On the Modified Design of Anode Assembly in Hall-Héroult Cell Using Finite Element Method

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Mining and Petroleum Engineering Dept., Faculty of Engineering, Al-Azhar University, Qena- Egypt

Abstract

The Hall-Héroult process is the most commonly used process for aluminum production by aluminum through an electrolytic reduction of alumina dissolved in an electrolytic bath at 960 ͦ C. The voltage drop for the anode group represents about 8% of the total cell voltage. The resistance between the connections that link the different parts of the anode assembly causes the increase the anode voltage during the electrolysis process. The factors affecting the anodic voltage drop, temperature and stresses distribution were investigated using the finite element method. These factors included the stub diameter, thimble flutes number and steel stub number. Thermal and electrical measurements were carried out on ten prebaked anodes cells to verify and validate the modelled result. In this paper, study the electro thermal model under the influence of mechanical loading of the anode assembly confirmed that the design of the steel stubs (in terms of diameter and number) are the main factors that greatly influence the reduction of the anodic voltage, while the thimble flutes number might have a little effect on the anodic voltage drop.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Journal of Petroleum and Mining Engineering
Volume 22, Issue 2
December 2020
Pages 71-79

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics