Numerical Simulation of Electrolyte Two-Phase Flow Induced by Anode Bubbles in an Aluminum Reduction Cell

Abstract

In the production process of aluminium reduction cells, the anode bubble laden layer has several important influences on the performance of the aluminium reduction cells. Especially for a "drained cathode cell", without the agitating of movement of the melted metal, the bath flow field could be more important. In this paper, the electrolyte two-phase flow fields were studied by using numerically simulation method based on a two-phase turbulence model combining the k - ? model and the Discrete Random Walk model. The results show that: the motion of the bubbles mostly exists within a thin layer under the anode, which results in inducing local electrolyte to flow around the anode in various circulation flows; the flow field in the anode-cathode space can be divided into three regions with different characters; the results also show the Driving action of bubbles is closely related to the current density, inclination of anode and the anode-cathode distance. In general, the increasing in the current density increases the electrolyte velocity and the turbulent kinetic energy. The decrease in ACD significantly enhances the uniformity of the electrolyte flow field in the anode-cathode space. The increase in anode inclination angle increases the velocity of the electrolyte in the anode-cathode space, which would be beneficial to improving the diffusion and dissolution of the alumina and reducing the resistance between the anode and cathode.