NALCO: AN OVERVIEW

National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) is considered to be a turning point in the history
of Indian Aluminium Industry. In a major leap forward, Nalco has not only addressed the need
for self-sufficiency in aluminium but also given the country a technological edge in producing
this strategic metal as per world standards.

Incorporated in 1981 as a public sector enterprise, Nalco was set up to exploit a part of the large
bauxite deposits discovered in the East Coast, in technological collaboration with Aluminium
Pechiney of France (now Alcan).

With consistent track record in capacity utilization, technology absorption, quality assurance,
export performance and profitability, Nalco is a bright example of India’s industrial capacity.
Today, as an ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001 Company, with its products registered in
London Metal Exchange, Nalco has emerged as the largest integrated bauxite-alumina-
aluminium complex in Asia. Now, Nalco enjoys the status of a Navaratna company.

01

DIFFERENT SECTIONS OF NALCO :

NALCO

S & P Complex M & R Complex

(Smelter & power Plant) (Mining & Refinery)

Smelter Plant Captive Power Plant

 Carbon Area Pot Line Cast House

GAP Bake Oven Rodding Shop

(Green Anode Plant)

SMELTER PLANT:

The 4,60,000 tpa capacity Aluminium Smelter, located at Angul in Orissa, is based on advanced
technology of smelting and pollution control. The salient features of the plant include:

• 180 KA cell technology.

• Fume treatment with dry-scrubbing system.

• Manufacturing of carbon anodes, bus bars, anode stem etc.

Integrated facilities for manufacturing Ingots, Sows, Billets, Wire Rods, strips and Rolled
Products.

02

03
 CARBON AREA

Introduction :
Carbon area is that part of Smelter Plant where the Anode, used in electrolysis process for
aluminium smelting, is generated. It is divided into the following three major sections.

 Green Anode Plant (GAP)

 Bake Oven
 Rodding Shop

Green Anode Plant (GAP):

Introduction:
Green Anode Plant (GAP) is an important section of any integrated aluminium company. At
this section, anodes are produced by mixing Calcined petroleum coke in certain sizes & in
certain proportion with liquid Coal tar pitch at a requisite temperature that yields a paste termed
as “Green Paste”. This paste is given the shape of a block by vibrocompacting the paste in the
vibrocompacting machine. The blocks such produced are termed as “Green Anodes”, which
comes out of moulds, have low strength for handling. Hence they are cooled by running water
inside a cooling tunnel zone for about 1hr to attain sufficient handling strength in the subsequent
stages. The anodes after cooling are stacked in bundles of 9 anodes in storage area & sent to
baking furnace for further treatment to high temperature to attain good mechanical strength &
conductivity which are very much useful properties for anodes in pots.

Salient Features of GAP:

a) Raw Materials – i) C.P coke

ii) C.T pitch
iii) Baked & Green Scrap or Butts

b) Auxiliaries - i) Heavy fuel oil

ii) Heat transfer fluid
iii) Cooling water
iv) Compressed air
04

Circuit & Systems in GAP:

 1. C.P coke handling, storage & extraction system (Upstream & Downstream)
2. C.T pitch feeding & melting system
3. Coke crushing, screening & fractionating system
4. Ball Mill system
5. Scrap handling, crushing & screening system
6. HTF circuit & boiler
7. Proportioning system
8. Vibro compacting system
9. Anode cooling & handling zone
10. Dedusting system

Operation:
 The ray diagram for GAP operation is as shown below.

C.P coke
Screening at
& Butt Feed
8th floor of Storage Mixer
Silos Hopper
GAP

Through insulated Pipes

C.T Pitch
Tank
Height Vibro Transfer
Storage Cooling Measuring Vibration compacting Hopper
House Tunnel Device Unit

 As shown in the diagram, raw material; coke from silo is transferred for screening to
select required size of coke & then to mixer by belt conveyor. The C.T pitch is
transferred to mixer by pipes.
 Screening of coke is done by vibration & using De-clogging balls.
 The different size of C.P coke(Calcine Petroleum Coke) used for anode making are
 Coarse Coke : 1.7 to 4 mm
 Medium coke : 0.2 to 1.7mm
 Fine coke : Less than 0.2 mm
 The need to use different sizes of coke is to make the density of coke in the anode as high
as possible so that its life span in pot shell will be more.
 The C.T pitch (Coal Tar Pitch) consists of coke & volatile materials. It is used in liquid
form. It acts as binder to bind the dry particles to form paste.
 The recycled butt (i.e. the unconsumed carbon anode part coming from pot shell) usually
consists 30% of total weight of green anode and is mixed in sizes of 0.3 to 13mm.
 C.P. Coke contains 99.95% fixed carbon. C.T. Pitch contains 54% fixed carbon & the rest
are Volatile materials.
 The temperature of C.T pitch is maintained at around 170°C in order to store it in liquid
form. But the coke & butt are maintained at room temp. So before mixing with pitch,
they are preheated to around 140°C so that the pitch do not solidify when comes in
contact with coke & butt and hence a homogeneous mixture is produced. The temperature
of the resulting paste will be approx. 150°C.
 In GAP-1, 132 kW energy is needed for mixing a wt. of 30 tonnes raw materials. But in
GAP-2(modern technology), for same wt. of materials, 280 kW of energy is needed.
Also, the mixing temp. in GAP-2 is more, so more dense anode is produced in GAP-2.

C.P Coke Silo

 After mixing, the paste is sent to feed hopper. The contents of feed hopper are then sent
to transfer hopper from where it is fed into moulds.

Inner View of Mould

  Once the mould is fed, a mould cover weighing 8 tonnes is kept fixed over it & the whole
assembly is known as “Vibrocompacting Unit”. The inner face of the mould cover have
size projections on it which provides holes for anode stem to be attached.

Lids

Mould Cover (8 tonne wt.)

 The unit is then vibrated for a scheduled time to obtain a proper shape of anode. After the
vibrocompacting unit has stopped vibrating, a trolley comes and collects the hot anode.
 This trolley then goes to & stands beneath Height measuring device for height
measurement. If the height is not in acceptable range, the excess material is separated &
discarded.
 Anodes of suitable height are sent into cooling tunnel zone where they are cooled for
about 1 hr by water sprayed by centrally placed nozzles. The temp. of the anodes is
reduced from 150°C to 40-60°C due to the water cooling.
 After coming out of cooling tunnel zone, the anodes are sent to the storage house from
where they are sent to bake oven for further operation.

Specification of Anode:

 Length : 1460mm
 Width : 1010mm
 Height : 550mm

Some Other Specification of GAP:

 Installed Capacity : 1,33,400 anodes/Yr
30.8 tonnes of green paste/hr
 Coke Consumption : 84,100 T/Yr
 C.T. Pitch Consumption : 27,000 T/Yr
 HFO Consumption : 1440 kL/Yr

07

Storage House of Green Anode

 08

BAKE OVEN :
Purpose of Baking:

The physical and chemical properties of the green anode are not conducive for electrolysis
in Pot lines. The green anodes are not

 Electrically conductive

 Mechanically strong

 Magnetic

More over the green anodes are inflammable making it difficult to cast them with stem brackets.
To obtain the desired physical and chemical properties, the anodes are baked in Bake Oven by
raising the temperature of anodes to 1070oC and gradually cooling them back to temperatures
less than 350oC. After baking the anodes are

 Electrically conductive

 Mechanically strong

 Magnetic

 inflammable even at 1100oC

Process of Baking:

The green anodes are packed in pits of each section in sets of 12 numbers stacked in 4
layers with 3 anodes each. The complete pit is then filled with packing coke of –3mm size
(Bake Oven-1) granulometry. Heavy fuel oil is sprayed into the hollow flue walls by the
Burner Ramps. The Heating and Regulation system takes care of the monitoring of heat profile
as per the settings set by the process engineers. The objective of this system is to achieve 1160 oC
in flue walls and 1070oC of anode temperature. The volatile pitch content of the green anodes,
escapes from the anodes at temperatures above 550oC, enter the hollow flue walls after passing
through special brick work of the flue walls. The volatile pitch along with HFO burn inside the
flue walls and liberate the heat required for baking. In this process, lot of fumes are emanated
which are handled by the Fume extraction system.

09

Bake Oven Structure:

The Bake Oven-1 consists of 84 sections. This is Asia’s largest open type Bake Oven. Each
section consists of 7 flue walls and 6 pits. A fire is a set of equipment consisting of

 Exhaust Ramp (ER) 1no

 Measurement ramp(MR) 1no

 Burner Ramps (BR) 4nos

 Zero pressure ramp(ZPR) 1no

 Cooling Ramp (CR) 2nos

Bake Oven-1 operates 4 working fire on 24 hrs fire cycle.

 (Bake Oven-1 Layout )

Types of Machines :

 Cranes

1. FTAs (Furnace Tending Assemblies)

2. Garlick cranes (6T) only in Bake Oven-1

 Fume extraction system

1. Duct work

2. ID Fans

3. Dampers

4. Sedimentation /settling chambers

 Heating and regulation system

 Refractory equipment

1. Flue wall building machine

2. Flue wall straightening machine

 Fuel oil handling system

1. Pipes

2. Pressure controlling valves

3. Pumps

Heating & regulation consists of

Bake Oven-1
  Exhaust ramps

 Measurement ramps

 Burner ramps

 Back pressure ramps

 Cooling ramps(Controlled)

 Cooling ramps(Un-controlled)

Burner ramp :

The burner ramps used in Bake oven are closed circuit type and use high pressure HFO
burners. The source oil coming from fuel oil handling area has a pressure of 1 to 2 bar and
temperature of around 500c. The HFO used in bake oven is of SG 0.9 grades. The Burner ramps
oil loop can be operated in three different pressures low, medium and high. These values are set
16 bar, 18 bar and 20 bar respectively. The screw pump develops the pressure through three
pressure relief valves, one in line in each section. The ramp is also fitted with a line heater and
pipe heater. The line heater helps in maintaining the desired viscosity of HFO. The pipe heater is
used after pronged stoppage or shutdown. Each burner is fitted with 14 burners, 7 on left and 7
on right side.
 12

Specification of HFO :

GRADE: HV, SP. CALORIFIC VALUE : 9600 KCAL/KG


SPECIFIC GRAVITY AT 150oC : 0.935 G/CM3


MAX. KINEMATIC VISCOSITY AT 500oC : 370 cSt


FLASH POINT : 660 C


POUR POINT : 21 TO 270 C


MAX. SULPHUR CONTENT : 4.5% MASS
 
MAX. ASH CONTENT : 0.1% MASS


MAX. SEDIMENT CONTENT : 0.25%MASS


MAX. WATER CONTENT : 0.5% MASS


HFO PRESSURE AT SUCTION : 100 TO 150 kPa


HFO TEMPERATURE AT SUCTION : 50 TO 550 C


HFO OPEARTING TEMPERATURE : 120 0C MAXIMUM


HFO OPERATING PRESSURE : 50 KG/CM2

Measuring Ramp :

 The measuring ramp measures the amount of draught.

13

Zero Pressure Ramp :

 Zero pressure ramp measures the amount of back pressure in the bake oven.

 It is normally about 10 Pa.

 14

Exhaust Ramp :

 The exhaust ramp sucks the flue gas so that it moves forward.
Cooling Ramp :

 The cooling ramp forces the air at high pressure into the flue wall so that the fire moves forward & at the
same time the anodes in the previous pits get cooled by the air flow.

15

FURNACE TENDING ASSEMBLY:

 Furnace Tending Assemblies ( FTAs) Of Bake oven are meant to handle the packing
coke through vacuum transportation and handling of the fire equipment.

 Two ECL make FTAs and one ALESA make FTA are there in Bake Oven-1.

 Have captive compressors for purging of the Bag filters and operate the pneumatic
cylinders.

 The air to air cooler in the vacuum circuit ahead of bag filter chamber help in hot pit
suction.

16
Specification of Flue Wall Building M/c (BF-1) :

17
Calculation for Flue wall requirement :

No. of flue walls in Bake Oven-1 : 84x7=588 nos

Time for one heat : No. of sections/ fires

84/4 =21 days

Time for 45 heats : 21x45/365 = 2.58 years

Flue wall requirement per year : 588/2.58=228 walls

(Refractory Materials For Flue Wall)

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RODDING SHOP :
Rodding shop is that part of Carbon Area where the final product of Carbon area i.e. carbon
anode is unhooked & delivered to pot line furnace. The different sections of Rodding Shop are

i) Hooking & Unhooking Station:

 It is the first section for recycle process of the anodes coming from pot shell &
the final station for the output of carbon area.

 It is operated hydraulically.

ii) Finishing Machine :

 It is used for removing the dust & bath particles present on the top surface of
recycle butt.
 Aluminium Bath

Recycle Butt

(Different Parts of Consumed Carbon Anode)

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iii) Shot Blasting Machine:

 Removes the remaining dust & bath particles after the recycle butt comes out
from finishing m/c.
 It is carried out for complete cleaning of the butt. If the butt is not completely
cleaned then the uncleaned butt used during green anode formation will create
problem in bake oven furnace in course of baking.
 Shot blasting is done by impingement of iron balls over the surface of butt
while the butt is rotating at high speed.
 For each shift, 100 kg of shot (SS-1400,1.4 mm dia.) is used.

iv) Butt Stripping Machine :

  It removes the butt from the rodding shaft.
 Here it is automatically operated (i.e. auto butt stripping).

v) Thimble Press ;

 Removes the Thimble (i.e. the cast iron portion) from the rodding shaft.

Thimble

Operation:

 The consumed carbon anode coming from pot shell is first stored here & the aluminium
bath portion(top white part) is removed either manually or mechanically so that only the
recycle butt portion (bottom black part) remains with the rodding shaft.

 The aluminium bath is then sent to crusher room through belt conveyor where it is
crushed into fine sand particles, separated by screen(the coarse particles again fed into
the crusher) & then stored in a silo.From silo,it is brought to pot shell for reuse.

 The rodding shaft with recycle butt is then hooked & first manually cleaned & goes into
the finishing m/c through roller chain.
 Stem

Bracket

(Hooked Rodding Shaft moving through roller chain)

 Under the roller chain, belt conveyor is present so that if any bath falls from the surface
of recycle butt, it will moves to crusher room through this belt.

 Now from finishing m/c, the rodding shaft with recycle butt is passed into the shot
blasting m/c for further cleaning. After this, manual inspection is done to check whether
the butt is completely clean or not.
 Then it is passed to the Butt stripping m/c where the butt get separated from the bracket
of the rodding shaft.

 Then the rodding shaft goes into thimble press where the cast iron portion is removed
from the bracket( This cast iron is again melted in induction furnace & reused in filling
the holes of the anode after matching with pins).
 (Induction Furnace for melting Cast Iron)

 Here the shaft is checked whether any cracks may appear in bracket or Clad (Joint
between bracket & stem). If any crack is present then it is replaced by new material & is
joined with stem by MIG welding.

Clad (Its upper

part is of
aluminium &
lower part is of
cast iron)

22

 Then the stem is polished & the pins of the bracket are dipped inside lubricating oil
( ideally graphite but here some oil is used). Due to oiling, the cast iron gets easily
separated from bracket in thimble press.
 Then the rodding shaft is matched with the holes of the baked anode & then molten cast
iron is poured inside the holes. When it is cooled, the bracket gets rigidly fixed with the
anode.

 Then some manual cleaning of is done & it is moved to unhooking station. Here the
carbon anode is unhooked from rolling chain & transferred to pot shell by Anode
Transport Vehicles.

Molten Cast
Iron

23

POT LINE FURNACE (POT SHELL) :

Introduction :
Pot line Furnace is the place where Aluminium metal is extracted from alumina in Electrolysis
Process. Each pot line has a total of 240 pots. The electricity for this electrolysis process comes
from captive power plant (CPP), Alumina comes from FTP. Alumina from FTP is sent to PTM
(Pot Tending Machine).The PTM moves from one pot to another & fills them with alumina.
PTM is also used to change anodes in the pot. Extraction of molten metal known as “ Metal
Tapping” is done using ‘Haul-Herault’ process. Here the pot itself acts as cathode and the
anodes are dipped into it. Each pot has 16 anodes, 8 on each side. Molten cryolite & alumina
bath acts as electrolyte & alumina is added from top. Cryolite is used as a catalyst as it reduces
the melting point of alumina from 2100°C to 980°C.

A Pot Shell (outer view)

24

Process Chemistry:
Pot Shell is like a battery Shell having a (+)ve end, (-)ve end & a medium. In a pot shell,
prebaked anodes suspended from beam play the role of (+)ve electrode & the cathode blocks
(at the bottom) play the role of (-)ve electrode. All the anodes connected parallely with the beam
are equipotential & also the cathode is equipotential. DC current flows from (+)ve to (-)ve. The
medium through which current flows is the electrolytic medium which consists of Cryolite
(Na3AlF6), Alumina (Al2O3) & Aluminium Flouride (AlF3). DC power is supplied to the pot
shell through DC Bus bar & prebaked Anodes. This DC power dissociates Alumina in
Aluminium ion which is (+)ve & Oxygen ion which is (-)ve. Aluminium ions being (+)ve are
attracted towards cathode at bottom which is (-)vely charged. Moreover the Aluminium ions are
heavier than Oxygen for which Aluminium is getting deposited at the cathode (bottom) from
which it is collected as Hot metal.

Twin Hopper

Consumed
Carbon Anode

New Carbon
Anode

Inner View of Pot Shell

Normally the electrolytic medium consists of 80-82% cryolite, 11-12% AlF3, 5-5.5% calcium
fluoride & 2-3% Alumina.

25

The anodes are made of carbons (can also be made of Copper which is more costlier) which get
reacted by oxygen ions(-)ve which is generated through dissociation of Al 2O3 there is generation
of Carbon Dioxide CO2 & Carbon Monoxide CO which are harmful gases. These are collected
through dry scrubbing system called as FTP & each pot is connected to a collecting duct which
will gather the fumes & dust emitted & transfers to FTP(Fume Treatment Plant).
When the Alumina % in bath increases, it can’t be dissolved & part of Alumina will remain
undissolved & will be settled at bottom called Sludge which creates a lot of operational
problems.

In the opposite case, if there will be shortage of Alumina in the pot, it will create a situation of
Anode Effect where the current will start dissociating cryolite instead of Alumina which will
lead to generation of fluoride gas & ultimately current flow will be affected. This will affect Pot
efficiency & there will be increase in Pot Voltage as there will be power consumption without
production due to deficiency of Alumina.

Alumina is stored in twin hopper which feeds the pot from time to time. During the time of
feeding, a rod comes from twin hopper & makes a hole in bath surface. Then alumina is poured
into it. The anode & molten metal are covered by a layer of molten bath. This is done to prevent
the oxidation of anodes in a section that are connected in series, from exposure to oxygen in the
atmosphere.

Each pot has a capacity of 10 tonnes but only 2 tonnes of metal is extracted from a pot once in 32
hrs. Each pot carries a DC current of 180 kA & a potential drop of 4.2V per pot. This leads to a
resistance of 14 µΩ per pot. Resistance of a pot depends upon the alumina concentration & the
distance between anode & cathode. The parameters of each pot are controlled by using a
programmable Micropot. The micropot tries to maintain the resistance of a pot at a constant
value by varying the distance between anode & cathode & feeding the alumina at suitable
intervals. If a micropot is unable to maintain the resistance at a constant value, it gives an alarm
& pot number is flashed on display.

Micropot

FUME TREATMENT PLANT(FTP) :

General Description :
 The fume treatment plant is the area where Flourine gas is mixed with alumina powder.
The alumina powder from Damanjodi comes in railway wagons & is stored in silo.
 In this process of aluminium to production, harmful fluorine gas is produced which can’t
be left into atmosphere.
 Hence fluorine is mixed with alumina to form aluminium fluoride powder. Alumina
being very fine powder is transferred using air.
 Alumina from a silo is sucked with air & mixed with fluorine gas & this mixture is sent
to filter.
 There are 14 filters in all & each filter has 24 filter bags. The aluminium fluoride mixture
sticks onto these bags.
 A Purging Valve hits the bags periodically & the powder is settled down. This powder is
again collected & sent to primary silo from where the powder is sent to potline.

CAST HOUSE :
Introduction :
The Cast House is the place where the final product from Aluminium is made. The products
formed here are primary products(i.e. of direct use) & are not secondary products. The Cast
House has a total of 12 furnaces called as “Holding & Tilting Furnace”, out of which 10 are
oil-fired & 2 are induction type furnace (i.e. electrically heated furnace). Firing to heat the
furnace is done by HFO, Atomizing air & compressed air. The firing maintains the temperature
of molten metal about 750°C. The mechanism by which the furnace is tilted is “Hydraulic
System of Tilting”.

Holding & tilting Furnace

The molten metal is transported from pot line to cast house in large tanks & during this process,
some amount of heat is lost leading to fall in temperature. Thus the metal has to be reheated
before it can be properly casted. Hence the molten metal from Cradle is transferred by means of
crane. This molten metal is heated till it attains temperature at which casting can be done. During
this process, some metal from Scrap yard is also added.

The hot metal production includes Ingot, Sow Ingot, Wire Rod, Alloy Wire Rod, Alloy Ingot,
Billet, Strip, Bus bar, Anode Stem & Wedge.

Ingot Casting, Billet Casting & Wire Rod Rolling are three types of casting on large scale.
Ingot Casting :
 In this type of casting, aluminium Ingots of 20 kg weight are produced. Casting
temperature of above 700°C is needed.
 It is usually kept upto 810°C so that during casting, Cold shut does not occur.
 The casting m/c for ingot is known as ICM (Ingot Casting Machine). Different sections
of ICM are
1. Lunder : Transfers the molten metal (Aluminium) from furnace to casting wheel.
2. Casting wheel : Fills the moulds with molten metal periodically during its rotation.

Casting Wheel

Lunder

Moulds

Casting Conveyor

3. Casting Conveyor : On which moves forward. Under the conveyor, cooling water is
circulated to cool the mould.
4. Stamping Device
5. Mould Hammer
6. Ingot Transfer Fork : Transfers the ingot from mould hammer to cooling conveyor.
7. Cooling Conveyor : During passing through it, water is sprayed on the surface of
ingot to cool it.
8. Layer Conveyor : Consists of Centering device to give proper position to the ingot
on the conveyor & Turning device to turn every alternate metal in order to stack
them afterwards.
9. Grab : It grabs the metal from layer conveyor & transfers it to stack table.
10. Stack Table : Stacking of ingot is done here.

29

11. Strapping Station : Each ingot stack is strapped here.

12. Stack Conveyor : Over which the ingot stack moves from stack table to stack
transfer fork.
 13. Stack Transfer Fork : Rotates the direction of strapped ingots from stack conveyor
to unloading station.
 There are two ICMs, each linked to two Oil-fired furnaces of capacity 35 metric tonnes.
 The capacity of ingot production is 15 tonnes/hr.

Aluminium Ingot

Billet Casting :

 In this casting, different sizes of billets are produced by using different sizes of tables.
These are
5” table
8” table Maxi cast
6” table
Air slip System (i.e. air & oil cooling), modern &
7” table
better technology

 All the m/c used are from M/s Wagstaff company of USA.
 The different specifications of each table are as follows.
Table No. of Moulds Weight of each Billet (in kg)
 5” 60 197
6” 56 280
7” 56 380
8” 42 505
30

 The general length of Billet is 6300mm, but it subsequently cut into 3000mm or 5800mm as per order.
 The molten metal flows through die & as it emerges out, it is flushed by a stream of
water.
 The die is again water cooled. This is done to get proper surface finish.
 Casting temperature is kept above 810°C. Velocity at which metal comes out affects
surface of billet.
 There is one such machine having capacity of 60 to 42 per drop & two furnaces of 45
metric tonnes capacity feeding it.

Billets

WIRE ROD ROLLING :

General Description :
 The molten Al from furnace is transferred to Taper Ring through main Lunder where it is
cooled for solidification of Al.
 The cooling system consists of cooling water passages which are arranged in a ring 90° apart. The water
passes through these passages in order to cool the metal so that it acquires trapezoidal structure (bar).
 This bar then passes through Auto Shear which cuts the bar during initial stage as the may
contain unwanted or foreign inclusions in initial stage.
 Then the bar is quenched through water in Bar Quench to reform the grain structure.
 Then the bar is gone through Rolling Mill (purely mechanical). The mill consists of 15
strands; every individual strand is known as rolling mill. During passing through the mill,
the area of the bar get decreased in order to convert the trapezoidal shape of bar into
 circular shape ; so the speed of the metal get increased since the volume flow rate of
metal through the mill remains constant.
 To control this speed change & hence to avoid Buckling of metal due to speed variation,
gear train is used in the mill.

 Inside every strand, 3 Rolls of 120° apart are placed for rolling the bar.
 During the process of rolling, Emulsion (mixture of a special oil (14%) & water (86%)) is
continuously used.

Roll of Emulsion :

The temperature of bar before entering into the roll is about 550°C which is quiet
high for handling the bar. So by using emulsion, the temp. is reduced from 550°C
to 200°C.
Al, as it is hot, has tendency to stick with the rolling mill. So to eliminate this
possibility, oil is used with water & not water alone.
There is a very small gap between the bar & the strand. To maintain this gap,
emulsion is used continuously.

 After coming from rolling mill, the metal is passed through Rod Quench (quenching by
water) where the temp. is again reduced from 200°C to 120-140°C.
 Then the metal passes through Main Shear (the maxm problem creating area) where the
speed of rod is 9.5 to10 m/s. Here separation of rod to wire roll is done. For this 100%
should be done. Even 99.99% is not tolerable.
 The separation is done by two Knives inside the main shear which are rotating at a speed
of 300 rpm.
 The time for separation of the rod is only about 0.2 to 0.3 second.

Sensor Arm:
 Present in between auto shear & bar quench.
 It lifts the bar during separation to connect with new roller.
 Its main function is that it senses whether the bar is in contact with roller or not.
 For this, synchronization between rolling motor & the cam of the main shear is done.
 If the bar isn’t contact with the roller (i.e. no synchronization between them), then the
sensor arm diverts the path of the bar towards outside. After proper synchronization,
the path is again oriented towards roller.

 There are two such wire rod mills with an installed capacity 9 tonnes/hr. Each mill is
given metal by two furnaces (oil-fired) of capacity 45 metric tonnes.
  For proper casting, a temp. of 790-810°C is required.
 Each wire bundle has
 About 1800kg weight.
 Wire diameter of 9.53mm.
 Length approx. 10km.
 The crane used in cast house is from ECL Company of France.

Wire Rod

PRODUCTS

Alumina:

 Calcined Alumina
 Alumina Hydrate
 Speciality Aluminas & Hydrates
 Detergent Grade Zeolite

Aluminium Metal: (High Purity, CG, EC & LME grades)

 Standard Ingots (each approx. 20-22.5 kg)

 Sow Ingots (each max. 750 kg)
 Wire Rods (in coil form,9.5-11.95 mm dia, wt approx. 2 mt )
 Billets (in four sizes: 127±1.5 mm/152±1.5 mm/178±1.5 mm/203±1.5 mm dia )
 Cast Strip (max. width 1600 mm, gauge 6 to 10 mm)
 Flat Rolled Products (coils & sheets)
 T- Ingots (1050*850*300 for 650 2g)
 Chequered Sheet (Thickness: 0.30 mm to 3.0 mm)
conclusion
 NALCO is one of the biggest Aluminium producing industries in the country.

 Bauxite for the Angul Plant is mined from Damanjodi.

 The CPP provides necessary power.

 The Smelter Plant is divided into 3 main categories i.e. Carbon Area, Potlines & Cast House.

---The total production capacity is 4, 60,000 TPA