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Increasing Potlife of Hall–Héroult Reduction Cells Through Multivariate On-Line Monitoring of Preheating, Start-Up, and Early Operation

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Abstract

Aluminum is produced inside metallurgical reactors known as pots that are replaced at the end of their service life. New pots are preheated, started, and then enter a period known as early operation in which different control strategies are used before entering regular operation. It is known that how preheating, start-up, and early operation are performed can damage a well-designed pot and lead to a shorter service life. However, the impact of these phases with respect to potlife is not well documented quantitatively. In this article, multivariate statistical analysis techniques are used to investigate the impact of pot-to-pot variations during the three phases. A partial least squares regression model is first proposed for predicting potlife, within an error of 90 days, using process data gathered until the end of early operation. This model is also used to identify those variables having the greatest influence on potlife. Finally, multivariate statistical process control charts are proposed to monitor the three steps efficiently. These charts have a low false-alarm rate and can help find the root cause of abnormal operation occurring during the early phases. A few examples are used to illustrate how operators and engineers could use the charts to maintain consistent early operation and help improve mean potlife. Nomenclature: In this article, bold characters are used to identify vectors (bold lowercase), matrices (bold capital), and three-dimensional arrays (bold, underlined capital). Lowercase italics letters are used to define indices. Al—Aluminium; Al2O3—Alumina; C—Carbon; CO2—Carbon dioxide; kA—kilo-Amperes; Na—Sodium; Na3AlF6—Cryolite; V—Volt.

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Acknowledgments

Part of this research was financed by the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies by the intermediary of the Aluminium Research Centre—REGAL and the National Science and Engineering Research Council. The authors also would like to thank Alcoa Inc. for funding and granting permission to publish these results. Special thanks also go to the Alcoa Deschambault Potroom Technical Staff for their help and support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aluminium Research Centre-REGAL, Université Laval, Quebec City, QC, G1K 7P4, Canada

    Jayson Tessier (Ph.D. Student, Research Engineer) & Carl Duchesne (Associate Professor)

  2. Chemical Engineering Department, Université Laval, Quebec City, QC, G1K 7P4, Canada

    Jayson Tessier (Ph.D. Student, Research Engineer) & Carl Duchesne (Associate Professor)

  3. Alcoa–STAS Team, STAS inc., Chicoutimi, QC, G1K 1H1, Canada

    Jayson Tessier (Ph.D. Student, Research Engineer)

  4. Alcoa Inc., Alcoa Technical Center, Hall Process Improvement, Alcoa Center, PA, 15069, USA

    Gary P. Tarcy (Manager Smelting R&D)

  5. Alcoa Inc., Aluminerie Deschambault, Reduction Department, Deschambault, QC, G0A 1S0, Canada

    Claude Gauthier (Regional Research and Development Engineer)

  6. Alcoa Inc., Aluminerie Deschambault, Alcoa Centre of Excellence, Deschambault, QC, G0A 1S0, Canada

    Gilles Dufour (Director Technology and Innovation)

Authors
  1. Jayson Tessier
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  2. Carl Duchesne
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  3. Gary P. Tarcy
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  4. Claude Gauthier
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  5. Gilles Dufour
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carl Duchesne.

Additional information

Nomenclature: In this article, bold characters are used to identify vectors (bold lowercase), matrices (bold capital), and three-dimensional arrays (bold, underlined capital). Lowercase italics letters are used to define indices.

Al—Aluminium; Al2O3—Alumina; C—Carbon; CO2—Carbon dioxide; kA—kilo-Amperes; Na—Sodium; Na3AlF6—Cryolite; V—Volt

Manuscript submitted June 23, 2009.

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Tessier, J., Duchesne, C., Tarcy, G.P. et al. Increasing Potlife of Hall–Héroult Reduction Cells Through Multivariate On-Line Monitoring of Preheating, Start-Up, and Early Operation. Metall Mater Trans B 41, 612–624 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-010-9359-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-010-9359-3

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