Controlling the concentration of alumina in the electrolyte during the production of aluminum

Abstract

This article examines the main theoretical and practical aspects of the automated feed of alumina to a cryolite-alumina melt during the electrolytic production of aluminum. New algorithms are presented for optimizing the operation of the automated alumina-feed system through automatic correction of the feed period and early termination of the “frequent” regime. An analysis of the algorithms showed that they make it possible to eliminate (or significantly reduce) the effect of the human factor on the performance of the alumina-feed system, relax the requirements on the stability of alumina batch size, and save an appreciable amount of electric power. Use of the algorithms has helped stabilize the operation of electrolytic cells with baked anodes operating at currents of 160 and 330 kA. The frequency of anode effects (AEs) on these cells is now 0.1 AE per day.