Abstract
Energy consumption is one of the key issues in the production of primary aluminium. It is therefore a great challenge for aluminium smelters worldwide to increase current efficiency and at the same time reduce energy consumption. At the Essen Smelter a new type of energy and mass balance control algorithm has been developed and successfully implemented on an industrial scale. Central to this new strategy are superheat measurements. Supporting measurements include bath temperature and cathode voltage drop. Measurement data are input into a newly developed 9 box matrix control algorithm. The concept utilizes pot voltage adjustments as the primary control tool to drive the bath temperature into a predefined control band. As a secondary control, AlF3 additions are based upon the liquidus temperature trend. Through combined stabilization of energy and mass balance a stable cell operation is achieved, leading to the benefits of higher current efficiency and reduced energy consumption.
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