Abstract
For many years anode dusting has been an issue for aluminum producers. Suspended carbon particles enhance the electrical resistivity of the cryolite bath, setting off a chain reaction of adverse effects for the pot. Many studies have documented the negative influence of carbon dust on current efficiency or bath temperature which are indirect effects of contaminated bath. The dependence of bath resistivity on the amount and on the size of carbon particles is poorly understood though. Tube-type cell experiments were performed to determine the electrical resistivity at 980 °C of standard bath mixtures added with carbon dust. The carbon content ranged from 0.06 to 1.01% in weight with mean particle size of 2 μm. A bath resistivity increase of 70% was measured when comparing the bath with the lowest carbon concentration with the one with the highest. From a bath with a carbon content of 0.06% to a one with 0.16%, the change in resistivity was equal to 13%. Thus the difference in bath resistivity between a benchmark bath with 0.03% carbon content and a bath from a dusty pot will be even larger. These results agree with variations of voltage measured during the ACD squeeze of groups of clean and dusty pots.
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Grjotheim K., Krohn C., Thonstad J., Einige offene Fragen bei der heutigen Aluminiumelektrolyse, 5. Internationale Leichmetalltagung 1968, pp 343–346.
Foosnæs T., Naterstad T., Bruheim M., Grjotheim K., Anode dusting in Hall-Héroult cells, Light Metals 1986, pp 633–642.
Meirbekova R., Haarberg G. M., Thonstad J., Ziegler D. P., Brynjarsson J., Saevarsdottir G., Effect of operational parameters on the behavior of phosphorus and sulfur in aluminum reduction, Light Metals 2015, pp 559–564.
Tordai T., Anode dusting during the electrolytic production of aluminium, Thesis #3808, Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, 2007.
Tarcy G. P., Tørklep K., Current efficiency in prebake and Søderberg cells, Light Metals 2005, pp 319–324.
Vetyukov M. M., Chuvilyaev R.G., Izv. Vyssh. Ucheb. Zaved., Tsvet Met. 7(6), 74, 1964.
Híveš J., Thonstad J., Sterten Å., Fellner P., Light Metals 1994, pp 187–194.
Wang L., Alton T., Nolan E. R., The electrical conductivity of cryolitic melts containing aluminum carbide, Light Metals 1994, pp 177–185.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 TMS (The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bugnion, L., Fischer, JC. (2016). Effect of Carbon Dust on the Electrical Resistivity of Cryolite Bath. In: Williams, E. (eds) Light Metals 2016. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48251-4_99
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48251-4_99
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-48615-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-48251-4
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)