Liu Fengqin

Review on the Energy Saving Technologies Applied in Chinese Aluminum Reduction Industry

The energy saving technologies applied in Chinese aluminum reduction are reviewed in this paper. The energy saving technology development in China in the aluminum reduction field could be divided into three stages. The first stage was retrofit of Soederberg cells to prebaked anode cells and technology development of large amperage prebaked anode cells, which happened mainly in 1990’s. The second stage was wide applications of the large amperage prebaked cell technology and the improvement of such relevant technologies as physical fields simulation, cell control systems and high quality anode and cathode manufacturing etc., which covered the first 6–7 years of this century. The third stage has lasted up to now, which mainly focused on the energy saving in the present prebaked cells by cell cathode and lining structure modifications and high performance operation and control system applications.

Technology for Manufacturing Cathodes for Aluminium Reduction in China

More than 20 manufacturers producing cathode blocks used in aluminum smelters exist in China. The total annual production capacity for the cathodes reaches up to 300 kt, most of which are semi-graphitic cathode blocks and some graphitized cathode blocks as well.

Applications of New Structure Reduction Cell Technology in Chalco's Smelters

A new generation of key energy saving technology for aluminum reduction has been implemented by Chalco. A new structure aluminum reduction cell technology has been successfully developed by Chalco and is now widely applied in several of Chalco’s smelters. This new structure includes key technologies such as the new specially designed cathode installation, a heat preservation lining and a low voltage operation control system. The molten metal fluctuation that is driven by the great magnetic field is greatly restrained in the cells, based on reducing the anode to cathode distance (ACD) without any loss of current efficiency. This realizes a lower energy consumption and less GHG emissions. The industrial tests and applications of this technology have been carried out successfully in the various scale aluminum reduction cells in Chalco’s smelters and about 12000 kWh of DC consumption per ton of aluminum and 3.70–3.75 V of cell voltage have been achieved.