for the year ahead of us the signs point to
continuing recovery. However, the worldwide
economic expansion over the year lost some
momentum and world trade barely increased
at all in the second half of 2010. Many eco-
nomic analysts predict for this year a phase
of moderate global growth, amounting to less
than four percent.
As in previous years the major developing
countries of the BRIC group especially Bra-
zil, India and China are providing the driv-
ing force for the world economy. Their share
of world production is now almost one-fifth.
Although that is still not up to the level of
the USAs global economic power, a change
of leadership is now almost in view. The Eu-
ropean economic block will develop very
differently this year: Germany has become
a powerful driving force for trade, whereas
other major EU states are rather lingering at
the zero line. Japans economy too can hardly
be expected to show sustained impetus.
Along with the rest of the economic re-
covery the aluminium markets too have ben-
efited. Quotations on the London Metal Ex-
change (LME) have risen by roughly a quarter
since the middle of 2010 and the milestone
of 2,500 US-dollars will probably soon be
left behind. Many aluminium smelters have
announced the reactivation of idle capacities
or are now already operating them. Other
companies have reported the modernisation
and expansion of smelters, and yet others are
considering the creation of new production
capacities.
New smelter or expansion projects are
only implemented at locations where energy
costs will remain favourable in the long term:
most of all in the Middle East, but water-rich
regions such as Canada are also predestined
for aluminium production. In Europe metal
production, or the weighting between prima-
ry and secondary production, will move even
farther toward recycling in the coming years.
As a region with particularly high per-capita
consumption of aluminium and efficient col-
lection, sorting and recovery systems for the
light metal, in the medium- and long-term in-
creasingly large quantities of aluminium will
flow back into the economic cycle of produc-
tion, use and recovery. Even though alumin-
ium is not a rare-earth metal, this domestic
metal fraction also provides a degree of raw
material security for metal-processing busi-
nesses in Europe.
Volker Karow
Chefredakteur
Editor in Chief
auf
Erholungskurs
on the way
to recovery
4 ALUMINIUM 1-2/2011 4 ALUMINIUM 1-2/2011
i N H a l t
Edi tori al
Auf Er hol ungskur s On t he way t o recover y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
aKt UEl l ES NEWS i N Bri EF
Recycl i ng von Al umi ni um er rei cht Spi t zenwer t e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Al umi ni um- Ober f l chen i m aut hent i schen Look . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Ri o announces moder ni sat i on and expansi on of Canadi an smel t er s . . . . . . . 7
Cal l f or paper s announcement f or EAC Congress 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Deut sche Al umi ni umi ndust r i e st rot zt vor Kraf t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
TMS opens regi st rat i on f or 2011 Annual Meet i ng & Exhi bi t i on . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Meed s Mi ddl e East Al umi ni um Conf erence 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Wi rtSCHaF t ECoNoMi CS
Al umi ni umprei se . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Produkt i onsdat en der deut schen Al umi ni umi ndust r i e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Rusal get s cl oser t o Chi na . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Mar ket repor t on al umi ni um product i on,
consumpt i on and pr i ces: Awai t i ng al umi ni um ETFs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Si gni f i cance of i ncreased greenf i el d al umi na ref i ner y desi gn capaci t y . . 20
al UMi Ni UM SMElt i NG i NdUSt rY
Dubal DX pot t echnol ogy:
Successf ul pat h f rom prot ot ypes t o i ndust r i al proj ect s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
FLSmi dt h One source f or advanced
sol ut i ons f or al umi na i n ref i ner i es and smel t er s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Pyrot ek mechani cal f l ue end baf f l es
boost per f or mance i n car bon bake f ur naces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Out ot ec Desi gn and engi neer i ng f rom speci al machi nes t o t ur nkey
green anode pl ant s: The devel opi ng count r i es are cal l i ng t he t une . . . 4
St or vi k AS: Mul t i f unct i onal Cr uci bl e Cl eani ng
Machi ne Proven t echnol ogy wi t h l ow i nvest ment cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
A new generat i on of Al meq cat hode bl ock preheat er s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Ther mo Fi sher Sci ent i f i c: I mproved anal ysi s of
i ncl usi ons i n al umi ni um wi t h t he ARL 4460 Spar k- DAT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Sol i os: Li qui d pi t ch st orage at por t f aci l i t y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
28
4
46
Der Aluminium-Branchentreff
des Giesel Verlags: www.alu-web.de
ALUMINIUM 1-2/2011 5
C O N T E N T S
Inserenten
dieser Ausgabe
List of advertisers
ABB Schweiz AG, Switzerland 25
Almeq Norway AS, Norway 23
Alu Menziken Extrusion AG, Switzerland 44
ARP GmbH & Co. KG 7
Befesa Salt Slags Ltd., UK 41
Buss ChemTech AG, Switzerland 13
Coiltec Maschinenvertriebs GmbH 75
Drache Umwelttechnik GmbH 69
Dubai Aluminium Company Ltd., UAE 100
ECL, France 15
FLSmidth Hamburg GmbH 47
Glama Maschinenbau GmbH 37
Hertwich Engineering GmbH, Austria 2
Innovatherm Prof. Dr. Leisenberg
GmbH & Co. KG 17
Inotherm Industrieofen-
und Wrmetechnik GmbH 32, 64
MEED, UAE 33
MFW Maschinenbau GmbH 76
R&D Carbon Ltd., Switzerland 51
Reed Exhibitions China Head Office, PRC 11
Shanghai Jieru, PRC 19
SMS Logistiksysteme GmbH 99
Storvik AS, Norway 21
Advanced Dynami cs: Aut omat i on of ext r usi on bi l l et bat ch
homogeni si ng syst ems f or i ncreased bi l l et product i on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Gr i ndi ng pl ant s f or pet coke f or anodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Ret rof i t of a 500 kA cel l desi gn i nt o a 600 kA cel l desi gn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
GAP Engi neer i ng: GAPCast cont rol makes
al umi ni um ver t i cal cast i ng saf er and more ef f i ci ent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
New cat hode desi gn saves energy i n al umi ni um smel t i ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Pot vol t age noi se anal ysi s usi ng t he Lomb al gor i t hm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
T ECHNOLOGI E T ECHNOLOGY
TU Frei berg und MgF nehmen neuar t i ges
Magnesi um-War mwal zwer k i n Bet r i eb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Moder n und i nnovat i v Di e neue 33- MN- St rangpressl i ni e
bei Schl et t er, Tei l I I Moder n and i nnovat i ve The new
33 MN ext r usi on l i ne at Schl et t er, Par t I I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
COMPANY NEWS WORL DWI DE
Al umi ni um smel t i ng i ndust r y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Bauxi t e and al umi na . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Recycl i ng and secondar y smel t i ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
On t he move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Al umi ni um semi s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Suppl i er s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
New rol l i ng mi l l order s f or SMS Si emag
f rom Mi ddl e East , Chi na and Brazi l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
RESEARCH
I ner t anodes an updat e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
DOCUMENTAT I ON
Pat ent e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
I mpressum I mpr i nt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Vor schau Previ ew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

BEZUGSQUEL L ENVERZEI CHNI S
SOURCE OF SUPPLY L I ST I NG ................................................... 84
48
66
A k t u e l l e s
ALUMINIUM 1-2/2011 ALUMINIUM 1-2/2011
Aluminiumverpackungen werden in Deutsch-
land immer strker im Kreislauf gefhrt. Bei
Getrnkedosen nhert sich die Branche inzwi-
schen Werten, die kaum mehr zu bertreffen
sind. Von den 2009 in Verpackungen einge-
setzten 91.000 Tonnen Aluminium wurden
74.900 Tonnen stofflich verwertet. Dies ent-
spricht einer Recyclingrate von 82,3 Prozent,
wie die GVM Gesellschaft fr Verpackungs-
marktforschung in einer aktuellen Studie er-
mittelt hat. Bei Alu-Getrnkedosen im Pfand-
system liegt der Rcklauf sogar bei 96 Pro-
zent. Dies ist der hchste Recyclingwert in
Europa. Die stetig steigenden Recyclingraten
fr Aluminiumverpackungen in Deutschland
zeigen, dass die Aluminiumindustrie sehr er-
folgreich daran arbeitet, Wertstoffkreislufe
immer weiter zu schlieen. Bei der Getrnke-
dose haben wir inzwischen ein Niveau erreicht,
das vergleichbar ist mit den Recyclingraten im
Automobil- und Bausektor, kommentiert
Hans-Jrgen Schmidt, Geschftsfhrer der
DAVR Deutsche Aluminium Verpackung Re-
cycling GmbH die hervorragenden Verwer-
tungszahlen.
Die GVM ermittelt jhrlich das Aufkom-
men und die Verwertung von Verpackungs-
abfllen. Die Verwertungsmengen der
verschiedenen dualen Systeme sowie die
Rckfhrung gebrauchter Verpackungen
ber sonstige Organisationen und Erfas-
sungswege sind bercksichtigt. Die jngs-
ten Zahlen der GVM sind ein Beleg dafr,
dass es richtig ist, sich auf die Schlieung
von Materialkreislufen zu konzentrieren
statt darauf, den Anteil von Recyclingma-
terial in Aluminiumprodukten zu erh-
hen. Dies trgt nicht zu mehr Nachhaltig-
keit oder einer besseren Umwelt bei, denn
ein hherer Recyclinganteil in ausgewhlten
Produkten verndert nicht die Gesamtmenge
des zur Verfgung stehenden Recyclingma-
terials. Genau darauf kommt es aber an: Die
Rcklaufmenge von Wertstoffen insgesamt
zu erhhen, um Ressourcen zu schonen und
Energie einzusparen, erklrt Stefan Glimm,
Geschftsfhrer des Gesamtverbandes der
Aluminiumindustrie (GDA).
Recycling von Aluminiumverpackungen erreicht spitzenwerte
Das Recycling von Aluminium spart nicht nur
bis zu 95 Prozent der zur Ersterzeugung des
Metalls notwendigen Energie, sondern ist
auch ein wichtiger Beitrag zum Klimaschutz.
Basierend auf den 2009 erreichten Verwer-
tungsmengen betragen die jhrlichen Einspa-
rungen von Klimagasen laut DAVR etwa
370.000 Tonnen sog. CO
2
-quivalente; die
Aufwendungen fr Sammlung, Aufbereitung
und Recycling sowie auftretende Materialver-
luste sind dabei bercksichtigt. Das entspricht
dem kompletten Treibstoffverbrauch von etwa
150.000 Autos auf Deutschlands Straen.
Die Recyclingrate bei Alu-Getrnkedosen betrgt inzwi-
schen 96 Prozent. Foto: FotografiaBasica
Auf der BAU 2011 in Mnchen prsentiert
Alcoa Architectural Products, Merxheim/
Frankreich, erstmals seine neue Designlinie
mit insgesamt 43 Oberflchen. Sie verbindet
die natrliche sthetik von Holz und die Tex-
dige und flexible Lsung, die der Gebude-
architektur eine natrliche Eleganz und Le-
bendigkeit verleiht. Da die Platten nur 4
mm dick sind, lassen sie sich ohne kreative
Einschrnkungen einfach und vielseitig ver-
den. So weist die Oberflche Wood-Design
die Strukturen und warme Ausstrahlung von
echtem Holz auf, kann aber weder verfrben,
verwittern oder sich verformen. Hinzu kommt
die Resistenz gegen Feuchtigkeit und Schd-
linge. Insgesamt 22 verschiedene Holzdekore
umfasst die Palette von Wood Design, dar-
unter beliebte Farben wie das klassisch-ele-
gante Colonial Red, das warme Walnut Brown
oder das traditionell-stilvolle Dark Oak.
Auch die erweiterte Serie von Natural Fi-
nish bietet Architekten eine noch grere
Auswahl an natrlichen Oberflchen. Mit 21
Farben reicht das Spektrum von vier Granit-
varianten ber verschiedene Mineralfarbtne
bis hin zu warmen Sandstein- sowie moder-
nen Zink- und Kupferdekoren.
Neue, groe Farbkarten, die in Farbgebung
und Musterung nahezu identisch mit dem
Original sind, knnen unter www.Reynobond-
Design-Collection.eu angefordert werden.
Aluminiumoberflchen im authentischen look
Sehr geehrter Abonnent,
aufgrund gestiegener Produktionskosten lsst
sich eine leichte Anpassung des Abo-Preises
dieser Zeitschrift leider nicht vermeiden. Die ak-
tuellen Preise finden Sie in unserem Impressum
auf Seite 97. Wir bitten um Ihr Verstndnis.
Dear subscriber,
Due to increased production costs, Giesel Verlag
has unfortunately been forced to slightly adjust
the subscription rate of this journal. You will
find details of the new rate in the imprint on
page 97. We would kindly ask for your under-
standing for this step.
Foto: Alcoa
turen und Muster mineralischer und metalli-
scher Oberflchen mit den Verarbeitungsmg-
lichkeiten, der Langlebigkeit und Wartungs-
freiheit einer Aluminiumfassade. Mit Alumi-
nium-Verbundplatten im Wood Design und
Natural Finish bietet Reynobond Architec-
ture eine wirtschaftliche, witterungsbestn-
arbeiten. So sind beispielsweise Kurven und
Winkel umsetzbar, die das Originalmaterial
nicht zulsst.
Mit seinen natrlichen Oberflchen schafft
es Reynobond Architecture, technologische
und kreative Anforderungen, Optisches und
Funktionales perfekt miteinander zu verbin-
n e w s i n b R i e f
ALUMINIUM 1-2/2011
Rio Tinto is to invest in its Canadian alumin-
ium smelters to improve production efficiency
through modernisation and expansion. The
bulk of this new investment USD758m will
be spent on completing the first phase of the
AP60 plant in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Que-
bec. Rio Tinto will also spend an additional
USD300m for further construction in prepara-
tion for the USD2.5bn modernisation of the
Kitimat smelter in British Columbia.
The AP technology is designed to improve
energy efficiency and reduce costs of alu-
minium production. Metal output per pot at
the plant will be 40% higher than at existing
smelters.
The Kitimat modernisation project will in-
crease the smelters current production capac-
ity by more than 48% to 420,000 tpy. The
modernised aluminium smelter will be pow-
ered exclusively by hydroelectricity and use
Rio Tinto Alcans AP technology to reduce
its emissions intensity by more than 50% per
year. Jacynthe Ct, chief executive of Rio
Tinto Alcan, said: The modernisation of our
Kitimat smelter is truly a transformational
project. Once completed, Kitimat will be one
of the lowest-cost smelters in the world.
The first phase of the AP60 plant will have
38 pots and an annual production capacity of
60,000 tonnes of aluminium by 2013. This
initial step will also include the infrastructure
required for the subsequent phases, which
would bring the total production capacity to
460,000 tonnes, powered by clean, renewable
hydroelectricity. Rio Tinto is expected to have
spent USD371m on the AP60 project by the
end of 2010. The company is also expected
to have spent
USD350m on the
Kitimat moderni-
sation project, for
which final ap-
proval is expected
in 2011.
Rios contin-
ued investment
in these projects
is consistent with
the modernisation
strategy that was
set out following
the acquisition of Alcan and is in-keeping with
the groups 2007 commitments to the govern-
ments of Canada and Quebec.
About AP0 technology
AP60 technology was first developed at Rio
Tinto Alcans R&D facilities in the Rhne-
Alpes region of France. When the first phase
of the plant becomes operational, the Arvida
R&D Centre in Jonquire, Quebec, will lead
ongoing activities towards commercialising
AP60 technology. AP60 is the next step in
Rio Tinto Alcans
suite of industry
benchmark smelt-
ing technologies. It
will operate at an
exceptional 600 kilo
amperes (kA), which
represents a 100 kilo
ampere step change
from AP50 tech-
nology. Like all AP
series technologies,
AP60 is focussed
on productivity and
reduction of full
economic cost of
production.
Rio tinto announces modernisation and
expansion of Canadian aluminium smelters
AP50 in 2009. The latest AP50 version consumes less than 13.4 kWh/kg alumin-
ium. Photo: Rio Tinto Alcan
Call for Papers an-
nouncement for the
eAC european Alumin-
ium Congress 2011
the German Aluminium Association
GDA is organising the eAC european
Aluminium Congress 2011, taking place
on 22/23 november in Dsseldorf. this
years motto is technologies for the
Aluminium industry. GDA is now invit-
ing suggestions for topics to be covered
and presentations. the deadline for sub-
mission is 1 March 2011.
Growing aluminium demand will lead to
greater demands being placed on the alu-
minium industrys technology partners and
equipment suppliers. Besides the supply of
plant and machinery, the industry demands
an understanding of the complete process as
well as comprehensive systems expertise for
all steps in aluminiums value chain.
The international congress offers suppliers
and technology partners to the aluminium
producing and processing industries an ideal
platform to present and discuss new tech-
niques, processes or developments relating to
aluminium as a material. The focus will be on
all steps in aluminiums value chain, from the
production of the metal to the processing
(such as rolling, extrusion, drawing, casting,
forging and downstream processing) and its
recycling. The congress language is English.
The congress is especially aimed at the
following topics alongside the production
chain:
Machinery and plant engineering
Measuring and control equipment, sensors
Heat treatment plants
Software and simulation
Recycling and melting technology
Technologies relating to resource
efficiency and energy saving
Application-oriented process technologies,
such as forming, joining, surface treat-
ment, machining.
The congress is aimed at representatives
from primary smelters and remelters, semis
producers, foundries, processing plants, metal
traders and semis stockholders, and research
facilities.
For suggestions for topics and presentations
please contact:
Wolfgang Heidrich, Tel. +49 211 4796 271,
wolfgang.heidrich@aluinfo.de
A k t u e l l e s
ALUMINIUM 1-2/2011 ALUMINIUM 1-2/2011
Werke weiterhin optimistisch, das gute Niveau

zu halten, so Bell. Fr den gesamten europ-
ischen Markt erwartet er einen Zuwachs der
Walzproduktion von vier Prozent und auf-
grund der dynamischen Wirtschaftsentwick-
lung der Schwellenlnder weltweit gesehen
sogar ein Wachstum von sieben Prozent.
Auch die Strangpresser sind mit dem Ge-
schftsverlauf in den ersten drei Quartalen
2010 zufrieden. In Deutschland produzieren
derzeit 85 Strangpressen im Wesentlichen
Profile, Stangen und Rohre. Viele Presswerke
sind zurzeit voll ausgelastet.
Die Hersteller von Press- und Ziehpro-
dukten legten gegenber den Herstellern von
Walzhalbzeug prozentual sogar deutlich str-
ker zu, allerdings hatten sie 2009 auch einen
noch heftigeren Einbruch erlitten. Auf das
Gesamtjahr hochgerechnet, drfte die Profil-
produktion 2010 wieder die Marke von
550.000 Tonnen erreicht haben. Bei den
Strangpressern ist die gute Konjunktur in der
Hauptsache auf die hohe Nachfrage aus dem
Automotive-Sektor mit Nutzfahrzeugen, dem
Maschinenbau und der Solarwirtschaft zu-
rckzufhren. Auch der Bausektor hat leicht
angezogen, sagte Friedrich W. Brkelmann,
Prsident des GDA. Die berwiegend mit-
telstndisch geprgte Branche habe durch
gezielte Modernisierungs- und Rationalisie-
rungsmanahmen ihre Wettbewerbsfhigkeit
ber die Jahre gesehen weiter erhht. Im
Wettbewerb mit Anbietern, die an Standorten
mit deutlich niedrigeren Arbeitskosten pro-
duzieren konnten, haben die hiesigen Werke
durch einen hheren Automatisierungsgrad
ihre Kosten weiter gesenkt.
Deutsche Aluminiumindustrie strotzt vor kraft
Die deutsche Aluminiumindustrie hat sich
2010 schneller und strker von der Wirt-
schaftskrise erholt als erwartet. In Teilberei-
chen der Aluminiumverarbeitung reicht man
bereits wieder an das Vorkrisenniveau heran.
Auch fr das erste Halbjahr 2011 erwartet die
Branche einen guten Konjunkturverlauf. Dies
machten Vertreter des Gesamtverbandes der
Aluminiumindustrie (GDA) vor Journalisten
in Dsseldorf im Dezember deutlich.
Getragen wird die bessere Aluminium-
konjunktur von der Erholung der heimischen
Automobil- und Investitionsgterindustrie.
Hinzu kommt die stabile Geschftsentwick-
lung der Bauwirtschaft und die Belebung des
privaten Konsums. Auch die weiterhin boo-
mende Solarindustrie hat der Branche zu einer
besseren Auslastung verholfen.
Das Auftragsniveau der Walzer, Strang-
presser und Gieer erreichte im 2. Halbjahr
2010 teilweise Rekordmarken. Das Expan-
sionstempo verlangsamte sich zwar gegen
Ende des Jahres. Die hohe Auslastung der
Kapazitten und die guten Auftragseingn-
ge verheien den meisten Unternehmen der
Branche jedoch gute Geschfte bis weit ins
zweite Quartal 2011, so Oliver Bell, stell-
vertretender Vorsitzender des GDA-Fachver-
bandes Aluminiumhalbzeug. 2010 sei der
Bedarf wieder nahe an das hohe Niveau von
2008 herangekommen. Wichtigster Zielmarkt
fr die deutsche Aluminiumindustrie ist der
Verkehrssektor mit 37 Prozent Anteil am
Gesamtabsatz. Weitere Hauptmrkte sind der
Bausektor (18%), die Verpackungsindustrie
(12%) und der Maschinenbau (12%).
Unsere Unternehmen zeichnen sich durch
ein hohes Ma an Flexibilitt, Kreativitt und
hohes Innovationspotenzial aus, sagte GDA-
Geschftsfhrer Christian Wellner. Deshalb
werde der Aluminiumverbrauch in Deutsch-
land weiterhin kontinuierlich wachsen. Strks-
ter Wachstumstrger bleibe die Automobilin-
dustrie. Weitere Zuwchse seien in der Luft-
fahrt, bei Schienenfahrzeugen, im Schiffbau
und im Verpackungsmarkt zu erwarten.
Die einzelnen branchensegmente
Die Metallproduktion der vier deutschen Alu-
minium- sowie der Sekundrhtten und auch
die Halbzeugproduktion ist in den ersten neun
Monaten des vergangenen Jahres zum Teil
sprunghaft angestiegen (siehe Tabelle). Trotz
der Erholung bei der Aluminiumerzeugung
blieb das Volumen jedoch deutlich hinter der
im Jahr 2008 produzierten Menge zurck.
Die Produktion der 34 deutschen Halbzeug
unternehmen hat in den ersten drei Quartalen
2010 um mehr als ein Viertel auf 1,88 Mio.
Tonnen zugelegt. Damit wurde der Mengen-
verlust in der Krise 2008/09 bereits in die-
sem Zeitraum nahezu vollstndig aufgeholt.
Hierin zeigt sich die herausragende Wettbe-
werbsposition des deutschen Aluminiumhalb-
zeugsektors in Europa, der rund ein Drittel
des europischen Gesamtbedarfs liefert, so
Wellner. Die Halbzeugunternehmen sind an
47 Standorten in Deutschland ttig und be-
schftigen etwa 16.000 Mitarbeiter. Sie produ-
zieren Walz- und Strangpressprodukte sowie
Drhte und Schmiedeteile.
Den hchsten Anteil an der deutschen
Halbzeugproduktion haben die Walzwerke,
die wiederum knapp die Hlfte der europ-
ischen Walzproduktion tragen. Die Walz-
werke steigerten ihre Produktion von Januar
bis September um 23,8 Prozent auf 1,43 Mio.
Tonnen. Insgesamt ist die Kapazittsaus-
lastung derzeit sehr zufriedenstellend. Die
Lieferzeiten haben sich entsprechend verln-
gert, sagte Bell.
Die Walzwerke haben in den vergangenen
Monaten aufgrund der guten Auftragslage
vielfach Preiserhhungen fr ihre Produkte
eingeleitet, zum Teil auch weitere Preiserh-
hungen fr das zweite Quartal 2011 angekn-
digt. Getragen wird die gute Nachfrage nach
Walzhalbzeug durch die konjunkturelle Er-
holung in den wichtigsten Anwendungsmrk-
ten wie Verpackung und Automotive. Die
schnelle konjunkturelle Belebung zeigt, dass
dieser Branchenzweig wettbewerblich gut auf-
gestellt ist. Fr das erste Halbjahr 2011 sind die
2008 2009 2009 /
2008
Jan.Sept.
2009
Jan.Sept.
2010
Jan.Sept.
2010/09
Primraluminium in t in t in % in t in t in %
Produktion 605.900 291.700 -51,9 216.900 292.300 +34,8
Einfuhr 1.562.200 1.181.900 -24,3 791.300 1.345.400 +70,0
Ausfuhr 216.900 182.700 -15,8 125.300 210.100 +67,7
Sekundraluminium
Produktion 720.900 560.800 -22,2 408.400 464.900 +13,8
Einfuhr 534.600 484.600 -9,4 361.100 464.600 +28,7
Ausfuhr 218.200 172.700 -20,9 127.400 144.900 +13,7
AlHalbzeugproduktion
Walzprodukte 1.816.800 1.560.100 -14,1 1.158.000 1.433.400 +23,8
Press- und Ziehprodukte 592.200 455.000 -23,2 334.000 437.600 +31,0
Leitmaterial 3.200 3.600 +12,5 2.700 3.000 +11,1
Aluminiumhalbzeug insgesamt 2.412.200 2.018.700 -16,3 1.494.600 1.874.100 +25,4
Quellen: GDA, VAR, Statist. Bundesamt
Fr das Gesamtjahr 2010 erwartet der GDA eine Produktion von 400.000 Tonnen Httenaluminium,
630.000 bis 650.000 Tonnen Sekundraluminium und 2,45 Mio. Tonnen Aluminiumhalbzeug
n e w s i n b R i e f
ALUMINIUM 1-2/2011
By 2012, the Middle East will account for
about 10% of the worlds primary alu
minium production, compared with just
4% in 2007. MEED, the regions leading
economic publication, is again holding the
Middle East Aluminium Conference on
15/16 March 2011 in Dubai.
With easy access to cheap gas resources and
close proximity to the major aluminium mar-
kets of Europe, the United States and the Far
East, the region is actively exploring its po-
tential to become a leading export market for
primary and downstream aluminium products.
MEEDs event will look at key industry de-
velopments and discuss in an open and frank
environment how they will affect the industry
in the coming years. Some of these include:
Qatalums plans to move to its next phase of
aluminium production in 2011 after meeting
its capacity of 585,000 tpy in 2010
Emal continuing expansion to become the
worlds largest single-site aluminium smelter
complex with a capacity of 1.4 million tpy on
completion in 2013/14
Alcoa and Maadens joint venture to devel-
op a USD10.8 billion, fully integrated alumina
and aluminium complex in Saudi Arabia.
Benefits of attending include:
Understand the upcoming economic condi-
tions, the supply and demand dynamics and
the forward-pricing for aluminium
Achieve better estimates of your produc-
tion costs through understanding the supply
availability and costs of raw materials
Gain first-hand project updates
from the regions top producers and
the on-stream production capacity
Evaluate the international de-
mand for aluminium products and
the progress of the downstream de-
velopments across the Middle East
Discover the new markets and
uses for aluminium
Network with leading industry
stakeholders across the full value
chain, including top producers, fab-
ricators, traders, end-users, energy
providers, raw materials producers,
financiers and consultants from across the re-
gion and beyond.
Over 30 senior representatives from the
Middle East and North Africa will unlock the
secrets to successful projects. Well-known
speakers are, among others: Laurent Schmitt,
CEO of Alba; Henk Pauw, CEO of Sohar Alu-
minium; Jan Arve Haugan, CEO of Qatalum;
Hamid R Al Zayani, chairman of Alzayani
MeeDs Middle east Aluminium Conference 2011
working towards becoming the leading hub for the global aluminium market
Investment Group and managing director of
Midal Cables; Adel Hamad, CEO of Garmco;
Modar Al Mekdad, general manager of Gulf
Extrusions; Jassim Mohamed Seyadi, CEO of
Bahrain Aluminium Extrusion Company; Bo-
Inge Stensson, senior vice president, group de-
mand chain, of SKF Group; Michael Widmer,
metals strategist of the Bank of America-Mer-
rill Lynch.
MEED will also be presenting their Mid-
dle East Aluminium Leadership Award to
Abdallah E. Dabbagh, president and CEO of
Maaden at the event. To learn more about
this exciting event, please visit www.meed.
com/events/aluminium.
Geographical split 2010, taken from past delegate analysis
The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society
(TMS) has opened registration for its
140
th
Annual Meeting & Exhibition, tak
ing place from 27 February to 3 March
in San Diego, California. TMS 2011 will
feature four full days of technical pro
gramming and events for the first time in
conference history.
The past successes of TMSs annual meeting
have served as a catalyst for this milestone
of growth. For the first time, the conference
will include four full days of technical ses-
sions, symposia and meetings, which reflects
the materials communitys enthusiasm for
the programming themes, as well as the ex-
citement of the San Diego venue, said TMS
president George T. Rusty Gray. Attendees
who register for TMS 2011 before 4 Febru-
ary will receive a discount off the onsite rate,
which has not increased over last years fee
scale for general registrants. Accommodations
discounts at the TMS 2011 headquarters hotel,
the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina, will
be offered through 28 January 2011.
TMS 2011 will feature 3,500 technical
presentations, more than 70 unique symposia
and 400 posters. The conference will focus on
these varied technical themes:
Aluminium and Magnesium
Advanced Characterisation, Modelling and
Materials Performance
High Performance Materials
Materials and Society: Energy and Sustain-
able Production
Materials Processing and Production
Nanoscale and Amorphous Materials
Professional Development.
The conference also offers a host of related
activities for materials science and engineer-
ing professionals hailing from all sectors of
industry, government and academia. Among
the planned events are technical networking
receptions, the TMS awards banquet, continu-
ing education, and student activities such as
the Materials Bowl competition and poster
contest.
TMS 2011 will include a robust three-day
exhibition, which will bring together indus-
try leaders, buyers, engineers, scientists and
researchers from more than 68 countries.
Companies will showcase their products and
services at the exhibition, which will be held
28 February to 2 March. Now in its 25
th
year,
the exhibition is known for drawing together
an extensive aluminium technical audience
and spotlighting the latest developments in
the emerging materials and materials charac-
terisation areas.
For more information on TMS 2011 reg-
istration and accommodations as well as the
schedule of programming and events, visit
www.tms.org/tms2011.
tMs opens registration for expanded 2011 Annual Meeting & exhibition
10 ALUMINIUM 1-2/2011
w i R t s C h A f t
Aluminium im Monatsrckblick
Ein Service der TRIMET ALUMINIUM AG
Im Dezember kehrte Schuldenkrise in
Europa wieder in den Blickpunkt des
Interesses zurck. Ins Visier gerieten ne-
ben Irland jetzt auch Spanien, Portugal
und Belgien.
Dessen ungeachtet setzten die Me-
tallmrkte ihren Hhenfug fort. An-
fang Dezember handelte Aluminium
bei rund USD 2.290,00 pro Tonne, am
Deutschland bleibt die Konjunkturloko-
motive in Europa.
Das Wirtschaftsjahr 2010 verabschiedet
sich mit hervorragenden Aussichten fr
2011. Zum Jahresausklang ist die Stim-
mung bestens, die deutsche Wirtschaft
befndet sich in absoluter Hochstim-
mung.
31.12.2010 lag die Schlussnotierung bei
USD 2.488,00 pro Tonne, Tendenz stei-
gend. Die Verbrauchernachfrage hielt
unvermindert an und die Prmien stabili-
sierten sich auf hohem Niveau. Vom Tief
des Jahres 2009 hat sich die Nachfrage
deutlich erholt und auch die globalen
Wachstumserwartungen verbesserten
sich in den letzten Monaten merklich.
Dezember 2010 1.776,99 Euro
November 2010 1.707,35 Euro
Oktober 2010 1.688,55 Euro
September 2010 1.654,05 Euro
August 2010 1.640,28 Euro
Juli 2010 1.556,92 Euro
Aluminium High Grade, Kasse
letzten 6 Durchschnittswerte LME 2.500
2.000
1.500
1.000
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Dezember 2010 4.277.050 To.
November 2010 4.288.125 To.
Oktober 2010 4.306.350 To.
September 2010 4.355.650 To.
August 2010 4.442.475 To.
Juli 2010 4.385.300 To.
Aluminium Lagerbestnde
letzten 6 Monatsendwerte LME
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Dezember 2010 21,90 Euro
November 2010 28,07 Euro
Oktober 2010 31,39 Euro
September 2010 33,10 Euro
August 2010 11,61 Euro
Juli 2010 23,35 Euro
Auf- bzw. Abschlag fr 3-Monatstermin
letzten 6 Durchschnittswerte LME
50
0
50
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Alle Angaben auf dieser Seite sind unverbindlich. Quelle: TRIMET ALUMINIUM AG aktuelle LME-Werte unter www.trimet.de
w i R t s C h A f t
Primraluminium Sekundraluminium Walzprodukte > 0,2 mm Press- & Ziehprodukte**
Produktion
(in 1.000 t)
+/-
in % *
Produktion
(in 1.000 t)
+/-
in % *
Produktion
(in 1.000 t)
+/-
in % *
Produktion
(in 1.000 t)
+/-
in % *
Okt 24,2 -52,6 55,0 -4,9 143,8 -5,8 45,7 -9,3
Nov 24,5 -48,1 55,0 14,2 149,1 20,8 45,5 12,6
Dez 26,1 -41,6 42,4 47,3 109,3 20,5 26,6 14,9
Jan 10 26,9 -33,6 45,9 14,0 138,4 27,5 37,9 10,3
Feb 25,5 -24,7 50,9 38,6 147,5 26,0 42,6 34,0
Mrz 30,4 10,3 57,5 26,1 172,3 29,4 51,1 54,7
Apr 31,0 77,4 51,0 26,5 160,4 32,2 44,1 33,2
Mai 34,4 96,8 53,5 16,7 162,4 35,3 47,4 41,2
Jun 34,7 91,1 56,7 16,4 165,5 21,9 53,7 43,2
Jul 36,5 83,0 49,7 -4,2 158,3 6,2 50,5 23,6
Aug 36,9 79,9 46,0 6,4 167,6 27,0 48,4 27,1
Sep 36,0 69,4 53,6 -3,8 161,0 14,2 50,9 17,3
Okt 37,1 53,2 52,0 -5,4 161,8 12,5 50,7 11,0
* gegenber dem Vorjahresmonat, ** Stangen, Profle, Rohre; Mitteilung des Gesamtverbandes der Aluminiumindustrie (GDA), Dsseldorf
Produktionsdaten der deutschen Aluminiumindustrie
Press- und Ziehprodukte walzprodukte > 0,2 mm
sekundraluminium Primraluminium
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e c o n o m i c s
UC Rusal has made another strategic step
to strengthen its position in China. In No-
vember it announced the acquisition of a
stake in the Shenzhen North Investments
sales company and the establishment of
an alloy producing joint venture with
state-owned Norinco.
China has become one of Russias key trad-
ing partners. The trade turnover between the
two countries has grown 56 percent in 2010
to USD42 billion. Experts believe there is still
room for further growth. During the recently
held the 5
th
Sino-Russian Business Summit
Forum, the partners made 13 deals worth
USD8 billion. The contracts include an agree-
ment that specifies the key terms and condi-
tions for UC Rusals acquisition of a stake in
the share capital of Shenzhen North Invest-
ments, a subsidiary of Norinco; and a declara-
tion of intent for the creation of a joint venture
between Rusal and Norinco to produce and
sell aluminium alloys.
Rusals history of relations with Norinco,
one of Chinas largest state-owned diversified
holdings, began in 2009, when the companies
signed a long-term contract for the supply of
1.68 million tonnes of aluminium to the Chi-
nese market until 2016. The new agreement
significantly expands the sales opportunities
for Rusal in China, the worlds largest alu-
minium consumer. The Norinco brand is used
in a variety of product categories in China,
including cars and trucks, optic and electronic
products, military and civilian weapons, and
oil field equipment, to name a few. Shenzhen
North Investments focuses on sales of primary
aluminium, and now it goes from being a busi-
ness partner to a part of Rusal.
Understanding the preferences and require-
ments of ones customers is a key to successful
sales. The Russian aluminium giant will own
33 percent in the share capital of its new as-
set, whose 15 years in the Chinese market will
provide the company with access to unique
expertise. Rusal and Norinco plan to create
a joint venture, which will produce and sell
aluminium alloy products including ingots for
beverage cans, billets and slabs for aluminium
extrusions and alloys for car wheels. Under the
project, Rusal will install new casting equip-
ment at its production facilities, while Norinco
will supply the necessary equipment and pro-
vide financing for the design and installation
stages. The Chinese partner will also allocate
the working capital required to launch pro-
duction, supply liquid metal and will be re-
sponsible for production process management.
The Russian share in the JV will make at least
51 percent. Rusal will play an active role in
the operational and strategic management of
Shenzhen North Investments to protect its
own interests and to learn the secrets of doing
business in the mysterious Heavenly Empire.
The ventures products will be delivered to
various regions including Russia and China.
The project will enable Rusal to significantly
increase the output of value-added products
and expand its casting capabilities.
According to the forecasts published by
Standard Chartered, in 2020 China will sur-
pass the USA and will account for 24 percent
of the global GDP by 2030. That means that
every fourth product will be produced by
China. Today, China generates nine percent
of the world GDP. Its aspirations to become
the worlds leader are supported by a high and
stable economic growth rate and a 25 percent
appreciation of the yuan. China will thus be
the driver of the global economy for several
decades to come. The countrys demand for
aluminium is practically unlimited, and it is al-
ready several times higher than the capacities
of its domestic aluminium producers. At the
same time, China is a relatively closed country,
which is very reluctant to let strangers in its
backyard, and so Rusals expansion in China
Rusal gets closer to china
Irkutsk aluminium smelter (IrkAZ), Potline 5
U
C

R
u
s
a
l
e c o n o m i c s
as an equal business partner is an opportunity
of securing the Chinese market as a trading
floor for Rusals products.
By 2020, Metal Bulletin Research expects
Asian aluminium demand to be testing the
50 million tpy level in our base case forecast,
with Chinese demand of around 35 million
tpy. This will be an approximate doubling
of demand from 2010, said Metal Bulletin
managing director Raju Daswani at the 2010
Arabal conference. Rusal is well-prepared to
meet the growing Asian demand. According
to company estimates in 2010 its sales to China
may double year-on-year. The geographical
proximity of UC Rusals smelters to China
enables us to give the most favourable coop-
eration options to our partners in Asia, com-
mented Oleg Deripaska, CEO of UC Rusal.
This is best proved by the launch of high-tech,
environmentally friendly and Asia-oriented
facilities in Siberia.
For instance, in 2010 it completed a large-
scale development programme for the Irkutsk
aluminium smelter (IrkAZ), which consisted
of launching Potline 5, constructing and com-
missioning two casthouses and implementing
several environmental measures. Out of the
total output, 99 percent of IrkAZ products are
high grades. In parallel, the smelter is broaden-
ing its product range in general. Though it was
difficult to launch the first complex of Potline 5
because of the outbreak of the global econom-
ic crisis, it was successfully commissioned in
February 2008. Rusal made a decision to shut
down two of the oldest potrooms and keep
commissioning the new potline gradually.
On 1 April 2010 the last of 200 pots was
put into operation. Meanwhile Potline 5 oper-
ates completely meeting the design parameters
and even exceeding some of them. Specific
power consumption and anode effect frequen-
cy achieved here have become benchmarks for
other facilities of the company. IrkAZ is also
implementing a project to increase its amper-
age up to 330 kA which will make it possible
to produce extra 16,400 tonnes of primary
aluminium a year.
IrkAZ is located close to the city. That is
why the capacity expansion project has been
discussed and approved in public hearings.
The project designers with figures at hand man-
aged to prove that the equipment modernisa-
tion would do no harm to the environment.
Two dry gas scrubbers in Potline 5 operate
meeting the design parameters with efficiency
of up to 99.5 percent.
Green projects of IrkAZ are part of the
regional programme Environment Protection
in the Irkutsk Region in 2006-2010. The fa-
cilities of the project Remediation and expan-
sion of the existing waste and household dis-
posal area are completed for commissioning.
Production sites from the entire Shelekhov re-
gion utilise the solid waste disposal area. Waste
disposal area 3 that is designed to store spent
liquid fluorides and gas turbine substances is
now under construction.
Annually, apart from the projects embraced
by the regional programme, the smelter over-
hauls gas scrubbing equipment. It has a closed
water recycling system. IrkAZ new Potline 5
generated the construction of a new casthouse
(no. 3) with a capacity of 165,000 tpy. In the
first half of 2010, the new casthouse enabled
the smelter to increase alloy production 3.5
times against the period one year earlier, and
the range of produced alloys widened from
ten to 18.
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100, rue Chalant 59790
Ronchin, France
+33 3 20 88 70 70
e c o n o m i c s
The commissioned casthouse capacities mean

state-of-the-art technology and leading edge
metal quality. The metal goes through several
refining stages that guarantee its homogene-
ity and high quality; therefore the demand for
it is stable. Besides, the installed equipment
enables us to meet promptly our customers re-
quirements and deliver the products currently
most in demand, said Igor Grinberg, the gen-
eral director of the plant, about the casthouse
modernisation.
The ever-increasing number of customers
proves the high quality of products. In 2010
IrkAZ started shipping its wire rod to some
countries in the Southern Hemisphere, such
as Chile, South African Republic and Mexi-
co. The smelter has more than 16 customers
abroad and over 60 domestic ones. IrkAZ has
a trade mark registered with the LME and in
October it has shipped the fist lot of small in-
gots to the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the
largest in Asia. If the brand is registered, new
promising markets will open for IrkAZ in Asia:
China, Singapore and Vietnam.
Base metals prices are again near their
record high values from summer 2008,
or have already reached new records,
as in the case of copper, currently at
over USD9,000 per tonne at the LME.
The aluminium price, however, is some
USD1,000 per tonne below the 2008
record high and will average around
USD2,170 per tonne (cash) in 2010. Even
in spite of a 14% rise in global demand in
2010, compared with 2009 when demand
fell by about 7% y-o-y, the aluminium
market is in significant surplus and large
stocks prevent the price from rising.
Apart from 4.3m tonnes of aluminium
stored at LME warehouses around the
world, some industry experts estimate
there are at least an equal amount of
unregistered or even hidden stocks at
producers warehouses and ports. The
main motivation for these unregistered
stocks is seen in high premiums for alu-
minium, in Europe surpassing USD200
per tonne above LME cash price in some
regions, and awaiting the introduction
of aluminium Exchange Traded Funds
(ETFs) to supply them. Above all, there
are some 2.2m tonnes of registered stocks
in other warehouses and ports, mostly in
China and Japan. This amounts to a total
of 10 to 11m tonnes of aluminium stored
worldwide, which corresponds to about
one quarter of global annual production.
There was much talk in recent months about
establishing Exchange Traded Funds for base
metals. The impression was that base metals
were traded under the shadow of upcoming
ETFs in recent months. There was substantial
optimism among traders and an expectation
that ETFs will lift prices even higher. As much
as USD10bn may flow into industrial-metals
ETFs, according to the German Commerzbank
AG. It has been reported that a trader has
bought more than half of the copper that was
traded at LME in recent months, preparing to
launch an ETF. The USD1.5bn (1bn) trade
was described in the LMEs daily update as
between 50 and 80% of the 350,000 tonnes
in reserves.
Moreover, there is an artificially created
atmosphere as some 2 to 3m tonnes of alu-
minium would be withdrawn from the market
for the creation of ETFs and the price would
thus inevitably rise. The main point is to make
a rush for metals before ETFs are launched
and to make profits on speculative trade re-
sulting in rising prices. What will happen after
the creation of ETFs and whether or not prices
will really continue to rise seems to be less
important to those who participate in it. There
is no firm reason and explanation for why base
metals ETFs would be successful at all. There
is great uncertainty about what they would
bring, especially for metals in large surpluses,
as are aluminium, lead and zinc. It is more
likely that once the euphoria about copper
ETFs stalls, there will be fading enthusiasm
for other base metal ETFs too.
However, UK-based ETF Securities said in
December that its aluminium, zinc and lead
physical exchange-traded products will be
listed in the first quarter of 2011. Credit Su-
isse is also seeking to list an ETP backed by
aluminium in London. There were rumours
that Glencore, the worlds largest commodities
trader, is preparing to launch an aluminium-
backed ETF in the coming months too.
As for the global economy in general, which
will dominantly influence base metals prices,
there are three main issues to determine its
growth in 2011: firstly, the announced crea-
tion of a euro zone bond market in reaction to
a further possible spread of debt crisis among
euro zone members; secondly, downgraded
risks in the US for its debt pile and thirdly,
continued monetary tightening in China. This
means that major world economies may all
experience a certain temptation in 2011 which
will inevitably be reflected in the euro / dollar
exchange ratio and very possibly repeat the
volatility of last year, oscillating in about the
1.2 to 1.5 range. The strengthening of the US
dollar, especially when below 1.2 per euro,
will put significant downside pressure on met-
al prices, while the opposite, a strong euro,
may push metals prices to new records. Many
analysts and other forecasters already see the
copper price reaching USD10,000 per tonne
in 2011, no matter how the euro / dollar ratio
will turn out and regardless on the outcome
of economic issues in three major economic
regions of the world.
Manufacturing activities in Europe, the
United States and China increased in Novem-
ber, signalling that leading economies are on
the course to full recovery.
In Europe, manufacturing expanded at the
fastest pace in four months in November, led
by Germany, the regions largest economy.
Market report on aluminium production, consumption and prices
Awaiting aluminium eTFs
G. Djukanovic, Podgorica
Aluminium market analyst Goran Djukanovic
G
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Visit us at TMS 2011, San Diego, Booth 429
e c o n o m i c s
German industrial output rose 2.9% in No-
vember on the month in seasonally adjusted
terms, indicating strong growth in the fourth
quarter. Since 1991, the business climate in
German improved to its strongest level in
December, according to the Ifo business cli-
mate index, which is based on a monthly sur-
vey of some 7,000 firms.
Manufacturing in the US expanded for the
16th consecutive month in November, the In-
stitute for Supply Management reported. The
ISMs factory index was 56.6 in November,
hardly changed from the five-month high of
56.9 in October. Readings greater than 50 sig-
nal growth.
Chinas manufacturing grew at a faster pace
for a fourth consecutive month in November.
The Purchasing Managers Index rose to 55.2
from 54.7. Rising inflation remains the main
threat to Chinas economy in 2011.
In contrast, Japanese Industrial production
has weakened steadily in recent months. After
a peak in May, it fell by a seasonally adjusted
1.8% in November from the previous month,
bringing the industrial output index down to
91.1, the lowest since December 2009. The
trend is downwards.
Global aluminium production
and consumption rising
Primary aluminium production in Europe ex-
cluding Russia was around 340,000 tonnes in
November and will be some 4m tonnes for
the whole of 2010, which is a 2% increase y-
o-y. Consumption for the year will amount to
6.1m tonnes, a 9% growth y-o-y. Demand for
foundry alloys, extruded and rolled products is
steady and is reflected in higher premiums on
primary aluminium in Europe and increased
demand and prices for secondary aluminium.
Order levels for the automobile and construc-
tion industry improved significantly com-
pared to the previous year, nearing the levels
reached in 2008. The market is dominated by
short term transactions while some long term
deals involved flat rolled products.
US primary aluminium production in No-
vember was 144,457 tonnes (+8.4% y-o-y),
but lower than the 148,331 tonnes produced
in October. Production for the first eleven
months of 2010 was 1,58m tonnes (1.59m t
a year earlier). Expected production for 2010
as a whole is 1.76m tonnes, about the same
as in 2009. US metals service
centres shipments in November
were 110,300 tonnes, 5% down
m-o-m, but 38.8% up y-o-y.
However, December marks the
third consecutive month of de-
clining aluminium shipments for
US centres. Their year-to-date
aluminium shipments stand at
1.21m tonnes, 25.7% more than
during January to November
2009. US centres aluminium
inventories are reported to be
347,800 tonnes, 35.9% above
the inventory level in November 2009, and
equal to a 3.2-month supply at their current
shipping rate. As in Europe, most orders come
from the automobile and aerospace industry,
followed by construction and engineering. US
Midwest spot premiums were lower in No-
vember from the previous month on slower
demand, traded around 6.2/lb.
In Japan, shipments of
aluminium products rose
in October for the 11
th

consecutive month of y-o-
y gains, as high tempera-
tures boosted demand for
cans and exports contin-
ued to grow. Shipments
rose 5.8% in October from
a year earlier, to 175,091
tonnes, and also increased
2.7% m-o-m, as data from
the Japan Aluminium As-
sociation show. The uncer-
tain outlook for domestic
demand resulted in lower
premiums for primary alu-
minium shipments to Japan
in January to March, with
some deals agreed at USD112-113, down
from USD116-118 for the current quarter. The
trading house Marubeni, which collects data
from the key ports of Yokohama, Nagoya
and Osaka, reported that aluminium stocks
amounted to 210,000 tonnes at the end of
November, down 15,800 tonnes from the end
of October. Exports stood at 18,955 tonnes in
November, up 9.5% from a year earlier and
not far from the October level two years ago.
Automobile sales decreased since the govern-
ment terminated subsidies for purchases of en-
vironmental-friendly cars in September, and
aluminium demand from the automobile in-
dustry fell for the first time in a year, although
the decline was limited. Japan imports about
2m tonnes of primary aluminium a year, al-
most all its needs. Industry officials said stocks
around 10% of total imports represented a
healthy level.
Global consumption is expected to rise
14% y-o-y in 2010, to 40.7m tonnes, while
production growth is seen around 10% y-o-y,
to 41.2m tonnes.
While Chinese production has been falling,
production in the rest of the world has been
rising in recent months. The pace of growth
accelerated in October, when annualised out-
put rose by over 200,000 tonnes, mostly due
to the new capacity being brought on in the
Persian Gulf.
Production in china to rise after fall
According to the National Bureau of Statistics,
China produced 14.36m tonnes of primary
aluminium in the year to November, up 23%
from the same period a year earlier. The coun-
trys smelters have cut production by an annu-
alised 2.1m tonnes since July due to electric-
ity restrictions, so that Octobers annualised
output of 15.2m tonnes was the lowest since
August 2009. In November, China produced
1.18m tonnes, while total production in 2010
is expected to be 15.65m tonnes.
In order to limit the rise in aluminium
prices and reduce inflationary pressure, the
authorities eased the power limits for smelt-
ers introduced last summer, resulting in the
gradual restart of idle smelter capacity. It
seems that Chinese policy towards the alu-
minium industry still aims to be self-sufficient
e c o n o m i c s
to the local demand.
The growth rate of electricity generation was 13.5% y-o-y for the
first nine months of 2010. This figure would be consistent with the
economic growth of above 10% seen in China during the same period.
However, in October electricity generation increased 6.6% y-o-y, and
in November the growth rate was 6.7% y-o-y, both indicating lower
economic activity.
As a reaction to lower availability of electricity for primary alu-
minium producers, there was a clear rise in the aluminium products
output: Chinas production of aluminium products surged 23% y-o-y
to 2.17m tonnes in November and increased 25% in the first eleven
months of the year to 20m tonnes.
The State Bureau of Material Reserves sold by auction, on two ten-
ders held in November, 213,400 tonnes of aluminium ingots, bought
in 2009 (total 590,000 t). The metal was sold at a discount of around
5% from the spot price. China has already sold zinc, lead, and mag-
nesium from state inventories this year in an effort to ease shortages
and curb price gains.
Aluminium smelters restarting capacities
There have been several announcements related to capacity restarts
in recent months, encouraged by an optimistic aluminium outlook
for 2011. Actually, no one so far has predicted a lower aluminium
price in 2011 compared to the previous year, leaving very low risk for
producers.
Ghana plans to restart its 200,000 tpy Valco smelter in 2011 as
a prelude to build an integrated aluminium industry as world metal
prices and its own energy resources improve, the government says. The
smelter has been shut since March 2007, mostly due to power short-
ages caused by low water levels in the vast Volta hydropower dam.
In the US, Ormet Corp., an independent producer of aluminium,
announced its intention to restart the two idle potlines at its Hanni-
bal / Ohio smelting facility. The restart preparations have started and
the process is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2011,
bringing the smelter to full production capacity. We plan to produce
about 80,000 tonnes of additional metal next year with this restart,
said Mike Tanchuk, Ormets president and CEO.
Century Aluminium of Kentucky plans to restart its idle potline
at the Hawesville smelter immediately, the company announced in
December. Its smelter capacity is about 250,000 tpy of primary alu-
minium from five potlines. The company expects to complete the pot-
line restart during the first quarter of 2011.
In general, most producers who decreased production during the
crisis will return production to the pre-crisis levels or close to them.
Additional greenfield capacity will begin production in the next two
years in China, the Middle East, India, Canada, Iceland and the CIS,
bringing over 10m tonnes more aluminium to the market compared
to 2008 before the crisis.
economies weighing on prices
Most forecasts for the aluminium price in 2011 range between
USD2,200-2400 per tonne, with support of about USD2,070 per tonne
on the bottom side due to the production costs and USD2,550 per
tonne capped at the upper, due to huge stocks and economic issues.
Though short term temporary price peaks above this range cannot be
excluded, prices should return to the range after market disturbances
and euphoria calm down. Expectations that prices will continue to rise
in the fourth quarter of 2010, awaiting the launch of an ETF, turned out
to be wrong. It seems that investors prefer metals tending to deficits,
such as copper and tin, to those in vast surplus and with high stocks, as
aluminium or zinc, causing the ETF euphoria to fade away for now.
Under such circumstances any substantial price increase may trig-
ger heavy selling of all base metals, since there are many market par-
ticipants waiting for the right moment to sell.
Several global economic issues that dominated in 2010 may con-
tinue to influence markets in 2011, though expectedly to a lesser extent.
Those are, above all: disappointing employment data in the USA and
low new home sale figures, possible further spreading of the debt crisis
in European countries and, last but not least, the already mentioned
monetary tightening in China to prevent growing inflation. It is not re-
alistic to expect these issues to improve much before 2012. Reasonable
caution remains an option for the medium term outlook until stockpiles
get depleted, while the long term perspective for the aluminium market
after 2015 remains bright.
In 2011 growth in demand will continue but at a slower pace com-
pared to the previous year, while production growth will remain strong,
at the level seen in 2010, with the market remaining in surplus. The
main support for the aluminium price may come from an expected
further rise of the copper price and eventually from a rise of the euro.
ETFs may bring only temporary benefits for the price in 2011.
Author
Goran Djukanovic is an aluminium market analyst, located in Podgorica,
Montenegro. Email contact: gordju@t-com.me
e c o n o m i c s
1. Greenfield alumina
refinery capacity evolution
An alumina refinery consists of a number of
unit operations such as grinding, digestion,
evaporation, etc. A unit operation generally
comprises a string of equipment which togeth-
er performs the desired process step, for ex-
ample digestion with tanks, heat exchangers,
pumps, vessels, etc. Such a string of equipment
is often referred to as a train, unit or circuit
(e. g. digestion unit, precipitation train, mill
circuit). Alumina refinery design generally
takes digestion as plant bottleneck.
As Fig. 1 illustrates, the design / initial alu-
mina refinery production capacity of green-
field projects outside China has evolved over
time from about 0.5-1.0m tpy alumina 25 to
30 years ago (e. g. Alumar, Worsley) to 1.4-
3.3m tpy alumina for more recently construct-
ed and future planned projects (e. g. Lanjigarh,
Yarwun, Utkal, GAC).
Note that the actual production capacities
of the projects indicated in Fig. 1 have sig-
nificantly increased as a result of brownfield
expansions (not shown in Fig. 1), capacity de-
bottlenecking, and improved process efficien-
cies and operations performance.
The rationale for the trend in Fig. 1 is the
economy of scale: an increased design pro-
duction capacity is required to improve the
economics of greenfield bauxite and alumina
projects
1
to meet corporate economic criteria.
The question arises what this means with re-
spect to project capital cost
2
.
With economics as the driving force, im-
portant elements to consider are therefore the
development over the same time period of the
alumina price (covered in section 2) and oper-
ating cost (section 3).
2. Alumina price
The development of the alumina contract price
(LME-linked) over this period is shown in Fig.
2 (black line left axis, in money of the day),
which also includes the greenfield projects
from Fig. 1 as black diamonds on the price line.
In the early 1980s many greenfield alumina re-
finery projects were constructed and started
up (the four black diamonds in Fig. 2 between
1980 and 1984 in fact represent seven green-
field projects). However, the aluminium (and
with it the alumina) market growth did not
follow expectations. In addition, these green-
field projects had huge brownfield expansion
and de-bottlenecking poten-
tial built into their design: in
the 1980s and 1990s refinery
capacity increases within ~10
years of start-up ranged from
30-140% (San Cyprian, Puer-
to Ordaz, Alumar, Wagerup,
Worsley, etc). An important
aspect in this regard was that
the capital cost in US dollar
per annual tA installed capac-
ity for brownfield projects was
only ~50% of that of green-
field capex
3
. The result was
that only limited greenfield
capacity was required for a
long period of time.
Worldwide aluminiums
main end uses include trans-
portation (25-35%), building
and construction (20-25%),
packaging (12-15%) and en-
gineering (15-20%, includ-
ing electrical and machinery
equipment). In other words the
usage of aluminium permeates
the global economy, and with
it the demand for alumina.
To better interpret the fluc-
tuations in the alumina price,
Fig. 2 therefore also includes
the World GDP/capita growth
rate (dashed line right axis),
as criterion for the growth of
the global economy, bearing
in mind that the number of
people worldwide is growing
continuously. Comparison of
the two lines shows a good
correlation: the alumina price
has followed the World GDP/
capita growth rate, with a time
lag of one year or less for at
least the last 15 years.
Noticeable in Fig. 2 is the
significant and consistent in-
crease in the alumina price in the period from
about 2003 until 2008 (when the banking/eco-
nomic crisis occurred), which does only partly
seem to be supported by an equivalent trend in
the World GDP/capita growth rate. However,
as shown in Fig. 3, this alumina price increase
seems to correspond with Chinas significantly
significance of increased greenfield
alumina refinery design capacity
P.-H. ter Weer, TWs services & Advice BV
1
Reference [1] provides an overview of bauxite and
alumina project economics
2
Reference [2] provides an overview of capital cost
3
See reference 1
Fig. 3
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
e c o n o m i c s
increasing alumina imports over part of that period (dashed line right
axis). Fig. 3 also illustrates the average alumina prices between 1980
and 2004 (~182 USD/tA), when the Chinese alumina imports reached
a level of close to 6 million tonnes and kept increasing, and between
2006 and 2010 (~315 USD/tA). For project evaluation purposes be-
yond 2010 an alumina price of 315 USD/tA has been assumed in this
paper. Although not shown here, the alumina (LME-linked contract)
price as expected closely followed changes in the aluminium 3-month
LME price, with a time lag of typically a year in the period before.
3. operating cost
4
and margin
A next key element is operating cost (opex). In the context of this
paper opex refers to the total cash cost in USD/tA. The total cash
opex differs for each individual greenfield project; however, in al-
most all cases the total cash opex of a greenfield project ends up in
the first quarter of the industry cash operating cost curve of the year
in which it starts operations. For the purpose of the current analysis
the average of the first quarter of the annual alumina industrys cash
cost curve has been used as greenfield cash operating cost. Fig. 4
compares alumina price with cash opex. This figure indicates a good
correlation between cash opex (dashed line right axis) and alumina
price (black line left axis), with the alumina price following opex
changes with a time lag of about a year.
In summary the following correlations have emerged from the
above for the period 1980 to 2010:
The 3-month LME aluminium price has followed changes in the
global economy as expressed by the World GDP/Capita growth rate
with a time lag of a year or less
The (LME-linked contract) alumina price has closely followed
changes in the aluminium price for the last 16 years or so, with a
time lag of typically a year in the period before
The significant increase in Chinas alumina imports in the peri-
od 2000 to 2010 was followed by an increase in the alumina price
resulting in an average alumina price in the period 2006 to 2010
which was about 130 USD/tA above the average alumina price in the
period 1980 to 2004.
The alumina price has followed opex changes with a time lag of
about a year.
As both alumina price and operating cost have now been assessed,
the margin between the two can now be calculated. The result is
shown in Fig. 5, which also illustrates the average margins in the
periods 1986 to 2004 (~80 USD/tA) and 2006 to 2010 (~174 USD/
tA). In other words, the average cash margin between these periods
has more than doubled. With the results from sections 2 and 3 we
now return to the original question what the significance is for project
capital cost of the increased greenfield alumina design capacity noted
for the period 1980 to 2015.
4. economics and capital cost
To assess the effect of the developments discussed above on the capital
cost of greenfield alumina projects, it has been assumed in the cur-
rent analysis that a greenfield project should deliver an IRR
5
of 8%,
a target typically used in the alumina industry as economic criterion.
An Excel spreadsheet has been used to calculate project economics.
Other evaluation assumptions include the following:
Project evaluation period: construction time +30 years
Greenfield / brownfield construction time: 3 / 2 years (capital cost
spread equally)
Tax depreciation period on capex: 20 years
Corporate tax rate: 32%
Full production from operating year 1 onwards
Numbers in real terms (i. e. inflation not included).
Historical greenfield project: To illustrate a typical historical greenfield
alumina project the following assumptions have been used:
First operating year: 1985
Greenfield (initial / design) production capacity (refer Fig. 1): 1m tpy
Brownfield expansion capacity (refer section 2): 1m tpy, coming
on line in operating year 10
Brownfield expansion capital cost (refer section 2): 50% of
greenfield capex
Alumina price (refer Fig. 3): 1985 to 2004: 182 USD/tA;
2005: 245 USD /tA; 2006 to 2014: 315 USD /tA
Operating cost (refer Fig. 5): 1985 to 2004: 102 USD /tA;
2005: 130 USD /tA; 2006 to 2014: 141 USD /tA.
Applying the above assumptions, the capital cost found to arrive at
an IRR of 8% for a 1m tpy greenfield alumina project is about 1,000
USD per annual tA. With a brownfield expansion capacity of the same
4
Reference [3] provides an overview of operating cost
5
Internal Rate of Return: the discount percentage at which NPV equals zero. NPV: Net
Present Value: the sum of a projects annual cash flows at a chosen interest / dis-
count percentage per year, which often includes the cost of capital and a country
risk element.
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E-mail: storvikstorvik.no
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Fax: 47 71 69 95 55
Web: www.storvik.no
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e c o n o m i c s
size, the final capex of the expanded project
ends up at 750 USD per annual tA. Note
that the numbers quoted here are averages
and that actuals will vary for an individual
project (the target IRR of 8% may also differ
per project). It is estimated that a capital cost
range applies of about 800 to 1,200 USD per
annual tA for greenfield projects in this period.
Future greenfield project (outside China):
For a future greenfield alumina project, two
sub-options have been considered (refer Fig. 1):
1.5m tpy refinery capacity, increased by
a brownfield expansion to 3m tpy in the
6
th
operating year (current greenfield
projects include a faster implementation of
a brownfield expansion)
3m tpy refinery capacity from the 1
st

operating year onwards.
Other assumptions:
First operating year: 2011
Brownfield expansion capital cost: 60% of
greenfield capex
Alumina price (refer Fig. 3): 315 USD/tA
Operating cost (refer Fig. 4 and 5):
141 USD/tA.
Applying the above assumptions, the capital
cost found to arrive at an IRR of 8% for a 1.5,
respectively 3m tpy greenfield alumina project
is about 1,940, respectively 1,440 USD per
annual tA. With a brownfield expansion ca-
pacity of the same size for the first sub-option,
the final capex of the expanded project (which
by that time will also be at 3m tpy) ends up
at 1,550 USD per annual tA, i.e. about 100
USD per annual tA higher than the 3m tpy
greenfield project.
At the UBS Australian Resources Confer-
ence, held in Sydney on 3 June 2010, Alumina
Ltd gave a paper which included an estimate
of capital costs of greenfield alumina projects.
The range quoted for projects outside China
was 1,230 to 1,890 USD per annual tA, con-
sistent with the numbers found in the current
analysis. The increase in capital cost from an
average of 1,000 to 1,600 to 1,700 USD per
annual tA between the early 1980s and 2010
is in line with the increase in the Chemical
Engineering Plant Cost Index (CEPCI) over
the same period (from about 317 in 1983 to
535 in 2010).
5. conclusions and consequences
Despite a significant increase of the average
margin (delta between alumina price and op-
erating cost) from about 80 USD per annual tA
between the first half 1980s and 2004, to 174
USD per annual tA since about 2006, green-
field alumina project economics have not struc-
turally improved. This is caused by an increase
of the average capital cost for
a greenfield alumina project in
this period from about 1,000
to 1,700 USD per annual tA
capacity, and occurred despite
a large increase in the scale of
greenfield alumina refinery
projects outside China from
about 0.5-1.0m tpy alumina
in the early 1980s to 1.4-3.3m
tpy alumina in 2010.
The increase in the design /
initial capacity of greenfield
(bauxite mine and) alumina
refinery projects outside China
over the past decades has had
major consequences:
Project complexity am-
plified, especially in terms of
project planning and manage-
ment. Significant infrastructur-
al works are often required, in-
volving extensive government
involvement, further adding to
project complexity.
Project capital cost has
grown to several billion
USD, and owners reduce risk
through project financing and
the formation of multi-party
Fig. 5
joint ventures. Although perfectly reasonable,
this complicates project implementation (e. g.
with respect to decision making processes).
Due to the financial commitments involved,
globally only a limited number of (very) large
companies have the financial and human re-
sources to develop greenfield projects.
For the same reasons (project scope, com-
plexity), only a limited number of engineering
firms have the required skills and experience
to successfully implement these projects.
Typically a project life of 30+ years is (im-
plicitly) applied to justify the significant in-
vestment of a greenfield bauxite and alumina
project. The reason: an alumina refinery can
operate effectively for decades. For greenfield
projects with a captive refinery this means that
the bauxite deposit on which they are based
should be able to sustain refining operations
for such a period of time. Therefore only
(very) large bauxite deposits are developed,
indicatively 200 to 300 Mt and more.
Solving the dilemma that a large (dispro-
portionate) increase in project scale is required
to achieve acceptable economics, requires a
concerted effort by the industry players (alu-
mina companies, equipment manufacturers,
engineering firms, R&D, etc.) to find improve-
ments and innovations in areas such as project
development, technologies, etc. Steps in this
direction have been made, see reference [4]
and [5], but have not yet resulted in a signifi-
cant improvement.
6. References
1. P. J. C. ter Weer, Greenfield Dilemma Innova-
tion Challenges (paper presented at Light Metals
2005, San Francisco, California), pp 17-22
2. P. J. C. ter Weer, Capital Cost: To Be or Not To
Be (paper presented at Light Metals 2007, Orlando,
Florida), pp 43-48
3. P. J. C. ter Weer, Operating Cost Issues and Op-
portunities (paper presented at Light Metals 2006,
San Antonio, Texas), pp 109-114
4. R. Valenti and P. Ho, Rio Tinto Alcan Gove G3
Experience on Pre-Assembled Modules (paper pre-
sented at the Alumina Quality Workshop 2008,
Darwin), pp 1-5
5. A. Kjar, A Case for Replication of Alumina Plants
(paper presented at Light Metals 2010, Seattle,
Washington), pp 183-190
Author
Peter-Hans ter Weer, TWS Services & Advice BV,
Bauxite Alumina Consultancy. Mr ter Weer has
worked 28 years in the bauxite and alumina indus-
try, 25 years with BHP Billiton and since Dec. 2003
as independent technical and economic advisor to
the industry. He has presented several papers at the
TMS Light Metals Conference in the USA. Contact:
twsservices@tiscali.nl or visit www.twsservices.eu.
Fig. 4
A L U m i n i U m s m e L T i n G i n D U s T R Y
Dubal DX pot technology
successful path from prototypes to industrial projects
m. de Zelicourt, Dubal
Since the early 1990s, Dubals growth
has been based on the use of in-house
technology. From the development of the
first D18 to the DX and DX+ (see Fig. 1),
Dubal has acquired a strong expertise and
experience in development and industrial
implementation of new technologies.
While the DX+, the latest development of
Dubal technology, is now operating very suc-
cessfully at 420 kA on a demonstration scale,
on an industrial scale the DX technology is
the latest and shining example of Dubal tech-
nologies implemented:
1. Very fast track from development to
industrial deployment: the first five test pots
were started at 320 kA in the fourth quarter
of 2005. Potline 8 of Dubal, a demonstration
line of 40 DX pots, was commissioned at 340
kA at the Jebel Ali smelter in February 2008.
Phase 1 of the Emal smelter in Abu Dhabi,
comprising 756 DX pots, was started at 350
kA on 1 December 2009, four months ahead
of schedule.
2. A development programme that went
beyond expectations: started at 320 kA, the
five test pots reached 355 kA, the maximum
amperage that the booster groups could de-
liver. In 25 months, potline 8 amperage was
brought from 340 to 375 kA, achieving world
class performances. Emal, whose potline 2 is
fully commissioned and whose potline 1 has
238 pots in operation, has achieved excellent
technical performances since the very begin-
ning of commissioning.
3. A technology deployment that is fully
supported by a set of adequate services: to-
tally documented technology in a comprehen-
sive technology package; pot control system
and potline management system included; full
scale training programmes for all personnel;
technical support in engineering, construction
and operation; and other supports tailor-made
to each specific project.
The DX pot technology was modelled and
validated for optimum electrical, thermal and
magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) balance using
in-house developed models, using the ANSYS
platform.
Process information
Embracing ever changing technological solu-
tions, Dubal keeps its process information
system at the forefront.
The Dubal Cell Control Unit (DCCU) was
developed in 2005 and since then has been
further enhanced to allow additional function-
alities. It has four basic functions: to monitor
and to control pot parameters, to record data
and to transmit data to the host computer.
Each DCCU can control two cells. The DCCU
has proved to be operationally stable even
through the very hot and humid summer
months. It is user-friendly, can be upgraded
and is easy to replace, if necessary. This has
helped in reducing Dubals operating cost.
DCCUs are already installed on 1,185
pots at Dubal and at Dubal licensed smelters.
A phased programme will eventually see all
of the 1,573 pots of Dubal being controlled
by DCCUs.
Fig. 1: Evolution of Dubal technology Diagrams: Dubal
Parameter
Period
Jun 08
to Sep 08
Oct 08
to Feb 09
Mar 09
to Jul 09
Aug 09
to Feb 10
Mar 10
to Sep 10
2010 YTD
Amperage (kA) 352.8 360.3 365.2 370.0 375.0 373.9
Production
(kg / pd)
2745 2779 2797 2837 2861 2858
Real current
efficiency (%)
96.6 95.8 95.1 95.2 94.7 94.9
Specific energy
(kWh / kg Al)
12.97 12.94 13.01 13.05 13.19 13.15
Volts per cell (V) 4.20 4.16 4.15 4.17 4.19 4.19
Metal purity
(% Al)
99.91 99.93 99.93 99.94 99.93 99.93
Anode Effect
Freq. (AE / pd)
0.037 0.020 0.015 0.018 0.015 0.016
Total Fluorides
(roof + stack)
0.34 0.36 0.23 0.21 0.19 0.19
PFC Emis-
sions CO
2
Eq
(mt / mtAl)
(computed)
0.020 0.013 0.023 0.012 0.009 0.009
Table 1: Potline performance
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Certainly.
Web-based Potline Online Terminal System
(iPOTS): iPOTS is a web based Graphical User
Interface (GUI) programme, developed with
point-and-click interface for ease of use. It pro-
vides a graphical picture of the different activi-
ties and status of the pots and of the statistics of
the entire potline. Parameter can be changed
either for a single pot, for multiple pots, for
a section of pots or for the complete potline.
iPOTS provides historical data and real time
graphical trend of key control parameters and
makes these available on a cell basis.
Web-based Reduction Plant Monitoring
System (iRPMS): iRPMS was conceived and
set up in-house in 1995, and since then it has
progressed to be the well-developed, stable
system it currently is. iRPMS is a web based
online data collection, processing, reporting
and archival system, developed on the Ora-
cle platform. It meets the online, day-to-day,
weekly, monthly and long-term data reporting
requirements of potlines.
The system is flexible and any new re-
quirement is easily programmed. The iRPMS
interfaces with the DCCUs, iPots, CPMS
(Carbon Plant Monitoring System) as well
as other support services like laboratory, hot
metal weighbridge, sales order processing
system, power station, etc. Over 150 custom-
ised reports, graphs and data entry forms are
available in iRPMS. The information serves to
fine-tune cell operation. Tools like the Oracle
browser enable the users to extract archived
data for a detailed statistical analysis.
DX potline 8 performance
The DX potline (potline 8) commenced op-
erations in February 2008 at an amperage of
340 kA. The last cell was started in May 2008.
Potline amperage has been stepped up from
340 to 380 kA (Oct 2010), that is 40 kA more
in quite a short period. Simultaneous efforts
adopted the process to ensure a good energy
efficiency as well as low environmental impact.
To achieve the increase of 40 kA in amperage
required only the following changes: increase
in anode size (2% increase in cross-sectional
area), thinner anode top cover and increase
in off-gas suction rate.
Potline 8 has so far exceeded all expecta-
tions: it is presently operating at an amperage
of 380 kA and is achieving excellent operating
efficiencies. Low investment cost per tonne of
aluminium produced makes it even more at-
tractive.
Table 1 summarises the Key Performance
Indices (KPIs) of the potline for the period
June 2008 to May 2009. November 2008 data
have been excluded from the performance
Parameter
Period
Jun 08
to Sep 08
Oct 08
to Feb 09
Mar 09
to May 09
Sep 09
to Feb 10
Wk 30 to
38 - 2010
Amperage (kA) 352.8 360.3 364.5 370.0 375.1
Production (kg / pd) 2730 2776 2807 2840 2876
Real current efficiency (%) 96.1 95.7 95.6 95.3 95.2
Specific energy (kWh / kg Al) 13.04 12.95 12.92 13.04 13.14
Volts per cell (V) 4.20 4.16 4.15 4.17 4.20
Metal purity (%Al) 99.91 99.93 99.93 99.94 99.93
Anode effect freq. (AE / pd) 0.037 0.020 0.017 0.018 0.016
Total fluorides (roof + stack) 0.34 0.36 0.22 0.20 0.19
PFC emissions CO
2
Eq
(mt / mtAl) (computed)
0.020 0.013 0.013 0.011 0.007
Table 2: Potline performances excluding periods of disturbed power supply
Fig. 2: Current efficiency (%)
Fig. 3: Specific energy consumption (kWh/kg Al)
A L U m i n i U m s m e L T i n G i n D U s T R Y s P e c i A L
evaluation due to the impact of an important
power outage incident during the early part
of the month. The performance data has been
split into five periods based on amperage lev-
els (350 to 355 kA, 360 kA, 365 kA, 370 kA
and 375 kA).
Table 1 shows potline 8 performance from
June 2008 to September 2010. It must be
noted that important works on the substation
which generates major power supplies have
disturbed the performance in 2010, especially
in the later part. Even under these conditions,
current efficiency, energy consumption, metal
quality and pot emissions remained at a first-
in-class level. These KPIs and the conditions
under which they were achieved show the ro-
bustness of the DX technology, and they prove
its capability to operate over a very wide span
of amperage
Table 2 shows the very high performance
of the DX with stable amperage supply, when
the current efficiency never went below
95%.
Current efficiency has been kept above
95% during all stabilised periods (Fig. 2). Al-
though amperage has increased drastically,
specific energy has always stayed at excellent
levels since October 2008 (Fig. 3). Except for
the initial period, anode effect frequency has
been below 0.020 per day from October 2008
onwards; average anode effect duration has
always been less than 60 seconds and usually
less than 25 seconds, so delivering very low
PFCs emissions (Fig. 4). This, combined with
the fluoride emissions, makes the DX a very
environment-friendly technology.
emal and Dubal support to emal
Emal (Emirates Aluminium) is a 50/50 joint
venture between Mubadala of Abu Dhabi and
Dubal. Emal owns a smelter at Al Taweelah in
the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
With a nominal capacity of 740,000 tpy
for the project phase 1, it is so far the largest
greenfield smelter project ever. The smelter
aims to become one of the largest smelters in
the world after completion of phase 2, which
should bring its capacity up to 1.4m tpy.
Phase 1 comprises 2 potlines of 378 DX
pots each, that is a total of 756 DX pots. It is
already being commissioned and in Novem-
ber 2010 140 pots were yet to be commis-
sioned before reaching full capacity.
The project has been executed following a
fast track schedule. The notice to proceed was
given in December 2007. One month later the
first pile was set. Nine months later, in October
2008, the first structural steel was installed in
the potroom. The first pot was then started 13
months later on the 1 December 2009.
The first potline to start was potline 2.
Table 3, which shows the KPIs of the pots of
line 2 that are older than 56 days, proves that
the smelter reached excellent technical per-
formances very soon. It is to be noted that the
substation design at present limits the amper-
age of Emal to 350 kA.
As industrial partner of Emal, Dubal has
developed a comprehensive set of services and
has dedicated tremendous efforts to support
of Emal, acting both as a partner and as a
service provider. The services supplied cover
almost all the smelter activities and are very
precious in the early days of any company:
supply services and marketing services agree-
ment, secondment agreement, technology
license agreement (license, comprehensive
technology package, training, support mis-
sions) and technical service agreement (any
service not covered by the other agreements
and agreed by both parties).
Staff training receives special emphasis. A
total of 700 employees have been trained at
Dubal in all fields of smelter operations. Many
of these staff have trained and worked as op-
erators for about a year at Dubal so that they
could gain adequate experience before taking
their position at Emal.
conclusion
Developments in the past few years have
witnessed Dubal capacity growing to 1m tpy
with in-house developed technologies. The
DX technology is presently operating at 380
kA. The performances of the technology place
it at the very best level of commercially avail-
able technologies today. It stays at the fore-
front of greenfield expansion projects, such as
Emal in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The DX technology is supported by a full set
of services. Needless to say, they are backed
up by a trained, dedicated and knowledgeable
workforce.
Author
Marc de Zelicourt is currently the general manager
of Technology Development and Transfer of Dubal.
Contact: zelicourt@dubal.ae
Fig. 4: Anode effect frequency
Table 3: Emal potline 2 KPIs, with regard to pots older than 56 days
KPI Unit YTD September 2010
Amperage kA 350.2
Current efficiency % 95.8
Net voltage per pot V 4.22
Net specific energy kWh / kg Al 13.12
Anode effect frequency AE / pot / day 0.11
Metal purity % Al 99.87
Pots operating at period end Number 378
Aluminium production begins with baux-
ite, a clay-like ore with high aluminium
oxide content. In the refinery caustic soda
dissolves alumina out of the bauxite using
the Bayer process. Based on this proc-
ess, the alumina production can be split
into a red side and a white side. FLS-
midth offers equipment for both process
areas. This article highlights and details
the equipment available from FLSmidth
from classification to the electrolytic cells.
This comprehensive palette of equipment
ensures the complete control of alumina
quality.
Digestion and clarification are the main proc-
ess stages of the red side, which takes its col-
our from iron oxide. Bauxite is crushed and
ground before being mixed with hot caustic
soda. Under pressure and heat, the available
alumina dissolves from this slurry in digestion
vessels. The dissolved alumina is separated
from the red mud residue by clarifiers and
filtered to remove remaining fine particles
(security filtration). The red mud is washed
caustic free in a series of thickeners and de-
posited, generally as waste. FLSmidth offers
equipment for the complete bauxite handling,
storage, crushing and grinding, red mud clari-
fication / washing processes, and for liquor se-
curity filtration.
The white side starts with the extraction
of dissolved alumina hydrate and continues
through the precipitation, classification and fil-
tration steps. Hydrate classification by hydro-
cyclones consists of sedimentation in several
particle size classes. The finer particles are
recycled to seed the precipitation stage. The
coarser alumina production hydrate is washed
and partially dried prior to the calcination
process, where final drying and calcinations
takes place to produce smelter grade alumina,
the feedstock for smelters. In the smelter the
alumina is first conveyed to gas treatment cen-
tres where it cleans the off gas, before finally
recycling the emissions to the electrolytic cells
which produce aluminium. FLSmidth offers
equipment for calcination and alumina han-
dling from refinery to the smelter site and for
alumina handling in the smelter area.
Hydrate classification by hydro-
cyclones and (fine seed) thickeners
Hydrocyclones use centrifugal force to sort
precipitate particles into size classes and to
separate these from the liquid phase. They
combine high efficiency, outstanding flexibil-
ity, simple operation and low maintenance.
Together with their modest space or installa-
tion requirements, they are the main advan-
tages and features of hydrocyclones.
The gMAX Cyclone (Fig. 1) design of
FLSmidths Krebs brand includes new mod-
ern (and patented) inlet head as well as cone
and apex designs which substantially enhance
performance. FLSmidth Krebs gMAX cyclones
are available in a segmented design consisting
of housing sections (available in different ma-
terials of construction) and liner sections, pro-
viding long and economic wear life. The easily
replaceable and interchangeable liner sections
are one inch (25 mm) thick elastomers or ce-
ramic compositions. FLSmidth Krebs gMAX
cyclones are also available in moulded poly-
urethane design as an option to the housed cy-
clones with exchangeable liners. The hydrocy-
clone inlet and the conical sections have been
modified to minimise turbulence and improve
separation efficiency, resulting in sharper par-
ticle size separations, the possibility of operat-
ing at substantial higher feed densities and at
the same time providing increased wear life.
Benefits are:
Possibility to operate at substantially
higher feed densities and overflow densities
Finer, sharper particle separations at
high capacities
Fewer hydrocyclones needed for optimal
performance
FLsmidth one source for advanced
solutions for alumina in refineries and smelters
T. Letz, B. Raahauge, m. Bach and R. oberroiter, FLsmidth group
Fig. 1: FLSmidth Krebs hydrocyclones Photos: FLSmidth
Fig. 2: FLSmidth Dorr Oliver Eimco fine seed thick-
eners
Operation at lower hydrocyclone inlet
pressures, so saving energy and increasing
lifetime of cyclone and pump
Replaceable liners
Easy to replace existing installations.
Fine hydrate (seed)
precipitate thickeners
FLSmidth Dorr-Oliver Eimco fine seed thick-
eners have been designed to cope with the
severe duty conditions and heavy scaling
properties of the feed material. CableTorq
Thickeners (Fig. 2) especially designed for this
application are being used. This is a unique de-
sign which combines a number of advantages
to the user by way of reduced maintenance
and efficient operation. The rakes have the
unique ability of reacting automatically to
heavy sludge conditions.
Benefits are:
Requires lower torque capacity because of
reduced drag
Automatically protects against overload
by rising to a level of less torque
Blades keep proper raking efficiency even
when the rake arms are in lifted position
As rakes clear overload, raking arm
returns smoothly to original position
Minimises island formation because of the
smooth pipe design of the rake arm
Tolerates temporary surges in solids input
The torque arm is clear of the heavy
thickened hydrate zone, thus minimising
the torque requirements for the drive
Pipe rake arm design minimises scale
formation, reducing dead load on centre
mechanism
Each arm lifts independently for efficient
continuous sludge discharge.
Fine and coarse
seed filtration on disk filters
The FLSmidth Dorr Oliver Eimco large diam-
eter, high capacity disc filter is the state-of-
the-art filter to remove coarse and fine seed
in the precipitation circuit. It produces a damp
cake of aluminium hydrate to seed another
cycle of precipitation.
Benefits are:
HiFlow hydraulic design for highest
filtration capacity and lowest cake moisture
Reliable cake discharge by advanced blow
back design
Large diameter discs and high rotating
speed
Multiple discs with multi-channel design
Optimum slurry agitation by discs running
in multiple low volume troughs
Quick and simple disc replacement
Improved sector and rim fixing system
resulting in proven long-term mechanical
and operational reliability
Extended cloth life time due to modern
sector design and improved cloth cleaning
features.
coarser hydrate (product)
filtration on horizontal pan filters
The FLSmidth Dorr Oliver Eimco horizontal
pan filter (Fig. 3) is a continuous vacuum filter
providing a circular filtration surface (pan)
rotating in a horizontal plane for economic
filtration, including highest cake washing and
drying efficiency. FLSmidth provides more
than 60 years experience in this field, and
has proven superior performance in countless
installations in the alumina industry and vari-
ous other applications.
Benefits are:
Advanced filtration rates, combined with
the most efficient counter current washing
technology
Enhanced product hydrate characteristics
achieved through heel cake filtration
Advanced self-control features
Lowest cake moisture achieved by
vacuum steam drying technology
Cake builds up evenly through special
uniform slurry distribution device
Highest filter productivity due to extended
operation cycles
Friendly design for preventative
maintenance.
Alumina production in
gas suspension calciners
Calcining converts
the coarse hydrate
from the pan filters
into alumina for
smelters. Smelters
need a coarser alu-
mina particle size
to filter and clean
emissions from the
pots, and so recycle
fluorides with the
alumina additions to
the bath.
The gas suspen-
sion calciners devel-
oped by FLSmidth
comprise the worlds
Fig. 3: FLSmidth Dorr Oliver Eimco pan filter
Fig. 4: FLSmidth gas suspension calciner
largest installations (Fig. 4). The main focus
has been to minimise particle breakdown and
to ensure high reliability, availability, and low
operational costs.
Benefits are:
Operation below ambient pressure
Calcination in one furnace pass only,
without recirculation of partly calcined
alumina
Four direct heat recovery stages
Hot stand-by operation without alumina
production
Minimum down time for maintenance
Safe on-line maintainability
Minimising particle breakdown
Low thermal energy consumption, CO
2
-
emission, and heat lost to the cooling water
Maximum service life of refractory due to
minimum thermal shock.
Alumina handling
from refinery to smelter
After calcination, the alumina is generally
transported via traditional trough-type belt
conveyor or fully enclosed pipe conveyor to
the storage silos.
FLSmidth pipe conveyors (Fig. 5), using
the Koch technology, offer forward-looking
conveying solutions. With their special design,
they ensure high availability and low invest-
ment costs as well as a perfect protection for
both material and environment.
Benefits are:
Dust and spillage free transportation
Low noise emissions
Inclines up to 30
Horizontal and vertical curves with
minimum radii of up to 45 metres
Axial spacings of 8 km and more without
transfer stations
Low power consumption
Simultaneous conveying of different
materials in both directions
Multiple feeding and discharge points.
silos
FLSmidth storage silos with Mller technology
have been installed with a capacity of up to
85,000 tonnes. Special distribution systems
on top of and inside the silos ensure low sepa-
ration of the finest particles (anti-segregation)
during the silo feeding processes. To minimise
energy consumption the airslide systems for
reclaiming / discharge are provided with dif-
ferent aeration areas which are only fluidised
one after the other. Reliable Mller flow con-
trol valves at the silo discharge are followed
by airslide or other conveying systems to the
ship loader at the port area.
Benefits are:
Anti-segregation filling and discharge
equipment
Absolutely uniform withdrawal of alumina
Very even lowering of material level
inside the silo during discharge
Easy arrangement of the silo bottom
Low air (blower) requirement.
For truck or wagon transport of the alumina
from the refinery to the smelter, FLSmidth also
offers proven truck or wagon loading stations
with Mller design and equipment.
Alumina handling in the smelter
Whether alumina is transported to the smelter
by ship, truck or wagon, FLSmidth provides
comprehensive solutions.
Based on the experience of FLSmidths
Kovako and Docksider brands (Fig. 6), new
standard models of ship unloader have been
developed that represent common combina-
tions of capacities versus ship sizes and plat-
forms (e. g. trailer, gantry and skid mounted
units). As a result, FLSmidth can offer stand-
ard unloader models, ranging from road mo-
bile units with a capacity of 170 t/h for 5,000
DWT ships, up to gantry mounted unloaders
of 1,000 t/h capacity for 80,000 DWT ships.
Alumina transported by truck or wagon to
smelter side can be pneumatically unloaded,
or else dumped in receiving bunkers to be
conveyed to the storage silos. For all these
applications Mller technology is available.
For the storage of alumina at the dock area
near the smelter, or
directly in the smelter
area as described
above, FLSmidth uses
Mller technology to
ensure a constant alu-
mina quality along
the process chain.
Wherever feasi-
ble, FLSmidth uses
pressure vessels
dense phase convey-
ing systems incorpo-
rating the patented
Mller Turbuflow
pipe. This operates
at low velocities and
Fig. 5: FLSmidth Koch pipe conveyor
Fig. 6: FLSmidth ship unloader
high material / air rates, resulting in low energy
consumption. This kind of low velocity, dense
phase conveying system also means lower lev-
els of wear and tear, and so avoids frequent
disruptive and costly maintenance work. Tur-
buflow dense phase conveying systems have
been on the market for over 20 years. The
principle is a conveying pipe with an inner
bypass pipe. This ingenious but simple design
prevents bulk and air separation during pneu-
matic conveying. Benefits are:
Slow, and therefore low wear, movement
of the alumina
No blockages, re-start always possible
with a full pipe
Low maintenance and high reliability
Highly efficient conveying process
Reduced air requirement, therefore
smaller compressors and filters
Low energy requirements
Self-regulating flow rate, no additional
valves along the pipe.
Of course, FLSmidth also provides pressure
vessel systems with standard pipes or continu-
ous working screw pump conveying systems
with Mller technology. The right choice of
the conveying system will always be according
to the actual requirements.
Airlift
Another pneumatic conveying application
of FLSmidth is the Mller airlift for vertical
transportation of alumina. This airlift does not
use any mechanical or drive elements, and it is
therefore not subject to wear of such elements.
Most common is the use of Mller airlifts in
the gas treatment centres, where they convey
fresh alumina to be processed in the gas treat-
ment centre respectively fluorinated alumina
leaving the reduction gas treatment centre.
Benefits are:
Vertical conveying up to 800 t/h
Conveying heights more than 100 metres
Maintenance-free (no rotating parts)
High reliability
Low specific energy consumption
Completely dust-free operation
Compact, space-saving design
Very low wear.
The fluorinated alumina from the gas treat-
ment centre is stored in silos near the pot-
room. Most modern aluminium smelters now
use closed pot feeding systems (instead of
former crane feeding) to transport the fluori-
nated alumina to the electrolytic cells. This
development is an advantage both as regards
cost (crane size, material loss, operation, man-
power and maintenance) and environmen-
tal (dust emission) aspects. FLSmidth offers
two solutions of the Mller direct pot feeding
system (Fig. 7). The first combines of Mller
Turbuflow dense phase from the silo to inter-
mediate bins at the electrolytic cells with the
Mller Fluidflow pipe airslide to the electro-
lytic cells. The second uses complete transport
via the Fluidflow pipe airslide. Both are prov-
en transport methods which ensure a smooth,
constant and reliable feeding of the ore bun-
kers of the electrolytic cells.
Benefits are:
Self-regulating and continuous feeding of
ore bunkers
Absolutely dust-free operation
No generation of fine particles
No segregation
No scaling
Lowest possible (over) pressure
No pressure-tight sealing of the
electrolytic cell
Minimised energy consumption
Minimised maintenance work.
summary
FLSmidth is able to offer a comprehensive
range of equipment and systems from the wet
stages in the alumina refinery to the ore bun-
kers of the electrolytic cells in the smelter. The
companys One Source strategy is based on
high expertise in all the various fields of this
process chain. The close co-operation of the
different brands in the FLSmidth group en-
sures an optimum in design for the client.
FLSmidth is already working closely with
clients around the world to offer complete
package solutions. This will reduce overall
project costs, minimise battery limit problems
and ensure a constant alumina quality level.
Authors
Timo Letz is head of the Aluminium Division Sales
& Project Department of FLSmidth Mller GmbH,
based in Pinneberg, Germany.
Benny Raahauge is general manager, Alumina
Technology of FLSmidth A/S, based in Copenha-
gen, Denmark.
Manfred Bach is sales manager Alumina, FLSmidth
GmbH, based in Walluf, Germany.
Roland Oberroither is sales director of FLSmidth
Krebs GmbH, based in Neusiedl am See, Austria.
Contact: Timo.Letz@FLSmidth.com, Benny.Raa-
hauge@FLSmidth.com, Manfred.Bach@FLSmidth.
com, Roland.Oberroither@FLSmidth.com
Fig. 7: FLSmidth Mller direct pot feeding system installed at Dubal Photo: Dubal
In open-top carbon bake furnaces, the

flue end baffles serve to maintain the
exhaust draft by sealing the flue openings
at the ends of each firing section, ahead
of the exhaust manifold. Their critical
function is to separate the flues in the
section being fired from the remainder of
the furnace. Flue end seals must not only
remain flexible so as to block air flow,
but must also be stiff enough so that they
can be installed correctly in the flue. They
are inserted into the flue through an open
exhaust port in front of the exhaust mani-
fold. Unlike conventional flue end seals,
these mechanical seals are adjustable and
do not depend on the draft to hold them
in place. This adjustable design provides a
better seal because it adapts better to fit
misaligned refractory.
Carbon bake customers can suffer disturbanc-
es to their processing operations through loss
of sealing. The flue openings ahead of the ex-
haust manifold must be completely sealed to
maintain the necessary draft. Without this seal,
hot exhaust gases from the heated sections on
their way to the scrubber system become di-
luted with cold air. This air increases the load
on the exhaust fans, which must maintain an
adequate draft for the fire.
Over time, the refractory may crack and
shift, causing distortion throughout the fur-
nace. Due to misaligned flues, broken brick
and shifted ports, sealing this opening becomes
more difficult. This gas leakage past the flue
seal decreases the efficiency of the baking
process. Better sealing brings various opera-
tional benefits, such as:
Closer control of fuel to air ratio
Closer control of temperature and of tem-
perature distribution within the flue walls
Improved combustion of pitch volatiles,
leading to less pitch build-up in the ring main
Less pitch carry-over into the waste gas
system
Lower opacity, reduced emissions and EPA
issues
Reduced natural gas usage
Improved flue wall life, due to
better temperature control cre-
ating less pitch volatiles
Reduced maintenance on
scrubber, since it is not working
as hard: less rpm on fans, bear-
ings, etc.
Better bag life in the waste gas
scrubbers
Improvements in anode densi-
ty and conductivity help reduce
dusting in the electrolytic cell and
raise reduction efficiency, which in turn results
in dramatic electrical energy savings.
Essentially there are two types of flue end
seals available: mechanical / adjustable seals
and conventional flat seals, both of which are
manufactured and refurbished by Pyrotek.
Commonly they employ a consumable silicon
coated / impregnated fibre glass (FG) cloth at-
tached to a frame.
The choice of a flue end seal depends on
several parameters:
on the size and shape of the headwall opening
through which the flue end seal is inserted
on the type of flue end seal specified with
the furnace when new
and on the calculation of the total cost of
ownership (TOC).
This calculation compares the initial cost
of the flue end seal with the losses associated
with air leakage from items on the list pro-
vided earlier in this article.
The conventional type flue end baffle seals
are made with a board or aluminium flat spine
attached to a locating handle.
Silicon coated / impregnated FG cloth is at-
tached to the spine, and the cloth is held in
place by the suction of the draft. As an addi-
tion, to counteract the shortfalls of the con-
ventional flue end baffle seal, some carbon
bake plants use the inflatable flue seal. This
device features an inflatable bladder and My-
lar material-faced aramid cloth. The joints are
sewn and silicon coated. Since the bladder is
not completely impervious, the inflatable seal
also requires a dedicated control panel and a
plant air supply regulated to maximum 25 kPa.
A relief valve is incorporated to prevent over-
inflation. This system achieves rapid inflation
and deflation.
The mechanical adjustable / bladder type flue
end baffle seals incorporate an expandable
aluminium frame, a steel centre rod, and a
silicon coated / impregnated FG cloth.
The rod is adjusted using either a screw
handle, a caulking gun actuator or a welded
nut for use with a cordless drill. These features
enable operators to easily adjust the width of
the seal to fit any opening in the furnace. These
seals can be first placed into position, then ad-
justed to fit the width of the space. Their heavy
duty construction employs light-weight materi-
als and so they are notably easier for operators
to handle and fit, which reduces overall instal-
lation time. These adjustable flue end baffle
seals are now replacing conventional designs
due to their process advantages, including par-
ticularly easy installation and effective sealing,
first time, and every time. A very important
practical factor is that these components will
work on both old and new furnaces, and that
they have been proven in extensive practical
process applications.
Components of both types of flue end baf-
fles are routinely refurbished by the Pyrotek
team to reduce costs to the customer. A range
of carbon bake customers use this service, and
the typical work involved is reflected in the
contract with a leading customer in Australia.
Once refurbishment is complete, the baffles
are delivered back to the customer site on a
just-in-time, Kanban delivery basis to keep
the customer supplied with a continuous stock
of good parts.
Pyrotek continues to receive excellent
feedback from customers regarding perform-
ance of their flue end baffle seals, but the ad-
justable, mechanical flue end seals have some
obvious advantages that have resulted in cus-
tomers adopting them as the standard.
Pyrotek mechanical flue end baffles
boost performance in carbon bake furnaces
Flue end baffle Photo: Pyrotek
Planung, Konstruktion und Aus-
fhrung von Industrieofenanlagen
41238 Mnchengladbach
Telefon +49(0) 2166/ 987990
Telefax +49(0) 2166/ 987996
E-mail info@inotherm-gmbh.de
Internet www.inotherm-gmbh.de
Konstantinstrae 1a
5th Middle East Aluminium Conference
14-16 March 2011
The Westin Hotel, Dubai, UAE
Working towards becoming the leading hub
in the global aluminium market
Supported by: Organised by:
Featuring key presentations from:
Michael Widmer,
Metals Strategist,
Bank of America-Merril Lynch
Laurent Schmitt,
CEO, Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (ALBA)
Henk Pauw,
CEO, Sohar Aluminium
Adel Hamad,
CEO, Gulf Aluminium Rolling Co.
Khalid Abdul Moneim,
GM, ALUPCO
Book and pay before 7th December and save $400.
Call today on +971 (0) 4 390 0699 or email
events@meed.com for more information
www.meed.com/events/aluminium
Attend to hear key updates from the region, downstream
development, and real-time sentiments from the market,
including opportunities and challenges ahead.
Outotec is a worldwide technology leader
in mineral and metal processing, provid-
ing innovative and environmentally sound
solutions for a wide variety of custom-
ers in the mineral processing, iron and
steel, aluminium and non-ferrous metals
industries. The company has set up a glo-
bal network of sales and service centres
located in Europe and Russia, the Ameri-
cas, South Africa, India, China and Aus-
tralia. At its Cologne office in Germany,
the Outotec team is engaged in the design
and engineering of plants and equipment
for carbon anode production for primary
aluminium smelters, in particular green
anode plants as well as anode and carbon
raw materials handling systems, and car-
bon scrap recycling plants. The company
has supplied these plants to many custom-
ers all over the world, including a green
anode plant and carbon scrap crushing
facility for the Emal smelter.
For the anode manufacturing plant at the Emal
smelter in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Outotec was
awarded the contract to design and construct
the green anode manufacturing plant and car-
bon scrap crushing facility on an EPC basis.
Our delivery with a value exceeding 100
million euros was one of the smelters major
lump-sum turnkey packages, says Manfred
Beilstein, director sales and process at Outo-
tecs Cologne location. The order was received
in July 2007, and the plant was handed over
successfully in December 2010.
The anode plant produces green anode
blocks from calcined petroleum coke and
recycled green and baked anode scrap, with
coal tar pitch added as a binder, in a fully au-
Outotec Design and engineering from special machines to turnkey green anode plants
The developing countries are calling the tune
tomated process. After grading, proportioning
and preheating, the carbon materials are con-
tinuously mixed with binder pitch to produce
a homogenous paste before being moulded
into green anode blocks on vibrocompacting
machines simply known as vibrocompactors.
The moulded blocks are then cooled in a water
cooling system.
After baking, these anode blocks, are con-
sumed in the reduction lines for producing
aluminium metal.
The Emal green anode plant has two anode
production lines, each rated at 50 t/h capac-
ity, along with a crushing plant for recycled
carbon materials. Ancillary facilities, including
the calcined coke and liquid pitch unloading
and storage system, HTF heating system, plant
operation centre and production control labo-
ratory are part of the scope of the delivery.
Innovative technologies, such as RTO (regen-
erative thermal oxidisation) for pitch fume
treatment are being employed, as the best
available technology for this purpose.
The cologne site: technology
centre for the green anode sector
Outotec GmbH in Cologne concentrates on
the green anode sector, i. e. on the production
of unbaked anodes. The subsequent produc-
tion steps, namely the anode baking plant
and the associated fume treatment are not
included in Outotecs production programme,
but the rodding shop after them certainly is.
The equipment for this is processed both in
Cologne and in the sister-company in Burling-
ton, Canada. Whereas Burlington is the centre
for rodding shop technology, Cologne is the
technology centre for the green anode sector.
The two sectors collaborate closely.
As a technology partner for the primary
aluminium industry, Outotec Cologne con-
centrates on the construction, engineering and
design of plant and equipment. Outotec has
a mechanical engineering facility of its own
in Finland. The team in Cologne sometimes
has recourse to this, but is also free to work
with other mechanical engineering companies.
Their colleagues in Burlington also carry out
mechanical engineering for ingot casting ma-
chines in the casthouse, including small and
large ingots weighing 20 to 750 kg. In Burl-
ington equipment for the treatment of spent
potlining (SPL) is also produced.
Outotecs plant manufacturing business is
of course international in scope, but in Europe
new aluminium smelters have no longer been
built for a long time. As is known, the reason
for this is the high cost of energy. However,
even from North and South America and Af-
rica there is hardly any impetus at present.
The developing countries are now calling
the tune, particularly in the Middle East, In-
dia, China, and to some extent also Russia,
stresses Mr Beilstein.
However, not all these growth regions of-
fer equal chances for building complete green
anode plants on a turnkey basis. In the past
few years, besides the plant for Emal Outotec
has delivered two such plants to India: one
in each of the years 2006 and 2008 for the
Vedanta smelter in Jharsuguda in the Federal
State of Orissa, which has since increased the
capacity for green anodes there to 4 x 35 t/h.
In both cases the output corresponded to that
of the green anode plant that Outotec deliv-
ered in 2003 for Bharat Aluminium Co. Ltd
(Balco) at Korba in the State of Chattisgarh:
Green anode plant at Emal, Abu Dhabi, UAE Photos: Outotec
machines and aggregates for coke and butts
processing, two liquid pitch storage tanks, an
HTM system, a ball mill system, a proportion-
ing system, a preheater, paste mixing, anode
forming, an anode cooling conveyor and an
automation system.
In contrast, such major plant projects hard-
ly ever arise in China. The aluminium smelt-
ers and associated anode factories are built by
domestic plant manufacturers, and only se-
lected machines are purchased abroad for rea-
sons of know-how and quality, explains Mr
Beilstein. For example, this applies to Outotec
vibrocompactors for green anodes, cathodes
and electrodes, which account for a substantial
part of day-to-day business in Cologne.
Over the past four decades the company
has sold more than 100 vibrocompactors all
over the world. During that period the ma-
chines have been continually technically im-
proved, and are noted for great operational
reliability and availability. Since they are
ultimately a bottleneck in any anode fac-
tory: if one such machine breaks down, the
entire operation soon grinds to a halt. These
machines are made customer-specific in terms
of shape and dimension of anode blocks as
well as production capacity: as sliding table,
turntable or tandem vibrocompactors with
capacities of 32 to 60 blocks per hour; the lat-
ter having a capacity of up to 150 blocks per
hour in the case of smaller block dimensions
so that two or three anodes can be produced
simultaneously on one vibrating table. Today,
Outotec is the market leader in the application
of vacuum during vibrocompacting, after hav-
ing pioneered this technology for vibrocom-
pacting of carbon blocks more than 30 years
ago. The advantages of this vacuum technol-
ogy are: anodes can be formed at higher paste
temperatures; there is no need for intermedi-
ate paste cooling; increased apparent density
and reduced binder pitch level.
The most recently delivered Outotec Vi-
brocompactor for green anodes (type 3 x slid-
ing table) went to China in 2010: to Yunnan
Yuanxin Carbon in Jianshui. Similar units
were sold in 2008 to China (Huanghe Hydro-
power in Xining, Qinghai), Argentina (Aluar
Aluminio, Puerto Madryn) and India (Vedanta
II, Jharsuguda, Orissa).
With its vibrating compactors for cathodes
and electrodes Outotec is at least as success-
ful. In the past years the company supplied
several such units to China, two have only
recently been delivered and accepted, and
the company has a number of projects in
the pipeline, as mentioned by Mr Beilstein.
Meanwhile the Middle Kingdom has built up
a relatively large capacity of its own for cath-
odes, including their graphitisation. Whereas
manufacturers of cathode blocks in the West
mainly use the cost-intensive process of extru-
sion pressing, China has meanwhile changed
completely to vibrocompacting.
Using the same Outotec Vibrocompactor
various carbon block shapes can be produced:
two short cathode blocks simultaneously or a
single cathode block up to a length of 4,000
mm or amorphous carbon and graphite elec-
trodes up to a diameter of 1,300 mm and a
length of 3,300 mm. The Outotec vibrocom-
pacting technology features resilient vibrating
table support with the benefit of distinctly
reduced dynamic foundation loads so that no
special foundation is required. In addition it
also reduces noise emissions and offers an ex-
tended lifetime compared to rubber or steel
springs and rubber bellows which are individu-
ally replaceable. However, the contract value
of such equipment amounts to several million
euros.
For the aluminium smelter in Mostar Ou-
totec is currently working on a contract for
the supply of two machines for the rodding
shop. One will serve to replace an outdated
thimble removal press for removing the cast
iron thimbles from the stub ends of anode
rods. The second machine, a stub straighten-
ing press, serves to straighten the (outer) stubs,
which warp in the course of time because of
the different thermal expansion coefficients of
steel and carbon. Until now, there has been
no such machine at Aluminij, the stubs have
to date been sawn off and new ones welded
on again. This machine will reduce operating
costs in the rodding shop and will soon pay
for themselves. Their delivery is scheduled for
the first half-year of 2011, says Mr Beilstein.
With Aluminij Outotec is consolidating a
partnership collaboration that has lasted many
years. When the smelter resumed operation in
1997 Outotec at first received some smaller
contracts for modernising the plant. Later, it
took over the role of general contractor for
the reconstruction and modernisation of the
anode production shop and the baking furnace
the latter, an activity which the company
does not normally undertake. Outotec slipped
into the role of general contractor because of
its close business relationship with the cus-
Outotec Vibrocompactor for green anodes
Outotec Hydraulic Anode Crusher
tomer and because a Hermes-covered finance
scheme was required. For its part, the rebuild-
ing of the baking furnace was subcontracted
to the company Riedhammer, while gas puri-
fication was undertaken by Innovatherm. The
value addition by Outotec consists in project
management and engineering. From that time
until today a very reliable and intensive col-
laboration has been maintained, Mr Beilstein
says.
Besides the thimble removal press and the
stub straightening press, Outotec has in the
past supplied a pot shell straightening press to
Aluminij. This press is a customised machine
used for repairing used / deformed steel shells
from electrolysis cells (pots). With special
tools, it straightens the side and end walls of
the pot shell as well as the section between
the cradles. The press frame is made from a
structural plate in a hollow section design,
with jaws symmetrically arranged on both
ends, holding the pulling and pushing hydrau-
lic cylinders. Some of the special features of
the press are: six hydraulic cylinders; adjust-
able centring device; option to straighten a
wall also to the outside; individual straight-
ening of each wall; straightening of wall sec-
tions between cradles and operation with a
display panel or remote control.
more anodes needed due to the
output increase of electrolysis pots
In a discussion with this journal Mr Beilstein
made it clear that individual orders for spe-
cial machines are very important for Outotec:
Opportunities for a major plant do not come
every year, so we also need orders for indi-
vidual machines in order to maintain a con-
tinuous basic level of business activity. Units
such as the pot shell straightening press also
include the need for design work, so we are
kept busy in our technical office. In the context
of a new order each of these plants has to be
modified and adapted to suit the operational
situation at the customer: local standards, lo-
cal component suppliers, the anode dimen-
sions are always different, even the structure
of the machines varies in individual parts of
buildings.
The need for new and further developed
machines is more or less ever-present in the
aluminium industry not only in greenfield
projects, but even more so in the context of
modernising investments. Performance im-
provement is a central theme in every smelter.
Amperage is constantly being increased in order
to produce more metal; this brings a greater
demand for anodes, so the anode production
plant must also be extended and modernised,
explains Mr Beilstein.
This certainly applies to comprehensive
capacity enlargements such as that under-
taken by Aluar in Argentina. In recent years
the company increased its aluminium smelt-
ing capacity by more than 200,000 tpy to a
current 500,000 tpy.
To meet the demands of the growing
smelter, Outotec delivered a new cutting-edge
butt crushing plant to Aluar in 2008. Taking
into consideration the limited space available
at the butt crushing area, Outotec designed
a compact process building with a functional
two-step crushing solution for the crushing
of anode butts, all rejected scrap as well as
full-size green and baked anodes. The plants
nameplate capacity is 25 t/h producing a final
product size of < 45 mm.
The heart of a butt crushing plant is the
hydraulic anode crusher a facility weighing
approx. 70 tonnes in Outotec design, with a
feed rate per hour of 80 to 100 anode butts
or 22 to 25 entire anodes (up to 1,600 x 1,200
x 650 mm). About 95 percent of the product
obtained is < 200 mm; the remaining percent-
age ranges from 200 to 250 mm. The sturdy
heavy-duty design ensures a long operating life
of over 20 years. The Outotec anode crusher
can be combined with a butt removal press so
that stripped butts from the press fall directly
into the crusher. A costly conveyor between
the butt press and the primary crusher can
be avoided. Instead, the butt press will be in-
stalled on rails to be moved away for feeding
reject blocks to the crusher.
Outotecs most recent contracts from Aluar
concern the modernisation of a vibrocompac-
tor and the supply of an additional unit. Both
machines were handed over only recently, in
mid-November.
Prospects
Not even for Outotec have the past two years
been easy: like other industries the alumin-
ium sector was badly affected, aluminium
prices halved and many companies put their
investments on ice. Since then business has
reverted to normal, for Outotec as well. Cus-
tomer requests for new machines are increas-
ing again and Outotec is confident that 2011
will bring new projects to the Cologne site:
maybe not from Europe, but from the dynami-
cally developing regions of China, India, the
Middle East and Russia.
Anode baking furnace at Aluminij d.d. Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
outotec to deliver
technology to
maaden project

Outotec and Hatch, an unincorporated joint
venture, have been awarded a contract by
the Maaden Alcoa JV in Ras Az Zawr, Saudi
Arabia, to provide an integrated digestion
and evaporation facility to the aluminium
complex. The overall contract value is approx.
50 million euros, with roughly equal share
of the work between the two partners. The
delivery of the facility includes a technology
license, detailed engineering, procurement
support and construction support services.
Outotec and Hatch have jointly developed
and own the tube digestion and integrated
evaporation technologies to be installed at
the Ras Az Zawr alumina refinery. This plant
will have an initial alumina capacity of 1.8m
tpy, with first production expected in 2014.
The Maaden Alcoa project comprises a fully
integrated greenfield complex with bauxite
mine, alumina refinery, aluminium smelter
and can sheet rolling mill.
Febr0ary 27 - Narch 3, 2011

Sao 0|ego, 0a||Ioro|a
6LANA
8ooth 615
Storvik is a provider of special machinery,
cast products and engineering services
to the aluminium industry. Their focus is
dedicated to standard solutions which can
be custom made to any aluminium smelter
to maintain the aluminium industries de-
mand for good functionality and proven
technology combined with low investment
cost. Storvik was formed as a mechanical
company in 1952 at Sunndalsra, Nor-
way; this is also where the headquarter is
located. Storvik has grown to be an inter-
national supplier to the primary alumin-
ium industry. The company has branch
offices in several countries. Manufacturing
of advanced machinery and equipment
abroad is one of their capabilities. The
article focuses on the companys Crucible
Cleaning Machine (CCM).
Storvik provides one of the most complete and
advanced Crucible Cleaning Machines (CCM)
to the primary aluminium industry worldwide.
The CCM is an innovative development with
electric powered drive line and hydraulically
operated manipulation of crucibles. The ma-
chine is highly automated and operates with a
minimum of manual control and attendance.
Storvik is the holder of Patent Certificate no.
322239, notified 4 September 2006.
The CCM cleans both hot and cold cruci-
bles; however, hot crucibles are preferable due
to lower wear on the tool bits. Cleaning of cold
crucibles will result in increased cleaning cycle
time, increased wear and tear of tool tips and
reduced life time of refractory lining.
Cooling down and heating up reduces
lifetime for lining (refractory material), and
multifunctional crucible cleaning machine
Proven technology with low investment cost
D. s. ssbe, G. e. nisja; storvik
comes into consideration as a negative factor.
The professionals at the smelters express the
importance of keeping stable temperature on
crucible and lining while they are in opera-
tion. If cold cleaning becomes necessary, the
machine is designed robust to do this as well.
It is recommended to do this in a special pro-
gram module monitoring elapsed time and
how the milling head is advancing during the
milling operation.
The crucible is delivered by special vehicle,
forklift or overhead crane to the initial posi-
tion. The cleaning operation starts by engaging
the manipulator, which picks up the crucible
from the initial position. Thereafter a hydrau-
lic locking mechanism locks the crucible prior
to start hoisting and transporting to position
for pouring of liquid aluminium and loose bath
by tilting of crucible. This operation enables
separtation of aluminium and bath (source
separation).
Liquid aluminium is emptyed into a chill
mould and loose bath and debris is dropped
into a container. Separation of bath and alu-
minium has great influence on efficiency and
accountancy, i.e clean aluminium for remelt-
ing and bath for normal processing without
contamination of aluminium particles.
The operation continues by manipulating
the crucible to cleaning position. The crucible
is properly secured by hydraulic locks. The
electric operated milling head starts rotating
and clean the crucible while it is advancing
towards the bottom. The drilling operation
is automatically monitored by the PLC sys-
tem. Excavated bath and particles is continu-
ously shovelled backwards and drops into a
container. After cleaning the hydraulic locks
release the crucible and manipulator tilts to
180 for emptying of loose particles. Thereaf-
ter the manipulator moves the crucible back
to initial position and the automatic sequenze
terminates the operation in a parking position.
Hot clean crucible is ready to continue the tap-
ping operation without preheating due to short
cycle time.
Typical work sequenze for multifunctional
CCM (total cycle time 12 to 15 minutes):
1. Hot (or cold) crucible delivered to initial
position
2. Fume suction is activated
3. Manipulator picks up and secures crucible
by hydraulic locks
4. Crucible is manipulated to position for
separation of liquid aluminium and bath
5. Liquid aluminium is emptied into the chill
mould controlled by operator. This results in
less metal content during cleaning cycle
6. Next a complete 180 rotation of crucible
which drops all loose bath into container for
bath rests
7. Thereafter crucible manipulated to clean-
ing position and secures by hydraulic operated
clamps in cleaning position
8. Electric operated milling head starts rotat-
ing
9. Cleaning of crucible by full profile drilling
and excavated bath and particles is shovelled
into container
10. After cleaning the hydraulic locks release
the crucible and manipulator tilts to 180 for
emptying of loose particles.
11. Clean crucible returns to initial position,
and is ready for next tapping operation with-
out preheating due to short cycle time.
Maintenance: The CCM is designed with
components that require low maintenance. The
major maintenance is related to replacement of
the cutting tools (tool bits). The surveillance is
scheduled to daily control, monthly and yearly
maintenance. No special tools and tackles are
required for the operation / maintenance.
The CCM provides the following beneficial
solutions:
Short cleaning cycle Typical cleaning cycle
time is between 12 and 15 minutes (cleaning
of hot crucibles)
Hot or cold crucibles
Fully or semi-automated according to cus-
tomers demands
Dual or single head (cleaning different cru-
Storvik Crucible Cleaning Machine Images: Storvik
cible sizes by one CCM)
The machine picks up and delivers back
crucibles after cleaning to a fixed start position
inside machines operating area
The CCM can pick up the crucible directly
from vechicle which minimises the need for
an external crane for manipulating
Can be operated by remote control from
vehicle
Meets high demands for scource separation
of liquid aluminium and bath
Fume treatment system according to cus-
tomers demands
Low tool cost by using tool bits with hard
material available as standard parts in market
Tool bits are easy to replace, push-in-solu-
tion
Cleaning operation powered by an electric
motor equipped with a frequency converter.
options
The multifunctional CCM from Storvik pro-
vides the customer with several options.
Option 1 Work platform: Work and mainte-
nance platform, hydraulically operated swing
and lift for regular maintenance and easy re-
placement of tool bits.
Option 2 Remote control: Remote control
for CCM by means of an infra-red unit. This
allows the operator to start and control the
machine from a nearby position (i.e. from tap-
ping vehicle).
Option 3 Dual head crucible cleaning
ing (pouring liquid aluminium into mould).
Option 5 Cleaning of pouring spout: If
the crucible is equipped with a pouring
spout, the CCM may be delivered
with a unit for cleaning.
summary
The CCM is a choice for smelters with the
focus on high efficiency, low maintenance and
operational cost. The Storvik CCM is avail-
able in both single and dual head for cleaning
of different size of crucibles (e.g. bath and
metal). Crucibles can be cleaned in both hot
and cold conditions.
Authors
Dag Sverre Ssbe, sales and marketing manager.
Gunnar E. Nisja, M. S.C. project engineer
Option 1 Work platform Option 2 Remote control
machine: The
CCM may be
equipped with an addi-
tional milling head for cleaning of crucible
with other dimensions. The electric drive line
and hydraulics operates both milling heads.
Option 4 Back-up pouring device: The CCM
can be upgraded to perform as a back up pour-
Option 3 Dual head
crucible cleaning machine
A new generation of Almeq cathode block preheaters
J. D. Hansen, Almeq
The new cathode block preheating
equipment for cathode rodding at Dubal
employs the latest Almeq technology.
This uses the collector bars as electrical
resistance heaters, ensuring far better
efficiency and precision of heating than
other systems. Almeqs latest version pro-
vides versatility, and it further improves
productivity.
Before cathode assembly, a good electrical
connection must be created between steel
collector bars and carbon blocks. Usually this
cathode rodding is done by pouring molten
cast iron at 1,300 to 1,400C into the gap be-
tween the steel bars and the grooves in the
carbon blocks. A considerable temperature
shock results, with high thermal stresses.
These stresses influence the pressure between
the steel and the carbon, and they affect the
cathode in ways which are critical to the ef-
ficiency and life of the pot. Adequate contact
pressure is important so as not to waste valu-
able millivolts in the cathode voltage drop.
But excessive pressure from the steel can cre-
ate tension cracks in the carbon which can
shorten pot life. Thus preheating of the bars
and the carbon blocks is important to avoid ex-
cessive stresses which can crack the carbon.
Traditional heating systems use flames
to heat the bars and carbon. But they suffer
from poor accuracy and efficiency, and they
present considerable inconvenience in opera-
tion, including explosion risk, noise, fumes,
carbon oxidation, and supervision costs. By
using the collector bars as resistance heaters,
Almeqs preheating system overcomes these
problems.
Expansion and deflection of the steel col-
lector bars during cathode rodding: The steel
collector bars expand and stretch as they ab-
sorb the heat of fusion from the solidifying
cast iron. But this expansion only matters up
to around 900C, where the crystal structure
of iron changes and its volume contracts (-
phase transition to austenite). These tempera-
ture changes also cause the bars to bend. First
the bar ends rise, as the cast iron first fills
the lower part of the slot and heats the lower
part of the bar. Later, during cooling, the bar
middle rises as the carbon blocks cool the bar
more rapidly from below.
Lengthways thermal expansion of the bars
tends to cause transverse cracks, particularly
changer to optimise the heating cycle. This also
allows the system to accommodate different
types and sizes of cathode blocks and bars that
may be in use at the same plant.
The transformer primary is wound to ac-
commodate the plant distribution voltage. The
secondary windings are designed to produce
less than 40 volts.
A typical graph of current, collector bar
temperature and cathode block temperature
is shown below. The steps in the current curve
represent transformer tap changes which com-
pensate for the increasing resistance of the cir-
cuit, as the collector bar temperature rises.
Heating performance and heat distribution
has been documented: The system collects key
process data that can be stored for further
analysis. Below is a chart from 39 heatings
representing 234 cathode assemblies. This
shows that the cathode steel bar reaches a re-
producible temperature to within a couple of
degrees of variation. The temperature of the
cathode block shows a small variation due
to the holding time after the heating cycle is
complete. However, the variations are small
compared to other heating methods.
Infrared photographs of the preheated
components confirm the excellent uniformity
of the temperature in the steel bars respec-
tively in the carbon blocks. See picture below.
conclusions
Experience in seven Almeq units for electric
preheating through collector bars has proven
huge improvements in energy efficiency, tem-
perature precision, operating safety and con-
venience, and finally in costs.
References
[1] J. D. Hansen, Almeq electric preheater for
cathode blocks, ALUMINIUM 83 (1-2/2007), pp.
30-31
Author
Jan D. Hansen is general manager of Almeq Nor-
way AS.
in the top edges of the slots in the carbon
blocks. Transverse expansion tends to cause
wing cracks along the internal corners of the
slots. Such cracks are weak zones for pen-
etration by cryolite bath or liquid aluminium,
which lead to pot failure.
Collector bars as heating elements: Collec-
tor bars and cathode blocks can be preheated
by using the collector bar as a heating ele-
ment, as has previously been published [1].
Since the first installation at Rio Tinto Alcan
Isal in 1997, seven such preheat units are cur-
rently in operation and they have preheated
more than 20,000 cathode blocks.
Based on a recent survey, the system has
fulfilled all requirements for modern cathode
rodding and it has in addition reduced the en-
ergy consumption by approx. 89% compared
with oil and gas burners.
This article focuses on the latest cathode
block preheating unit installed at the Dubal
smelter. The system at Dubal is equipped
with a multi-winding transformer with a tap
This articles focuses on the latest cathode block
preheating unit installed at the Dubal smelter
For a sustainable world
we recycle industrial waste,
we generate and manage water
Spent
Pot Liner
& Salt Slag
Treatment Services
Befesa is an international company specializing in the integral manage-
ment of industrial wastes and the generation and management of water.
We manage more than 2.5 Mt of industrial waste, allocating more than
1.2 Mt to the production of new materials through recycling; these activi-
ties prevent the emission of more than 1 Mt of CO
2
per year.
Befesa provides solutions for managing industrial wastes, and managing
and generating water, while taking into account our social responsibility
to contribute to creating a sustainable world. Befesa is pleased to an-
nounce the in-house development of a completely sustainable Spent Pot
Liner recycling process. This fully authorised process ensures that all of
the materials produced by the recycling of this hazardous waste are fully
utilised in other industry sectors.
Aluminium Waste Recycling
Befesa is the current European leader in aluminium waste and salt slag
recycling, with an integral aluminium waste recycling model: on one hand
it develops technologies to improve the management and processing of
waste and, on the other, it is the only operator without solid waste in
its production process. Befesa fully recycles spent pot liner, salt slags and
aluminium wastes in the treatment process. The materials produced from
our process are recycled into many other industry sectors. Befesas Spent
Pot Liner and salt slags recycling plants are a fine example of efficiency
and sustainability.
The hazardous wastes produced by the primary and secondary aluminium
industry are hazardous and potentially contain inflammable gases. Using
our patented Spent Pot Liner process and efficient Salt Slags process,
Befesa ensures that Spent Pot Liner and Salt Slags wastes are completely
valorised at the Befesa plants in Valladolid (Spain) and in Whitchurch
(United Kingdom). Befesa also has three further Salt Slags treatment plants
located in Germany.
Befesa is committed to working with the aluminium industry to achieve
its mid-term commitment to eliminate the need for landfill
of the hazardous wastes, which the industry produces both
directly and indirectly.
Befesa welcomes site and process audits by our customers and
provides full technical support for the shipment of any waste
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For more information regarding our Spent Pot Liner,
Salt Slags and other treatment services, please contact:
Adrian Platt
adrian.platt@befesa.abengoa.com
0044 1948 780441
Analysis of inclusions with Spark-DAT,
an option of the Thermo Scientific ARL
4460 optical emission spectrometer, has
become popular in the steel industry in
recent years. Numerous companies now
routinely use it, because its extremely
short analysis time makes it useful for
controlling quality during the steel pro-
duction process. In the aluminium in-
dustry, measurement in the melt is also
important for process monitoring and
control in production. However, Spark-
DAT did not enjoy the same success.
Among the reasons given that the spec-
trometer is used for production control
and so is not always available for process
development or investigations, and that
signals for some elements relevant for
inclusion analysis were not available or
were not performing well enough. This
article reports on recent developments
that make Spark-DAT more attractive
than before for the aluminium industry. It
demonstrates that Spark-DAT offers ma-
jor advantages: in particular it can replace
or simplify the existing techniques for as-
sessing inclusions.
Principles of spark-
DAT inclusion analysis
In OES (Optical Emission Spectroscopy), typi-
cally 2,000 individual sparks jump in a few
seconds between an electrode and the me-
tallic sample to be analysed. The light from
these sparks contains information about the
elements present. For quantitative analysis
the intensities of specific wavelengths of the
emitted light are integrated, and the integrated
intensities are evaluated as concentrations of
elements by using a calibration curve. With
Spark-DAT the single signal intensities are
acquired separately and processed based on
statistical principles with mathematical algo-
rithms. These algorithms allow us to evaluate
the number, composition and size of the inclu-
sions.
The phenomena taking place behind Spark-
DAT are complex [1]. A simple model to ex-
plain Spark-DAT is to say that light from a
spark that hits an inclusion gives rise to peaks
of intensity on the optical channels of the ele-
ments present in the inclusion. In first approxi-
improved analysis of inclusions in
aluminium with the ARL 4460 spark-DAT
K. Li, e. Halasz and J.-m. Bhlen, Thermo Fisher scientific
mation, the intensities of the peaks for theses
elements depend on the size of the inclusion
and the concentration of each element in the
inclusion. This is illustrated in Fig. 1, which
shows three individual sparks m, p and v hit-
ting TiB
2
inclusions in an aluminium sample,
and the spark intensity diagram corresponding
to Ti.
improvement of spark-DAT
analysis of aluminium samples
Recent improvements make Spark-DAT more
attractive for the aluminium industry, where
inclusions pose similar challenges to those in
the steel industry [2-4]. In aluminium alloys,
inclusions affect in particular fluidity, gas po-
rosity, machinability, surface quality and me-
chanical properties. Although techniques exist
to remove inclusions, measurement in the melt
is still important for process monitoring and
control in production. Therefore there is con-
siderable potential for Spark-DAT to replace,
facilitate or simplify the existing techniques to
assess inclusions in aluminium (e. g. LIMCA,
PoDFA and Prefill-Footprinter).
The following table summarises the im-
provements that were realised recently for
Spark-DAT analysis in aluminium.
Spark-DAT analysis in the aluminium ma-
trix is mainly based on two algorithms:
Peaks, which counts intensity peaks on
single analytical channels. The algorithm es-
timates the total number of inclusions con-
taining a given element (e. g. all the inclusions
containing Ti).
Fig. 1: Principle of Spark-DAT illustrated for an aluminium sample containing titanium boride inclusions.
Three sparks m, p and v striking inclusions of different sizes give rise to Ti intensity peaks, due to the
high Ti concentration in the inclusions. In first approximation, the intensity of a peak is proportional to
the size of the inclusion struck by a spark. Images: Thermo Fisher Scientific
Composition, which counts intensity peaks
coincident (or not coincident) on the channels
of several elements. The algorithm estimates
the number of inclusions of a particular com-
position.
As indicated in the table, the new algo-
rithms improve the detection of signals from
inclusions. This is because they are based on
more suitable statistical principles, and so dis-
criminate better between normal and abnor-
mal signals. Note that the two algorithms can
also sort signals into intensity classes, closely
related to inclusion size classes. Other algo-
rithms already used for Spark-DAT analysis
in iron and steel could also be of interest in
aluminium, in particular the algorithm QuIC,
which allows the quantitative analysis of com-
position and size of inclusions.
It takes about 7s to perform a stand-alone
Spark-DAT analysis from pressing the start
button to the display of the results on the
screen. This analysis time is the sum of 2s ar-
gon flush of the spark stand, a very short pre-
burn time (less than 1s), 4s acquisition time
(2,000 data values recorded in at a frequency
of 500 Hz) and a processing time. This
extremely short time makes Spark-DAT
faster than any other inclusions analysis
technique available today (e.g. scanning elec-
tron microscopy, metallographic microscope
observation, ultrasonic scanning, etc.), and
it explains the success of Spark-DAT in the
steel industry. Furthermore, Spark-DAT can
provide an even more representative analysis
of the sample in 1 to 2 minutes by perform-
ing several measurements instead of a single
one.
The analysis time for simultaneous inclu-
sion and spectrochemical analysis was reduced
from 29 to 25s by merging the Spark-DAT
acquisition and the pre-burn periods (Fig. 2).
The time is only slightly more than the 21s
necessary for the usual quantitative elemental
analysis alone. This is a very important fea-
ture, because the little extra time needed is
acceptable for most applications, and so it will
allow many aluminium plants to add inclusion
analysis with Spark-DAT to their process con-
trol tool box.
instrumentation
The ARL 4460 spectrometer used for analys-
ing inclusions in aluminium matrix measures
VUV (vacuum ultra-violet) lines in addition to
the standard lines of an OES aluminium instru-
ment. These extra VUV lines allow monitoring
of very important elements in the inclusions
matrix, namely C, N, O and Cl.
Key technical characteristics of the ARL
4460 for inclusion analysis are the arc/spark
Current Controlled Source (CCS), the acqui-
sition electronics to achieve Time Resolved
Spectroscopy (TRS) and of course the Spark-
DAT that allows the acquisition of the signal
spark by spark.
Fig. 2: Old and new methods for simultaneous OES elemental and inclusion analysis in aluminium. The total analysis time was reduced from 29 to 25s by
merging Spark-DAT acquisition and pre-burn period.
Fig. 3: Results of the Spark-DAT analysis of an AlSi sample with 12% Si. The presence of inclusions is dem-
onstrated with the intensity diagrams of several channels and with amounts of peaks or coincident peaks
counted with the aid of dedicated algorithms.
Fig. 4: Results of the Spark-DAT analysis of a sample obtained from filtered aluminium
inclusion analysis
Inclusions of interest in aluminium alloys in-
clude different types: oxides (Al
2
O
3
, MgO,
CaO), spinels (MgAl
2
O
4
), carbides (TiC,
Al
4
C
3
), borides (TiB
2
), nitrides (AlN), salts
(MgCl
2
, NaCl, KCl, CaCl
2
), intermetallic com-
pounds (Cr-Mn-Fe), refractories (SiO
2
) and
various other compounds (AlP, Mg
3
P
2
, sulfides,
aluminides), most of them being observable
with Spark-DAT.
Fig. 3 shows partial results of the Spark-
DAT analysis of an AlSi sample. The presence
of TiB
2
and of salt inclusions is demonstrated
by the spark diagrams and the corresponding
numbers of peaks in signals evaluated by the
algorithms Peaks (e. g. Ti peaks, B peaks, Na
peaks) and Composition (e. g. TiB
2
, NaCl...).
Fig. 4 shows spark intensity diagrams of a
sample [5] obtained after filtering the liquid
metal as described by Simensen [2]. Spark-
DAT clearly shows the presence of interme-
tallic compounds based on Mn, Fe, Cr and V,
as well as of other compounds based on some
alkali and alkaline earth metals, or elements
like C, O, P, Sn and Bi.
conclusions
Among all the inclusion analysis methods
available today, the ARL 4460 with Spark-
DAT is probably the fastest, which makes it
potentially the most suitable for controlling
inclusions in the melt during the production
process. The
exper i ment al
method and the
algorithms were
recently im-
proved, so mak-
ing inclusion
analysis with
an OES spec-
trometer even
more attractive
for the alumin-
ium industry.
Another major
advantage of
Spark-DAT is
that the inclu-
sion analysis is
performed on
the instrument
used as for the
elemental analy-
sis already. This
means that it in-
volves only low
investment and
operation costs
compared with
other inclusion
analysis tech-
niques, which
need dedicated
i ns t r ume nt s ,
and that it needs only a very simple sample
preparation technique, the usual OES sample
preparation being adequate.
References
[1] Halsz E, Li K, Dorier J-L and Bhlen J-M,
Advances in inclusion analysis in steels by Spark
OES Phenomenology and calculation of inclusions
composition and size, proceedings of CCATM2010,
15
th
CSM Conference and Exhibition on Analysis
& Testing of Materials, Beijing, September 2010, p.
223-230.
[2] Simensen C J, Sampling and analysis of impuri-
ties in aluminium, International Seminar on Refin-
ing and Alloying of Liquid Aluminium and Ferro-
Alloys, Trondheim, Norway, 1985
[3] Eckert C E, Inclusions in Aluminium foundry
alloys, Modern Casting, Vol. 81 (1991), p. 28-30
[4] Stanica C, Moldovan P, Aluminium melt cleanli-
ness performance evaluation using PoDFA (Porous
Disk Filtration Apparatus) technology, U.P.B. Sci.
Bull., Series B, Vol. 71, Iss. 4, 2009
[5] By courtesy of Morito M, IMN, Light Metals Divi-
sion, Skawina, Poland
Authors
Dr. Kaizhen Li holds a Masters degree in Environ-
mental Engineering and a Ph.D. in Chemistry with
specialisation in determination of trace elements in
the environment by mass spectroscopy. She is cur-
rently application specialist for Optical Emission
Spectrometers at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Edmund Halsz holds a Masters degree in Physics.
He is currently manager Analytical Spectroscopy
and Physics at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Dr. Jean-Marc Bhlen holds a Masters degree in
Chemistry and a Ph.D. in NMR Spectroscopy. He is
currently product manager in charge of the Optical
Emission Spectrometers at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Strangpressen
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an Oberfchen und Toleranzen her. Wir sind nicht nur kosten-
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Sie uns unter +41 62 765 21 21 oder www.alu-menziken.com
Swiss Aluminium Technology
Wir liefern auch komplexe
Formen mit viel Tempo.
As an industrial engineering group, Fives
Solios designs and supplies process equip-
ment and turnkey plants for the major
primary aluminium producers worldwide.
Solios Carbone is particularly well-known in
the carbon sector of aluminium smelters as a
supplier of green anode plants and anode butt
recycling for more than 50 years. Historically
coal tar pitch, the coke binder in green anode
production, was transported as solid pitch and
was melted at the green anode plant, using sol-
id pitch melting facilities that Solios Carbone
also supplied. But in the late 1990s, for envi-
ronmental reasons, most aluminium smelters
started to buy liquid pitch transported by ship.
Therefore, Solios Carbone decided to enlarge
its scope of work to the turnkey supply of liq-
uid pitch storage facilities at the port area.
Thanks to its large expertise in melting
solid pitch and in using liquid pitch (LP) and
heat transfer fluid (HTF) also in the green an-
ode production process, Solios Carbone has
become a major actor in this field. Most of
the time, the liquid pitch facilities are located
close to the ports where the ships deliver the
raw materials (alumina, coke and liquid pitch)
for the smelter.
The liquid pitch storage facility consists
of several process and utility sections includ-
ing ship unloading transfer pipe, two to three
heated and insulated storage tanks, bunded
area, HTF network, LP truck loading station,
pitch vapour treatment, utilities (nitrogen and
compressed air generation and storage, elec-
trical substation, and control room).
The liquid pitch ship unloading rate is
generally in the range from 250 to 600 tph
at 210C. This corresponds to a 15 to 30 cm
diameter pipe, depending on the pressure drop
of the line and on the ship unloading pump
characteristics.
The capacity of the storage tanks ranges
from 3,000 to 12,000 tonnes, depending on
the capacity need of the anode plant and on
the frequency of pitch deliveries. These tanks
contain internal HTF heating coils which keep
the pitch at a set temperature or to re-heat the
cooled pitch after a HTF network shutdown.
The tank insulation consists of lagged rock
wool 250 mm thick.
Safety relief valves on the tank roof protect
the tank against under-pressure or over-pres-
sure inside it. A bund wall around the tanks is
needed to prevent the escape of pitch spillage
Liquid pitch storage at port facility
T. Dazy and F. Virieux, solios carbone and Fives solios
in case of tank leakage.
HTF keeps the pitch
at the right temperature
(around 180C) inside the
tanks and pipes. HTF is
heated (to approx. 300C)
either using HTF gas boil-
ers or HTF electrical heat-
ers.
Pitch is loaded into
the truck road tanker by
means of an articulated
and hydraulically oper-
ated loading arm. For
this the truck parks on a
weighing bridge to meas-
ure the quantity of pitch transferred (generally
30 tonnes capacity). The loading station is also
equipped with barriers and truck identification
system.
A pitch vapour treatment system is required
to treat the pitch vapours displaced during ship
tanker unloading or by gas expansion when
re-heating pitch. The method for treating pitch
vapours is to pre-heat them in a heat exchang-
er before they enter the reaction chamber. A
temperature control acts on the gas burner to
maintain the correct temperature to burn the
PAH by catalytic oxidation. As the reaction is
exothermic, hot air leaving the reaction cham-
bers goes through the heat exchanger; one part
of this hot air is then recycled, the rest is ex-
hausted at the stack.
Since the first Fives Solios installation,
consisting of two 7,500 tonne tanks delivered
to Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) in 1998, Solios
Carbone has further extended its offer and ex-
pertise to challenge environmental, health and
safety (EHS) aspects, while always optimising
CAPEX and OPEX.
Some examples of the latest improvements
developed by Solios Carbone are:
Replace the ship unloading flexible hose by
an automatic pitch unloading arm (Qatalum /
Qatar) also to improve safety.
Eliminate the pitch vapour return pipe to
the ship. Vapours are treated directly in a
RCO (Regenerative Catalytic Oxidiser), which
drastically reduces the PAH emissions (Sohar
Aluminium / Oman and Qatalum). This in-
volves combining environmental and CAPEX
considerations.
Measurement of the total pitch quantity
unloaded from the ship using Coriolis mass
flow meter (Qatalum) to reduce OPEX (accu-
racy of the measurement used for invoicing).
Replacement of mechanical sealed pitch
pumps by magnetic coupling ones to avoid pitch
leakages (Sohar Aluminium), and thus to meet
environment, safety and OPEX objectives.
Whilst respecting tight time schedules,
controlling costs and meeting guaranteed per-
formances, Fives Solios has successfully com-
missioned the following installations:
Alba in 1998 and 2003 three storage tanks
of 7,500 tonnes capacity each
Sohar Aluminium two storage tanks of
5,000 tonnes capacity each
Qatalum two storage tanks of 12,000
tonnes capacity each.
In July 2010, Fives Solios was awarded a
contract on turnkey basis for Maaden Alu-
minium smelter located in Ras Az Zawr (King-
dom of Saudi Arabia). The two storage tanks
of 6,000 tonnes each will be in operation in
April 2012.
The expertise in liquid pitch storage facili-
ties is complementary to Fives Solios supply
of gas treatment centres and bath processing
units for the reduction area of green anode
plants, to fume treatment centres and firing
and control systems of anode baking furnaces
for the carbon area, and to furnaces for the
casthouse. This latest addition further extends
Fives Solios offer for primary aluminium
smelters.
Authors
Thierry Diaz is proposals manager of Solios Car-
bone, and Fabienne Virieux is communications
manager of Fives Solios. Both are based in Givors,
France.
Sohar liquid pitch storage tanks Photo: Solios
Many aluminium casthouses producing ex-
trusion billets use batch homogenising ovens
and coolers to improve extrudability. Most of
these casthouses use manual systems for per-
forming the following process operations:
Pit stripping and accumulation of the
billets coming from the casting machine
Load stacking operations (including billet
and spacer manipulation)
Furnace loading and unloading and
furnace cycle initiation
Cooler loading and unloading and cycle
initiation
Load accumulation and storage
Load de-stacking and transfer of billets to
downstream processing (extrusion press,
shipping or cut to length operations, etc.).
Depending upon the age of the plant and the
technology that is used, these operations em-
ploy overhead cranes and/or forklifts operated
by full time production personnel. In addition,
sometimes direct manual manipulation of spac-
ers is also part of the process. The problems
associated with these manual operations in-
clude capacity bottlenecks, non-uniform loads
which prevent optimal heat distribution, and
safety issues when operators are performing
any manual manipulation of spacers or getting
to close to unstable stacks or hot billets.
An alternative to the manual manipulation
of billets throughout the homogenising proc-
ess is a fully automatic system.
Description of the automatic system
Extrusion billets, typically ranging in diameter
from 4 to 20 (102 to 508 mm) in diameter and
Automation of extrusion billet batch
homogenising systems for increased billet production
K. Williams, Advanced Dynamics
ranging in length from
160 to 315 (4,064 to
8,000 mm) long, are
removed from a ver-
tical DC casting ma-
chine with an overhead
crane. This pit strip-
ping operation uses an
overhead bridge crane
and a specialised lift-
ing bale. The casting
machine operator re-
moves the billets from
the casting machine
one row at a time and
then, with the help of
a downending turn block, he lays the row of
billets down onto the receiving station of a two
strand accumulation chain conveyor.
After he has laid the billets down on a re-
ceiving table and has released them from the
crane, he pushes a button to release them to
the automatic system. All downstream opera-
tions are then completely un-manned and fully
automatic.
The billets on the receiving table are first
gathered together and squared with a squar-
ing pusher (Fig. 1). This maximises accumu-
lation and assures reliable downstream han-
dling and load building. The receiving table
and squaring pusher are lined with UHMW to
prevent product marking.
Once the row of billets is squared, they are
lowered onto the tail section of the accumula-
tion conveyor and then advanced forward to
clear the lay-down station. This laydown se-
quence is repeated until the complete casting
pit has been unloaded.
The squaring and accumulation is much
faster than the
pit stripping so
the pit stripping
operator never
waits for the load
building system.
The accumu-
lation conveyor
then feeds the
ingots toward
a layer forming
station which
builds a layer on
top of stainless
steel spacers per pre-programmed recipes (see
example recipes shown in table 1). The layer
forming machine staggers the logs such that
they fill the airflow path in the homogenising
furnace. This optimises the heat flow distribu-
tion for a more uniform load temperature.
Once a layer is built, an automatic stacking
crane picks up the layer and places it on top of
the layer forming table. Complete homo loads
are built (ideally one load per cast ) on the
load forming table, and when they are com-
plete, the homo furnace charge car is called to
retrieve the load.
The charge car automatically processes
the complete load through the homogenis-
ing process by first placing it in a batch homo
furnace and initiating the furnace cycle. After
the furnace cycle is complete, the charge car
transfers the load to a cooling station and then,
when it has cooled, transfers it back to either
the load break-down station or to a static stor-
age stand.
Depending upon throughput requirements,
the system can have any number of furnaces,
coolers and storage stands.
The stacking crane then picks up the layers
one at a time from the load breakdown table
and places them onto the layer breakdown
table. From there, a pick-and-place device re-
moves the ingots one at a time from the layer
and places them on a roller conveyor which
then in turn transports them to a downstream
process (sawing and/or packing line).
Spacers for the homo loads are stainless
steel and they are automatically positioned
and removed from the loads by the same au-
tomatic crane that handles the layers. The bot-
tom row of spacers are fitted with wheels to
allow for the differential expansion between
Fig. 1: Ingot squaring pusher and tail end of the accumulation conveyor
Table 1: Example of homo load patterns
Ingot
Diameter
Ingots
per cast
Ingots per
homo layer
Number of layers
per homo load
Number of ingots
in top row
7 84 12 7 12
8 64 10 7 4
9 50 9 6 5
10 40 8 5 8
12 32 7 5 4
14 24 5 5 4
16 20 5 4 5
P
h
o
t
o
s
:

A
d
v
a
n
c
e
d

D
y
n
a
m
i
c
s
Fig. 2: Layer forming and crane Fig. 3: Fully built load on SS spacers
the load and the steel support stands in the
furnaces and coolers.
The system is controlled by a PLC and
includes tracking of the ingots from the lay-
down area through the entire homogenising
process. This tracking allows for automatic
selection of recipe and batch homogenising
process parameters. In addition, data can be
tracked and transferred to downstream equip-
ment for action or to Level 2 data acquisition,
trending and reporting systems.
The automation of the batch homogenising
process is a reliable and robust technology
which can be provided as a greenfield installa-
tion or which can be retrofitted into an existing
batch homogenising process. For greenfield
projects, the technology competes with con-
tinuous homogenising systems. The selection
of a batch or continuous technology for bil-
let processing is a topic on its own, but typi-
cally the batch type is preferred for frequent
product changes and for larger diameter bil-
lets, whereas the
continuous technol-
ogy is more suitable
for long production
runs of the same
billet diameter and
alloy.
In either case,
the use of an auto-
mated system for
processing the bil-
lets through homog-
enization will pro-
vide the advantages
of uniform loads,
longer spacer life, lower labour costs, safer
operations and increased capacity.
Author
Kevin Williams is vice president of Business Devel-
opment at Advanced Dynamics. He is a mechani-
cal engineer with 23 years of experience in the
mechanical and controls system design, in project
management and in solutions architecture of heavy
duty automated material handling systems for the
aluminium industry. For more information, please
contact kevinwilliams@advanceddynamics.com.
Through MLLER
Technology, FLSmidth specializes in design, engineering, procurement,

erection and commissioning of pneumatic material handling systems for turnkey projects
and components for the alumina industry. For more than 75 years the MLLER brand has
stood for high quality standard systems with more than 5.000 references world wide.
MLLER Alumina Handling Systems - High Performance, High Effciency.
FLSmidth Hamburg GmbH
Haderslebener Str. 7
s
25421 Pinneberg
Tel: +49 4101 788-0
s
Fax: +4101 788-140
s
hamburg@fsmidth.com
www.fsmidth.com
MLLER
Alumina Handling Systems

Higher Performance with the
The history of the Claudius
Peters vertical ball mill reaches
back to 1906, when the com-
pany started to sell Fuller-
Peters ball ring mills under
licence for the E-mill. Shortly
thereafter Claudius Peters (CP)
independently began to further
develop and produce this type
of mill, and has ever since sold
more than 2,500 vertical such
mills world-wide to grind and
dry coal and minerals.
In 2002 the company, in close co-
operation with the renowned Swiss
company R & D Carbon, started the
first joint research and development project on
the grinding of calcined petcoke in the Clau-
dius Peters Technical Centre in Buxtehude,
Germany. Since then seven grinding plants
have been sold, whose design is based on the
grinding principle which will be described in
the following paper.
Currently Claudius Peters is offering a pat-
ented overall concept for the petcoke process-
ing [6], which clearly stands out from the com-
mon horizontal ball mill concept, namely by
using more of the potential of the vertical
grinding concept. The customers this way
profit from reduced CAPEX/OPEX as well as
from the improved anode quality.
Grinding tests with
test mill, type em 17-525
Based on the experience previously gained in
the grinding of difficult products, such as e.g.
sewage sludge, clay, silicon, we were very opti-
mistic from the outset of the tests. Historically
the achievable mill capacity for coal grinding
is expressed as the fineness factor (residue
on a defined screen size) and the hardness
of the material to be ground (measured in
Hardgrove). The aluminium industry, howev-
er, does not generally use these characteristics,
but instead applies an evaluation based on the
specific surface (Blaine) of the particles.
In different grinding tests with our test mill,
type EM 17-525, we ran several test series
with different product finenesses in the range
Blaine 3,000 to 5,000. These values represent
the typical specific surfaces for petcoke in
the aluminium anode production. The Blaine
value normally required for modern grinding
plants runs at 4,000 cm
2
/g and corresponds
Grinding plants for petcoke for anodes
st. Gosau, claudius Peters
to the value of 25%R74m, see diagram 1.
Grinding principle of the cP ball ring mill
The mill shown in Fig. 1 is a modern Claudius
Peters EM ball ring mill with dynamic classi-
fier. The material to be ground is fed to the
EM mill centrally from the top, from where
it drops onto the rotating grinding yoke. The
yoke and the lower grinding ring are both driv-
en by the mill gear. The upper fixed grinding
ring, which is pressed down by the hydraulic
system, presses down the grinding balls. The
calcined petcoke lying between grinding balls
and grinding rings is first crushed by the balls
running over the material and is then trans-
ported out of the grinding track by centrifugal
forces. An air flow directed upwards captures
the ground petcoke and leads it to the classi-
fier. The excessively large particles are sepa-
rated from the others inside the classifier and
are then returned to the grinding mechanism
for renewed grinding. The other particles leave
the mill together with the transport gas.
The core of the Claudius Peters EM mill is
the grinding mechanism. It is formed like an
axial bearing. As already mentioned it consists
of an upper and a lower grinding ring as well
as of the grinding balls arranged in between.
The EM mill thus belongs to the classical group
of vertical roller mills and competes with mills
whose grinding elements (e.g. grinding rollers
or grinding wheels) are arranged stationarily.
Due to the special construction principle the
grinding balls can rotate spherically between
the grinding rings. This leads to an even, round
wear pattern on the balls over the complete
lifetime. The balls, which gradually decrease
in size due to the wear, work themselves into
the grinding rings so that the grinding surface
remains constant. The grinding surface deter-
mines the mill capacity, which is thus constant
throughout the complete lifetime of the grind-
ing elements.
modern grinding cycle for
the grinding of calcined petcokee
Fig. 3 shows schematically the modern grinding
cycle for calcined petcoke. The raw material,
usually with a grain size of 0 to 20 mm, enters
the prebin of the mill. The prebin is equipped
with load cells which simultaneously monitors
the filling level and the mill capacity. The raw
material is fed to the mill by means of an ad-
justable-speed rotary feeder, whose speed con-
trols the mill load. The one-sided conical steel
Diagram 1: The measured particle size distribution after grinding
corresponds to the target curves [1], Images: Claudius Peters
Fig. 1: Claudius Peters EM mill with dynamic classifier [2]. 01: Mill foundation, 02: Mill jacket/doors, 03: Dy-
namic classifier, 04: Gearbox, 05: Grinding elements, 06: Pressure ring, 07: Yoke, 08: Springs, 09: Spring tensioning
frame, 10: Nozzle ring, 11: Hydraulic cylinder, 12: Reject Box, 13: Supports, 14: E-Motor, 15: Gas channel
silo shown here prevents core flow and ensures
a very good mass flow to the rotary feeder.
The vertical ball ring mill, where grinding,
classifying and pneumatic transport all take
place at the same time, is operated continuously
in negative pressure condition. A fan provides
the required gas movement to transport the
ground petcoke from the mill to the bag filter,
which separates the dust from the gas. The ma-
jor part of the dust precipitates in a pre-cham-
ber of the filter, the rest is separated via the
filter bags. The petcoke dust collects in a filter
trough from where screw and rotary convey-
ors discharge it from the grinding system. Ro-
tary feeders then transfer it to the subsequent
production process for anode production.
Most of the transport gas is re-circulated to
the grinding process again. This ensures that
only a smaller part of residual dust escapes
into the atmosphere. The energy absorbed by
crushing and friction of the aggregates tends to
heat up the grinding system, so a defined gas
exchange carries excess heat away.
control loops of the grinding plant
Air quantity control (F): The grinding plant
operates with a constant air flow rate which
a Venturi nozzle measures. An air regulator
located in front of the fans controls the air
quantity.
Negative pressure control before mill (P):
The grinding plant is operated with a constant
negative pressure before mill. A pressure
sensor, installed in the pipeline before mill,
records this negative pressure continuously.
A pneumatically- operated flap, located in the
pipeline in front of the stack, controls the nega-
tive pressure accordingly.
Control of differential pressure of the mill
( P): Measurement of the differential pres-
sure, through the mill prevents overloading of
the mill. If the differential pressure exceeds
the setpoint, the rotary feeders reduce the raw
material input.
Mill load control: Raw material weighing
monitors the current mill load. The speed-con-
trolled drive of the rotary feeder adjusts the
required mill load.
Control of product fineness: Laboratory
examinations measure the product fineness.
Adjustment of the product fineness is realized
via the speed-controlled drive of the classifier
[3].
competitive advantages
The advantages of the vertical mill over the tra-
ditional horizontal or ball mill used in the alu-
minium industry are apparent. The CP vertical
mill, for example, offers a wide control range,
which runs at approximately 25 to 100%.
This way the grinding capacity can adapt to
the subsequent anode production process
without having a major influence on the grind-
ing fineness. Thus the finished material silo
can stay relatively small, which counteracts a
possible tendency for segregation with changes
to the existing particle size distribution.
In comparison, in the horizontal mill, which
only disposes of a rather limited adjustment
range of approximately 90 to 100%, is prac-
tically unable to adjust ro the downstream
process rate. This means that a horizontal
grinding plant must stop when its output silo
is full. The consequence is a start / stop opera-
tion which is subject to undefined conditions,
especially during the phase of load change,
which causes severe fluctuations in the mate-
rial fineness.
Diagram 2 (see next page) compares the
variation of product finenesses of the CP-EM
vertical mill as against the horizontal mill over
a period of approx. four weeks. The EM mill
provides a steady fineness tolerance of 3%
related to a residue on a 74 m screen which
equals 115 cm
2
/g (Blaine) [4]. The horizontal
mill is often outside these limits.
A further advantage is the lifetime of the
grinding elements of the EM mill. Depending
on the product and the fineness, up to 20,000
operating hours can be reached with one set
of grinding elements. As a consequence much
less worn metal appears in the ground prod-
uct from abrasion of the grinding elements:
it amounts to only approximately a third of
the amount for horizontal mills. Thanks to
the long lifetime the vertical mill needs only a
minimum of maintenance work.
The classifier integrated in the mill and the
Fig. 2: Grinding mechanism of the EM mill [2]
Fig. 3: Modern grinding cycle for calcined petcoke
Diagram 2: Comparison of product fineness fluctuations tube mill / EM mill [2, 5]
Fig. 4: Claudius Peters mill type EM 73 5105 with dynamic classifier [2] Table 1: References
small storage silos allow for a very compact
arrangement of the plant, which reduces the
constructional requirements for the building
and its foundation.
The clearly reduced noise emission
(< 85 dB(A)), the lower specific energy con-
sumption and the comparatively simple con-
trol concept of the plant (push button technol-
ogy) further distinguish CP plants from those
of competitors.
Business references
The first grinding plants for calcined petcoke
were sold successfully to China at the end of
2002. In the meantime a total of seven grind-
ing plants for the aluminium industry have ei-
ther already been built or are in the process-
ing phase. From an initial grinding capacity
of 12 t/h the throughput requirements have
increased to currently 20 t/h. The last systems
sold were based on two EM 73 5105 mills
with a grinding capacity of precisely 14.25
t/h at 4,000 Blaine and a HGI of 35 for the
German engineering and plant manufacture
Outotec, Cologne. Outotec is the turn-key
supplier of the paste plants for the final cus-
tomer located in Abu Dhabi.
At the same time Claudius Peters sold a third
grinding system of the same size to our Chi-
nese customer who already bought a CP plant
with a capacity of 12 t/h in 2003.
A further milestone was reached in 2010
when Claudius Peters received the order for
the supply and erection of a 20 t/h grinding
plant for a new Chinese customer.
outlook
Optimum processes increasingly become the
key factor for perfect functioning and reliable
operation of the anode coke production plants.
This will have consequences for plant design
and construction as well as for optimising the
existing production processes.
It is the aim of Claudius Peters to constantly
improve the key technology applied in the pro-
duction of anodes so that our customers will
benefit from the advantages of our systems in
their anode production processes.
References
[1] J.-P. Thiel, T. Gehle, R. Kleibs, Internal Report,
Claudius Peters Technolgies GmbH, Buxtehude,
Germany 2002
[2] N.N.: Presentation Documents, Claudius Peters
Projects GmbH, Buxtehude, Germany
[3] T. Mller, Fines production for anode manufac-
ture, Light Metals 2005, ed. H. Kvande (TMS, War-
rendale, Pa.), 653-657
[4] T. Tong, Petcoke/Anode Coke Grinding in Ball
Race Mills Practical Experiences, 2
nd
International
Carbon Conference in China, Kunming 18 Sept.
2006, Claudius Peters (China) Ltd.
[5] K. A. Sinclair and B. A. Sadler, Improving carbon
plant operations through the better use of data, Light
Metals 2006, ed. T. J. Galloway (TMS, Warrendale,
Pa.), 577-582
[6] European Patent Specification EP 1 789 363 B1
from 11 Feb. 2009: Verfahren zum Aufbereiten
von Kohle-Trockenstoff fr die Herstellung von
Elektroden
Author
Mechanic engineer Stefan Alexander Gosau has
been working for Claudius Peters since 1999 as a
senior sales engineer in the department Grinding/
PCI. He is specialised in the technology of coal and
mineral grinding.
RDC the worldwide leader in carbon
technology.
R&D Carbon provides the interface between tech-
nology suppliers, coke producers and coke users.
Feedstock selection
Delayed coking
Coke calcining
Pilot operation from green coke to graphitized products
Electrode and cathode applications
Quality assessment and testing
R&D Carbon Ltd. P. O. Box 362 CH-3960 Sierre Switzerland
Phone: + 41 27 459 29 29 Fax: + 41 27 459 29 25 e-mail: rdc@rd-carbon.com www.rd-carbon.com
GRAPHITIZED CARBON
PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
AND
APPLICATIONS
In 2000, the author Marc Dupuis already
presented the retrofit of a 300 kA into a
350 kA cell design, and then into a new
400 kA cell thermo-electric design [1] by
extending the length of the potshell. Then
in 2003, by further extending the length,
and this time by also slightly increasing
the potshell width, he presented a new
500 kA cell thermo-electric design [2].
Later in 2005, still extending the length
of the 500 kA cell potshell, he presented
a new 740 kA cell thermo-electric design,
and claimed that there is no foreseeable
limit to a cell size as far as the thermo-
electric cell heat balance aspect of the
cell design is concerned [3]. Finally in
2005/06, Mr Dupuis and Mr Bojareivs
presented the MHD and the potshell me-
chanical design of the 500 and 740 kA
cells claiming that there seems to be no
foreseeable design limit to the cell size as
regards the MHD and potshell mechanical
aspects [4-6]. The recent increase in cell
amperage in newly constructed smelters
and prototypes, for example in China [7-
9], confirms of this point of view.
In the meantime, over the last ten years, cell
design has continued to evolve, especially as
regards the cell lining design, so much so that a
cell lining seen as best world practice ten years
ago now appears old-fashioned, if not obsolete.
This evolution clearly warrants a second retro-
fit study in order to incorporate the new best
practice design ideas: using new or improved
modelling tools, the aim is to boost the 500 kA
cell design into a 600 kA cell design, while still
keeping the same potshell and busbar.
Review of the 500 kA cell busbar designs: In
diverse publications, the authors have present-
ed three different busbar designs for the 500
kA cell. The first one is a classical asymmetric
busbar (Fig. 1) that auto-compensates for the
return line [10]. The second one is a symmetric
busbar (Fig. 2) with an external compensation
busbar inspired by Pechiney 1987 patent [6,
11]. The third one is also a symmetric busbar
(Fig. 3), but it uses a different configuration for
the compensation busbar [6].
All three busbar designs have been re-
analysed using an upgraded version of MHD-
Valdis, the stability analysis code. This upgrad-
ed version takes into account the presence of
the open bath channels, and is hence better at
predicting the shape of the bath-metal inter-
Retrofit of a 500 kA cell design into a 600 kA cell design
m. Dupuis, Jonquire; V. Bojareivs, Greenwich
face [12]. There is little change in the calcu-
lated vertical component of the magnetic fields
(B
z
) and in the stability prediction as compared
to previously presented results. But the pre-
dicted bath-metal interface deformation is
now significantly different.
New anode stub hole TEM model and an-
ode design: The new anode stub hole thermo-
electro-mechanical (TEM) model presented in
[13] has been used to calculate what would
be the anode voltage drop of a 1.95 m long
by 0.665 m wide anode. This anode has four
stubs of 175 mm diameter and incorporates
a new type of stub hole design. There are
48 such anodes in the 500 kA cell design. In
Fig. 4, the 1/16 TEM anode stub hole model
predicts a voltage drop of 214 mV from the
bottom of the anode carbon block to the top
of the stub. The obtained average contact re-
sistance is then fed to the standard, half anode
thermo-electric (TE) model, which in turn pre-
dicts 265 mV for the total anode voltage drop
from the clamp connection to the bottom of
the anode carbon block (Fig. 5).
New cathode collector bar slot TEM model
and cathode design: The new cathode collector
bar slot TEM model presented
in [14] has been used to calcu-
late what would be the cathode
voltage drop of a 4.17 m long
by 0.665 m wide and 0.58 m
high fully graphitized cathode
block. That cathode block has
two collector bar slots and uses
220 mm high by 140 mm wide
collector bars each containing
a big copper insert [15]. There
are 24 such cathode blocks in
the 500 kA cell design. The
TEM model predicts that the
cathode voltage drop will only
be 87 mV, as can be seen in
Fig. 6.
The resulting average con-
tact resistances are then fed
into the standard cathode side
slice TE model of the same elec-
trical design. Of course such a
different design requires some
adjustment of the thermal lin-
ing in order to prevent the top
edge of the block becoming too
cold and hence being covered
by ledge way past the anode
shadow. The cathode side slice
TE model is the perfect tool to work on those
adjustments.
Another change has been made to the
cathode lining design to accommodate a still
longer anode: the 100+ mm thick silicon car-
bide sidewall was replaced by a now standard
70 mm thick silicon carbide sidewall. As we
can see from the calculated isotherms in Fig. 7,
the model predicts a ledge profile that is quite
acceptable at a typical cell superheat.
Full cell quarter model including the liquid
zone: At this stage of a retrofit study, it would
be common practice to develop a full cell slice
model (see for example Fig. 2 of [3]). In the
current study, that step was bypassed in order
to develop directly a full cell quarter model
including the liquid zone (see model mesh
in Fig. 8). This model allows us to predict the
ledge profile all around the perimeter of the
cell, but letting the model converge to predict
the ledge profile requires a lot of CPU time.
In the current study, we used the quarter cell
model including liquid zone to compute what
the current density would be in the metal pad
if we used big copper inserts in the collector
bars, assuming the initial ledge profile (see Fig.
Fig. 1: MHD-Valdis results for the asymmetric busbar design of the
500 kA cell
9). With these copper inserts, there is practi-
cally no horizontal current in the metal pad,
even in this fairly wide cathode design.
Calculation of the retrofitted cell amper-
age using Dyna/Marc: There are many ways
to carry out a retrofit study. In [1-3], each in-
cremental step was an operable design at the
quoted amperage. This is the standard way to
work when using Dyna/Marc What if panel
as each solution is by definition in perfect ther-
mal balance.
In the current study, the procedure is differ-
ent: TEM models were used so as to reduce the
anode and cathode electrical resistance, but
without considering how this affects the cell
thermal balance. Then the half anode and cath-
ode side slice TE models were
used to assess that thermal
impact and to calculate what
would be the total cell heat loss
at a typical cell superheat. So at
this stage of the study, a 1.95 m
long anode is expected to oper-
ate at an average of 265 mV of
voltage drop at 500 kA and the
total anode panel should loose
420 kW according to the half
anode TE model.
According to the cathode
side slice TE model, the cath-
ode is expected to operate with
a 87 mV of voltage drop and
to loose 665 kW if operated
at 500 kA and 7C of super-
heat. Yet, no calculations were
done up to now to predict the
internal heat of the cell, so as
to verify whether the cell can
really be un perfect thermal
balance under these conditions
(500 kA and 7C of superheat,
with a typical 4 cm of anode
to cathode distance (ACD)
per example, which was con-
sidered the best practice value
ten years ago). In fact, even
without making any calcula-
tions, it should be obvious to
any experienced cell designer
that this will not be the case!
Since that time, slotted an-
odes have become common,
and these have allowed cells
to operate at 3.5 cm ACD, as
calculated by the same voltage
break down equations [16]. So,
not only have the anode and
cathode electrical resistances
decreased with the retrofit-
ted cell design, but the bath
electrical resistance is now
significantly lower as well.
Furthermore, by reducing the
thickness of the silicon carbide
sidewalls to 70 mm, we have
made room to accommodate
2.0 m long anodes while still
maintaining a comfortable 280
mm wide anode to sidewall distance (ASD).
The task at this stage is to enter all that in-
formation into Dyna/Marc and to ask: at what
amperage does that cell design need to operate
in order to be in perfect thermal balance at a
typical cell superheat? As can be seen in Fig.
10, the Dyna/Marc answer to that question is
600 kA.
Verification of the thermal balance at 600
kA using the ANSYS based TE models:
Fig. 2: MHD-Valdis results for the Pechiney 1987 inspired busbar de-
sign of the 500 kA cell
Fig. 3: MHD-Valdis results for the alternative compensation busbar
design of the 500 kA cell
Fig. 4: Predicted anode voltage drop from the an-
ode stub hole TEM model at 500 kA
Fig. 5: Predicted anode voltage drop from the half
anode TE model at 500 kA
Dyna/Marc is the perfect tool to get a quick
answer to difficult questions like the one
asked above; but this answer cannot be ac-
cepted as final. It is safe standard practice to
double check this Dyna/Marc prediction us-
ing the more accurate ANSYS finite element
based TE models. The model can be either a
full cell slice model or, as in this current study,
can combine models of separate half anode
and cathode side slice.
The half anode model predicts that 48 2.0
m long anodes in a cell operated at 600 kA will
have an average anode drop of 318 mV, and
they will dissipate 449 kW with a 10 cm thick
cover. The cathode side slice model predicts
that if operated at 600 kA and 7C of super-
heat, then the cathode drop would be 104 mV
and the cathode would dissipate 676 kW, while
maintaining a comfortable ledge profile.
Since the internal heat at 600 kA, (which
corresponds to an anodic current density of
0.94 A/cm
2
and 3.5 cm ACD), according to
Dyna/Marc will be 1,140 kW, the cell should
be in perfect thermal balance quite close to
those assumed operating conditions. Note that
Dyna/Marc also predicts 96.4% current effi-
ciency (CE) and 4.29 V, which corresponds to
a energy consumption of 13.3 kWh/kg Al.
Verification of the MHD stability at 600
kA using MHD-Valdis: The final verification
to make is that the cell will still be stable when
operated at 600 kA without any modification
of the busbar. The answer may depend on the
type of busbar design selected for the base
case 500 kA cell technology. An asymmetric
Fig. 6: Predicted cathode voltage drop from the
cathode collector bar slot TEM model at 500 kA
Fig. 7: Predicted isotherms from the cathode side
slice TE model at 500 kA
Fig. 8: Mesh of the full quarter cell TE model in-
cluding the liquid zone
Fig. 10: Dyna/Marc steady-state solution as calculated using the What if panel
Fig. 9: Current density close to the centerline predicted by the full cell quarter model at 500 kA
busbar designed to auto-compensate a 500 kA
return line will not be able to perfectly com-
pensate a 600 kA return line, and that will for
sure reduce the cell stability.
Yet a very good busbar design is able to
accommodate a lot of amperage creep, as we
learned from the evolution of the AP30 cell
technology over the last 20 years. The busbar
was initially designed to operate at 280 kA,
and yet that same busbar now supports cell
operation at 360-380 kA, still without major
impact on the cell stability. Clearly there is
some built-in robustness in a good busbar de-
sign!
Nevertheless, a busbar design incorporat-
ing independent compensation busbars is more
flexible as it allows separately adjustment of the
current running in the compensation loop(s).
Suitable adjustments can perfectly compen-
sate for increased return line current. Fig. 11
shows results for the third busbar design, this
time with a cell operating at 600 kA instead
of 500 kA. This demonstrates that, despite the
amperage increase the B
z
is still more or less
the same once the amperages in the compen-
sation loops are adequately readjusted.
Note that the ACD has not been readjusted
between the 500 kA and the 600 kA runs of
the MHD cell stability analysis. This is because
we assume that it is the use of slotted anodes
that leads to a smaller calculated ACD and
so changes the internal heat generation. The
physical ACD that matters in terms of cell
stability we assume remains the same in the
500 kA cell design (using the old conventional
unslotted anodes) as in the 600 kA cell design
(using slotted anodes).
conclusions
This demonstration study shows how to retro-
fit a ten years old past prime if not obsolete
500 kA cell technology to make it an up-to-
date innovative 600 kA cell technology. It
highlights the huge potential capacity creep
that is present in even fairly recent cell designs.
A more concrete example is the recently pub-
lished results of the DX cell technology, which
now operates at 370 kA, while designed only a
few years ago to operate at 340 kA [17, 18].
The authors also hope that this demonstra-
tion study will highlight the value of using
mature state-of-the-art mathematical models
to carry out such studies. Those exact same
models, used by the majority of the groups
actively developing high amperage cell tech-
nology today, are available to the whole alu-
minium industry through GeniSim Inc.
References
[1] M. Dupuis, Thermo-Electric Design of a 400 kA
Cell using Mathematical Models: A Tutorial, Light
Metals, TMS, (2000), 297-302.
[2] M. Dupuis, Thermo-Electric Design of a 500 kA
Cell, ALUMINIUM 79(7/8) (2003), 629-631.
[3] M. Dupuis, Thermo-Electric Design of a 740
kA Cell, Is There a Size Limit, ALUMINIUM 81(4)
(2005), 324-327.
[4] M. Dupuis
and D. Richard,
Study of the
Ther mal ly- I n-
duced Shell
Deformation of
High Amperage
Ha l l - H r o u l t
Cells, Proceed-
ings of the 4
th

Conference on
Light Metal,
COM, (2005),
35-47.
[5] M. Dupuis,
and V. Bojarev-
ics, Comparing
the MHD cell
stability of an
aluminium re-
duction cell at
different metal
pad height and
ledge thickness,
COM, (2006),
479-497.
[6] M. Dupuis,
V. Bojarevics
and D. Richard,
MHD and pot
mechanical design of a 740 kA cell ALUMINIUM
82, (2006) 5, 442-446.
[7] Qi, X. et al., Successful commercial operation
of NEUI400 potline, Light Metals, TMS, (2010),
359-363.
[8] D. Lv et al., New progress on application of
NEUI400 aluminium reduction cell technology,
Light Metals, TMS, (2011), to be published.
[9] D. Lv et al., Development of NEUI500 high ener-
gy efficiency aluminium reduction cell technology,
Light Metals, TMS, (2011), to be published.
[10] M. Dupuis and V. Bojarevics, Weakly Coupled
Thermo-Electric and MHD Mathematical Models
of an Aluminium Electrolysis Cell, Light Metals,
TMS, (2005), 449-454.
[11] J. Chaffy, B. Langon and M. Leroy, Device
for Connection Between Very High Intensity Elec-
trolysis Cells for the Production of Aluminium
Comprising a Supply Circuit and an Independent
Circuit for Correcting the Magnetic Field, US patent
no 4,713,161, (1987).
[12] V. Bojarevics and K. Pericleous, Solution for
the metal-bath interface in aluminium electrolysis
cells, Light Metals, TMS, (2009), 569-594.
[13] M. Dupuis, Development and application of an
ANSYS based thermo-electro-mechanical anode
stub hole design tool, Light Metals, TMS, (2010),
433-438.
[14] M. Dupuis, Development and application of an
ANSYS based thermo-electro-mechanical collector
bar slot design tool, Light Metals, TMS, (2011), to
be published.
[15] G. E. Homley, and D. P. Ziegler Cathode collec-
tor bar, US patent no 6,231,745, (2001).
[16] M. Dupuis and H. Ct, Dyna/Marc 1.9 Users
guide, (2006).
[17] A. Kalban, et al., 2008: A milestone in the
development of the DX technology, Light Metals,
TMS, (2009), 359-363.
[18] A. Zarouni et al., DX pot technology powers
green field expansion, Light Metals, TMS, (2010),
339-348.
Authors
Dr. Marc Dupuis is a consultant specialised in the
applications of mathematical modelling for the
aluminium industry since 1994, the year when he
founded his own consulting company GeniSim Inc.
(www.genisim.com). Before that, he graduated with
a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Laval Univer-
sity in Quebec City in 1984, and then worked ten
years as a research engineer for Alcan International.
His main research interests are the development of
mathematical models of the Hall-Hroult cell deal-
ing with the thermo-electric, thermo-mechanic,
electro-magnetic and hydrodynamic aspects of the
problem. He was also involved in the design of ex-
perimental high amperage cells and the retrofit of
many existing cell technologies.
Dr. Valdis Bojarevics is reader in magnetohydro-
dynamics at the University of Greenwich (UK). He
specialises in the numerical modelling of various
electrometallurgical applications involving complex
interactions of the fluid flow, thermal and electrical
fields, melting front and free surface dynamics; he
has been involved in numerous industrial consult-
ing projects.
Fig. 11: MHD-Valdis results for the alternative compensation busbar design of the 600
kA cell
Full automation is essential for reliable
operation of vertical casting. This is why
GAP Engineering SA has developed GAP-
Cast, the Swiss technology that increases
security, quality and productivity in alu-
minium vertical casting. It is a powerful
automated casting concept which includes
mechanical equipment, electrical supplies,
automation software and hardware, and
commissioning as well as process support.
GAP provides entire turn-key solutions and
services for building new and for modernising
existing vertical casting machines. GAPCast
can be adapted for different casting technolo-
gies:
for casting conventional DC billets and
slabs (with or without metal level control
in the moulds)
for different hot-top systems for billets
and slabs
for electromagnetic casting (EMC
[1]
)
technology.
A system to automate casting is first of all a
high-performance process control system. It
controls the cast according to an optimal cast-
ing practice which takes account of the limit
of the machine, and it reacts to ensure safety
if things go wrong. But a powerful process
control system alone cannot ensure efficient
casthouse operation: it must be integrated into
the process.
The automation system has to allow for
continuous improvement of the process. For
this, it is important to understand the process,
both by measuring it and by analysing it sta-
tistically, which requires a suitable system of
data logging and analysis. GAPCast contains
some configuration and analysis tools that im-
prove safety, quality and productivity.
Already in the mid-1970s, Alusuisse pro-
moted automation of casting as a central factor
in the success of the (then new) Electromag-
netic Casting (EMC). Since then, over 30 years
of continuous improvement have resulted in
todays GAPCast system for casting automa-
tion. Several members of GAP staff have made
major contributions to this development.
GAPcast the modular concept
GAPCast provides a modular automation con-
cept using components serving the functions
shown in Fig. 1.
RCD (Remote Control Desk): The RCD is
a control desk cabinet that contains a touch
screen panel and some hardware buttons. It
is a user-friendly interface that connects the
operator with the machine. The personal com-
puter (placed on the cabinet or elsewhere with
remote access) runs the visualisation software
(WinCC, etc.) and all configuration and analy-
sis software.
Configuration applications: The personal
computer of the RCD also runs some very
efficient but user-friendly configuration pro-
grammes. Certain parameters (security of
the machine, texts of alarms, messages, PLC
signals, machines parameters, etc.) are config-
ured using GAP editors. To record the data
that have to be set according to the product,
the Recipe editor serves to manage the recipes.
For each recipe a logbook is created where
all modifications are memorised. The recipes
created with the old Alusuisse casting solution
Valcast 5 can be managed (read and write)
with the new Recipe editor.
Analysis applications: A powerful data
acquisition has been created with ibaPDA
which stores all analogue values (measures,
setpoints). This generates one data file per
GAPcast control makes aluminium
vertical casting safer and more efficient
c. Briguet, sierre; m. Bolliger, Venthne
Fig. 1: GAPCast concept Images: GAP Engineering
cast as well as one per day. These files can be
read with freeware ibaAnalyser.
In addition to this analog data acquisition,
the system generates different displays of
records. For each process, a CAST protocol
records all set points changes / events / alarms
of the cast. Some other daily protocols (one
protocol per day) show information such as
signal changes, alarms of the day, log history,
etc. All protocols can be read with Protocol
Viewer software application or any other
text reader. The DIDO viewer can display all
digital signal changes on a graphical screen.
To be compatible with the Quality and
Production Management system, GAP has
recently developed a database tool (base on
SQL server) that can collect process data
for statistical analysis. This database, named
GAPStat, is flexible and can be adjusted to
match the customers MES (Manufacturing
Execution System) and/or ERP (Enterprise
Resource Planning).
PLC (Programmable Logic Controller):
The PLC hardware and software is supplied
with all necessary safety functions. GAP En-
gineering SA is Siemens Solution Partner
and Rockwell integrator. The electrical dia-
grams are developed with Eplan P8, and the
electrical cabinets are built and completely
tested before the delivery.
Metal level regulation: For some kinds of
slab casting processes, a metal level regulation
into the casting moulds is recommended.
The complete system for the metal level
regulation is supplied by Gap Engineering SA.
For each mould it consists of a GLS (GAP
Level Sensor), a GLA (GAP Level Actuator).
The regulation software includes the manage-
ment of the initial filling curve of the moulds
and the regulation loops. There is also a hard-
ware security concept in case of emergency
stop. The GLS and GLA are used and appreci-
ated by many different customers, and they are
a very safe, reliable and well-tested system.
Cast machine flexible mechanical con-
cept: Gap Engineering has long experience
with the mechanical equipment and the me-
chanical engineering of casting machines to
meet the specific needs of their customers.
GAP can provide the following parts of the
machine:
Casting wagon or tiltable frame
Moulds frame
Fixed or adjustable moulds with starting
heads (slabs or billets, conventional or
EMC)
Casting launder
Electrical heating for spouts and pins
Metal level regulation system
Utility beam for metal level equipment, to
move with wagon, manipulator or
rotating crane
Control elements for cooling water and
for hydraulic and pneumatic systems.
GAP uses powerful 3D design tools
for the mechanical engineering.
These tools produce 3D drawings
and movies which show the cus-
tomer how the casting concept has
been adapted to his process and
needs. They also help him under-
stand how the mechanical handling
will work in practice. The GAPCast
casting machine is based on a con-
cept with moving parts arranged so
that the operator can easily prepare
the machine before the cast. It is
also easy to clean the machine after
the cast.
The moving parts are as follows:
When the liquid metal level is regulated
on the moulds, the utility beam holds all the
required equipment for this, as well as for
preheating the down spouts. The utility beam
can be removed from the casting car. It can
be removed using a manipulator, or a rotating
crane, or sometimes using the casting car to
transport it.
The casting launder carries no level actua-
tors and no metal level sensors (they are on
the utility beam). Sometimes the launder can
be separated from the utility beam. This makes
it easier to clean the launder after the cast,
because the beam is then not in the way.
The casting car carries the mould frame
with the moulds. It can move out of the pit to
clear access for removing the slabs at the end
of the cast. Changing the mould is easy be-
cause the utility beam and the casting launder
can be moved away.
commissioning, monitoring production
and providing process support
Gap Engineering SA provides the commis-
sioning of the whole GAPCast machine, so as
to ensure correct mechanical, electrical and
software installation until the machine is fully
in production. During modernisations, the lost
production time of the machine is very short
thanks to the close involvement of a powerful
and competent working team. Further process
support can be provided too, according to the
wishes of the customer.
Process, the fully automatic
management of the casting phases
The main role of the process control unit is
to calculate, check and adjust all important
parameters before and during the cast on the
basis of the stored casting recipe. It does this
by continuously feeding reference target val-
ues into an autonomous control system. Proc-
ess control is divided into different phases, as
shown in Fig. 6.
The various process phases can be distin-
guished as follows:
Check phase during the check phase, as
already in the automation mode, the proc-
essor calls up the casting recipe and checks
it for plausibility. The casting operator, who
is familiar with the automation programme,
works through the checklist to confirm that all
important plant components, control elements
and sensors are ready for the casting opera-
tion. Then the programme releases the plant
for the subsequent start phase.
Start phase during the start phase, the key
Fig. 2: GAPCast metal level regulation system
Fig. 3: GLS (GAP Level Sensor) Figure 4: GLA (GAP Level Actuator)
process parameters are progressively activated
according to the recipe, until they reach the
levels of the so-called stationary phase, when
the casting parameters are in a steady state.
Casting phase prior to the start phase and
until, as well as during the whole casting phase,
the process automation system has the task
of observing the entire casting unit, as well
as checking the variable casting parameters
against their target values. The system records
any unexpected events, and if the parameters
differ from the normal range, it first sends
alarm messages, and it finally activates a rapid
or an emergency stop procedure if deviations
overshoot the permitted limits.
End phase the end phase starts automati-
cally, a few centimetres before the cast length
reaches its target value. This serves to minimise
the amount of liquid metal lost in the launder
and also to respect the target length.
Quick stop this immediately stops the
metal feeding and terminates the cast. It can
be initiated by the operator, or by the system
in some configurable conditions. Basically, all
parameters can have two levels of tolerances.
At the first level, an alarm in-
forms the operator. Outside of
the second tolerances, there is
a configurable delay before the
quick stop process intervenes.
Emergency stop this im-
mediately stops the metal feed-
ing and terminates the cast in
case of major equipment fail-
ure: e.g. mechanical or hard-
ware failure (loss of power), or
crash of the PLC programme.
All the safety requirements
are ensured by an appropri-
ate concept of the mechani-
cal and electrical equipment.
The operator can activate the
emergency stop when there is
any danger to people, or the
control system will activate it in some config-
urable conditions.
summary
Based on their in-depth know-how of the cast-
ing process technology, GAP Engineering has
developed a complete and modular concept
for the vertical casting of aluminium: GAP-
Cast. Gap Engineering SA (Switzerland) pro-
vides turn-key machine or some parts of ma-
chines or services for different types of casting
technology: conventional DC billets and slabs
casting (with or without metal level control in
the moulds), different hot-top systems for bil-
lets and slabs and EMC technology.
GAPCast is based on a powerful and user-
friendly automation concept that allows im-
provements to safety, to quality and to pro-
ductivity. It includes mechanical equipment,
electrical supplies, automation software and
hardware, and commissioning as well as proc-
ess support.
Today GAPCast is used all around Europe
with very good feedback from customers.
References
[1] M. Bolliger and B. F. Prillhofer, Increase in capac-
ity at Amag casting in Ranshofen, ALUMINIUM 86
(2010) 7/8, p. 44-47
Authors
Christian Briguet is co-owner of GAP Engineering
SA in Switzerland. He had worked for Alusuisse/
Alcan Technology & Management Ltd in Chippis/
Switzerland from 1996 to 2001 and participated in
Valcast 5 development. After the closing of Alcan
Technology & Management in 2004, he contributed
to the development of the new GAPCast automa-
tion concept and to its deployment. He designed
and installed more than 30 casting machines (Val-
cast 5, then GAPCast) all around Europe.
Martin Bolliger, a casting technology consultant, was
formerly deputy vice-president of Alusuisse/Alcan
Technology & Management Ltd in Switzerland. He
has designed and installed EMC and conventional
casting machines at many different sites and is an
independent expert in this area.
GAP Engineering SA is a SME company located in
Switzerland, in the heart of the Swiss Alps, see also
www.gap-engineering.ch
Fig. 6 : Sequence of GAPCast process automation phases
Fig. 5: GAPCast mechanical example of a slab cast machine with metal level regulation
new cathode design saves energy in aluminium smelting
R. von Kaenel, J. Antille; sierre
A modified cathode shape, together with
inserts in the cathode, can dramatically
change the current distribution in the alu-
minium liquid pool. This can significantly
decrease both the cathode voltage drop
and the anode to cathode voltage drop.
The energy saving inside the cell depends
on the cells initial design, but may ex-
ceed 1 kWh/kg.
The aluminium industry is continuously work-
ing on reducing the specific energy consump-
tion, which is one of the main factors in pro-
duction cost. To reduce the specific energy
one must act on two parameters: increase the
current efficiency and decrease the cell volt-
age. The current efficiency is a result of the cell
design, the cell operation and the quality of the
raw materials. Today, the best cells achieve
more than 96% current efficiency, and so it
is very challenging to improve the situation.
This study therefore assumes a constant cur-
rent efficiency and focuses on reducing the cell
voltage. Table 1 presents todays status for a
modern side-by-side cell.
In this study we have focused on the ohmic
voltage drop in the anode to cathode distance
(UW) and the cathode voltage drop (Ucvd).
Both together represent about 1.5 V or 4.7
kWh/kg.
Much development work has already con-
centrated on lowering the cathode voltage
drop (CVD) [2, 3]. On the one hand the car-
bon properties of the cathode blocks change
considerably by moving from amorphous
blocks to graphitised, graphitic, impregnated
or even variable resistivity properties blocks.
On the other hand the design of collector bars
has improved both from the geometrical and
from the materials point of view. A number of
patents cover different aspects [4-6]. The use
of copper inserts has contributed significantly
to lowering the CVD.
At first glance, reducing the ohmic voltage
drop in the anode to cathode distance (ACD)
looks very simple, as it is only necessary to
reduce the ACD. But this simple approach ig-
nores problems with the thermal balance and
the magneto-hydrodynamic effects. In fact,
for some cell designs, one should consider in-
creasing the CDV for minimising the total cell
voltage. This can be understood when analys-
ing the thermal and magneto-hydrodynamic
effects as a whole.
More recently, new cathode designs have
shown a real improvement in the cell voltage,
leading to specific energy consumption in the
range of 12.2 to 12.5 kWh/kg [7]. New cathode
shapes allow us to decrease the ACD without
reaching the limit of magneto-hydrodynamic
instabilities [8, 9].
The resistivity of molten cryolite is very
high, typically 220
-1
m
-1
, so the ACD cannot
be decreased much before we reach magneto-
hydrodynamic instabilities leading to waves
at the metal-bath (metal-cryolite electrolyte)
interface. These waves lower the current ef-
ficiency of the process and so
prevent us from decreasing the
energy consumption below a
certain value. On average in
the aluminium industry, the
current density corresponds to
a the voltage drop in the ACD
of at least 0.3 V/cm. As the
ACD is 3 to 5 cm, the voltage
drop in the ACD is typically
1.0 V to 1.5 V.
A thorough study of cell
magneto-hydrodynamic insta-
bilities led us to conclude that there is still a
large scope to improve the interaction between
the magnetic field and the local current density
in the liquid metal by modifying the cathode.
The magnetic field inside the liquid metal re-
sults from the currents flowing in the external
busbars and from the internal currents. The
internal local current density inside the liquid
metal depends mostly on the cathodes geom-
etry and on its local electrical conductivity. In
other words, changing the cathode geometry
and conductivity will change the current dis-
tribution inside the liquid metal. The magnetic
field and current density produce the Lorentz
force field, that itself generates the metal sur-
face contour and the metal velocity field, and
thus defines the basic environment for the
magneto-hydrodynamic cell stability. The cell
stability can be expressed as the scope to lower
the ACD without generating unstable waves at
the surface of the metal pad. The level of sta-
bility depends not only on the current density
and on the induced magnetic fields, but also on
the shape of the liquid metal pool. The shape
of the pool in turn depends on the surface of
the cathode and on the ledge shape. In order to
eliminate potential sludge problems, this study
was restricted to smooth cathode surfaces.
cathode design and inserts
Different geometries have been described [9]
using both conductive inserts and a change in
the cathode surface shape. Fig. 1 shows a pos-
sibility using a deeper pool (A), for at least
1/3 of the central area in between the ledge
profiles, machined out of the standard cath-
ode (B).
Table 1: Voltage and related specific energy
Fig. 1: Modified metal pool
In 1999, the authors analysed the impact of
the busbars [10] for an end-to-end technol-
ogy using three different busbars topologies.
As already mentioned, the magnetic field gen-
erated by the current flowing in the busbars
interacts with the current density in the liquid
metal. This generates forces that play a key
role on the cell stationary state and the cell
stability limit. The present study determines
the cell stability by using sophisticated models
that were published earlier [11, 13-22]. Com-
parison with a similar cell lets us analyse the
impact of the cathode shape and of the use of
inserts. We compared three cases:
Case 1: Reference cell with a standard
cathode block (Fig. 2)
Case 2: Modified cathode surface (Fig. 3)
using the same collector bars
Case 3: Addition of a conductive inserts
above the collector bars (Fig. 4) using the
same collector bars.
For all three cases stationary quantities were
analysed such as metal upheaval, metal veloc-
ity field and electrical field. The stationary
state was further analysed to determine the
cell magneto-hydrodynamic stability. The fol-
lowings parameters were considered for the
reference cell:
I 170 kA Line current
j
A
0.9 A/cm
2
Mean anode current density
h
m
19.0 cm Mean metal height
h
b
22.0 cm Mean bath height
Q
int
310 kW Internal heat
The ACD was kept constant under each an-
ode, i.e. the anodes surface adapts in order to
follow the metal surface. The total volume of
metal has been kept constant when modify-
ing the cathode surface. For the cell stability
calculations, the anode to cathode distance is
decreased while the current is increased, so to
keep constant the total internal heat. In order
to further improve the cell stability (magneto-
hydrodynamic cell state) one can use conduc-
tive metallic inserts in the cathode to drive the
current through a different path. Fig. 4 shows
the inserts on top of the collector bars. The
cathode is not visible, but the metal pool in
it is shown.
of modifying the cathode surface. The global
pattern of metal flow is kept similar but the
maximum speed is slightly higher at one posi-
tion. This is most likely due to the lower level
of metal above the cathode on the long sides
of the cell. Fig. 10 shows the impact of the
collector bar inserts. The change is drastic: the
flow has changed its sign at one end of the cell,
and the maximum value of the velocity field is
less than half of the previous cases.
Fig. 11 shows the electrical potential in the
liquid metal for the reference cell. The current
is flowing perpendicular to the iso-potential
lines (see vectors). It can clearly be seen and
it is well known that the current density has
a horizontal component leading current from
the centre of the cell towards the sides inside
the liquid metal. Fig. 12 shows the electrical
potential in the liquid metal for the modified
cathode surface. The impact on the CVD is not
very important, but the current density is more
vertical in the liquid metal. Fig. 13 shows the
impact of the inserts. The CVD shows only a
small change, but the current density is strong-
ly modified. This is of prime importance for the
cell stability, and it also explains the change of
metal velocity field.
Fig. 2: Reference cell, standard cathode block
Fig. 3: Modified cathode block surface
Fig. 4: Conductive Inserts on top of the collector
bars
Figs. 5, 6 and 7 show the metal upheaval for
the three cathode designs. The use of a modi-
fied cathode surface leads to a 64% lower
metal upheaval, which is favourable for the
anode setting. The additional inserts do not
further reduce the metal upheaval, which re-
mains almost unchanged when compared to
the modified surface cathode.
Fig. 8 shows the horizontal components of
the velocity field 8 cm above the surface of
the cathode for the reference cell. The maxi-
mum value is 0.13 m/s. Fig. 9 shows the impact
Fig. 5: Metal upheaval of the reference cell (Min =
-7.3 cm, Max = 2.5 cm)
Fig. 6: Metal upheaval of the modified cathode sur-
face (Min = -2.6 cm, Max = 1.8 cm)
Fig. 7: Metal upheaval of the cathode using inserts
above collector bars (Min = -3.1 cm, Max = 2.0 cm)
Fig. 8: Metal velocity field of the reference cell
(Max speed = 0.13 m/s)
Fig. 9: Metal velocity field above the modified cath-
ode surface (Max speed = 0.15 m/s)
Fig. 10: Metal velocity field above the cathode us-
ing inserts above the collector bars (Max speed =
0.06 m/s)
Fig. 11: Electrical potential in the liquid metal of
the reference cell (CVD = 0.34 V)
Fig. 12: Electrical potential in the liquid metal for
the modified cathode surface. (CVD = 0.32 V)
Fig. 13: Electrical potential in the liquid metal of
the cathode using inserts (CVD = 0.32 V)
For any given design, the cell stability decreas-
es when the current is increased. In order to
keep the same thermal state and to save en-
ergy using these models of new cell designs,
the current was increased while keeping the
same internal heat production. In fact the ACD
was lowered while increasing the current. Fig.
14 shows the relative change of cell stability
between the reference cell and the cell with
the modified cathode surface. As expected, the
instability increases with the current for both
cases. However, the current can be increased
by more than 15% on the modified cathode
cell before reaching the same level of stability
as the reference cell.
Finally, table 2 summarises the most im-
portant results. By increasing the current we
can decrease the ACD and specific energy
thanks to the new cell stability. There are other
constraints to current increase that were not
discussed in this paper, such as the minimum
ACD and the maximum current density in the
anodes and busbars. Each technology must be
analysed in order to determine the global spe-
cific energy saving which is in the range 0.4 to
1 kWh/kg, while the productivity increases is
10 to 20%.
In this study the current efficiency was assumed
constant. In fact, an improved cell magneto-hy-
drodynamic sate may contribute to improving
the current efficiency and therefore to further
decreasing the specific energy.
Many more alternative cathode shapes and
positions of inserts can be considered in mod-
els to improve the cell stability, and the solu-
tions can be applied equally for end-to-end or
side-by-side cell topologies.
conclusions
New designs of cathodes blocks can gener-
ate important savings in the specific energy
consumption and they offer great opportuni-
ties for production increase. A small part of
the energy saving is the direct energy saving
in the cathode, but most of it occurs through
increasing the cell current thanks to a better
cell magneto-hydrodynamic state. The current
efficiency might be further increased by the
improved cell stability, but this must be quanti-
fied by operating the cells.
References
[1] K. Grjotheim and H. Kvande,
Understanding the Hall-Hroult
Process for Production of Alu-
minium, Aluminium-Verlag, ISBN
3-37017-181-2, 1986
[2] F. Hiltmann and P.M. Patel,
Influence of Internal Cathode
Structure on Behavior during
Electrolysis Part1: Properties of
Graphitic and Graphitized Cath-
ode Materials, Light Metals 2005,
ed. H. Kvande (TMS, Warrendale,
Pa.), pp 757-762,
[3] Zhongning Shi and Junli Xu,
Test of Various Graphitic Cath-
ode Blocks materials for 300 kA
Aluminium Reduction Cell, Light
Metals 2007, ed. M. Sorlie (TMS, Warrendale, Pa.),
pp 849-852,
[4] G. E. Homley and D. P. Ziegler, Cathode collector
bars, US patent 6,231,745 (May 2001)
[5] J. Antille, Carbon bottom of an electrolysis cell
for production of aluminium WO patent 02/064860
(August 2002)
[6] F. Hiltmann, Cathodes for aluminium electrolysis
cell with expanded graphite lining,
WO patent 2007/071392 (June
2007)
[7] Li Jie et al., Industrial Test of
Low-voltage Energy saving Alu-
minium Reduction Cell, Light Met-
als 2010, ed. J. A. Johnson (TMS,
Warrendale, Pa.), pp 399-404
[8] Wang Ziqian et al., Study of
Surface Oscillation of Liquid Alu-
minium in 168 kA Aluminium Re-
duction Cells with a New Type of
Cathode Design, Light Metals 2010, ed. J. A. John-
son (TMS, Warrendale, Pa.), pp 485-488
[9] R. von Kaenel and J. Antille, Hroult Cell Cath-
ode Design, PCT/IB2010/052394
(May 2010)
[10] J.P. Antille and R. von Kaenel, Busbar optimisa-
tion using cell stability criteria and its impact on cell
performance, Light Metals 1999, ed. C. E. Eckert
(TMS, Warrendale, Pa.), pp 165-170
[11] J. Descloux and M. Romerio, On the Analysis
by Perturbation Methods of the Anodic Current
Fluctuations in an Electrolytic Cell of Aluminium
Light Metals 1989, ed. P. G. Campbell (TMS, War-
rendale, Pa.), pp. 237-243.
[12] J. Descloux and P. Maillard, An electromagnetic
free-boundary problem, Equadiff 7, Teubner-Texte
zur Mathematik 118, 1990, pp. 240-242
[13] J. Descloux, M.V.Romerio and M.Flck, Linear
stability of electrolysis cells Parts I,II, EPFL, DMA,
November 1990
[14] J. Descloux, M. Flueck and M.V. Romerio,
Modeling of Stability of the electrolysis cells for the
production of aluminium. Numerical Methods in
Engineering and Applied Sciences, ed. Alder et al..
CIMME, Barcelona 1992, pp 30-38.
[15] J. Descloux, M. Flck and M.V. Romerio,
Modeling for instabilities in Hall-Hroult cells:
Fig. 14: Relative change of cell stability to the reference cell
Table 2: Summary of results
mathematical and numerical aspects. Magnetohy-
drodynamics in process metallurgy, Light Metals
1992, ed. E.R.Cutshall (TMS, Warrendale, Pa.), pp
1195-1198
[16] J. Descloux, Y. Jaccard and M.V. Romerio, Sta-
bility in aluminium reduction cells: a spectral prob-
lem solved by an iterative procedure, Light Metals
1994, ed. U. Mannweiler (TMS, Warrendale, Pa.),
pp 275-281,
[17] J. Descloux , M. Flueck and M.V. Romerio.
Spectral aspects of an industrial problem, in Spectre
Analysis Of Complex Structures, Collection Travaux
en cours 49, Hermann, Paris, 1995, pp. 17-34.
[18] R. von Kaenel and J.P. Antille, On the stability
of alumina reduction cells, 5
th
Australasian alumi-
num smelter conference 1995, Sydney, Australia,
ed. B. Welch and M. Skyllas Kazacos, pp. 530-544
[19] J. Descloux, M. Flck and M.V. Romerio,
Spectral aspects of an industrial problem, Spectral
analysis of complex structure, Ed Hermann Paris,
coordinator E. Sanchez Palencia 1995, pp.17-33
[20] J.P. Antille, P. Snaelund, J.M. Stefansson and
R. von Kaenel, Determination of metal surface con-
tour and improved anode consumption, Light Metals
1997, ed. R. Huglen (TMS, Warrendale, Pa.), pp.
469-476
[21] J. Descloux, M. Flck and M.V. Romerio, Mod-
elling of the stability of aluminium electrolysis cell,
Non-linear partial differential equations and their
applications, Collge de France, Seminaire Volume
XIII, Ed Longman 1998, pp 117-133
[22] J.P. Antille, J.P. Descloux, J. Flueck and M.
Romrio, Eigen Modes and interface description in
Hall-Hroult cell, Light Metals 1999, ed. C. E. Eckert
(TMS, Warrendale. Pa.), pp. 333-338
Authors
Ren von Kaenel received his diploma of physicist
from The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Lausanne (EPFL) with a specialisation in plasma
physics before working for ICL in London and
specialising in computer science. In 1981, he joined
Alusuisse and became the head of the modeling
activities for smelting technology. In 2000, he re-
ceived the title of Electrolysis director in the new
Alcan organisation and further supervised Alcans
modeling activities. Since 1981 he has participated
in many smelter modernisation projects all over
the world, leading to large productivity increases.
He has published many papers on electrolysis cells,
casting processes and inert anode technology. In
2004, he created Kan-nak S.A., a specialised com-
pany for the optimisation of processes, in particular
the Hall-Hroult process.
Dr. Jacques Antille obtained a degree in Physics at
the University of Lausanne in 1978 and his PhD at
the European Centre of Nuclear Research (CERN)
in 1984. Soon after, he joined the Alusuisse Technol-
ogy and Management Ltd. and worked on modeling
projects of the Hall-Hroult process and casting
processes. In 2004, he joined Kan-nak S.A. where
he is leading the magnetohydrodynamic studies for
the optimisation of the electrolysis process as well
as all measurement techniques.
Voltage variations are defined as pot
noise and indicate of the relative stabil-
ity of a pot [1]. Pot stability is important
in order to maintain high production
efficiencies and low environmental emis-
sions, so the key features for stability
have been and continue to be studied.
The Lomb algorithm identifies the fre-
quencies of periodic disturbances. Iden-
tifying these frequencies could help to
trace their origin, and filtering out cyclic
noise reveals less periodic voltage chang-
es associated with cell stability. The dras-
tic decrease in anode effect frequencies
over the past decade or so is the result
of innovative approaches to alumina ore
feed control, and new ideas continue to
be published on this subject [2].
The variation of pot voltage is often dominated
by multiple and rapid potline amperage fluc-
tuations. These larger fluctuations easily mask
other more subtle voltage changes due to
slowly changing bath parameters, especially
alumina concentration. Amperage induced
voltage fluctuations as such do not reflect
real changes in bath parameters. This type of
voltage fluctuation is at present filtered out
by employing pseudo-resistance (R
P
) compu-
tations. A more robust statistical alternative
to pseudo-resistance computations has been
described [3] which employs the predicted
voltage variable (V
P
). This V
p
is intrinsically
less susceptible to changes from line amperage
changes as has been mathematically demon-
strated. Both R
P
and V
P
computations employ
an estimate for the extrapolated voltage at
zero amperage (V
ext
). This estimate can only be
an approximation of the real dynamical value
of V
ext
as has been credibly established [4].
causes of voltage variations
An aluminium pots voltage varies in time due
to a number of disturbances typical of potline
environments. These factors include:
Fluctuations in line amperage
Drift in concentrations of dissolved
alumina
Metal pad rolling/shimmering type
oscillations of various frequencies and
amplitudes
Anode gas bubble formation and release
Cathode electrical shorting (cyclic or
random)
Anode consumption and replacement
alters anode and cathode current
distributions
Anode effects
Anode / cathode distance (ACD) alters as
anode beam moves and drifts due to
rate difference between metal pad
increase and carbon anode consumption
Instrument (voltage / amperage) resolution
limits.
Definition of pot noise
The ratio of predicted voltage variance to the
predicted voltage mean is a reasonable meas-
ure of pot noise for comparisons. The total
noise (N
T
) of a V
P
data array collected over
several minutes of operation can be comput-
ed by: N
T
=
T
2
/
T
* 10
5
where
2
is the V
P
variance and is the V
P
arithmetic mean. The
ratio
2
/ is then multiplied by an arbitrary
constant of sufficient magnitude (e. g. 10
5
) in
order to avoid the appearance of numbers less
than unity.
A simulated 960 volt / amp data point array
was generated where the only source of R
P
and
V
P
noise variance was the result of impressed
random errors on the raw voltage ( 0.50%)
and amperage ( 0.10%) measurements. No
voltage changes were impressed upon the data
array as the result of changing alumina con-
centration, voltage cycling, or ACD changes.
The simulated stable pot produced the fol-
lowing:
Voltage range: 4.410 to 4.490 V with im-
pressed random error ( 0.10%)
Amperage range: 297.8 to 302.2 kA with im-
pressed random error ( 0.50%)
Predicted voltage (V
P
) white noise: N
T
= 3.72
Pseudo-resistance (R
P
) white noise: N
T
=
19.57.
In the absence of random errors impressed
upon amperage and voltage values, the noise
value would have been N
T
= 0.00. The com-
parative noise levels (3.72 vs. 19.57) of the
simulated ideal pot in this example show that
V
P
is a demonstrably better choice for control
purposes. The aim of this paper is to describe
a method to measure pot noise using the pre-
dicted voltage variable, and then to partition
this noise value into three component parts of
the total noise, N
T
:
N
O
: Voltage changes due to changing alumina
concentration
N
F
: Voltage cycling based on measuring fre-
quencies, mV amplitudes and phase angles
N
W
: Residual white noise.
The practical use of the component noise
values based upon the predicted voltage vari-
able is yet to be fully investigated.
Lomb algorithm
Whenever there are voltage fluctuations
(e. g. from aluminium pad surface oscillations
and / or from electrical shorts) that are cyclic in
nature, the Lomb algorithm provides a method
to determine the frequencies of these cycles.
There are two distinguishing features of this in-
teresting algorithm [5]. By deducting the iden-
tified frequencies, we can identify the white
noise of residual, non-cycle dusturbances.
It eliminates aliasing errors (false
frequencies) if data is randomly sampled
It assigns a statistical probability can to
each sampled frequency.
For any sample of pot voltages and line am-
perages, the Lomb algorithm can compute an
array containing predicted voltages (V
P
). Thus:
V
P
= (V - V
ext
) / I * RLA + V
ext
, where
V is sampled pot voltage
V
ext
is the constant estimated extrapolated
voltage at zero amperage
I is sampled line amperage and
Pot voltage noise analysis using the Lomb algorithm
m. c. schneller, istanbul
RLA is the reference line amperage which is
a constant that is close to the operating line
amperage [3].
Before Lomb processing of any V
P
data ar-
ray, essential first, to correct for any changes
to V
P
due to changing concentrations of dis-
solved alumina or due to small changes in
ACD through the difference in rates of metal
pad build-up and anode carbon burn-off.
Otherwise these low frequency changes would
artificially produce false Lomb signals.
The 960 volt / amp data point (2 Hz ran-
domised 0.500 s sampling rate; i. e. 0 to 1 sec-
ond intervals) array as used for the previous
noise comparison had additional impressed
components added:
1. 4.50 mV/min increase in V
P
2. Five sinusoidal voltage components:
4.1 mV at 0.02525 Hz and phase angle
= 2.54 radians
= 3.98 radians
= 4.47 radians
= 1.39 radians
= 5.44 radians.
Under these conditions the total impressed
known noise of the convoluted data array and
its component parts are:
N
T
= 7.79 Total noise
N
O
= 2.15 Due to changing alumina
concentration
N
F
= 1.92 Due to frequencies, mV
amplitudes, and phase
angles
N
W
= 3.72 Residual white noise.
noise metric partition methodology
The above convoluted data array can be proc-
essed / deconvoluted into its noise components.
The first step treats each V
P
element to remove
the effect of the overvoltage changes from de-
creasing levels of alumina and the estimated
small changes from the differential rates of
metal pad build up and carbon burn off:
V
P
- RSlope Time Element where RSlope
is the regression slope of V
P
versus Time Ele-
ment.
RSlope was computed at 4.39 mV/min
(compares to known impressed value of 4.50
mV/min). In the 5 minute time period neces-
sary to collect data, voltage changes from bath
ratio and temperature trends are considered
negligible. The slope processed array was then
further deconvoluted by first using the Lomb
algorithm to determine the frequencies of
statistical interest at the 0.05 level of signifi-
cance. The Lomb periodogram of the slope
processed array is presented in Fig. 1. Any
sampled frequency whose power is greater
than 10.53 fails the null hypothesis. It is
easy to see that all 5 impressed frequen-
cies were accurately detected and that no
random background frequencies failed the
null hypothesis (false positives). The reso-
lution limit for voltage cycle detection for
the impressed parameters in this example
is about 3.3 mV.
The power of each frequency of sig-
nificance is directly related to its mV am-
plitude. The probability of failing the null
hypothesis is computed by: P(>z) = 1 - (1
- e
-z
)
M
, where z is the spectral power and
M is twice the data sample size [5]. The
horizontal line in Fig. 1 represent the sig-
nificance level P(>z) = 0.05. Any frequency
peak above the line fails the null hypothe-
sis. The vertical line at 1.00 Hz indicates the
Nyquist critical frequency. If the data had
been instead sampled at a uniform rate, then
each true frequency would have produced an
alias signal which would have been a mirror
image about the Nyquist line (10 detected
frequencies instead of 5). The modest effort
needed for randomised data sampling easily
avoids this ambiguity.
The sinusoidal nature of Lomb detected
frequencies can be expressed by: u(t) = Asin
( + t) where A is amplitude, is the radian
phase angle, is radian angular frequency,
and t is time in seconds. The relationship be-
tween frequency (f) and is = 2f. Since the
phase angle can be limited between 0 and 2
the amplitude and phase angle of each Lomb
measured frequency of significance can now
be calculated by a method of successive ap-
proximations/iterations. In this manner the
phase angle is computed first, followed by
the amplitude A. For example, A can be ini-
tially set to a low test level greater than zero,
such as A
test
= 0.005 V. Three bracketed values
for are then chosen ( - /n, , + /n where
n= 2, 4, 8, 16, ). Then each V
P
element of the
data array is decreased by A
test
sin( + 2ft).
The data array that has the minimum noise
value is selected for the next approximation
that brackets the new
min
value. The second
approximation is made by choosing another
3 values of (
min1
- /4,
min1
,
min1
+ /4).
This process continues using smaller brackets
until the difference in successive noise levels
of min values is arbitrarily small. Once has
been selected, then the amplitude A can be
similarly approximated. The initial value for
A should be initially set arbitrarily high (e.g.
0.050 V). Then 3 bracketed values of A can be
selected (0.050-0.050/n, 0.050, 0.050+0.050/
n where n = 2, 4, 8, 16, ) for the iterative
process until the desired resolution is reached.
Once and A have been sufficiently approxi-
mated, the array is deconvoluted for a par-
ticular frequency. Once all Lomb detected fre-
quencies, in decreasing order of Lomb power,
have been employed in the above described
manner, the data array is fully deconvoluted
and noise partition values can be computed.
The data array used to produce Fig. 1 was
deconvoluted as described above. Compara-
tive results are summarised in Table1 (num-
bers in parentheses are the known impressed
values). The agreement between known noise
values and processed values is reasonable.
It is possible that pots with the same to-
tal noise (N
T
) may have significantly different
noise components. Different examples of this
behavior are based upon the same simulated
raw data array used previously and are sum-
marised in Table 2. Noise partitions for Pot D
appear to be the most worrisome case since
Noise Components Frequencies (Hz) Amplitude (mV) Phase Angles (radians)
N
O
= 2.28 (2.15) 0.02509 (0.02525) 4.8 (4.1) 2.60 (2.54)
N
F
= 1.85 (1.92) 0.05399 (0.05405) 8.7 (8.6) 3.98 (3.98)
N
W
= 3.66 (3.72) 0.23254 (0.23256) 5.9 (5.8) 4.65 (4.47)
N
T
= 7.79 1.28188 (1.28205) 4.0 (4.6) 1.74 (1.39)
Table 1
1.81829 (1.81818) 3.9 (3.7) 5.17 (5.4)
Table 2 Pot A B C D
N
T
7.79 7.79 7.79 7.79
N
O
2.15 4.07 7.75 0.00
N
F
1.92 0.00 0.00 7.75
N
W
3.72 3.72 0.04 0.04
V
P
slope (mV/min) 4.50 6.09 8.08 0.00
Amplitude (mV)
@ 0.02525 Hz
4.1 0.0 0.0 8.6
Amplitude (mV)
@ 0.05405 Hz
8.6 0.0 0.0 18.1
Amplitude (mV)
@ 0.23256 Hz
5.8 0.0 0.0 12.2
Amplitude (mV)
@ 1.28205 Hz
4.6 0.0 0.0 9.7
Amplitude (mV)
@ 1.81818 Hz
3.7 0.0 0.0 7.8
Amperage
% random error
0.10 0.10 0.01 0.01
Voltage
% random error
0.50 0.50 0.05 0.05
T e c H n o L o G i e
they show much voltage cycling; these indi-
cate metal pad oscillations which increase
metal reoxidation rates. Pot C seems to be the
most stable, except that there is a low alumina
concentration that may be close to an anode
effect; this is a situation that can be remedied
by increasing ore feed. Pot B could be con-
sidered to be more stable than Pot A, since
Pot B shows no voltage cycling. Pots A and B
have a greater white noise (N
W
) than pots C
and D, which may reflect of poorer anode and
cathode current distributions, as well as higher
bubble noise.
It remains to be seen what practical use-
fulness this approach to noise partitioning
methodology may produce. Could the ability
to identify unstabilities lead to ways of improv-
ing pot stability?
Which Lomb detected frequencies are the
most deleterious? Are low frequencies at low
amplitudes less desirable than higher frequen-
cies at higher amplitudes even though N
F
is the
same? Is a single high amplitude signal more
harmful than a multitude of low amplitude sig-
nals that produce the same N
F
? High N
O
val-
ues are used to modify in situ PID modulated
ore feed periods, and as such they reflect only
rapidly changing bath alumina levels. As N
W
values increase it is possible that they will be
found to track N
F
values as well as changes in
gas bubble noise. After metal tapping, if these
values increase dramatically, then it may be
possible that the pot had been over tapped.
Could a poor carbon anode set be reflected in
a rapid and significant increase in N
W
? A host
of other ideas linking noise partition values
to operating parameters are open for exploi-
tation. One possibility is to allow a stable pot
to operate at a small but increasingly lower
voltage if the metal pad build up rate is greater
than the carbon burn off rate (N
F
and N
W
per-
mitting). Downward anode beam moves may
easily promote instability, but a slow and natu-
ral decrease in ACD may provide a period of
increased energy efficiency if coupled with in
situ ore feed control logic [3].
conclusion
The substitution of R
P
by the V
P
variable is
recommended for partitioning pot noise into
3 components which reflect of pot dynamics.
The Lomb algorithm is a useful way to detect
voltage cycling of which there may be multi-
ple signals of significance. These cycles can be
used to compute the pot noise characteristic
of metal pad oscillations and electrical shorts
including their respective mV amplitudes. Ap-
proximately 5 minutes of data sampling may
be adequate for this purpose. Based upon the
noise metrics described in this paper, cell con-
trol strategies can be designed to enhance the
potline process control tool kit.
References
[1] L. Banta, C.D. Dai, P. Biedler, Noise Classifi-
cation in the Aluminum Reduction Process, Light
Metals 2003, ed. P. Crepeau, pp. 431-436.
[2] G. Bearne, Reduction Line Process Control
Development, Proc. 6
th
Austr. Smelting Workshop
1998, eds. B. J. James, M. Skyllas-Kazacos & B. J.
Welch, pp. 91-129.
[3] M. C. Schneller, In Situ Alumina Feed Control,
JOM, 61 (2009), pp. 26-29.
[4] W. Haupin, Interpreting the Components of Cell
Voltage, Light Metals, 1998, ed. B. J. Welsh, pp.531-
537.
[5] W. H. Press, et. al., Numerical Recipes in C++,
Second Edition, 2005, Cambridge University Press,
pp. 580-586.
Author
Michael C. Schneller has 16 years of working expe-
rience in the aluminium smelting business including
six years as an independent consultant. He spent
the last several years teaching abroad and has now
re-engaged in potline process control enhancement
efforts. Email: michaelschneller@hotmail.com
Die TU Bergakademie Freiberg und die
MgF Magnesium Flachprodukte GmbH
(MgF) haben krzlich ein Warmwalzwerk
fr Magnesium eingeweiht. Die durch
den Freistaat Sachsen mit 7,5 Mio. Euro
gefrderte Anlage wird durch das Institut
fr Metallformung der TU betrieben. Die
Anlage erweitert eine innovative Produk-
tionslinie fr Magnesium-Flachprodukte,
die die Universitt gemeinsam mit MgF,
einer Tochter der ThyssenKrupp Steel
Europe AG, entwickelt hat.
Bei dem von der MgF und dem Institut fr
Metallformung entwickelten Konzept fr die
Herstellung von Magnesiumblechen werden
in einer Giewalzanlage flache Bnder direkt
aus der Magnesiumschmelze herstellt. Dieses
Verfahren ist sehr kostengnstig vor allem,
weil es mit deutlich preiswerteren Vorpro-
dukten, geringerem Material- und Energie-
verbrauch sowie weniger Fertigungsschritten
auskommt als die konventionelle Magnesium-
blechfertigung.
Das neue Walzgerst verwandelt die 4
bis 7 mm dicken Magnesiumbnder aus der
Giewalzanlage in dnnes Magnesiumblech
von wenig mehr als 1 mm. Damit schafft es
die Voraussetzungen dafr, dass das Magne-
siumband zum Beispiel fr Automobil-Karos-
serieteile eingesetzt werden kann. Die Anlage
verarbeitet bis zu zwei Tonnen Magnesium-
vorband pro Stunde bei einer Walzgeschwin-
digkeit von mehr als 80 Metern pro Minute.
Professor Rudolf Kawalla, Direktor des Insti-
tuts fr Metallformung an der TU Bergakade-
TU Freiberg und mgF nehmen neuartiges magnesium-Walzwerk in Betrieb
mie kommentiert: Das Warmwalzwerk ist fr
unsere Forschung ein wesentlicher Fortschritt,
um Magnesium zu einem Werkstoff fr den
alltglichen Gebrauch zu entwickeln.
Magnesium ist der leichteste metallische
Konstruktionswerkstoff. Das Material hat
nur etwa ein Viertel des Gewichts von Stahl
und ist gut ein Drittel leichter als Aluminium.
Bauteile aus Magnesium sind besonders in
der Automobilbranche interessant, weil sie
Gewicht sparen und CO
2
-Emissionen verrin-
gern helfen. Bislang wird der Werkstoff dort je-
doch nur als Gussteil, etwa im Fahrwerk oder
in Getriebegehusen, eingesetzt. Der Einsatz
von Magnesiumblech als groflchiges Ka-
rosserieteil scheitert derzeit noch an den zu
hohen Kosten. Detailansicht der Magnesium-Walzanlage
D
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Die neue Pressenlinie der Schletter
GmbH unterscheidet sich in mehrfacher
Hinsicht von den Anlagen der etablierten
Presswerke. Da das Unternehmen aus-
schlielich fr den eigenen Bedarf presst,
konnten Ausstattung und Arbeitsweise
der Presse optimal an das Pressprogramm
angepasst werden. Dabei weist die An-
lage eine Reihe von Merkmalen auf, die
der Betrachter in einem Strangpresswerk
bisher noch nicht gesehen hat. Zur tech-
nischen Beschreibung der Presse und des
Auslaufs siehe Teil I in ALUMINIUM
12/2010.
Sgen und Stapeln: ber das Khlbett und die
Reckeinrichtung gelangen die Profile auf den
Sgerollgang. Die Lagensge trennt die Profile
in einem breiten Abmessungsbereich zwischen
2 und 18 Meter Lnge. Fr diesen Arbeitsbe-
reich ist der Profilstapler ausgelegt. Da die ge-
samte Linie von Grund auf neu erstellt wurde,
musste auch auf vorhandene Krbe oder gar
auf unterschiedliche Korbabmessungen kei-
ne Rcksicht genommen werden. Die Krbe
wurden einheitlich mit einer Lnge von etwa
6 Metern neu erstellt. Die Profile werden
normalerweise Lage auf Lage gestapelt, kn-
nen aber auch in Taschen abgelegt werden.
Profilabschnitte mit mehr als 6 Meter
Lnge werden auf zwei, bei mehr als 12 Me-
tern sogar auf drei hintereinander angeord-
neten Krben abgestapelt. Praktisch wird auf
diese Weise eine variable Korblnge erreicht,
die beliebig genutzt werden kann. So knnen
beispielsweise auf zwei Krbe drei Stapel von
etwa 4 Metern oder auf drei Krbe zwei Stapel
von jeweils etwa 9 Meter Lnge hintereinander
abgelegt werden. Diese Anordnung verspricht
dem Unternehmen ein auerordentlich hohes
Ma an Flexibilitt, ohne dass die Leistung
eingeschrnkt wre.
Logistik: Smtliche Transportvorgnge
(volle und leere Krbe, Schrotte, Spacer,
Profile, Pakete) sind voll automatisiert. Das
gesamte Datenmanagement wird dabei von
einem bergeordneten PPS-System geleitet,
das von der Auftragsverwaltung (Auftrge
werden von einem SAP-System bernom-
men) bis hin zur Verpackung jede Profilln-
ge verfolgt und dabei alle Anlagen abdeckt,
auch die Werkzeugverwaltung. Es handelt sich
mithin um ein System, das die Gesamtanlage
modern und innovativ die neue
33-mn-strangpresslinie bei schletter, Teil ii
P. Johne, Haan
modern and innovative the new
33 mn extrusion line at schletter, Part ii
P. Johne, Haan
The new extrusion line at Schletter
GmbH differs in many respects from
the equipment at established extrusion
plants. Since the company produces ex-
trusions exclusively for its own needs,
it has been possible to adapt the equip-
ment and operating mode of the press
optimally to the production programme.
In this case the plant embodies a series
of features never before seen in an extru-
sion plant. Part I of this article (published
in ALUMINIUM 12/2010) is about the
technical description and run-out of the
extrusion press.
Sawing and stacking: Via the cooling bed and
stretcher the profiles move onto the sawing
roller track. The layer saw cuts the profiles to
length over a wide range of dimensions be-
tween 2 and 18 metres. The profile stacking
machine is designed for that working range.
Since the entire line was newly built from the
ground upwards, no allowance had to be made
for existing racks or varying rack sizes. The
racks were newly provided with a uniform
length of about six metres. The profiles are
normally stacked layer on layer, but can also
be positioned in pockets.
Profiles more than six metres long are stacked
on two, and those more than 12 metres long
even on three racks arranged in line one after
another. In practice this produces a variable
rack length that can be used as desired. For
example, on two racks, three stacks each of
approximately 4-metre profiles, or on three
racks two stacks each of nine-metre profiles
one after another can be laid. This system
promises to give the company an exceptionally
great degree of flexibility, without restricting
performance.
Logistics: All transport processes (full and
empty racks, scrap, spacers, profiles, packages)
are fully automated. For this, the entire data
management is run by a master PPS system
which is followed from the order-administra-
tion stage (orders are taken over by a SAP
system) up to the packaging of each profile
length and which covers all the plant com-
ponents, including the die management. This
therefore is a system which extends excep-
tionally widely across the entire plant (EMS
Extrusion Management System, supplied by
DTM information).
The full profile racks are moved away from
the stacking equipment on a roller track and
empty racks come in from the side. Here, the
Reckkopf Stretcher
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e
T e c H n o L o G Y
auergewhnlich weit berspannt (EMS Ex-
trusion Management System, Lieferant: DTM.
informatica).
Die gefllten Profilkrbe werden auf einer
Rollenbahn aus der Stapeleinrichtung heraus-
gefahren und leere Krbe kommen von der
Seite hinzu. Das Korbhandling an dieser Stelle
ist in drei Reihen angeordnet, mit Pltzen fr
insgesamt 3 x 3 Vollkrbe und 3 x 3 Leerkrbe,
wobei die Bewegung der Krbe sehr flexibel
ist: Alle Krbe knnen sowohl lngs als auch
quer auf freie Pltze bewegt werden und ber-
kapazitten abpuffern. Vollkrbe werden dort
von einem Automatikkran (Lieferant: Vollert
Anlagenbau, Weinsberg) aufgenommen, der
auch die Leerkrbe dort abliefert.
Der Kran auch das ist neu ist in der Lage,
sowohl einzelne Krbe wie auch bis zu drei
Krbe mit einer Gesamtlnge von 18 Metern
gleichzeitig zu transportieren. Dabei knnen
auch beim gleich-
zeitigen Transport
mehrerer Krbe die-
se einzeln abgesetzt
bzw. aufgenommen
werden. Die aus der
Stapel ei nri chtung
her aus f ahr enden
Krbe werden im
Normalbetrieb ins
Erdgeschoss trans-
portiert und dort fnf
Krbe hoch in einem
Zwischenlager abge-
stellt. Auch hier ist
das Datenmanage-
ment sehr aufwendig;
immerhin mssen die
Krbe in etwa 400
Stellpltzen verwal-
tet werden, wobei
das Leitsystem auch Umstapelvorgnge vor-
nehmen muss, um am Ende alle Krbe eines
Auftrages wieder zusammenzufhren, oder
um zu vermeiden, dass ein 3-Korb-Zug auf
einem 2-Korb-Zug abgestellt wird, oder auch
nur um den Warmauslagerungsofen mglichst
optimal zu fllen.
Der Warmauslagerungsofen besitzt ein
Fassungsvermgen von 36 einzelnen Krben.
Dazu sind drei Reihen von je drei Krben hin-
tereinander und jeweils vier Krben berein-
ander vorgesehen. Damit knnen auch Pro-
file bis zu 18 Meter Lnge wrmebehandelt
werden. Auch hier ist ein neueres Konzept
verwirklicht worden: Die Luft wird mit hoher
Geschwindigkeit horizontal eingeblasen und
zwar von allen vier Seiten gleichzeitig (!) und
nach oben abgezogen.
Lngs- und Querlftung nebeneinander,
geht das berhaupt? Das geht sehr wohl, wenn
rack handling is arranged in
three rows with spaces for a
total of 3 x 3 full racks and
3 x 3 empty racks, so that
the movement of the racks
is very flexible. All racks
can be moved both longitu-
dinally and transversely into
free spaces, and overcapac-
ities are buffered. There, full
racks are taken up by an au-
tomatic crane (supplied by
Vollert Anlagenbau), which
also delivers the empty
racks.
The crane this too is
a new feature can trans-
port both individual racks
and up to three racks with
a total length of 18 metres
at a time. Thus, even when
several racks are being transported at the same
time they can be deposited or taken up indi-
vidually. In normal operation the racks com-
ing from the stacker are transported to ground
level and there placed in an intermediate store
in stacks five racks high. Here too, the data
management is very elaborate: after all, the
racks have to be positioned somewhere among
about 400 storage positions and the control
system also has to carry out restacking proc-
esses so as finally to bring together all the racks
for a given order, or to prevent a 3-rack train
from being placed on a 2-track train, or indeed
only to fill the ageing furnace optimally.
The ageing furnace has a holding capacity
of 36 individual racks. For this, three rows
each with three racks, in each case with four
racks one above another, are provided. Thus,
even long profiles up to 18 metres can be heat
treated. Here too a new concept has been im-
plemented: air is blown in horizontally at high
speed, and from all four sides at once (!), and
is then drawn off upwards.
Longitudinal and transverse ventilation at
the same time, is that at all possible? It works
very well, considering that in the normal case
the profile layers are on top of one another and
are separated from one another by relatively
thick (steel) spacers. The flow then passes lon-
gitudinally within the layers and transversely
over and under them. The temperature meas-
urement results are satisfying.
The furnace charges are assembled in front
of the furnace with the help of the automatic
crane. When the heat treatment has ended, the
racks leave the furnace at the opposite end and
go to the intermediate store, ready for pack-
aging. The rack called for from the packaging
station is placed by the automatic crane onto
Lagensge Layer saw
Der Automatikkran kann bis zu drei Krbe gleichzeitig transportieren
The automatic crane can transport up to three racks at a time
man bedenkt, dass im Normalfall die Profil-
lagen aufeinander liegen und durch relativ
dicke (Stahl-)Spacer voneinander getrennt
sind. Lngs verluft die Strmung dann inner-
halb der Lagen, quer ober- und unterhalb der
Lagen. Die Ergebnisse der Temperaturmes-
sungen sind zufriedenstellend.
Die Ofenchargen werden mit Hilfe des
Automatikkrans vor dem Ofen zusammen-
gestellt. Nach beendeter Wrmebehandlung
verlassen die Krbe den Ofen an der gegen-
berliegenden Seite und stehen im Zwischen-
lager zum Verpacken bereit. Der von der
Verpackung angeforderte Korb wird mittels
Automatikkran auf die Zufuhrrollenbahn zur
Verpackungsanlage aufgesetzt.
Verpackung: Da die neu installierte An-
lage ausschlielich fr den eigenen Bedarf
produziert, konnte Schletter auch die Verpa-
ckung automatisierungsgerecht gestalten. Un-
ter diesen besonderen Bedingungen ist eine
Anlage entstanden, die in der Lage ist, die
gesamte Produktion dieser Linie automatisch
zu verpacken. Mit Blick auf die nachfolgen-
den Transporte und die Lagerung hat man
sich fr umreifte Bunde unter Verwendung
von Kanthlzern mit Pappzwischenlagen ent-
schieden.
Der Entstapler am Eingang der automa-
tischen Verpackung ist wiederum fr Lngen
zwischen zwei und 18 Metern ausgelegt. Die
Profile werden lagenweise aus den Krben
entnommen und ber eine Rollenbahn auf ei-
nen Querfrderer abgelegt. Von diesem wer-
den die Profile an ein zweites Transportband
vereinzelt bergeben, sodass eine visuelle
Kontrolle der Oberflche mglich ist. Wenn
kontrolliert wird, erledigt das ein Mitarbeiter.
Beschdigte Profile gelangen ber Klappbn-
der in eine tiefer gelegene Rinne, wo eine
Pusher die Langschrotte der Schrottschere
am Kopfende der Anlage zufhrt. Die nicht
beanstandeten Profile werden auf einem wei-
teren Querfrderer wieder zu einer Lage mit
der gewnschten Packstckbreite zusammen-
gefahren und stehen jetzt der Packstation zur
lagenweisen Abstapelung zur Verfgung.
Durch die Festlegung auf eine einheitliche
Methodik der Verpackung kann auch die Vor-
bereitung und Zufhrung der Hlzer in den
automatisierten Vorgang einbezogen werden.
Ausgangsmaterial sind in jedem Fall Kanthl-
zer und Bretter von vier Meter Lnge. Zum
Transport der Hlzer dient ein dreh- und ver-
fahrbarer Manipulator. Die Hlzer werden im
Rahmen des automatischen Arbeitsablaufs in
einem Magazin (nach Abmessungen sortiert)
eingelagert und fr jedes Paket nach Bedarf
auf Lnge gesgt.
In der Packstation werden die Profile mit-
hilfe eines zweiten Lagenstaplers auf einem
lngs verfahrbaren Skip lagenweise abgelegt.
Der Skip ist zugleich auch auf die Anforde-
rungen der nachfolgenden Umreifung zuge-
schnitten. Auf dem Skip werden die unteren
Hlzer abgelegt, auf diese die unterste Lage.
Die einzelnen Lagen werden durch Papp-
spacer getrennt. Der gefllte Skip mit dem
Profilpaket wird nach vorn in die Umreifungs-
station verfahren. Der nachfolgende Skip, auf
dem whrend des Stapelvorganges die unteren
Hlzer positioniert wurden, steht direkt zur
Verfgung.
Die Komplettierung des Profilpaketes
durch die seitlichen und die Deckelhlzer ist
mit der Umreifung zu einer Station zusam-
the feed roller track leading to the packaging
unit.
Packaging: Since the newly installed plant
produces exclusively for the companys own
needs, Schletter was also able to design the
packaging suitably for automation. Under
these special condition a unit has been created,
which can package the entire output of the
line automatically. Having regard to the subse-
quent transport and storage, it was decided to
produce strapped bundles using square timber
joists with cardboard intermediate layers.
The de-stacking machine at the entrance
to the automatic packaging unit is again de-
signed for lengths between 2 and 18 metres.
The profiles are removed from the rack in
layers and placed by a roller track onto a
transverse conveyor. From this, the profiles
are transferred onto a second transport belt
so that their surface can be checked visually.
When checking is carried out, this is done by
a worker. Damaged profiles are discarded by
tilting belts into a channel lower down, where
a pusher also moves the offcuts from the scrap
shear to the head end of the plant. Profiles that
have passed inspection are brought together
again on another transverse conveyor to form
a layer with the desired packing width, and
are then available to the packing station for
stacking in layers.
Thanks to consistent use of a uniform pack-
ing procedure the preparation and input of
the wooden joists can also be included in the
automated process. In all cases the starting
material is square joists and boards four me-
tres long. These are transported by a rotating
and travelling manipulator. As part of the au-
tomatic work sequence the joists (sorted by
size) are stored in a magazine and sawn to
length as necessary for each package. At the
packing station, with the help of a second layer
stacker, the profiles are placed in layers on a
longitudinally mobile skip. The skip is at the
same time also designed for the needs of the
subsequent strapping. Onto the skip are placed
the lower joists and over these the bottom
layer. Individual layers are separated by card-
board spacers. The full skip with the profile
package is moved forward to the strapping sta-
tion. The next skip, onto which the lower joists
were positioned during the stacking process, is
now directly available.
The completion of the profile package with
lateral and cover joists is combined with the
strapping in one station. Any missing joists
are again cut to size according to specifica-
tion, brought in from the saw in the correct se-
quence by a separate feed belt, and positioned
automatically. Finally, the completed pack-
age is stabilised at the strapping station with
Vollautomatische Profilverpackung Entstapler Fully-automatic packaging unit de-stacking machine
T e c H n o L o G Y
mengefasst. Die fehlenden Hlzer werden
wiederum spezifikationsgerecht zugeschnit-
ten und in der richtigen Reihenfolge von der
Sge ber ein separates Zuteilband zugefhrt
und automatisch positioniert. Das komplette
Paket wird schlielich in der Umreifungssta-
tion durch Kunststoffbnder stabilisiert und
steht zum Abtransport zur Verfgung.
Der Abtransport kann wahlweise mit
Flurfrderzeugen oder automatisch erfolgen.
Wenn das Profilpaket eingelagert werden soll,
wird es mithilfe eines Hebezeuges in ein spe-
zielles Transportgestell gebracht und auf eine
unter Flur installierte Rollenbahn abgesetzt,
die das Presswerk mit dem Lager verbindet.
Werkzeuge: Bei den Werkzeugen arbei-
tet Schletter, wie die meisten Presswerke in-
zwischen, mit spezialisierten, unabhngigen
Dienstleistern zusammen. Fr die erforder-
lichen Arbeiten im eigenen Hause sind im
Erdgeschoss Arbeitspltze eingerichtet und
die notwendigen Hilfseinrichtungen instal-
liert. Auch in dieser Hinsicht hat man sich
am Stand der Technik orientiert. Vorhanden
sind Ringtrennung, Werkzeugbeize, Werk-
zeugtrennvorrichtung, Strahlanlage, Werk-
zeug-Zusammenbauvorrichtung, Nitrierofen,
automatisches Hochregallager und zugehrige
Transporteinrichtungen.
Zur Werkzeuganwrmung stehen im Un-
tergeschoss berkopffen zur Verfgung.
Wegen der relativ groen mittleren Presslose
hat man sich auf sechs Heizkammern fr je
zwei Werkzeuge beschrnkt. Ungewhnlich
ist eine lange Reihe von Pufferpltzen in Li-
nie mit den Heizkammern, wo die frischen
Matrizen zusammen mit den zugehrigen
Sttzplatten (Bolster) vor dem Erwrmen
und nach dem Pressen vom Transportshuttle
abgelegt und aufgenommen werden. Diese
Pufferpltze werden auf der Seite der Werk-
zeugleute einschichtig be- und entladen, wh-
rend der vollautomatische Ofen die Presse
dreischichtig bedient. Auch die in der Mitte
des Werzeugpaketes liegenden Bolster wer-
den systematisch auf Temperaturen von etwa
250 C vorgewrmt. Das Leitsystem (EMS)
steuert selbststndig, wann welches Werkzeug
in die Heizkammer und zur Presse gebracht
wird. Der Transport der Werkzeuge zwischen
Presse und Ofen geschieht mit einem Lift. Der
Ofen ist zwar fr Schutzgas vorbereitet, wird
plastic strips and is then ready for removal.
Removal can take place optionally by floor-
level trolleys, or automatically. If the profile
package is to be stored, it is moved with the
help of a hoist into a special transport frame
and placed on a roller track installed below
floor level, which connects the extrusion plant
to the store.
Dies: Like most extrusion plants today, for
its dies Schletter collaborates with specialised,
independent service provision companies. For
the necessary in-house work, work stations
have been built on the ground floor, and the
required auxiliary equipment has been in-
stalled. In this respect too the state of the art
has been adopted. Available are a ring sepa-
rator, die etching, a die separator, a blasting
machine, a die assembly machine, a nitriding
furnace, an automatic high-rise shelf store and
the associated transport equipment.
For heating the dies, overhead furnaces
are available on the ground floor. Owing to
the relatively large average extrusion batches,
these are limited to six heating chambers each
for two dies at a time. An unusual feature is
a long row of buffer positions in line with
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the heating chambers, where the fresh dies
together with their associated support plates
(bolsters) are deposited and taken up by the
transport shuttle before heating and after ex-
trusion. These buffer positions are loaded and
unloaded over one shift by the die personnel,
while the fully automatic furnace serves the
press over three shifts. Even the bolsters lo-
cated in the middle of the die pack are system-
atically preheated to temperatures of around
250C. The control system (EMS) automati-
cally controls when and which die is put into
a heating chamber and brought to the press.
The dies are transported between press and
furnace by a lift. Although the furnace is pre-
pared for protective gas, for the time being it
is being operated without this.
After use, the extrusion dies are cleaned to
remove adhering aluminium by etching with
hot caustic soda in a fully automatic etching
unit. When it has reached the end of its useful
life the caustic soda has to be disposed of. A
special treatment process enables 90 percent
of the caustic soda to be recovered in sale-
able form for use in drinking water prepara-
tion. Only ten percent has ultimately to be
disposed of. This procedure saves hazardous
goods transport and costs (supplier: K&E-
Technik GmbH).
Final Assessment
The planned capacity of the plant is at least
15,000 tonnes a year. Confidentially, some of
the equipment partners involved in the project
assume that the output will ultimately exceed
that figure.
It is interesting to consider how the new
line is to be classified in the market. So far as
the market environment is concerned, for the
present it can be assumed that the demand for
extrusions will continue increasing, and this to
an extent determined by the trade situation.
Extruded profiles are increasingly emerging as
technical problem-solvers in numerous appli-
cation sectors. In the field of solar equipment,
for which the company Schletter produces
extruded supporting structures, experts an-
ticipate that despite very limited state support
the upward trend will continue in the coming
years.
Against that background it cannot be ex-
cluded that the premium undoubtedly paid
by Schletter in this sector
could be used rationally for a
second plant. Ludwig Schlet-
ter, managing proprietor of
the company, at least does not
exclude that possibility on be-
ing questioned. However, we
have no concrete plans along
those lines, he says.
Ultimately, the question
arises whether the model of
a highly specialised extrusion
plant producing exclusively for
the companys own needs will
prove acceptable. This would
also be conceivable in other application sec-
tors provided that the quantities used justified
a profile production facility of ones own.
Author
Dr.-Ing. Peter Johne is now a freelance technical
journalist for the aluminium industry, with his of-
fice in Haan/Rhineland. For many long years he was
editor-in-chief of this journal.
aber bis auf Weiteres ohne dieses gefahren.
Die Presswerkzeuge werden nach ihrem
Einsatz in einer vollautomatischen Beizan-
lage mit erhitzter Natronlauge von anhaften-
dem Aluminium gereinigt. Am Ende ihrer
Gebrauchsfhigkeit muss die Lauge entsorgt
werden. Durch eine spezielle Aufbereitung
wird erreicht, dass 90 Prozent der Lauge
fr die Verwendung in der Trinkwasserauf-
bereitung verkaufsfhig sind. Lediglich zehn
Prozent mssen letztlich entsorgt werden.
Dieses Vorgehen spart Gefahrguttransporte
und Kosten (Lieferant: K&E-Technik-GmbH,
Klleda).
Fazit
Als Kapazitt der Anlage sind mindestens
15.000 Tonnen jhrlich eingeplant. Unter der
Hand gehen einige der am Projekt beteilig-
ten Ausrstungspartner davon aus, dass die
Produktion letztlich ber diesem Wert liegen
wird.
Von Interesse ist, wie die neue Linie am
Markt einzuordnen ist. Was das Marktumfeld
betrifft, darf man derzeit davon ausgehen,
dass die Nachfrage nach Profilen weiter an-
steigen wird, und zwar ber das konjunktu-
rell bedingte Ma hinaus. Strangpressprofile
erweisen sich zunehmend als technische
Problemlser auf zahlreichen Anwendungs-
sektoren. Bei Solaranlagen, fr die die Firma
Schletter stranggepresste Unterkonstrukti-
onen produziert, erwarten Branchenkenner,
dass der Aufwrtstrend trotz eingeschrnkter
staatlicher Frderung in den kommenden Jah-
ren anhalten wird.
Vor diesem Hintergrund ist nicht auszu-
schlieen, dass das Lehrgeld, das man bei
Schletter ohne Zweifel auf diesem Sektor be-
zahlt, sinnvoll fr eine zweite Anlage genutzt
werden knnte. Ludwig Schletter, geschfts-
fhrender Inhaber des Unternehmens, schliet
diese Mglichkeit auf Nachfrage zumindest
nicht aus. Konkrete Plne in diese Rich-
tung, sagt er, haben wir allerdings nicht.
Letztlich stellt sich die Frage, ob das Mo-
dell eines hoch spezialisierten Presswerkes,
das ausschlielich fr den Eigenbedarf produ-
ziert, Schule machen wird. Es wre auch auf
anderen Anwendungssektoren denkbar, wenn
die verbrauchten Mengen eine eigene Profil-
produktion rechtfertigten.
Autor
Dr.-Ing. Peter Johne ist heute freier Fachjournalist
fr die Aluminiumindustrie mit Bro in Haan/
Rheinland. Er war lange Jahre Chefredakteur die-
ser Zeitschrift.
Verpackte Profile, zum Abtransport bereit
Profile packages, ready for removal
Technical consultancy and project manage-
ment EDplus-GmbH, Dr.-Ing. Werner
Strehmel, CH-Venthne, edplus@netplus.ch
Equipment in front of the press: log and
preheating magazine, gas furnace with hot
shear extrutec GmbH, Radolfzell, Germany
Extrusion press Presezzi Extrusion SpA,
Vimercate (Milano), Italy
Facilities behind the press: cooling system,
run-out, cooling bed, stretcher, stacking
machine, packaging Unterschtz Sonder-
maschinenbau GmbH, Walbeck, Germany
Automatic crane Vollert Anlagenbau
GmbH + Co. KG, Weinsberg, Germany
Ageing and die heating furnace Unifour
B.V., Ulft, The Netherlands
Die etching facility: K&E-Technik-GmbH,
Klleda, Germany
EMS Extrusion Management System: DTM.
informatica. Collaboration between DTM
Datentechnik GmbH, Ldenscheid, Ger-
many, and Uno Informatica Srl, Lecco, Italy
equipment partner
C o M p a n y n e w s w o r l d w i d e
Maaden and alcoa sign bank financing
Maaden, the Saudi Arabian Mining Co., and
Alcoa have signed bank financing for the
Middle Easts first fully integrated aluminium
smelter and food-grade can-sheet rolling mill
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Sixteen fi-
nancial institutions, together providing over
USD1.9bn, participated in the signing. The fi-
nancing has been heavily oversubscribed. The
companies will soon start the financing proc-
ess for the mine and refinery, which constitute
the second phase of the USD10.8bn Maaden
Alcoa joint venture.
sohar in talks on smelter expansion
Sohar Aluminium is in talks with the Omani
government on its plan to build phase two of
its operation, which will see the smelter double
output to 740,000 tpy. An expansion depends
on getting enough gas. The government has
sufficient gas supply to power the expansion,
but it is deciding whether to use it for alumin-
ium smelting, for a power plant or for other
projects in the fertiliser or liquid natural gas
(LNG) markets. The government will make a
decision by summer 2011.
If the company builds phase 2, then it will
consider developing another 350,000 tpy with
phase 3 and also consider adding a rolling mill
that could take hot metal from the smelter to
supply sectors including the packaging and
construction markets. If phase 2 happens,
Sohars hot metal production will rise from
40,000 to 200,000 tpy by 2013/14. The de-
velopment of the Sohar free zone will also
help attract potential partners to Oman and to
the company. Sohar only produces aluminium
ingot, all of which is sold to Rio Tinto Alcan,
but it is mulling a move downstream and has
space for value-added products output at its
smelter site. Rio sells Sohar ingots in China,
Malaysia and Indonesia.
alba converts into a
public joint stock company
At the end of November Aluminium Bahrain
(Alba) converted into a public joint stock
company under the official title of Aluminium
Bahrain B.S.C. His Excellency the Minister
of Industry and Commerce, Hassan Fakhro,
praised Albas role as a national champion for
industrial growth and infrastructural devel-
opment and acknowledged its pivotal role in
boosting the expansion of Bahrains alumin-
ium sector. Albas decision to convert into a
public joint stock company was the result of
reviewing different strategic options to best
position the company on the path for con-
tinuing and future success. Albas IPO, which
was launched recently, met with a positive
response from both retail and institutional in-
vestors and the company will be listed in Bah-
rain and London Stock Exchange.
Albas installed capacity totals more than
870,000 tpy. The company also has plans to
expand by building a sixth potline, which
would expand capacity by a further 400,000
tpy. Around 60 to 70% of Albas output is
value-added products, with liquid metal ac-
counting for 27% of production in 2010.
arrival of first shipment at newly
opened emal berth at Khalifa port
Emirates Aluminium (Emal) and Abu Dhabi
Ports Company (ADPC) announced the first
shipment of some 26,000 tonnes of smelting
grade alumina to the purpose-built wharf at
Khalifa Port in Taweelah. With the opening
of the wharf, Emal is now able to receive
shipments of raw materials directly to the
Taweelah-based smelter.
The 800 meter long Emal wharf is situ-
ated three and a half kilometres offshore with
berthing space for two 60,000 tonne capac-
ity ships. It contains a vacuum ship unloader
that transfers coke and alumina (the primary
raw materials for aluminium production) onto
the wharf belt conveyor system. The material
is then transported 4.6 km along the trestle
bridge and causeway running from the wharf
to the shore, before being delivered directly to
the Emal onsite Silo storage facility.
eUs emission trading
scheme moves closer
The aluminium industry may struggle to adapt
to Europes emissions trading scheme (ETS)
even after the European Union raised its emis-
sions cap to just over 2bn tonnes from 1.9bn,
to make way for energy-intensive industries.
Under the ETS, which comes into force in
2013, aluminium smelters must buy carbon
credits through a carbon auction system to
cover any emissions they use over a set bench-
mark. The ETS benchmark for most alumin-
ium production is 1.5 tonnes of emissions per
tonne of metal produced.
Although most aluminium plants in the
EU will be able to meet the ETS benchmarks
by 2013, some alumina refineries may strug-
gle. The total European emissions cap will be
lowered 1.74% annually between 2013 and
2020. The aim is to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions by 20% compared with 1990 levels,
although the EU Commission is considering
raising the goal to 30%.
rio ups output estimate
for paraguayan smelter
Rio Tinto Alcans proposed aluminium smelter
in Paraguay could produce as much as 670,000
tpy once it comes on stream, marking a 38%
increase from the 485,000 tpy capacity origi-
nally estimated for the operation. An improve-
ment in AP-series smelting technology at the
proposed site is one driver behind the expected
tonnage increase as the company is now em-
ploying AP5X technology at the Paraguayan
site. The Montreal-based aluminium producer
has also raised its cost estimate for the project
to more than USD3bn from USD2.5bn pre-
viously, reflecting the increased energy that
will be required to power the higher output
levels.
novelis shuts aratu smelter in Brazil
Novelis closed its 60,000 tpy, loss-making alu-
minium smelter in Aratu, Brazil, at the end of
2010 due to high operating costs and a lack
of competitively priced energy supply. The
aluminium
smelting industry
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plants small scale, outdated technology and
logistical factors also impair its operating ef-
ficiency. The smelter, located in the countrys
northeastern state of Bahia, supplies Novelis
Pindamonhangabas hot mill in So Paulo
state. The Ouro Preto smelter, also in Brazil
and Novelis only remaining primary produc-
tion facility, will pick up some of the supply
to the companys rolling mills in the country,
but Novelis will also buy metal from third
parties. The Ouro Preto smelter secures 65%
of its power from Novelis own hydroelectric
power plant. In contrast, Aratu was supplied
with higher-priced electricity from the grid.
new Zealand aluminium
smelters to cut production
The countrys biggest consumer of electric-
ity, New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Ltd
in Bluff, says that unseasonably high power
prices have forced it to cut production. The
company is reducing its electricity consump-
tion by 5% and producing 1,500 fewer tonnes
of aluminium per month. A company repre-
sentative told a radio station he was concerned
by the speed wholesale prices had risen, which
were meanwhile at levels last seen during the
2008 winter crisis. He said that the prices
were confusing, as the hydro lakes were cur-
rently above their average height for this time
of the year. The Electricity Authority said it
was looking into steep increases in wholesale
electricity prices since the end of November.
emal listed on lMe
One of the four Emal products sow, a solid
block of molten aluminium has been reg-
istered with the London Metals Exchange
(LME), ensuring both consistent pricing and
an international standard of quality. The LME
requires that aluminium producers be ISO
9000 certified, and to have completed a full
year of production prior to having their prod-
ucts listed on the LME. Emals listing comes
exactly one year after the smelter began pro-
ducing sow.
Hydro-Vale transaction
expected in first half 2011
Norsk Hydro expects to complete the planned
acquisition of Vales aluminium assets in the
first half 2011, representing a delay from
the original plan to close the transaction in
the fourth quarter 2010. The reason for the
delay relates to mining rights and regulatory
approval processes in Brazil, which are tak-
ing longer than anticipated. The transaction
involves the transfer of a large number of min-
ing rights from Vale to the newly established
Paragominas joint-venture company, in which
Hydro will own 60%. Most of the transfers
have been approved.
Bauxite and alumina activities
rio to invest Usd10m at
its Vaudreuil alumina facility
Rio Tinto Alcan will invest USD10m in the
expansion of the bauxite residue containment
site at its Vaudreuil Works alumina refinery
in Jonquire, Quebec. The project is of con-
siderable importance to the company. Work
started at the end of November 2010 and will
be carried out over three years. Located in
Jonquire, Vaudreuil is the largest inorganic
chemicals centre in Canada, with a capacity of
1.5m tpy of alumina and speciality chemicals.
Most of the alumina produced is smelter-grade
alumina to be used for further processing into
primary aluminium. Vaudreuil Works ranks
as the world leader in terms of greenhouse
gas emissions control and second for energy
efficiency.
Vimetco starts operating sierra
leone mines without contractor
Vimetco has started operating its bauxite mines
in Sierra Leone without a contractor as part
of its plans to cut costs and improve vertical
integration. The mine output of 1.4m tpy will
mostly go to the companys Alum Tulcea re-
finery in Romania, ensuring supply for Vimet-
cos Slatina smelter. Directly operating the
bauxite mine allows for better cost control and
it increases the reliability of the bauxite supply
for Vimetcos alumina refinery in Romania.
The mines produced 814,000 tonnes of baux-
ite in the first nine months of 2010, compared
with 514,000 tonnes for the same period in
2009. Bauxite sales in 2009 totalled 963,000
tonnes, most of it shipped to Romania.
rio speeds up yarwun
refinery expansion schedule
Rio Tinto Alcan is accelerating the construc-
tion schedule of the Yarwun alumina refinery
expansion, with a revised project comple-
tion date of August 2012. Announced in July
2007, the USD1.9bn expansion will more
than double alumina production to 3.4m tpy.
The company will process first bauxite through
the plant in the first half of 2012; the project
will be totally complete in August 2012. Rio
is confident that global demand for alumina is
increasing, and the expanded refinery will be
well placed to meet this demand.
The expansion projects cogeneration fa-
cility was handed over for commissioning in
August 2010, and is feeding power into the
grid. The 160 MW plant will reduce the car-
bon dioxide emissions per tonne of alumina
by more than a third relative to coal. The
expanded wharf facility is also complete and
operational.
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aluminium recycling
on a strong growth path
Industry forecasts point toward 75% growth
in aluminium recycling in the next decade.
The recycling industry has seen recycled alu-
minium volumes rise significantly from 13.7m
tonnes in 2003 to 19.4m tonnes in 2009, rep-
resenting an increase of 42%, compared with a
28% increase in primary production. This was
supported by strong growth of recovered scrap
from end-of-life products of close to 50%
during the same period, Roland Scharf Berg-
mann, head of Hydros Recycling unit and
chairperson of the Global Aluminium Recy-
cling Committee in the International Alumin-
ium Institute, said in a conference speech in
Poland in November.
Most recent forecasts show growth in re-
covered scrap from 2010 at approx. 9.5m
tonnes to almost 17m tonnes in 2020, follow-
ing the life-cycle analysis of the various prod-
uct groups, and taking into account projected
collection and recycling rates. Today reports
and statistics are issued not only on scrap col-
lection and recycling rates and on production
volumes, but also on avoided emissions of
CO
2
by recycling post-consumed scrap. This
is driven by the fact that recycling consumes
only 5% of the energy needed to produce pri-
mary aluminium.
Scrap has become a strategic raw mate-
rial in regions like Europe, but also across the
globe. China views scrap as strategic, and so
will invest more significantly in recycling and
in scrap imports. Global scrap flows are ex-
pected to grow from 4m tonnes in 2008 to
more than 10m tonnes in 2020, the majority
ending up in China and the rest of Asia.
Hydro said last year that it would step up
its activities in aluminium recycling to become
a leader in this field. Hydro plans to build a
recycling plant in Karmy, Norway, and to
develop a web-based scrap procurement and
trading platform that will be unique in the
market, as is the companys customer portal.
Hydros ambition is an annual recycling of up
to 1m tonnes of aluminium in 2020.
shanghai sigma slashes
aluminium scrap imports
Shanghai Sigma Metals, Chinas biggest sec-
ondary aluminium smelter, has halved the
proportion of its scrap needs sourced from
outside China. The company, traditionally
one of Chinas biggest importers of aluminium
scrap, bought about 40% of its scrap from the
domestic market in 2010 to take advantage of
lower prices. The portion bought domestically
was about 10 to 20% previously. The need for
lower-cost raw materials has been underlined
by falling margins on its alloy ingot sales as
aluminium prices in China have tracked below
international levels. Sigma, which has an alu-
minium alloy ingot capacity of about 500,000
tpy of, is counting on the market improving as
loss-making competitors go out of business.
After the economic crisis and the collapse
of demand overseas, Sigma would shift focus
to Chinese market. But with margins in China
now being squeezed, sales outside China ap-
pear to be helping the business stay in prof-
it. Sigma has also benefited from currency
strength in its main export market Japan where
it supplies major car manufacturers.
The company is building a new smelter in
Chongqing, the core of Chinas fast-develop-
ing western region. Originally scheduled for
2010, the plant should now start up at the end
of 2011, after more of the excess capacity has
been flushed out of the market. The Chong-
qing plant will feed growing domestic demand,
which is benefiting from government efforts to
rebalance growth away from coastal regions.
secondary smelting and recycling
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) appointed Jean-Bap-
tiste Lucas as chief marketing officer, who joins
Albas senior executive management team. Lucas
earlier worked with Rio Tinto Alcan.
Noranda Aluminum has named Peter J.
Hartland president of the companys upstream
business unit, effective 6 Dec. In his new role
Hartland will oversee the companys primary
aluminium, alumina and bauxite facilities, duties
currently performed by chief operating officer
Kyle Lorentzen, who left Noranda at the end of
2010. Alan Brown, vice president of human re-
sources, will also step down from his role on 31
March and assume a consultancy role on labour
relations issues.
Julia Steyn and George King have been
named vice presidents and co-managing direc-
tors of Alcoas business development group, suc-
ceeding J. Michael Schell. Ms Steyn and Mr King
will report to Charles McLane, Alcoa executive
vice president and CFO. Olivier
Jarrault has been named president of Alcoas
engineered products and solutions (EPS) division,
effective 1 January 2011. Jarrault replaces William
F. Christopher, who will retire on 1 April 2011 af-
ter more than three decades with the company.
Keith Walton has been appointed vice president
of governmental affairs. Walton succeeds Russell
Wisor, who is retiring in February after 33 years
with the aluminium producer. In his new post,
Walton will lead all of Alcoas federal and state
government affairs activities in the US.
BHP Billiton announced the appointment of a
new non-executive director, Baroness Shriti Vad-
era, to its board, effective 1 January 2011.
Novelis announced the appointment of John
Gardner as vice president and chief sustainability
officer, effective 1 January.
on the move
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stena will increase swedish capacity
Aluminium alloy producer Stena Aluminium
will increase output at its operations in Swe-
den from 50,000 to 90,000 tpy by mid-2011
after it was given the go-ahead to increase
capacity. Once on stream, the extra output
at the companys plant in lmhult, Sweden,
will take it back to former production levels.
Stena stopped production at its operations in
Kolding, Denmark, in 2009 after secondary
aluminium demand and prices slumped. The
company made the decision to increase output
again following several months of recovery.
Stena will not restart any output from Kolding,
which had operated at a loss for several years
before production was stopped.
alumetal will increase aluminium alloy
Alumetal is building a third plant that will
increase its aluminium alloy output by over
30%. Based in western Poland, the new
plant will produce 30,000 tpy when it is
completed in mid-2011. This will take the
Polish producers total output from 90,000 to
120,000 tpy. Construction of the plant, which
received a grant from the European Union,
has been on hold for the last two years be-
cause of the recession. Alumetal output ac-
counts for about 40% of total Polish alu-
minium alloy. Poland is a big market with a
population of over 40m, conveniently located
with a stable, growing economy and relatively
cheap labour.
suppliers
siemens to modernise
aluminum cold rolling mill in Bahrain

Siemens VAI has received an order from Gulf
Aluminium Rolling Mill (Garmco) in Manama,
Bahrain, to equip its aluminum cold rolling mill
no. 2 with new automation and drive systems.
The modernisation is intended to improve
plant availability as well as to ensure consist-
ently high product quality. The cold rolling
mill will be upgraded during a scheduled plant
shutdown at the end of February 2011.
Garmco is a leading producer of rolled alu-
minum products in the Golf region. The com-
panys two cold rolling mills have a combined
capacity of 165,000 tpy. Its main products are
series 1000, 3000 and 5000 alloys with thick-
nesses ranging from 0.15 to 5 mm. The four-
high, single-pass mill in the cold rolling mill
no. 2 has a roll force of 21 MN and reaches a
rolling speed of 1,200 m/min. The maximum
coil weight is 10 tonnes.
In order to improve plant availability and
ensure final products of consistently high qual-
ity, Siemens VAI will renew the entire auto-
mation equipment in the cold rolling mill and
the associated secondary plants. The heart of
the automation solution is the Siroll Alu TCS
process control system specifically developed
for aluminum rolling mills. It contains all the
essential technology packages required for
high product quality, including an automatic
roll gap and thickness control, a flatness con-
trol, and presetting the rolling mill on the basis
of the production plan. The project also covers
the replacement of the power modules in the
stand drive, the two coiler drives and in most
of the auxiliary drives. The consoles in the con-
trol centers will also be modernised.
seco/warwick awarded
several orders for annealing
and homogenising furnaces
Alro S.A. has placed an order to Seco/War-
wick for the revamping of four aluminium an-
nealing furnaces in order to comply with the
harsh requirements of the AMS 2750D avia-
tion norm. The new furnaces will offer excel-
lent gas consumption values and temperature
uniformity features; they will also reduce the
overall heating time. The revamping work will
concern the full retrofit of the heating system
and exchange of the insulation. The control
system of all furnaces will be replaced as
well. Additionally, two of the furnaces will be
aluminium semis
Ball to acquire
european packaging plants
Ball Corp. has agreed to buy European aero-
sol container producer Aerocan S.A.S. for
about USD293m, as the company looks to
grow its overseas aluminium packaging busi-
ness. The deal is expected to close during the
first quarter of 2011. Aerocan operates three
aerosol can plants in Bellegarde, France;
Devizes, England; and Velim, Czech Repub-
lic producing aluminium slugs as well as
packaging for personal care, pharmaceutical,
beverage and food products. It also is 51%
owner of a joint-venture aluminium slug plant
in Beaurepaire, France.
Hydro to close extrusion
plant at Karmy in 2012
Hydro has decided to phase out its extrusion
plant at Karmy in 2012 as part of its work to
restructure the production of aluminum pro-
files in Norway. Operations at the companys
extrusion plants at Magnor and Raufoss will
be strengthened. The restructuring of Hydros
Norwegian extrusion operations is scheduled
for completion by the end of the first quarter
of 2012 and includes the companys three
extrusion plants in Karmy, Magnor and Rau-
foss. The press, anodising line and fabrica-
tion activities at Karmy will all be gradually
phased out over a period of 15 months.
E
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equipped with a special design of fans dedi-
cated exclusively for aluminium annealing
furnaces.
Producing over 200,000 tonnes of prima-
ry aluminium, Alro is the largest aluminium
smelter in Central and Eastern Europe (ex-
cluding CIS). It is one of Romanias largest
companies with an important contribution to
the local and national economy. The company
is part of the 7th largest aluminium producer
worldwide, Vimetco NV, which has operations
in Romania, China and Sierra Leone.
Seco/Warwick has also received an order
from Asia for the delivery of a four-zone coil
annealing furnace equipped with a Vortex jet
heating system. The new furnace will offer
excellent heating times and reduced energy
consumption thanks to the Vortex and heat-
ing system which will be equipped with highly
efficient auto recuperative burners. The guar-
anteed temperature uniformity will be 5C
during soaking. Additionally, the system will
be equipped with a bypass cooler unit allowing
to cool the load down to 180C directly in the
furnace after the heating phase.
Moreover, Seco/Warwick signed the con-
tract for the delivery of a 30-tonne electrically
heated travel log homogenising furnace to the
Romanian plant of Universal Alloy Corp. Eu-
rope. This is the third contract between UAC
Europe and Seco/Warwick. The furnace will
comply with the AMS 2750D aviation norm
and guarantee the temperature uniformity
of 4C during the soaking phase. In order
to minimise the installation area and speed
up the cycle time the plant design allows the
equipment to travel over the two piles of load
prepared on the floor level. Furthermore, this
solution does not require using the loading
device. After the heat treatment of the first
load has been finished, the furnace moves to
the second base and starts the treatment of
the subsequent load. Additionally, the fur-
nace will be equipped with cooling fans to
conduct the cooling immediately after the
heating.
Hertwich awarded orders for furnaces
and ultrasonic inspection stations
Dubai Aluminium Co. Ltd (Dubal), UAE, has
placed an order with Hertwich Engineering,
Austria, for the supply and commissioning
of a batch homogenising facility. The scope
comprises two batch homogenising furnaces
as well as one air cooling station. Due to the
reversing air flow concept and to regulation
by flaps, the furnaces will heat the logs some
20% faster and with improved temperature
uniformity. The facility is fully automated and
heating is regulated through measurement
of the air and metal temperatures. The same
concept is employed in the cooling station to
ensure efficient cooling. Commissioning is
scheduled for the end of 2010
Otto Fuchs AG, Germany, has placed an
order with Hertwich for the supply of two
turnkey two-chamber melting furnaces for a
production of approx. 50,000 tpy. The new
Ecomelt-type furnaces, replacing obsolete in-
duction units, are designed to ensure minimal
metal loss and most economical operation.
Commissioning is scheduled for Q4 2010.
Moreover, Hertwich has been awarded
four orders for ultrasonic billet inspection sta-
tions, all of them of helical type for volume
inspection. Two stations have already been
successfully commissioned for Hammerer
Aluminium Industries (HAI) at its works in
Ranshofen, Austria, and in Arad, Romania.
The other two UT stations are scheduled to
be commissioned around the end of 2010 at
Dubal and at Impol d.d., Slovenia.
All four UT units are designed for helical
inspection of the entire billet volume to detect
faults and inclusions, meeting the requirements
of ASTM B 594 detection class A or B, (flat
bottom hole of 1.2 or 2.0 mm), and surface
faults 2 mm deep. Billet diameters range from
125 to 450 mm. The number of probes per
unit is determined to meet specific throughput
requirements (up to 150,000 tpy).
Fully automated ultrasonic inspection
equipment is an indispensable instrument to
certify and document that billets are free from
defects and to achieve best economy of opera-
tion. The volume inspection is mandatory for
billet suppliers to the automotive and aircraft
industries.
Hatch to implement
rios aluminium project
Hatch Canada Ltd. will implement the first
phase of Rio Tinto Alcans AP60 project in
Quebecs Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region in a
50-50 joint venture with SNC-Lavalin En-
gineers & Constructors Ltd. The USD758m
project will include 38 pots with a capacity of
60,000 tpy. AP60 technology is more energy
efficient and will deliver 40% higher output
per pot than existing technology. Mississau-
ga / Ontario-based Hatch will provide project
management, engineering, procurement, con-
struction management and pre-commission-
ing services for the smelter. The first phase of
the project is scheduled to be completed by
2013.
The author
The author, Dipl.-Ing. R. P. Pawlek, is founder
of TS+C, Technical Info Services and Consult-
ing, Sierre (Switzerland), an established service
for the primary aluminium industry. He is also
the publisher of the standard works Alumina
Refineries and Producers of the World and
Primary Aluminium Smelters and Producers of
the World. These reference works are continu-
ally updated and contain useful technical and
economic information on all alumina refineries
and primary aluminium smelters of the world.
They are available as loose-leaf files and/or
CD-ROMs from the Alu Media GmbH in Ds-
seldorf, Germany.
We purchase and supply:
n Rolling mills cold/hot
n Roll grinding machines
n Continuous casters
n Levellers/straighteners
n Drawing machines
n Slitting lines
n Cut-to-length lines
n Coilers
n Coil carriages
n Rollformers
n Tube welding machines
n Extrusion presses
n Joining presses
n Packing lines for strips
COILTEC Maschinenvertriebs GmbH Silberkaute 4 57258 Freudenberg
Phone +49 (0) 2734/271190 Fax +49 (0) 2734/271195
www.coiltec.de email: info@coiltec.de
Please ask for our sales list!
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SMS Siemag has recently been awarded
several orders for hot and cold rolling
mills from customers in Middle East,
China and Brazil.
The biggest order comes from the Maaden Al-
coa joint venture. For the ambitious greenfield
project in Ras Az Zawr, Saudi Arabia, SMS
Siemag will supply a complete integrated hot
and cold rolling complex for aluminium flat
products, including the electrical and automa-
tion package. The capacity of the integrated
rolling mill is around 400,000 tpy of alu-
minium strip for the manufacture of beverage
cans. The plant will start operation already at
the end of 2012.
SMS is supplying the complete roughing
and finishing mills for the hot rolling mill. The
roughing mill comprises a 4-high roughing
stand which rolls down, in reversing opera-
tion, the incoming aluminium ingots of thick-
ness up to 635 mm and weight up to 32.5
tonnes. The mill also includes one heavy and
one light hydraulic crop shear for intermediate
cropping and for removing the head and tail
ends from the roughed ingot.
The 4-stand finishing mill in 4-high design
rolls the roughed ingot, which has an entry
thickness of around 30 mm, down to a final
gauge of 2 to 7 mm in a single pass. In the
exit section, the finished strip is side-trimmed
and then taken up by a hot-strip coiler with
belt wrapper.
SMS is likewise supplying the complete
cold rolling mill with coil preparation station
in the entry section and an offline strip inspec-
tion facility in the exit section. The powerful
4-stand tandem mill in 4-high design rolls the
incoming aluminium hot strip, having a maxi-
mum width of 2,100 mm, down to minimum
final gauges of 0.15 mm. The tandem mill
is equipped with tried and tested actuators,
comprising hydraulic adjustment, positive
and negative work-roll bending and CVC plus
technology. These actuator systems ensure
optimum strip flatness, strip gauge tolerances
and a perfect strip surface.
In a later expansion stage of the works, the
plant concept will make it possible to change
over to fully continuous mill operation through
the retrofitting of various plant components
such as a double pay-off reel, welding ma-
chine, strip accumulator and carrousel reel.
Both the hot rolling mill and the tandem
cold mill are equipped with all open and closed-
loop control systems that ensure reliable proc-
ess control of the fully automated rolling op-
erations. The here employed systems include
the AluControl automation system, which is
part of SMSs X-Pact electrical and automa-
tion package and specifically designed to meet
the process requirements of aluminium rolling.
In both mills, AluControl covers the processes
from Level 0 through to Level 2 (A detailed
report on the AluControl automation system
was given in ALUMINIUM 10/2010).
Henan Zhongfu Industrial Co. Ltd. has
placed an order with SMS Siemag for the
erection of a 1 + 4 CVC plus hot rolling mill at
the Gogyi location, West Zhengzhou, Henan
Province. The mill is to be integrated into a
new works complex in which, primarily, alu-
minium hot strip will be rolled for can pro-
duction. The hot rolling mill is designed for a
capacity of more than 760,000 tpy.
SMS is supplying the reversing roughing
stand and the 4-stand finishing mill for the
production of 2,400-mm wide hot strip with
a minimum final gauge of 1.8 mm. The four
stands of the finishing mill are equipped with
hydraulic adjustment system, CVC plus with
integrated work-roll bending and multi-zone
cooling. In the entry section of the finishing
mill, an ingot cooler for special products regu-
lates the strip temperature in order to ensure
high production. The supply scope is rounded
off by light and heavy crop shears with scrap
handling system, side trimmer, fume exhaust,
uncoiler and coil conveyor, and utility systems.
The mill will go into operation at the begin-
ning of 2013 and be used for manufacturing
new rolling mill orders for sMs siemag
from Middle east, China and Brazil
aluminium hot strip for beverage cans in a
wide range of grades and alloys.
With the new aluminium cold rolling mill,
Northeast Light Alloy Co., Ltd. (Nela), China,
is entering modern production of high-qual-
ity aluminium strip products. In addition to
various finished products, input stock for foil
manufacture will be rolled on the CVC plus
6-high stand. In view of the large variety of
rolled products, the new SMS Siemag cold
rolling mill will constitute the central produc-
tion unit of the works in Harbin.
The rolling mill is designed for a capacity of
85,000 tpy and processes incoming strips with
entry gauges of maximum 8 mm and widths of
up to 1,900 mm. The minimum final gauge is
100 m, the maximum coil weight 21 tonnes.
The 6-high stand is equipped with CVC plus
intermediate-roll shifting and with multi-zone
roll cooling for influencing strip flatness. A Hot
Edge Spray system is provided to influence
strip flatness in the strip edge area. The Dry
Strip system installed in the exit section of the
mill ensures that the residual oil on the surface
of the rolled strips is kept to a minimum. A
coil preparation station, a coil conveyor sys-
tem and the full range of utility systems com-
plete the mill stand. Already in 2006, Nela had
awarded an order to SMS for the supply of a
mill stand for wide aluminium plate for the
works in Harbin.
Novelis do Brasil Ltda. in Pindamonhang-
aba, Sao Paulo, has awarded SMS Siemag the
order to supply a new 2-stand cold rolling mill
for aluminium alloys. The 2-stand tandem mill
is the first of its type in South America. The
new tandem cold mill will be used for manu-
facturing can stock for the beverage industry.
The products will comprise strip in widths of
up to 2,000 mm and with a minimum final
gauge of 0.15 mm. The mill will be designed
for an annual capacity of 330,000 tonnes.
The key components of this high-capacity
mill are highly efficient roll bending systems,
multi-zone roll cooling and the hydraulic roll
adjustment system. A coil preparation station,
an offline strip inspection facility and a pal-
let transport system from SMS Siemag com-
plete and enhance the rolling mill, which will
produce cold-rolled aluminium strips for high
quality standards. The SMS Siemag technol-
ogy is already well known by the customer.
An aluminium hot strip mill that had been
relocated and revamped by SMS commenced
operation in Pindamonhangaba in 1999.

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r e s e a r C H
This overview covers the development of
inert anodes for the primary aluminium
industry in the period 2007 to 2010. It
continues a review of oxides, cermets and
alloys as well as of compatible low-tem-
perature electrolytes.
The development of inert anodes has been re-
viewed several times [1-7] in the past. The use
of an inert anode instead of carbon eliminates
the generation of the greenhouse gas CO
2
when oxygen liberated form the dissociation
of alumina reacts with anode carbon. It also
eliminates perfluorocarbon (PFC) by-products
and other polluting emissions such as PAHs.
This update is a continuation of [3].
oxides
The use of oxides was the first and most impor-
tant step towards inert anodes on the labora-
tory scale. Tin oxide was one of the first used.
Vasilev and co-workers [8] examined the
electrochemistry of tin ion species in cryolite
alumina melts. They studied Sn(O)/Sn (II) and
Sn (II)/Sn (IV) equilibria by voltammetry in
cryolite alumina melts, and measured formal
potentials of redox processes on platinum, car-
bon and tin dioxide anodes for various SnO
concentrations. On the basis of tin electro-
chemistry data the authors discussed possible
ways to control and monitor the processes in
the bath using tin-containing low-consumable
anodes. The ions found agreed well and cor-
related with the thermodynamic estimates.
The slow electronic transfer kinetics for tin
cathodic reduction was of special interest be-
cause it reveals new possibilities to control the
transfer of tin impurities from the melt to the
produced aluminium, and so provides some
optimism as regards ceramic inert anodes
based on tin oxide.
Then Robert, Liu and Weirauch [9, 10]
proposed the use of iron oxides singly or in
various combinations as inert anode material.
The iron oxide can be FeO, Fe
2
O
3
, Fe
3
O
4
or
combinations of these. During the aluminium
production process the anodes remain stable
at a controlled bath temperature and current
density through the anodes.
Li [11] examined the manufacture of
NiFe
2
O
4
which has been identified as a po-
tential candidate for inert anodes with low
corrosion wear. Wang [12] used such samples
and measured their electrical conductivity and
their corrosion resistance in the electrolyte.
The electrical conductivity increases with in-
creasing temperature. The samples show good
corrosion resistance in the cryolite bath, and
the dissolution of Fe
2
O
3
is the main mode of
anode corrosion by the electrolyte.
Lai et al. [13] performed preliminary test-
ing of NiO-NiFe
2
O
4
as a ceramic matrix of
cermet inert anodes under electrolysis condi-
tions. Results show that the solubility of Fe
from NiFe
2
O
4
is 0.06% and Ni from NiFe
2
O
4

is 0.008%. With increasing NiO content the
solubility of Ni increases, but overall solubility
of NiFe
2
O
4
NiO ceramics decreases.
In order to improve the properties of
NiFe
2
O
4
inert anodes, Ma et al. [14] adopted
a two-step sintering process and improved the
composite of the solid state reaction by add-
ing 18 wt.% excess NiO. Sintering 18NiO
NiFe
2
O
4
has thermodynamic conditions which
belong to solid sintering, and solid reactions and
densification in this process happen simultane-
ously. The higher the sintering temperature,
the larger is the diffusion coefficient. When
the sintering temperature increases from 1150-
1400C, the relative density of the sintering
sample increases from 69.59 to 98.28%, the
porosity decreases accordingly, the bending
strength increases from 14.62 to 71.94 MPa
and the electrical conductivity increases from
0.47 to 2.23 Scm
-1
.
Tian et al. [15] examined the effect of
CaO addition on the corrosion resistance of
10NiO-NiFe
2
O
4
as inert anode material. They
prepared CaO additions ranging from 0.5 to 4
wt.% and found that the added CaO content
has great effects on the concentration of im-
purities in the electrolyte. Unfortunately the
corrosion increases with increasing CaO in the
anodes. The corrosion resistance of the inert
anode containing CaO is mainly affected by
electrolyte penetration causing grain bound-
ary attack of the anode sample. CaO which
exists in the grain boundary layer accelerates
the corrosion of the ceramic anode.
In another experiment Xue et al. [16] added
Co
3
O
4
to NiO-NiFe
2
O
4
inert anode material
and examined the corrosion resistance in low
temperature electrolyte. They found that the
addition of Co
3
O
4
up to 3 wt.% can improve
the material density and lower its porosity due
to the chemically stabilized microstructure
formed with the NiFe
2
O
4
-NiO-Co
3
O
4
mixture.
Adding Co
3
O
4
reduced the corrosion rate, but
the corrosion rate increased again above 4
wt.%. This was especially due to the thermal
reduction of Co
3
O
4
by metallic aluminium dis-
solved in the melts, but this could be partially
counteracted by oxygen generated during the
electrolysis process at a current density of
about 0.4 A/cm
2
. At this current density the
corrosion rate was about 20 mm per year.
Pietrzyk [17] examined three different ox-
ide type anodes as inert anodes for aluminium
electrolysis. The composition of the anodes by
wt.% of the tests lasting about 100 hours re-
vealed the following:
62.3% Cr
2
O
3
35.7% NiO 2% CuO:
corrosion rate 14.82 cm per year
40.1% NiO 36.7% Fe
2
O
3
23.2% SnO
2
:
corrosion rate 4.21 cm per year
96% SnO
2
2% Sb
2
O
3
2% CuO: corro-
sion rate 2.91 cm per year [17, 18]
The inertness of the material was judged
by: open circuit potential (OCP); residual cor-
rosion current density (NOCP); and limiting
corrosion current density. The OCP results of
all investigated anode materials were below
the NCOP, showing that these anodes were
not completely inert but undergo corrosion.
All tested anodes showed first an anodic dis-
solution followed by oxygen evolution. The
corrosion is mass transport controlled mostly
by chemical reaction.
The anodic overvoltage of the above anode
materials was studied by galvanostatic steady
state current/voltage measurements [19].
These anodes showed several times lower ov-
ervoltage than a traditional carbon anode. The
process of oxygen release on the used inert
anode materials depends on a two-step reac-
tion of charge transition. At current densities
above 1.2 A/cm
2
the deviation of the over-
voltage results from straight line in the Tafel
system, which may indicate slow desorption of
oxygen off the anode surface.
Then Pietrzyk [20] studied how changes of
the anode-cathode distance (ACD) affect the
electrical resistance of the cryolite electrolyte.
Decreasing the ACD below 2 cm increased the
electrical resistivity of the electrolyte due to
the simultaneous increase of gas bubbles which
reduce the active electrolyte cross section and
so its conductivity. With a larger ACD of about
3 to 5 cm the electrolyte resistivity approaches
the theoretical value asymptotically because
of the lesser accumulation of the gas bubbles.
The results have shown that for a given ACD,
increasing the current density effectively de-
creases the electrolyte resistivity and bubble
inert anodes an update
rudolf p. pawlek, sierre
r e s e a r C H
density, probably due to speeding up the bub-
bles coalescence and so their escape.
Cermets
Mixing metal powders and oxides and forming
these to get inert anode has long been standard
practice. So Xu et al. [21] mixed Fe and Ni
powders with Al
2
O
3
and formed composites
for aluminium electrolysis. In laboratory scale
they obtained a corrosion rate of 24 mm/year
using a low temperature electrolyte. Shi [22]
added Co powder to the above composite and
measured the physical properties of Fe-Ni-Co-
Al
2
O
3
composites under electrolysis condi-
tions. This kind of anode shows good electrical
conductivity, and resistance to oxidation and
corrosion. During electrolysis a cermet layer
forms on the anode surface and can protect
against oxidation and corrosion.
Then the scientists used different types of
metal matrix: Cu, Ni, CuNi and FeNi, while
mostly using NiFe
2
O
4
as the oxide fraction.
The following paper examines the Cu metal
powder matrix. Xi [23] used Cu
2
O-10CuAlO
2
-
xCu cermets as inert anode candidate materi-
als. He showed that this material behaves as
an electrical conductor when the Cu-content is
higher than 15 wt.%. The electrical conductiv-
ity depends on the content, the particle size of
the metal phase and also on the porosity of the
cermet material, and the electrical conductiv-
ity increases with the decrease of particle size
of the metal phase and the porosity.
The system Cu-NiFe
2
O
4
was examined sev-
eral times [17, 24]. Wu [24] examined such
inert anode material under laboratory condi-
tions and measured the corrosion rate to be
30 mm per year, while Pietrzyk [17] found a
corrosion rate of 4.19 cm per year. Adding Ag
to the metal phase [25] helps to increase the
electrical conductivity.
Wang [26] prepared cermet anodes with
the composition 5Cu/(10NiO-NiFe
2
O
4
) by
powder metallurgy, and he studied the corro-
sion behaviour of these anodes in KF-K
3
AlF
6
-
AlF
3
-Al
2
O
3
electrolytes. Due to the thermal
reduction reaction, these anodes erode seri-
ously. But adopting low-temperature baths
may help to reduce the corrosion rate.
Li et al. [27] examined the mechanical prop-
erties of 10NiO-NiFe
2
O
4
based cermet anodes.
The toughening and strengthening mechanism
of these cermets consists of crack bridging and
of crack deflection toughening. A cermet con-
taining 15 wt.% Cu achieves optimal strength
of 200.34 MPa. The thermal shock resistance
was evaluated by thermal shock cycles. The
heating and quenching experiments show that
NiFe2O
4
-10NiO ceramic show cracks after 2-3
cycles for heating and quenching from 960C
to room temperature. The addition of copper
increases the strength and fracture stress, as
well as thermal stress resistance, and helps to
prevent crack nucleation.
Then Lai [28] doped Cu/(NiFe
2
O
4
-10NiO)
cermets with CaO and studied the effect in
low temperature electrolytic baths. The re-
sults show that adding 2 mass% CaO to the
above composition increases the relative den-
sity from 82.83 to 97.63% at 1200C. During
electrolysis the relative density decreases due
to the chemical dissolution of CaO at the ce-
ramic grain boundary, which aggravates the
penetration of the electrolyte into the anode
material. Therefore, in order to improve corro-
sion resistance of the anode material, the CaO
content should be kept to a minimum.
The Cu-Ni metal phase in a NiO-NiFe
2
O
4

oxide cermet was studied several times [29-
31] recently. Lai [29] reported that the metallic
phase species in cermets have no effect on the
concentration of impurities in the bath during
electrolysis: the total steady-state concentra-
tion of impurities remains almost the same in
the range of 4.12 x 10
-4
to 4.80 x 10
-4
. How-
ever, preferential corrosion occurs in cermets
with Ni as the metallic phase, while cermets
with Cu as the metallic phase resist corrosion
better. In another study Zhang [30] examined
the metal and physical properties of these inert
anodes. X-ray diffraction indicates the coexist-
ence of Cu-Ni, NiO and NiFe
2
O
4
phases in the
cermets. Within the metallic phases ranging
from 0% to 20% (mass fraction), the maxi-
mum bending strength of 176.4 MPa and the
minimal porosity of 3.9% of the composite ap-
pear when the metal phase content is 5%. Us-
ing a controlled sintering atmosphere (argon
for 6 hours at 1150C) Ma et al. [31] found
the following components in the composites:
NiFe
2
O
4
(Ni
x
Fe
3-x
O
4
), NiO and Cu
3-x
Ni
x
. The
porosity decreases from 1.53 to 0.63% as tem-
perature and pressure increase. The grain size
goes from 5 m ~ 10 m to 30 m ~ 30 m with
increasing pressure. The bending strength in-
creases with increasing pressure, and the elec-
trical conductivity improves with increasing
temperature and increasing pressure. The cor-
rosion resistance in the electrolyte improved
significantly.
Then the Ni-NiFe
2
O
4
system served for
several experiments. For Lai [32] the factors
causing corrosion are as follows: alumina con-
centration, bath temperature, cryolite ratio,
area ratio of anode to cathode, and current
density. Corrosion analysis is consistent with
experimental results leading to a mathematical
model to predict the corrosion rate of inert
anodes in aluminium electrolysis. For the sys-
tem Ni-NiFe
2
O
4
Li [33] examined the ther-
mal stress situation and the transient thermal
stresses under complex boundary conditions
during high temperature (955C) electrolysis
using the finite element software ANSYS.
Then Qin [34] used the same system to
measure corrosion rates in cryolite alumina
melts. He showed that the corrosion rate
increases very slowly with an alumina con-
centration near saturation or above 5%; but
corrosion increases sharply when the alumina
content falls to about 2%. Depletion of the
Al
2
O
3
concentration in the bath can thus cause
catastrophic corrosion. The anodes perform
well in a bath with cryolite ratios ranging from
2.2-2.4 at about 960C. Dissolved metal in the
bath and high anodic current density increase
the corrosion rate. The principal corrosion
mechanism seems to be the aluminothermic
reaction with dispersed aluminium in the bath,
followed by fluoridation of the anode matrix
and subsequent dissolution of the anode in the
bath.
The density of the cermet inert anode is of
great importance. The results of Lai [35] show
that prolonging the ball milling time up to 150
minutes gives the optimum density; cermets
containing up to 15 mass% Ni achieve a high
density, ranging from 94-96%. A weakly re-
ductive atmosphere favours densification; the
relative density increases from 80.38-96.85%
when increasing the sintering temperature
from 1100-1300C.
Ball milling and electroless plating of the
metallic phase of Ni/(90NiFe
2
O
4
-10NiO) was
used by Lai [36] to improve the microstructure
and the thermal shock resistance. For samples
prepared by ball milling an aggregation of the
metallic phase is found both in the green block
and the sintered sample and the extent of the
aggregation increases the Ni content.
Atmosphere-changing sintering was ap-
plied by Liu et al. [37] to improve the cor-
rosion resistance of 17Ni/(10NiO-NiFe
2
O
4
)
cermet anodes for aluminium electrolysis. In
this sintering method, samples were prelimi-
narily sintered at 1050-1200C for 2 hours
in an argon flow to obtain a relatively high
density. Then the temperature was lowered to
1000C and the inert atmosphere changed to
oxidizing so as to oxidise the metal phase in
the outer part of the sample. Then the inert
sintering atmosphere was once applied and the
temperature increased up to 1400C in order
to obtain fully densified samples. Atmosphere-
changing sintering reduces the corroded layer
in the outer zone from 440-200 m. The Fe
and Ni content in the produced aluminium
decrease from 0.121-0.043 g and from 0.030-
0.004 g respectively, and the wear rate drops
r e s e a r C H
from 3.12 cm per year (traditional sintering) to
1.10 cm per year(changed sintering).
Li et al. [27] determined the toughening and
strengthening mechanism of the cermets to be
crack bridging and crack deflection toughen-
ing. Cermets containing 10% Ni achieved an
optimal toughness of 5.11 MPa.m
-2
.
Tian et al. [38] took 100 mm diameter
cup-shaped inert anodes with the composition
17Ni and 83(10NiO-90NiFe
2
O
4
) to perform
laboratory scale tests. The Ni content in the
produced aluminium was 0.1288% and Fe
1.0074%. The corrosion rate was determined
to be approximately 8.51 mm per year. During
the test, gas bubbles with 0.5-1.0 mm diam-
eter, evolved almost like a froth on the anode
surface. They caused a voltage fluctuation of
about 49 mV, but this was smaller than 135 mV
caused by bubbles on graphite anodes.
Hua et al. [39] studied the effect of Ni-Fe
additions on the properties of NiFe
2
O
4
-based
cermets. Metallic Ni and Fe can promote the
sintering and also promote NiFe
2
O
4
grain
growth. With increasing Ni-Fe content the
bending strength increases, but the bulk den-
sity decreases and the porosity increases. The
reason seems to be that adding Ni and Fe caus-
es more interspaces to form in the NiFe
2
O
4
.
This is because the expansion coefficient of
NiFe
2
O
4
is smaller than that of Ni or Fe, so
interspaces form in the metal during cooling.
After replacing Ni and Fe powder by a Ni-Fe
alloy only few interspaces were left.
Li [40] proposed a multi-component alloy
as metal phase of the NiFe
2
O
4
oxide phase
cermet. He described methods to prepare
the alloys, which is quite difficult. To manu-
facture the alloys NiFeAlCuZn, NiFeAlCuSn
and NiFe, Li graded composite slurry casting to
manufacture the anode samples and he judged
this technique to be valuable for making new
anti-corrosion electrode material for alumin-
ium electrolysis.
Li [41] examined the effects of structural
parameters on the thermal stress of NiFe
2
O
4
-
based cermet inert anodes, using a mathemati-
cal model based on a finite element analysis
and ANSYS software. The analysis of thermal
stress distribution took into account anode
height, anode radius, hole depth, hole radius,
and the radius of the inner and outer chamber.
Results showed that under the actual working
conditions, there is a large axial tensile stress
near the tangent interface between the anode
and the bath. This stress is the major cause of
anode breaking. Increasing the anode height
and reducing the hole depth seemed to im-
prove the stress distribution. The hole radius
has a significant effect on the stress: a smaller
radius would reduce the thermal stress. Then
Li [42] and Wang [43] examined the effect of
the working conditions on thermal stress of
NiFe
2
O
4
-based anodes, also with a mathemat-
ical model using finite element analysis and
ANSYS software. Increasing the electrolyte
temperature or the anode immersion depth
deteriorated the stress distribution of the inert
anode. The other parameters do not affect the
stress distribution significantly.
Metals and alloys
Forming inert anodes with mixed metal pow-
ders or using bought alloys has long been ex-
perimental practice. The metal alloy can be
any of a number of alloys, but it must contain
aluminium as a second alloying metal. Hryn
[44] and Aune et al. [45] used the simple sys-
tem: copper with at least 5-15 wt% aluminium.
In the presence of oxygen, aluminium on the
metal anodes exterior surface forms a con-
tinuous alumina film that is thick enough to
protect the anode from chemical attack by cry-
olite during electrolysis, and yet thin enough
to maintain electrical conductivity.
Further tests using copper, nickel and chro-
mium [46] as composite materials showed that
the corrosion rate in cryolite electrolyte melts
decreases with higher alumina concentration
in the bath and with lower bath temperature.
Gao and coworkers [47] found that the Cu-
Ni-Cr anode showed poor resistance in the
electrolyte, but the compositions Cu-Ni-Al
and Cu-Ni-Fe merit more testing as inert an-
ode materials.
Another Cu-based metal alloy
(Cu
82
Al
10
Ni
5
Fe
3
) was used by Helle et al. [48]
in a low temperature KF-containing electro-
lyte. The ball-milled alloy provided a better
corrosion resistance during aluminium elec-
trolysis than a commercial hot rolled alloy
(C63000).
Of more interest has been the system Ni-Fe,
used especially as inert anode material by de
Nora and co-workers [49, 50]. It was of spe-
cial interest having an openly porous nickel-
rich outer portion of the anode body, whose
surface is electrochemically active. This outer
surface develops an integral nickel-iron oxide
layer which adheres to the nickel rich portion
and which protects the anode body from cor-
rosion. Doping with aluminium [51] and cobalt
[51, 52] can also form a surface oxide film
which sticks better to the substrate. The doping
effect of cobalt is better than aluminium with
respect to anti-oxidation properties. Cao et
al. [53] proposed doping Fe-Ni alloy with Nd.
The addition of Nd (up to 1 wt.%) remarkably
improves the oxidation resistance at 800C in
air. Nd mainly segregates to near the oxide/gas
interface, and possibly exists in the Fe
2
O
3
oxide
grain boundary in the form of NdFeO
3
, thus
improving the oxidation resistance. De Nora
and Nguyen [54] used copper as an alloying
element in metallic anode, while Assouli et al.
[55] produced copper-nickel-iron compounds
with varying compositions by mechanically
alloying. They obtained the best result with
Cu
70
Ni
15
Fe
15
material, which displayed a
stable cell potential in low temperature elec-
trolyte and maintained its mechanical integ-
rity during aluminium electrolysis. The oxide
layers formed at the surface of Cu-Ni-Fe an-
odes depend on the composition of the anode
body.
observations, calculations and design
Gao et al. [56] examined the oxygen gas bub-
ble evolution on metal anodes in aluminium
electrolysis. At low current densities, while
aluminium fog disperses on the cathode, no
oxygen bubbles appear on the anode as all
renascent oxygen reacts with the metal of
the anode to form a metal oxide film. When
the oxide film is thick enough, the oxidation
rate of the metal anode decreases, then oxy-
gen bubbles appear on the anode surface. At
higher anodic current densities, which produce
more oxygen than is consumed, oxygen bub-
bles evolve. Bubbles released at low current
densities grow, coalesce to bigger ones, and
then escape from the metal anode surface. The
diameter of the released bubbles decreases
with increasing current density.
Lainer [57] examined the use of metallic
compounds as inert anodes for aluminium
electrolysis, and he observed that these metal-
lic compounds cannot be used without prelimi-
nary preparation. Promising inert anode can-
didates are those with a dense multi-alloyed
composition to form anodes with protective
barrier layers which better resist atomic oxy-
gen on the anode surface, and so resist electro-
chemical corrosion during electrolysis.
In a laboratory study Frolov et al. [58] ex-
amined the use of Si
3
N
4
bonded SiC as sidelin-
ing material in an aluminium electrolysis cell,
operated with inert metal anodes and at low
temperature electrolyte. The authors recom-
mend the use of Si
3
N
4
bonded SiC as sidelining
material. The most corrosion-sensitive part of
the sample was found to be the three phase
boundary. The corrosion was significant when
using metallic anodes due to greater oxygen
evolution.
When using semi graphitic side carbon block
Li [59] calculated that this assures the required
cell profile and reduces heat dissipation. The
calculated heat balance shows that both cells
r e s e a r C H
with semi-graphitic cathode and with graphi-
tized cathode achieve thermal equilibrium,
but a cell operated with graphitized cathode
needs 9% more energy input than the cell with
semi-graphitic cathode.
As inert anode metal cells operate without
crust formation on the electrolyte surface, and
so dissipate more heat than necessary, de Nora
and Berclaz [60] proposed an insulating cover
made of movable sections that together cover
the major part of the electrolyte. Another solu-
tion was proposed by Nguyen et al. [61] using
preformed alumina plates impregnated with
frozen electrolyte and floating on the electro-
lyte surface. After about 15 minutes a crust
of about 1-2 cm thick forms by freezing from
the cells electrolyte, starting from the impreg-
nated, preformed refractory alumina plates.
An individual protection of inert anodes
heat radiation shield was proposed by Burg
and dAstolfo [62] consisting of alumina, silica,
calcia and mixtures of these to form a layer
about 0.2-0.4 cm thick.
A cermet anode that produces oxygen and
a cathode that is wetted by aluminium can
provide a dimensionally stable inter-electrode
distance in Hall-Hroult cells. Christini [63]
reported that this concept was developed and
tested using a system of vertically interleaved
anodes and cathodes. The major advantage of
this concept is the significant increase in elec-
trochemical surface area compared to hori-
zontal oriented anodes and cathodes presently
used in the Hall-Hroult process. However, an
acceptable current efficiency was never prov-
en during either pilot scale or bench scale tests
with the vertical plate configuration.
Asen at al. [64] propose to exploit the oxy-
gen generated during the electrolysis process
with inert anodes: the oxygen would react with
a carbon containing gas in a combustion cham-
ber. Thus at least a part of the reaction process
stream from the combustion chamber should
be used to recover energy.
Conclusion
Research to develop of inert anodes can be
resumed as Welch [5] described it: There is
no compelling argument for focussing on ret-
rofit technology as the first step. Those smelt-
ers have already invested in the carbon plants
and they have the basic cell design that is at
the top of the difficulty factors for each of the
obstacles that remain.
If we take the present success of inert an-
ode materials development, and accept the un-
derstanding of the corrosion mechanisms, the
industry has climbed up the first and perhaps
most difficult rung of the ladder for developing
new high-productivity cell technology.
There are still a number of obstacles, but
these are minor in comparison with those
that we were faced when developing a suit-
able electrode material. Therefore the chance
of successfully developing and implementing
inert anode technology has increased in recent
years, but there are many rungs to the ladder.
The rungs are challenging bug, not show stop-
pers. It does however require a change in atti-
tude, better planning and analysis, dedication,
time and many millions of dollars.

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p a T e n T e
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Die Gesellschaft bietet darber hinaus weitere
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Vorrichtung zum Gieen von Artikeln aus Alu-
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Regenschutzschiene ohne Endkappen. Gut-
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2232038, WO 2009/074296, EP-AT: 10.12.2008,
WO-AT: 10.12.2008)
Aufsatzdichtung mit variabler Breite und Rah-
menwerk. Gutmann AG, 91781 Weienburg, DE.
(E04B 2/96, GM 203 12 245, AT: 06.08.2003)
Wetterschutzschiene sowie Tr bzw. Fenster.
Gutmann AG, 91781 Weienburg, DE. (E06B
1/34, GM 20 2008 008 486, AT: 26.06.2008)
Regenschutzschiene ohne Endkappen. Gutmann
AG, 91781 Weienburg, DE. (E06B 7/26, PS 50
2005 010 197, EP 1580394, EP-AT: 23.03.2005)
Verfahren zur Herstellung von Aluminiumti-
tanatkeramik. Sumitomo Chemical Company,
Ltd., Tokyo 104-8260, JP. (C04B 35/46, EPA
2239244, WO 2009/087912, EP-AT: 25.12.
2008, WO-AT: 25.12.2008)
Zylindrische Laufflche. KS Aluminium-Techno-
logie AG, 74172 Neckarsulm, DE. (F02F 1/00, PS
502 13 911, EP 1225324, EP-AT: 15.01.2002)
Kolben fr einen Verbrennungsmotor sowie
Verfahren zu seiner Herstellung. Mahle Inter-
national GmbH, 70376 Stuttgart, DE. (F02F
3/00, EPA 2229522, WO 2009/079988, EP-AT:
10.12.2008, WO-AT: 10.12.2008)
Zweiteiliger Kolben fr einen Verbrennungs-
motor. Mahle International GmbH, 70376 Stutt-
gart. (F02F 3/00, EPA 2229521, WO 2009/
076928, EP-AT: 01.12.2008, WO-AT:
01.12.2008)
Keramik aus Aluminiummagnesiumtitanat-
Aluminiumverbund. Sumitomo Chemical Co.,
Ltd., Tokyo 104-8260, JP. (C04B 35/46, EPA
2239245, WO 2009/093560, EP-AT: 20.01.
2009, WO-AT: 20.01.2009)
Kolben fr einen Verbrennungsmotor. Mahle
International GmbH, 70376 Stuttgart, DE. (F02F
3/00, OS 10 2009 032 379, AT: 08.07.2009)
Stranggievorrichtung und Metallschmelzen-
dse. Showa Denko K.K., Tokyo 105-8518, JP.
(B22D 11/07, EPA 2230034, WO 2009/072558,
EP-AT: 04.12.2008, WO-AT: 04.12.2008)
Herstellungsverfahren fr aus einer wrme-
bestndigen Aluminiumlegierung geformte
Produkte und aus einer wrmebestndigen
Aluminiumlegierung geformtes Produkt. Kabu-
shiki Kaisha Kobe Seiko Sho, Kobe-shi, Hyogo, JP.
(C22F 1/00, EP 1 881 084, EP-AT: 14.06.2007)
Aluminiumlegierungsmaterial zum Schmieden.
Showa Denko K.K., Tokyo 105-8518, JP. (C22C
21/12, EPA 2233595, WO 2009/081770, EP-AT:
12.12.2008, WO-AT: 12.12.2008)
Plattierplatte und Herstellungsverfahren da-
fr. Showa Denko K.K., Tokyo, JP. (C22C 21/00,
EP 1 939 312, WO 2007/026481, EP-AT:
25.07.2006, WO-AT: 25.07.2006)
Bahnenmaterial aus einer Magnesiumlegie-
rung. Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., Chuo-ku
Osaka-shi Osaka 541-0041, JP. (C22C 23/02, EPA
2239348, WO 2009/093420, EP-AT: 14.01.2009,
WO-AT: 14.01.2009)
Verfahren zur Zchtung eines Aluminium-
nitridkristalls, Herstellungsprozess fr einen
Aluminiumnitridkristall und Aluminiumnit-
ridkristall. Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.,
Chuo-ku Osaka-shi Osaka 541-0041, JP. (C30B
29/38, EPA 2230333, WO 2009/090831, EP-AT:
19.12.2008, WO-AT: 19.12.2008)
patentblatt dezember 2010
Legierungen auf Al-Zn-Cu-Mg-Aluminium-Ba-
sis, Verfahren zu ihrer Herstellung und Ver-
wendung. Alcan Rolled Products Ravenswood
LLC, Ravenswood, W.Va., US; Alcan Rhenalu,
Paris, FR. (C22C 21/10, PS 60 2006 011 447, EP
1861516, EP-AT: 10.02.2006)
Schweibare Al-Mg-Si-Legierung mit hoher
Festigkeit. Aleris Aluminum Koblenz GmbH,
56070 Koblenz, DE. (C22C 21/08, OS 102 30 710,
AT: 08.07.2002)
Produkt aus Al-Mg-Zn-Knetlegierung und
Herstellungsverfahren dafr. Aleris Aluminum
Koblenz GmbH, 56070 Koblenz, DE. (C22C
21/06, WO 2009/062866, WO-AT: 05.11.2008 )
Al-Ti-Ru-N-C Hartstoffschicht. Ceratizit Austria
Ges.m.b.H., Reutte, Tirol, AT. (C23C 16/30, EP 2
179 073, WO 2009/003206, EP-AT: 26.06.2008,
WO-AT: 26.06.2008)
Produkte aus Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Legierung. Alcan
Rhenalu, Courbevoie, FR. (C22C 21/10, PS 603
30 547, EP 1492895, EP-AT: 04.04.2003)
Verfahren zur Herstellung eines Bauteils aus
einem mit einem Al-Si-berzug versehenen
Stahlprodukt und Zwischenprodukt eines
solchen Verfahrens. Thyssen Krupp Steel Euro-
pe AG, 47166 Duisburg, DE. (C23C 2/28, EPA
2240622, WO 2009/095427, EP-AT: 9.01.2009,
WO-AT: 29.01.2009)
Verfahren zur Herstellung eines Laminats mit
einer Einkristallschicht aus einem auf Al basie-
renden Gruppe-III-Nitrid, nach dem Verfahren
hergestelltes Laminat, Verfahren zur Herstellung
eines Einkristallsubstrats aus einem auf Al-ba-
sierenden Gruppe-III-Nitrid unter Verwendung
des Laminats und Aluminiumnitrideinkristall-
substrat. National University Corporation Tokyo
University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu-
shi, Tokyo 183-0057, JP; Tokuyama Corporation,
Shunan-shi, Yamaguchi-ken 745-8648, JP. (C30B
29/38, EPA 2243866, WO 2009/090821, EP-AT:
16.12.2008, WO-AT: 16.12.2008)
Gliederheizkessel aus Gusseisen oder Alumini-
um. Robert Bosch GmbH, 70442 Stuttgart, DE.
(F24H 1/32, EPA 2250448, WO 2009/109486,
EP-AT: 24.02.2009, WO-AT: 24.02.2009)
Geripptes Spiralbohrrohr aus Aluminium. Aqua-
tic Company, Moscow, RU. (E21B 17/22, EPA
2240665, WO 2009/095794, EP-AT: 12.01.2009,
WO-AT: 12.01.2009)
Fischer-Tropsch-Katalysator mit aluminium-
oder zirkoniumdotiertem Kobalt-auf-Zink-
oxidtrger. (B01J 23/75, EPA 2242575, WO
2009/099328, EP-AT: 05.02.2009, WO-AT:
05.02.2009)
Verfahren zur Verwertung von Aluminium
in Abfallstoffen, insbesondere im Verbund
mit anderen Stoffen. Weingart und Kubrat
GmbH, 21035 Hamburg, DE; Nowacki, Drte,
21509 Glinde, DE. (B09B 3/00, EPA 2240287,
WO 2009/087079, EP-AT: 05.01.2009, WO-AT:
05.01.2009)
Wrmetauscher. Showa Aluminium Czech, s.r.o.,
272 01 Kladno - Krocehlavy, CZ. (F25B 43/00,
EPA 2110623, EP-AT: 17.04.2008)

Fortsetzung in ALUMINIUM 3/2011
l i e f e r v e r z e i c h n i s
FLSmidth MLLer GmbH
Haderslebener Strae 7
D-25421 Pinneberg
Telefon: 04101 788-0
Telefax: 04101 788-115
E-Mail: moeller@flsmidth.com
Internet: www.flsmidthmoeller.com
Kontakt: Herr Dipl.-Ing. Timo Letz
1.2Storagefacilitiesfor
smelting
Lagermglichkeiteni.d.Htte
Unloading/Loadingequipment
Entlade-/Beladeeinrichtungen
FLSmidth MLLer GmbH
www.flsmidthmoeller.com
see Storage facilities for smelting 1.2
Hydraulicpressesforprebaked
anodes/HydraulischePressenzur
HerstellungvonAnoden
1.3 Anodeproduction
Anodenherstellung
LAeIS GmbH
Am Scheerleck 7, L-6868 Wecker, Luxembourg
Phone: +352 27612 0
Fax: +352 27612 109
E-Mail: info@laeis-gmbh.com
Internet: www.laeis-gmbh.com
Contact: Dr. Alfred Kaiser
Autofiringsystems
AutomatischeFeuerungssysteme
1.1 Raw materials
1.2 Storage facilities for smelting
1.3 Anode production
1.4 Anode rodding
1.4.1 Anode baking
1.4.2 Anode clearing
1.4.3 Fixing of new anodes to the
anodes bars
1.5 Casthouse (foundry)
1.6 Casting machines
1.7 Current supply
1.8 Electrolysis cell (pot)
1.9 Potroom
1.10 Laboratory
1.11 Emptying the cathode shell
1.12 Cathode repair shop
1.13 Second-hand plant
1.14 Aluminium alloys
1.15 Storage and transport
1.16 Smelting manufactures
1
Smelting technology
Httentechnik
1.1 Rohstoffe
1.2 Lagermglichkeiten in der Htte
1.3 Anodenherstellung
1.4 Anodenschlgerei
1.4.1 Anodenbrennen
1.4.2 Anodenschlgerei
1.4.3 Befestigen von neuen Anoden
an der Anodenstange
1.5 Gieerei
1.6 Giemaschinen
1.7 Stromversorgung
1.8 Elektrolyseofen
1.9 Elektrolysehalle
1.10 Labor
1.11 Ofenwannenentleeren
1.12 Kathodenreparaturwerkstatt
1.13 Gebrauchtanlagen
1.14 Aluminiumlegierungen
1.15 Lager und Transport
1.16 Httenerzeugnisse
FLSmidth MLLer GmbH
Internet: www.flsmidthmoeller.com
Conveyingsystemsbulkmaterials
FrderanlagenfrSchttgter
(Httenaluminiumherstellung)
Outotec GmbH
Albin-Kbis-Str. 8, D-51147 Kln
Phone: +49 (0) 2203 / 9921-0
E-mail: aluminium@outotec.com
www.outotec.com
ALuMInA And pet cOke SHIpunLOAderS
Contact: Andreas Haeuser, ha@neuero.de
rIedHAMMer GmbH
D-90411 Nrnberg
Phone: +49 (0) 911 5218 0, Fax: -5218 231
E-Mail: frank.goede@riedhammer.de
Internet: www.riedhammer.de
www.coperion.com
mailto: info.cc-mh@coperion.com
BulkmaterialsHandling
fromShiptoCell
BulkmaterialsHandlingfromShiptoCell
Storvik AS
Industriveien 13
6600 SuNNDALSRA/NORWAy
Tel.: +47 71 69 95 00 | Fax: +47 71 69 95 55
www.storvik.no | storvik@storvik.no
Solios carbone France
www.fivesgroup.com
AnodeTechnology&
MixingEquipment
Buss chemtech AG, Switzerland
Phone: +4161 825 64 62
E-Mail: info@buss-ct.com
Internet: www.buss-ct.com
s o u r c e o f a p p l i c a t i o n
Buss AG
CH-4133 Pratteln
Phone: +41 61 825 66 00
E-Mail: info@busscorp.com
Internet: www.busscorp.com
MixingTechnologyfor
Anodepastes
MischtechnologiefrAnodenmassen
Metaltreatmentinthe
holdingfurnace
MetallbehandlunginHaltefen
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
see Casting equipment 3.1
HertWIcH enGIneerInG GmbH
see Casthouse (foundry) 1.5
Sistem teknik Ltd. Sti.
DES San. Sit. 102 SOK No: 6/8
y.Dudullu, TR-34775 Istanbul/Turkey
Tel.: +90 216 420 86 24
Fax: +90 216 420 23 22
E-Mail: info@sistemteknik.com
Internet: www.sistemteknik.com
Melting/holding/castingfurnaces
Schmelz-/Halte-undGiefen
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Furnacechargingwith
moltenmetal
OfenbeschickungmitFlssigmetall
GLAMA Maschinenbau GmbH
see Anode rodding 1.4
Stopinc AG
Bsch 83 a
CH-6331 Hnenberg
Tel. +41/41-785 75 00
Fax +41/41-785 75 01
E-Mail: interstop@stopinc.ch
Internet: www.stopinc.ch
InOtHerM InduStrIeOFen-
und WrMetecHnIk GMBH
Konstantinstrae 1a
D 41238 Mnchengladbach
Telefon +49 (02166) 987990
Telefax +49 (02166) 987996
E-Mail: info@inotherm-gmbh.de
Internet: www.inotherm-gmbh.de
1.5 Casthouse(foundry)
Gieerei
Maschinen und Industrieanlagen
Weinbergerstrae 6, A-5280 Braunau am Inn
Phone +437722/806-0
Fax +437722/806-122
E-Mail: info@hertwich.com
Internet: www.hertwich.com
Removalofbathresiduesfrom
thesurfaceofspentanodes
EntfernenderBadrestevonderOber-
flchederverbrauchtenAnoden
Hornstrae 19
D-45964 Gladbeck
Telefon 02043 / 9738-0
Telefax 02043 / 9738-50
1.4 Anoderodding
Anodenanschlgerei
Transportoffinishedanode
elementstothepotroom
TransportderfertigenAnoden-
elementeinElektrolysehalle
Hovestr. 10
.
D-48431 Rheine
Telefon +49(0) 597158-0
Fax +49(0) 597158-209
E-Mail info@windhoff.de
Internet www.windhoff.de
1.4.2Anodeclearing
Anodenschlgerei
SerMAS InduStrIe
E-Mail: sermas@sermas.com
see Casting Machines 1.6
Separationofspentanodes
fromtheanodebars
TrennenvondenAnodenstangen
1.4.3Fixingofnewanodes
totheanodesbars
Befestigenvonneuen
Anodena.d.Anodenstange
Fixingthenipplestothe
anodesbycastingin
BefestigenderNippelmitder
AnodedurchEingieen
SerMAS InduStrIe
seeEquipmentandaccessories3.1
Hampshire House, High Street, Kingswinford,
West Midlands Dy6 8AW, uK
Tel.: +44 (0) 1384 279132
Fax: +44 (0) 1384 291211
E-Mail: sales@mechatherm.co.uk
www.mechatherm.com
Opentopandclosed
typebakingfurnaces
OffeneundgeschlosseneRingfen
rIedHAMMer GmbH
D-90411 Nrnberg
Phone: +49 (0) 911 5218 0, Fax: -5218 231
E-Mail: frank.goede@riedhammer.de
Internet: www.riedhammer.de
Drossskimmingofliquidmetal
AbkrtzendesFlssigmetalls
drache umwelttechnik
GmbH
Werner-v.-Siemens-Strae 9/24-26
D 65582 Diez/Lahn
Telefon 06432/607-0
Telefax 06432/607-52
Internet: www.drache-gmbh.de
Degassing,filtrationand
grainrefinement
Entgasung,Filtern,Kornfeinung
see Casting machines 1.6
Drossskimmingofthemelt
AbkrtzenderSchmelze
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
1.4.1Anodebaking
Anodenbrennen
SerMAS InduStrIe
Anodecharging/Anodenchargieren
Anodestorage/Anodenlager
SerMAS InduStrIe
Solios thermal uk
www.fivesgroup.com
Sawing/Sgen
Horizontalcontinuouscasting
HorizontalesStranggieen
Scales/Waagen
Rollingandextrusioningot
andT-bars
Formatgieerei(Walzbarrenoder
PressbolzenoderT-Barren)
343 Chemin du Stade
38210 Saint Quentin sur Isre
Tel. +33 (0) 476 074 242
Fax +33 (0) 476 936 776
Internet: www.sermas.com
1.6 Castingmachines
Giemaschinen
Pigcastingmachines(sowcasters)
Masselgiemaschine(Sowcaster)
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Transportofliquidmetal
tothecasthouse
Transportv.FlssigmetallinGieereien
Windhoff Bahn- und
Anlagentechnik GmbH
MArx GmbH & co. kG
www.marx-gmbh.de
see Melt operations 4.13
Treatmentofcasthouse
offgases
BehandlungderGieereiabgase
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Transfertothecastingfurnace
berfhrunginGieofen
GmbH
D 65582 Diez/Lahn
Telefon 06432/607-0
Telefax 06432/607-52
Internet: www.drache-gmbh.de
Windhoff Bahn- und
Anlagentechnik GmbH
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
www.mechatherm.com
see Smelting technology 1.5
www.solios.com
rIHS enGIneerInG AG
see Casting machines and equipment 4.7
GApcast

tM
: the Swiss casting solution
see Casting machines and equipment 4.7
Heattreatmentofextrusion
ingot(homogenisation)
Formatebehandlung(homogenisieren)
see Billet Heating Furnaces 1.5
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
1.8 Electrolysiscell(pot)
Elektrolyseofen
Calciumsilicateboards
Calciumsilikatplatten
promat GmbH techn. Wrmedmmung
Scheifenkamp 16, D-40878 Ratingen
Tel. +49 (0) 2102 / 493-0, Fax -493 115
verkauf3@promat.de, www.promat.de
Wagstaff, Inc.
3910 N. Flora Rd.
Spokane, WA 99216 uSA
+1 509 922 1404 phone
+1 509 924 0241 fax
E-Mail: info@wagstaff.com
Internet: www.wagstaff.com
Verticalsemi-continuousDC
casting/VertikalesStranggieen
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
www.coperion.com
mailto: info.cc-mh@coperion.com
BulkmaterialsHandling
fromShiptoCell
BulkmaterialsHandlingfromShiptoCell
Potfeedingsystems
Beschickungseinrichtungen
frElektrolysezellen
FLSmidth MLLer GmbH
www.flsmidthmoeller.com
Exhaustgastreatment
Abgasbehandlung
1.9 Potroom
Elektrolysehalle
t.t. tomorrow technology S.p.A.
Via dellArtigianato 18
Due Carrare, Padova 35020, Italy
Telefon +39 049 912 8800
Telefax +39 049 912 8888
E-Mail: gmagarotto@tomorrowtechnology.it
Contact: Giovanni Magarotto
Solios environnement
www.fivesgroup.com
2.1.1Extrusionbillet
production
Pressbolzenherstellung
Billettransportandstorage
equipment
Bolzen-Transport-u.Lagereinricht.
SerMAS InduStrIe
See Casting Machines 1.6
DES San. Sit. 102 SOK No: 6/8
y. Dudullu, TR-34775 Istanbul/Turkey
Tel.: +90 216 420 86 24
Fax: +90 216 420 23 22
E-Mail: info@sistemteknik.com
Internet: www.sistemteknik.com
www.mechatherm.com
2.1Extrusionbilletpreparation
Pressbolzenbereitstellung
Billetheatingfurnaces
fenzurBolzenerwrmung
Am groen Teich 16+27
D-58640 Iserlohn
Tel. +49 (0) 2371 / 4346-0
Fax +49 (0) 2371 / 4346-43
E-Mail: verkauf@ias-gmbh.de
Internet: www.ias-gmbh.de
MArx GmbH & co. kG
www.marx-gmbh.de
Extrusion
2Strangpressen
2.1 Extrusion billet preparation
2.1.1 Extrusion billet production
2.2 Extrusion equipment
2.3 Section handling
2.4 Heat treatment
2.5 Measurement and control equipment
2.6 Die preparation and care
2.7 Second-hand extrusion plant
2.8 Consultancy, expert opinion
2.9 Surface finishing of sections
2.10 Machining of sections
2.11 Equipment and accessories
2.12 Services
2.1 Pressbolzenbereitstellung
2.1.1 Pressbolzenherstellung
2.2 Strangpresseinrichtungen
2.3 Profilhandling
2.4 Wrmebehandlung
2.5 Mess- und Regeleinrichtungen
2.6 Werkzeugbereitstellung und -pflege
2.7 Gebrauchte Strangpressanlagen
2.8 Beratung, Gutachten
2.9 Oberflchenveredlung von Profilen
2.10 Profilbearbeitung
2.11 Ausrstungen und Hilfsmittel
2.12 Dienstleistungen
www.alu-web.de
Tappingvehicles/Schpffahrzeuge
1.11Emptyingthecathodeshell
Ofenwannenentleeren
Cathodebarcastingunits
Kathodenbarreneingieanlage
1.15 Storageandtransport
Lager und Transport
Alcan Aluminium Valais SA
CH-3960 Sierre
Telefon: 0041 27 / 4575111
Telefax: 0041 27 / 4576425
1.16 Smeltingmanufactories
Httenerzeugnisse
Rollingingots
Walzbarren
rHeInFeLden ALLOYS GmbH & co. kG
A member of ALuMINIuM RHEINFELDEN Group
Postfach 1703, 79607 Rheinfelden
Tel.: +49 7623 93-490
Fax: +49 7623 93-546
E-Mail: alloys@rheinfelden-alloys.eu
Internet: www.rheinfelden-alloys.eu
1.14 AluminiumAlloys
Aluminiumlegierungen
Dryabsorptionunitsfor
electrolysisexhaustgases
Trockenabsorptionsanlagefr
Elektrolyseofenabgase
www.alu-web.de
Anodechangingmachine
Anodenwechselmaschine
Crustbreakers/Krustenbrecher
Anodetransportequipment
AnodenTransporteinrichtungen
SMS Siemag AG
see Rolling mill technology 3.0
Solios environnement
www.fivesgroup.com
Presscontrolsystems
Pressensteuersysteme
Oilgear towler GmbH
see Extrusion Equipment 2.2
Temperaturemeasurement
Temperaturmessung
2.2 Extrusionequipment
Strangpresseinrichtungen
Oilgear towler GmbH
Im Gotthelf 8
D 65795 Hattersheim
Tel. +49 (0) 6145 3770
Fax +49 (0) 6145 30770
E-Mail: info@oilgear.de
Internet: www.oilgear.de
Containers/Rezipienten
SMS Meer GmbH
Schloemann Extrusion
Ohlerkirchweg 66
41069 Mnchengladbach, Germany
Tel. +49 (0) 2161 350-0
Fax +49 (0) 2161 350-1667
E-Mail: info@sms-meer.com
Internet: www.sms-meer.com
www.mechatherm.com
Heatingandcontrol
equipmentforintelligent
billetcontainers
Heizungs-undKontrollausrstung
frintelligenteBlockaufnehmer
MArx GmbH & co. kG
www.marx-gmbh.de
SMS Meer GmbH
see Extrusion equipment 2.2
SMS Meer GmbH
SMS Meer GmbH
Packagingequipment
Verpackungseinrichtungen
H+H HerrMAnn + HIeBer GMBH
Frdersysteme fr paletten
und schwere Lasten
Rechbergstrae 46
D-73770 Denkendorf/Stuttgart
Tel. +49 (0) 711 / 9 34 67-0
Fax +49 (0) 711 / 3 46 0911
E-Mail: info@herrmannhieber.de
Internet: www.herrmannhieber.de
2.3 Sectionhandling
Profilhandling
Pullerequipment
Ausziehvorrichtungen/Puller
Sectioncooling
Profilkhlung
Sectionsaws
Profilsgen
Vollert Anlagenbau
GmbH + co. kG
Stadtseestrae 12
D-74189 Weinsberg
Tel. +49 (0) 7134 / 52-220
Fax +49 (0) 7134 / 52-222
E-Mail intralogistik@vollert.de
Internet www.vollert.de
SMS Meer GmbH
SMS Meer GmbH
SMS Meer GmbH
kAStO Maschinenbau GmbH & co. kG
Industriestr. 14, D-77855 Achern
Tel.: +49 (0) 7841 61-0 / Fax: +49 (0) 7841 61 300
kasto@kasto.de / www.kasto.de
Hersteller von Band- und Kreissgemaschinen
sowie Langgut- und Blechlagersystemen
Stackers/Destackers
Stapler/Entstapler
Stretchingequipment
Reckeinrichtungen
Vollert Anlagenbau
GmbH + co. kG
see Packaging equipment 2.3
Sectiontransportequipment
Profiltransporteinrichtungen
Nijverheidsweg 3
NL-7071 CH ulft Netherlands
Tel.: +31 315 641352
Fax: +31 315 641852
E-Mail: info@unifour.nl
Internet: www.unifour.nl
Sales Contact: Paul Overmans
Sectionstoreequipment
Profil-Lagereinrichtungen
und schwere Lasten
Rechbergstrae 46
Tel. +49 (0) 711 / 9 34 67-0
Fax +49 (0) 711 / 3 46 0911
SMS Meer GmbH
SMS Meer GmbH
SMS Meer GmbH
Transportequipmentfor
extrudedsections
Transporteinrichtungen
frProfilabschnitte
und schwere Lasten
Rechbergstrae 46
Tel. +49 (0) 711 / 9 34 67-0
Fax +49 (0) 711 / 3 46 0911
Vollert Anlagenbau
GmbH + co. kG
Hier knnte Ihr
Bezugsquellen-Eintrag
stehen.
Rufen Sie an:
Tel. 0511 / 73 04-148
Beate Schaefer
2.10Machiningofsections
Profilbearbeitung
tensai (International) AG
extal division
Steinengraben 40
CH-4051 Basel
Telefon +41 (0) 61 284 98 10
Telefax +41 (0) 61 284 98 20
E-Mail: tensai@tensai.com
ProcessingofProfiles
Profilbearbeitung
2.6 Diepreparationandcare
Werkzeugbereitstellung
und-pflege
Dieheatingfurnaces
Werkzeuganwrmfen
MArx GmbH & co. kG
www.marx-gmbh.de
Inductivheatingequipment
Induktivbeheizte
Erwrmungseinrichtungen
2.11 Equipmentand
accessories
Ausrstungenund
Hilfsmittel
Ageingfurnaceforextrusions
Auslagerungsfenfr
Strangpressprofile
Nijverheidsweg 3
Tel.: +31 315 641352
Fax: +31 315 641852
Sales Contact: Paul Overmans Nijverheidsweg 3
Tel.: +31 315 641352
Fax: +31 315 641852
Sales Contact: Paul Overmans
Am groen Teich 16+27
D-58640 Iserlohn
Tel. +49 (0) 2371 / 4346-0
Fax +49 (0) 2371 / 4346-43
E-Mail: verkauf@ias-gmbh.de
Internet: www.ias-gmbh.de
2.5 Measurementand
controlequipment
Mess-undRegeleinrichtungen
Extrusionplantcontrolsystems
Presswerkssteuerungen
Customdesignedheat
processingequipment
Kundenspezifische
Wrmebehandlungsanlagen
Heattreatmentfurnaces
Wrmebehandlungsfen
Homogenisingfurnaces
Homogenisierfen
Annealingfurnaces
Glhfen
2.4 Heattreatment
Wrmebehandlung
BSN Thermprozesstechnik GmbH
Kammerbruchstrae 64
D-52152 Simmerath
Tel. 02473-9277-0 Fax: 02473-9277-111
info@bsn-therm.de www.bsn-therm.de
Ofenanlagen zum Wrmebehandeln von Alu-
miniumlegierungen, Buntmetallen und Sthlen
www.mechatherm.com
2.7 Second-hand
extrusionplant
Gebr.Strangpressanlagen
Qualiteam International/extruprex
Champs Elysesweg 17, NL-6213 AA Maastricht
Tel. +31-43-3 25 67 77
Internet: www.extruprex.com
SMS Meer GmbH
Hier knnte Ihr
stehen.
Rufen Sie an:
Tel. 0511 / 73 04-148
Beate Schaefer
3.1 Castingequipment
Gieanlagen
Meltingandholdingfurnaces
Schmelz-undWarmhaltefen
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Geschftsbereich Aluminium
Konstanzer Strae 37
Postfach 170
CH 8274 Tgerwilen
Telefon +41/71/6666666
Telefax +41/71/6666688
E-Mail: aluminium@gautschi-engineering.com
Kontakt: Stefan Blum, Tel. +41/71/6666621
Fillinglevelindicatorsandcontrols
Fllstandsanzeigerund-regler
3
Rolling mill technology
Walzwerktechnik
3.1 Casting equipment
3.2 Rolling bar machining
3.3 Rolling bar furnaces
3.4 Hot rolling equipment
3.5 Strip casting units and accessories
3.6 Cold rolling equipment
3.7 Thin strip / foil rolling plant
3.8 Auxiliary equipment
3.9 Adjustment devices
3.10 Process technology /
Automation technology
3.11 Coolant / lubricant preparation
3.12 Air extraction systems
3.13 Fire extinguishing units
3.14 Storage and dispatch
3.15 Second-hand rolling equipment
3.16 Coil storage systems
3.17 Strip Processing Lines
3.18 Productions Management Systems
3.1 Gieanlagen
3.2 Walzbarrenbearbeitung
3.3 Walzbarrenvorbereitung
3.4 Warmwalzanlagen
3.5 Bandgieanlagen und Zubehr
3.6 Kaltwalzanlagen
3.7 Feinband-/Folienwalzwerke
3.8 Nebeneinrichtungen
3.9 Adjustageeinrichtungen
3.10 Prozesstechnik /
Automatisierungstechnik
3.11 Khl-/Schmiermittel-Aufbereitung
3.12 Abluftsysteme
3.13 Feuerlschanlagen
3.14 Lagerung und Versand
3.15 Gebrauchtanlagen
3.16 Coil storage systems
3.17 Bandprozesslinien
3.18 Produktions Management Systeme
3.0Rollingmilltechnology
Walzwerktechnik
LOI thermprocess GmbH
Am Lichtbogen 29
D-45141 Essen
Germany
Telefon +49 (0) 201 / 18 91-1
Telefax +49 (0) 201 / 18 91-321
E-Mail: info@loi-italimpianti.de
Internet: www.loi-italimpianti.com
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Wagstaff, Inc.
SMS Siemag Aktiengesellschaft
Eduard-Schloemann-Strae 4
40237 Dsseldorf, Germany
Telefon: +49 (0) 211 881-0
Telefax: +49 (0) 211 881-4902
E-Mail: communications@sms-siemag.com
Internet: www.sms-siemag.com
Geschftsbereiche:
Warmflach- und kaltwalzwerke
Wiesenstrae 30
57271 Hilchenbach-Dahlbruch, Germany
Telefon: +49 (0) 2733 29-0
Telefax: +49 (0) 2733 29-2852
Bandanlagen
Walder Strae 51-53
40724 Hilden, Germany
Telefon: +49 (0) 211 881-5100
Telefax: +49 (0) 211 881-5200
elektrik + Automation
Ivo-Beucker-Strae 43
Telefon: +49 (0) 211 881-5895
Telefax: +49 (0) 211 881-775895
Graf-Recke-Strae 82
Telefon: +49 (0) 211 881-0
Telefax: +49 (0) 211 881-4902
www.mechatherm.com
ElectromagneticStirrer
ElektromagnetischeRhrer
seeColdrollingunits/completeplants3.6
3.2 Rollingbarmachining
Walzbarrenbearbeitung
Bandsaws/Bandsgen
SMS Meer GmbH
Metalfilters/Metallfilter
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Meltpurificationunits
Schmelzereinigungsanlagen
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Metalpumps/Metallpumpen
www.solios.com
Solios thermal uk
www.fivesgroup.com
Solios thermal uk
www.fivesgroup.com
Annealingfurnaces
Glhfen
eBner Industrieofenbau Ges.m.b.H.
Ruflinger Str. 111, A-4060 Leonding
Tel. +43 / 732 / 68 68
Fax +43 / 732 / 68 68-1000
Internet: www.ebner.cc
E-Mail: sales@ebner.cc
3.4 Hotrollingequipment
Warmwalzanlagen
schwartz GmbH
see Heat treatment 2.4
Barheatingfurnaces
Barrenanwrmanlagen
eBner Industrieofenbau Ges.m.b.H.
see Annealing furnaces 3.3
Achenbach Buschhtten GmbH
Siegener Str. 152, D-57223 Kreuztal
Tel. +49 (0) 2732/7990, info@achenbach.de
Internet: www.achenbach.de
Coiltransportsystems
Bundtransportsysteme
Windhoff Bahn- und
Anlagentechnik GmbH
Vollert Anlagenbau
GmbH + co. kG
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Rollertracks
Rollengnge
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Drivesystems/Antriebe
Rollingmillmodernisation
Walzwerksmodernisierung
Spools/Haspel
Hotrollingunits/
completeplants
Warmwalzanlagen/Komplettanlagen
3.3 Rollingbarfurnaces
Walzbarrenvorbereitung
see Heat Treatment 2.4
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Homogenisingfurnaces
Homogenisierfen
SMS Siemag AG
SMS Siemag AG
SMS Siemag AG
SMS Siemag AG
3.6 Coldrollingequipment
Kaltwalzanlagen
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Coilannealingfurnaces
Bundglhfen
see Heat Treatment 2.4
Slabmillingmachines
Barrenfrsmaschinen
SMS Meer GmbH
Solios thermal uk
www.fivesgroup.com
Solios thermal uk
www.fivesgroup.com
Coiltransportsystems
Bundtransportsysteme
Windhoff Bahn- und
Anlagentechnik GmbH
Coldrollingunits/
completeplants
Kaltwalzanlagen/Komplettanlagen
Vollert Anlagenbau
GmbH + co. kG
SMS Siemag AG
Drivesystems/Antriebe
SMS Siemag AG
3.7 Thinstrip/
foilrollingplant
Feinband-/Folienwalzwerke
Processoptimisationsystems
Prozessoptimierungssysteme
Processsimulation
Prozesssimulation
Heatingfurnaces/Anwrmfen
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Rollexchangeequipment
Walzenwechseleinrichtungen
Vollert Anlagenbau
GmbH + co. kG
Stripshears/Bandscheren
Rollingmillmodernization
Walzwerkmodernisierung
Slittinglines-CTL
Lngs-undQuerteilanlagen
Trimmingequipment
Besumeinrichtungen
Windhoff Bahn- und
Anlagentechnik GmbH
SMS Siemag AG
SMS Siemag AG
SMS Siemag AG
SMS Siemag AG
Coilannealingfurnaces
Bundglhfen
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Rollingmillmodernization
Walzwerkmodernisierung
Heatingfurnaces
Anwrmfen
schwartz GmbH
see Cold colling equipment 3.6
Thinstrip/foilrollingmills/
completeplant
Feinband-/Folienwalzwerke/
Komplettanlagen
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
SMS Siemag AG
3.9 Adjustmentdevices
Adjustageeinrichtungen
Sheetandplatestretchers
Blech-undPlattenstrecker
SMS Meer GmbH
3.10Processtechnology/
Automationtechnology
Prozesstechnik/
Automatisierungstechnik
Cableundulatingmachines
Kabelwellmaschinen
Processcontroltechnology
Prozessleittechnik
Transversecuttingunits
Querteilanlagen
SerMAS InduStrIe
Wagstaff, Inc.
Cablesheathingpresses
Kabelummantelungspressen
SMS Siemag AG
SMS Meer GmbH
SMS Meer GmbH
Stripflatnessmeasurement
andcontrolequipment
Bandplanheitsmess-und
-regeleinrichtungen
ABB Automation technologies AB
Force Measurement
S-72159 Vsteras, Sweden
Phone: +46 21 325 000
Fax: +46 21 340 005
E-Mail: pressductor@se.abb.com
Internet: www.abb.com/pressductor
Stripthicknessmeasurement
andcontrolequipment
Banddickenmess-und
-regeleinrichtungen
Force Measurement
Phone: +46 21 325 000
Fax: +46 21 340 005
SMS Siemag AG
SMS Siemag AG
3.11Coolant/lubricant
preparation
Khl-/Schmiermittel-
Aufbereitung
Rollingoilrecoveryand
treatmentunits
Walzl-Wiederaufbereitungsanlagen
SMS Siemag AG
Filterforrollingoilsand
emulsions
FilterfrWalzleundEmulsionen
3.12Airextractionsystems
Abluft-Systeme
3.14 Storageanddispatch
LagerungundVersand
Exhaustairpurification
systems(active)
Abluft-Reinigungssysteme(aktiv)
dantherm Filtration GmbH
Industriestr. 9, D-77948 Friesenheim
Tel.: +49 (0) 7821 / 966-0, Fax: - 966-245
E-Mail: info.de@danthermfiltration.com
Internet: www.danthermfiltration.com
Filteringplantsandsystems
FilteranlagenundSysteme
SMS Siemag AG
SMS Siemag AG
Rollingoilrectificationunits
Walzlrektifikationsanlagen
SMS Siemag AG
StripTension
Measurementequipment
-regeleinrichtungen
RollForce
-regeleinrichtungen
StripWidth&Position
-regeleinrichtungen
Force Measurement
Phone: +46 21 325 000
Fax: +46 21 340 005
Force Measurement
Phone: +46 21 325 000
Fax: +46 21 340 005
Force Measurement
Phone: +46 21 325 000
Fax: +46 21 340 005
Hier knnte Ihr
stehen.
Rufen Sie an:
Tel. 0511 / 73 04-148
Beate Schaefer
3.16 Coilstoragesystems
Bundlagersysteme
Vollert Anlagenbau
GmbH + co. kG
SMS Siemag AG
3.17StripProcessingLines
Bandprozesslinien
ColourCoatingLines
Bandlackierlinien
www.bwg-online.com
see Strip Processing Lines 3.17
BWG Bergwerk- und Walzwerk-
Maschinenbau GmbH
Mercatorstrae 74 78
D-47051 Duisburg
Tel.: +49 (0) 203-9929-0
Fax: +49 (0) 203-9929-400
E-Mail: bwg@bwg-online.de
Internet: www.bwg-online.com
StripProcessingLines
Bandprozesslinien
StripAnnealingLines
Bandglhlinien
www.bwg-online.com
pSI Metals non Ferrous GmbH
Software Excellence in Metals
Carlo-Schmid-Str. 12, D-52146 Wrselen
Tel.: +49 (0) 2405 4135-0
info@psimetals.de, www.psimetals.com
3.18Production
Managementsystems
ProduktionsManagement
Systeme
www.bwg-online.com
StretchLevellingLines
Streckrichtanlagen
LithographicSheetLines
Lithografielinien
www.bwg-online.com
4
Foundry
Gieerei
4.1 Work protection and ergonomics
4.2 Heat-resistant technology
4.3 Conveyor and storage technology
4.4 Mould and core production
4.5 Mould accessories and accessory materials
4.6 Foundry equipment
4.7 Casting machines and equipment
4.8 Handling technology
4.9 Construction and design
4.10 Measurement technology and materials testing
4.11 Metallic charge materials
4.12 Finshing of raw castings
4.13 Melt operations
4.14 Melt preparation
4.15Melttreatmentdevices
4.16 Control and regulation technology
4.17 Environment protection and disposal
4.18 Dross recovery
4.19 Gussteile
4.1 Arbeitsschutz und Ergonomie
4.2 Feuerfesttechnik
4.3 Frder- und Lagertechnik
4.4 Form- und Kernherstellung
4.5 Formzubehr, Hilfsmittel
4.6 Gieereianlagen
4.7 Giemaschinen und Gieeinrichtungen
4.8 Handhabungstechnik
4.9 Konstruktion und Design
4.10 Messtechnik und Materialprfung
4.11 Metallische Einsatzstoffe
4.12 Rohgussnachbehandlung
4.13 Schmelzbetrieb
4.14 Schmelzvorbereitung
4.15 Schmelzebehandlungseinrichtungen
4.16 Steuerungs- und Regelungstechnik
4.17 umweltschutz und Entsorgung
4.18 Schlackenrckgewinnung
4.19 Cast parts
4.2 Heat-resistenttechnology
Feuerfesttechnik
Refractories/Feuerfeststoffe
promat GmbH techn. Wrmedmmung
Scheifenkamp 16, D-40878 Ratingen
Tel. +49 (0) 2102 / 493-0, Fax -493 115
verkauf3@promat.de, www.promat.de
4.3 Conveyorandstorage
technology
Frder-undLagertechnik
Fluxes
Flussmittel
4.5 Moldaccessoriesand
accessorymaterials
Formzubehr,Hilfmittel
Solvay Fluor GmbH
Hans-Bckler-Allee 20
D-30173 Hannover
Telefon +49 (0) 511 / 857-0
Telefax +49 (0) 511 / 857-2146
Internet: www.solvay-fluor.de
Vollert Anlagenbau
GmbH + co. kG
Castingmachines
Giemaschinen
Wrmebehandlungsfen
4.7 Castingmachines
andequipment
Gieereimaschinen
undGieeinrichtungen
www.mechatherm.com
GApcast

tM
: the Swiss casting solution
Casting Technology / Automation
Tel.: +41 27 455 57 14
E-Mail: info@gap-engineering.ch
Internet: www.gap-engineering.ch
4.9 ConstructionandDesign
KonstruktionundDesign
THERMCONOVENSBV
see Extrusion 2
4.8 Handlingtechnology
Handhabungstechnik
Vollert Anlagenbau
GmbH + co. kG
Manipulators
Manipulatoren
SerMAS InduStrIe
Mouldpartingagents
Kokillentrennmittel
Schrder kG
Schmierstofftechnik
Postfach 1170
D-57251
Freudenberg
Tel. 02734/7071
Fax 02734/20784
www.schroeder-schmierstoffe.de
Wagstaff, Inc.
Competence in EMC and ASC casting
rIHS enGIneerInG AG
CH-3123 Belp, P.O. Box 197
Phone: +41 31 812-0025, Fax: -0026
Mail: rihs@maschko.ch
MetALLHAndeLSGeSeLLScHAFt
ScHOOF & HASLAcHer MBH & cO. kG
Postfach 600714, D 81207 Mnchen
Telefon 089/829133-0
Telefax 089/8201154
E-Mail: info@metallhandelsgesellschaft.de
Internet: www.metallhandelsgesellschaft.de
Prealloys/Vorlegierungen
Recycling/Recycling
chr. Otto pape GmbH
Aluminiumgranulate
Berliner Allee 34
D-30855 Langenhagen
Tel:+49(0)511 786 32-0 Fax: -32
Internet: www.papemetals.com
E-Mail: info@papemetals.com
4.13Meltoperations
Schmelzbetrieb
Meltingfurnaces
Schmelzfen
Bttgenbachstrae 14
D-40549 Dsseldorf/Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 211 / 5 00 91-43
Fax: +49 (0) 211 / 50 13 97
E-Mail: info@bloomeng.de
Internet: www.bloomeng.com
Sales Contact: Klaus Rixen
www.mechatherm.com
4.6 Foundryequipment
Gieereianlagen
www.mechatherm.com
ELPO GmbH
Kuchengrund 18
71522 Backnang
Telefon 07191 9572-0
Telefax 07191 9572-29
E-Mail: info@elpo.de
Internet: www.elpo.de
Molten Metall Level control
Ostra Hamnen 7
SE-430 91 Hono / Schweden
Tel.: +46 31 764 5520, Fax: +46 31 764 5529
E-Mail: info@precimeter.com
Internet: www.precimeter.com
Sales contact: Jan Strmbeck
Aluminiumalloys
Aluminiumlegierungen
MetALLHAndeLSGeSeLLScHAFt
ScHOOF & HASLAcHer MBH & cO. kG
Postfach 600714, D 81207 Mnchen
Telefon 089/829133-0
Telefax 089/8201154
E-Mail: info@metallhandelsgesellschaft.de
Internet: www.metallhandelsgesellschaft.de
4.11Metalliccharge
materials
MetallischeEinsatzstoffe
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
MArx GmbH & co. kG
Lilienthalstr. 6-18
D-58638 Iserhohn
Tel.: +49 (0) 2371 / 2105-0, Fax: -11
E-Mail: info@marx-gmbh.de
Internet: www.marx-gmbh.de
neOtecHnIk GmbH
Entstaubungsanlagen
Postfach 110261, D-33662 Bielefeld
Tel. 05205/7503-0, Fax 05205/7503-77
info@neotechnik.com, www.neotechnik.com
4.17Environmentprotection
anddisposal
Umweltschutzund
Entsorgung
Dustremoval
Entstaubung
4.15Melttreatmentdevices
Schmelzbehandlungs-
einrichtungen
Metaullics Systems europe B.V.
Ebweg 14
NL-2991 LT Barendrecht
Tel. +31-180/590890
Fax +31-180/551040
E-Mail: info@metaullics.nl
Internet: www.metaullics.com
4.14Meltpreparation
Schmelzvorbereitung
GmbH
D 65582 Diez/Lahn
Telefon 06432/607-0
Telefax 06432/607-52
Internet: http://www.drache-gmbh.de
Degassing,filtration
Entgasung,Filtration
Melttreatmentagents
Schmelzebehandlungsmittel
Fluegascleaning
Rauchgasreinigung
dantherm Filtration GmbH
Industriestr. 9, D-77948 Friesenheim
Tel.: +49 (0) 7821 / 966-0, Fax: - 966-245
E-Mail: info.de@danthermfiltration.com
Internet: www.danthermfiltration.com
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Holdingfurnaces
Warmhaltefen
Bttgenbachstrae 14
D-40549 Dsseldorf/Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 211 / 5 00 91-43
Fax: +49 (0) 211 / 50 13 97
E-Mail: info@bloomeng.de
Internet: www.bloomeng.com
Sales Contact: Klaus Rixen
Gautschi
engineering GmbH
Granulatedaluminium
Aluminiumgranulate
5
Materials and Recycling
Werkstoffe und Recycling
chr. Otto pape GmbH
Aluminiumgranulate
Berliner Allee 34
D-30855 Langenhagen
Tel:+49(0)511 786 32-0 Fax: -32
Internet: www.papemetals.com
E-Mail: info@papemetals.com
6
Machining and Application
Bearbeitung und Anwendung
Anodising/Anodisation
Adhesivebonding/Verkleben
6.1 Surfacetreatment
processes
Prozessefrdie
Oberflchenbehandlung
Henkel AG & co. kGaA
D-40191 Dsseldorf
Tel. +49 (0) 211 / 797-30 00
Fax +49 (0) 211 / 798-23 23
Internet: www.henkel-technologies.com
siehe Prozesse fr die Oberflchentechnik 6.1
Joining/Fgen
www.alu-web.de
Pretreatmentbeforecoating
VorbehandlungvorderBeschichtung
Cleaning/Reinigung
8
Literature
Literatur
Technicalliterature
Fachliteratur
taschenbuch des Metallhandels
Fundamentals of extrusion technology
Giesel Verlag GmbH
Hans-Bckler-Allee 9, 30173 Hannover
Tel. 0511 / 73 04-125 Fax 0511 / 73 04-233
Internet: www.alu-bookshop.de
LAScO umformtechnik GmbH
Hahnweg 139, D-96450 Coburg
Tel. +49 (0) 9561 642-0
Fax +49 (0) 9561 642-333
E-Mail: lasco@lasco.de
Internet: www.lasco.com
6.3 Equipmentforforging
andimpactextrusion
AusrstungfrSchmiede-
undFliepresstechnik
HydraulicPresses
HydraulischePressen
Wires/Drhte
6.2 Semiproducts
Halbzeuge
drAHtWerk eLISentAL
W. erdmann GmbH & co.
Werdohler Str. 40, D-58809 Neuenrade
Postfach 1260, D-58804 Neuenrade
Tel. +49(0)2392/697-0, Fax 49(0)2392/62044
E-Mail: info@elisental.de
Internet: www.elisental.de
www.alu-web.de
A L L G E M E I N E S
International
ALUMINIUM
Journal
87. Jahrgang 1. 1. 2011
Verlag / Publishing house
Giesel Verlag GmbH
Post fach 5420, 30054 Hannover
Hans-Bckler-Allee 9, 30173 Hannover
Tel. 0511 7304-0, Fax 0511 7304-157
giesel@giesel.de, www.giesel-verlag.de
Postbank / postal cheque account Hannover,
BLZ / routing code: 25010030; Kto.-Nr. /
account no. 90898-306, Bankkonto/bank account
Commerzbank AG, BLZ/routing code: 25040066,
Kto.-Nr./account no. 1500222
Geschftsleitung / Managing Director
Klaus Krause
Redaktion / Editorial office
Dipl.-Vw. Volker Karow.
Chefredakteur, Editor in Chief
Franz-Meyers-Str. 16, 53340 Meckenheim
Tel. +49(0)2225 8359643
Fax +49(0)2225 18458
vkarow@online.de
Dipl.-Ing. Rudolf P. Pawlek
Httenindustrie und Recycling
rudolf.pawlek@span.ch
Dipl.-Ing. Bernhard Rieth
Walzwerkstechnik und Bandverarbeitung
rollingmill-technology@t-online.de
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Anzeigenpreise / Advertisement rates
Preisliste Nr. 51 vom 1.1.2011.
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United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Africa,
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Druck / Printing house
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V O R S C H A U / P R E V I E W
IM NCHSTEN HEFT
Special: Die internationale Strangpressindustrie
Maschinen und Anlagen, Technologien und Projekte.
Geplante Beitrge, unter anderem:
Prozessgesteuerte intelligente Blockaufnehmer
Die neue 27-MN-Strangpresslinie bei Eduard Hueck
Effiziente Logistik bei Renson
Profilanwendungen mit berproportionalem Wachstum
Umschmelzen und Recycling von Aluminium
Technologie brennstoffbeheizter Schmelzfen
Neue Technik der Zerkleinerung und Trennung von
Materialien
Weitere Themen
Hochwertige Maschinen fr Gieereien, Elektrolysen
und Anodenfertigung
IN THE NEXT ISSUE
Special: The international extrusion industry
Machines and plants, technologies and projects. Subjects
covered, among others:
Process controlled extrusion containers Smart
Container technology
The new 27 MN extrusion line at Eduard Hueck
Efficient logistics at Renson
Secondary smelting and recycling of aluminium
Technology of fuel-fired melting furnaces
Towards zero waste dross processing
Save money with swarf briquetting
Spent pot lining and salt slag treatment services
Others
High-grade machines for casthouse, pot room
area and anode rodding shop
Erscheinungstermin: 15. Mrz 2011
Anzeigenschluss: 01. Mrz 2011
Redaktionsschluss: 15. Februar 2011
Date of publication: 15 March 2011
Advertisement deadline: 01 March 2011
Editorial deadline: 15 February 2011
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ALUMINIUM 1-2/2011
Modern logistics
systems
By logistics systems we mean the purposeful combi-
nation of individual functions, i.e. transport, storage,
packaging and marking, to form one complex whole
the logistics in your rolling mill or finishing plant.
Logistics planning based on studies and simulation
models
Transport and handling systems for heavy loads
Fully automatic flat and high-bay storage systems
& warehouse management systems
Packaging and strapping machinery for coils, sheet
packs and slit coils
Marking machines as robot or gantry solution for
coils, metal sheets, slabs and pipes
High-pressure grinding machines for slabs, billets
and blooms including ancillary equipment
SMS LOGISTIKSYSTEME GMBH
Obere Industriestrasse 8 Telephone: +49 (0) 2738 21-0 E-mail: info@sms-lsn.com
57250 Netphen, Germany Telefax: +49 (0) 2738 21-2222 Internet: www.sms-logistics-systems.com
MEETING your EXPECTATIONS

Aluminium Zeitung 01-02-11

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