Primary Aluminum Industry - Energy and Emission Reductions: An LMD Symposium in Honor of Halvor Kvande: On-Demand Oral Presentations
Sponsored by: TMS Light Metals Division, TMS: Aluminum Committee
Program Organizers: Arne Ratvik, SINTEF
Monday 8:00 AM
March 14, 2022
Room: Light Metals
Location: On-Demand Room
Halvor Kvande: An Academic Ambassador in Aluminum Between China and Norway: Bingliang Gao1; Zhaowen Wang1; Zhongning Shi1; Naixiang Feng1; 1Northeastern University
Almost seventy years ago, the Chinese aluminum smelting industry had the aluminum production capacity of only 25 kt/a. At present, the primary aluminum smelting capacity is more than half of the world’s production capacity. The great achievements were made from the contributions of the hard-working and competent Chinese scientists and engineers, but also from many foreign scientists, especially Norwegian scientists. Among the many Norwegian scientists who have contributed academic exchange in aluminum between China and Norway, Dr. Halvor Kvande is a particularly important individual, who has strengthened the aluminum bridge between China and Norway.
Ready-to-Use Cathodes in High Amperage Technologies: Markus Pfeffer1; Oscar Vera Garcia1; Frank Hiltmann1; Seweryn Mielnik1; Peter Wang1; Louis Bugnion2; Laure von Kaenel2; Mao Jihong3; Ban Yungang3; 1Tokai COBEX GmbH; 2NOVALUM SA; 3NEUI
The implementation of Ready-to-Use Cathodes(RuC®) using copper conductors in the cathodic system not only allowed to fully avoid rodding but also significantly decreased the specific energy consumption, reducing the carbon footprint of the Hall-Héroult process. The basic concepts, the cathode implementation and the operating figures in smelting technologies ranging from 300kA to 600kA for up to 2.5years of operation are highlighted. The robustness of the Ready-to-Use design is proven by stable low cathodic resistance allowing energy savings in the range from 0.15 kWh to 0.40kWh per kg aluminum. An autopsy performed after 1140days of operation revealed a fully intact copper bar system. Copper samples were taken from the bars at different locations and chemically analyzed, concluding that most of the copper value can be recovered after its useful life through recycling processes. Based on these positive results, further spread of the Ready-to-Use Cathode technology is expected.