Carbon dust in aluminum

electrolysis pots - a vicious circle

Louis Bugnion, Jean-Claude Fischer
R&D Carbon
Carbon, Sierre,
Sierre Switzerland
Presented by: Louis Bugnion
ICSOBA

Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Contents

Carbon dust
Effect on bath resistivity
Clean pot vs dusty pot
Carbon crisis
Solve dust problem in potline

ICSOBA

Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

1

Carbon dust
Carbon dust

Anode spikes

Coarse carbon particles swimming on bath

surface

Carbon fines suspended in bath, 1 to 10 m in

size
i
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Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Carbon content

Carbon content varies spatially e.g. over bath depth

Benchmark carbon content ranges from 0.03 to 0.1%
Importance
p
of sampling
p g method
ICSOBA

Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Anode quality
CO2 burn

Air burn

Under constant pot operation (current density, bath

temperature, anode cycle time) and practices (anode
cover)) carbon
b dust
d t is
i due
d to
t poor anode
d quality
lit

ICSOBA

Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Impact on pot performance

Primary effect of carbon dust is to increase bath

resistivity
ICSOBA

Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Bath resistivity

Data/models relating bath resistivity and carbon

content are scarce and fail to explain the disturbance
caused by carbon dust at levels as low as 0.1%
ICSOBA

Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Bath resistivity

Measurements in a tube-type cell show that the bath

resistivity is increased by 13% from 0.06 to 0.16%
carbon content and by 78% from 0.16 to 1.01%
carbon content
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Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Bath voltage
UBub
U

AC, AR
E0
CC

Ohmic bath voltage U 1.7

17V
At constant ACD, carbon dust enhances U i.e. at

constant U, ACD is decreased

By moving the anode beam and measuring the pot
voltage, bath resistivity can be estimated
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Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Clean pot vs dusty pot

Larger variation of voltage per mm of decreased ACD

(U/ACD) for dusty pot

Earlier increase of noise level for dusty pot

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Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Clean pot vs dusty pot

Initial ACD is smaller for the dusty pot

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Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Clean pot vs dusty pot

# pots

Clean pots
Dusty pots

4
2

Carbon content
%
0.07
0.11

U/ACD
Squeeze test
Bath res. formula
mV/mm
%
mV/mm
47
100
42
61
130
41
bath= f(AlF3, CaF2,
Al2O3, LiF, MgF2, T)

The increase in bath resistivityy reaches 30% for the

group of dusty pots (U/ACD = bathI/S)

Analysis of bath samples shows a 60% larger carbon

content for the group of dusty pots

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Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Carbon crisis
Typical triggers are:

Poor and variable coke quality

Higher
g
dirty
y butts fraction
Recycling of burn-off anodes
Suboptimal and variable anode manufacturing process
Poor rodding
Longer anode cycle time
Current creep

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Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Carbon crisis

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Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Carbon crisis
ECONOMICAL RESULTS
Sp. value
Unit
Al production
tpy
El. energy consumption
GWh
Anode Production
tpy
Butts return
tpy
Coke needed
tpy
Alumina needed
tpy
Loss of Al
tpy
Loss due to less Al
1'800 USD/t
Mio USD
Extra el. energy
GWh
Loss due to extra el. energy
40'000 USD/GWh Mio USD
Extra coke needed
tpy
Loss due to extra coke needed
400 USD/t
Mio USD
Alumina difference needed
tpy
py
Savings due to alumina needed
250 USD/t
Mio USD
Total yearly loss
Mio USD/y
Total monthly loss
Mio USD/m
Sp. loss on design capacity
USD/t Al

CRISIS
DESIGN CRISIS
PARTIAL
TARGET TRIGGER
RECOVER
800 000 758
800'000
758'000
000
783'000
783
000
10'040
10'040
10'300
448'000 436'600
455'700
136'000 103'000
134'600
267'200 289'900
275'530
1'552'000 1'470'000 1'519'000
0
42'000
42
000
17'000
17
000
0
76
31
0
0
260
0
0
10
0
22'700
8'330
0
9
3
0
-82'000
-33'000
0
-22
-8
0
63
36
0
5
3
80
45

L
Loss due
d to
t lower
l
currentt efficiency
ffi i
Loss due to higher net carbon consumption
Loss due to extra energy if voltage target is increased
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Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Solve dust problem in potline

Step 1 - Status quo potline

Energy consumption
Current efficiency
Anode current distribution
Pot voltage
Bath temperature/chemistry
Metal quality Fe/V/P
Skimmed material
Gross/net carbon consumption
Butts weight
C content in Al2O3/bath
C-content
Anode quality
U/ACD (bath resistivity, pot stability)

ICSOBA

Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Solve dust problem in potline

Step 2 - Groups of pots with different anode quality
Setting up of two groups of pots with different anode quality (10

pots each)
If only one anode quality available, purchase of 1000 t of
benchmark anodes
1 week measurement campaign for groups of pots after 15 days
and 45 days

Step 3 - Quantify the impact of anode quality on pot

performance
Adjustments to anode production and pot operation
Implementation of routine measurements and controls
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Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Conclusions

Carbon dust severely affects bath

resistivity, ACD,
resistivity
ACD noise level
level, current
efficiency and bath temperature

Monitoring of anode quality, carbon dust

level, butts properties is of prime
importance

Assess the costs generated by carbon

d t
dust

Adapt anode qualityy to plant objectives

j
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Dubai, 29 November to 1 December 2015

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Your partner for total carbon solutions

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