Al-Azhar University-Qena

Engineering Metallurgy,
Mining &Petroleum
Numerical Simulation Of The Cathodic voltage Drop Dept.

In Aluminum Reduction Cells

‫التحليل العددي للجهد المفقود علي الكاثود في خلية االلومنيوم‬

SUPERVISED BY
Dr. Mohamed Mahmoud Ali Moustafa
: Associate Prof. Dr. Of
Engineering Metallurgy, Mining &Petroleum
Dept. Al-Azhar University-Qena

Eng: Mahmoud El Deep Ahmed Eng: Hassan Hussein Abdul-wahab

Assistant Lecturer Of :Engineering Assistant Lecturer Of :Engineering
Metallurgy, Mining &Petroleum Metallurgy, Mining &Petroleum
Dept. Al-Azhar University-Qena Dept. Al-Azhar University-Qena
 
TEAM WORK

Abdullatif Elsayed Abdullatif Ali-1

Abdulrahman Hanafy Mahmoud Mohamed-2
Ashraf Ahmed Abdulqader Hashad-3
Mohamed Ahmed Iraqi Abdullatif-4
Mohamed Mahmoud Mohamed Eltayeb-5
INTRODUCTION
*A typical modern aluminium reduction
cell is shown in this Figure. The cell is a
rectangular steel shell, 10- 18 m long by
4-5 m wide by 1-1.5 m high, lined with
refractory thermal insulation followed
by an inner lining of carbon adjacent to
the highly corrosive molten fluoride
electrolyte and liquid aluminium.
* The best attempt to extract aluminum
has been achieved by Hall - Héroult cell.
This process produces the liquid
aluminum by the electrolytic reduction
of alumina (Al2O3) dissolved into an
electrolyte consisting primarily of
cryolite (Na3AlF6).
A typical modern aluminium reduction cell
 INTRODUCTION
• This process is a high-energy
consumption process, so energy
consumption is actually a better
measure of cell performance,
because it includes both cell voltage
and current efficiency.
• Voltage saving is considered a good
path to increase cell performance
and hence increases cell service life.
• For Egyptalum, a very rough
estimation of the potential amount of
money to be saved assuming a total
voltage drop of 1 mV at the cast iron
to carbon interface and the energy
cost is 0.465 E.P/KWh yields 0.472
Million E.P/year.
 Problem Development

The cathode assembly of the Hall-

Héroult cell consists of the cathode
carbon block, steel collector bar and
cast iron as shown in this Figure.
The main problem occurs due to the
gaps in the contact areas between the
cathode carbon block and the cast iron
that cause loss of voltage cell.

.cathode Assembly layout of Egyptalum

 Research Goal
The overall goal of this study is Reduce the voltage drop
through the cathode and Optimize and compare cathode
.assembly designs using finite element modeling
 Methodology

In situ plant measurements during cell operation are a very difficult and
.expensive approach in this type of investigation
To simulate this problems, Finite element analysis method will be used ,(FEM)
presents a convenient and cost effective method in this matter, and allows to
.predict the cathode assembly performance for various designs
 The finite element method (FEM)

The finite element method (FEM) is a numerical technique used to

perform finite element analysis (FEA) of any given physical
phenomenon.
Most of these processes are described using partial differential
equations (PDEs). However, for a computer to solve these PDEs,
numerical techniques have been developed over the last few
decades and one of the most prominent today is the finite element
method , The Steps to produce any model finite element with the
following steps
 Cathode Assembly Geometry -1
The model dimensions and design, based on Egyptalum reduction cell , are
:shown in the following figure
All geometry parts (cathode carbon block, steel collector bar and cast iron) are developed by
.ANSYS WORKBENCH Design Modeler

3D cathode assembly constructed by ANSYS

 Meshing-2
• In this figure, The meshing process, in
this study is fully automatic in ANSYS
WORKBENCH. applying a fine mesh at
locations, where the temperature is
expected to be high.
• The overall number of elements and
nodes of the model are 47955 and
272105 respectively.

Meshing of the full cathode assembly

 Material Properties-3
• The material properties of the cathode connection collected from various research and books of material
science.
• Some of the anode connection material properties used in this study are
• summarized in figures
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS-4
 Thermal field.4.1

The convective heat transfer coefficients in this work based on Pr, Gr, Ra and Nu
equations are calculated for each part of cathode assembly and are ranged
between 4.36 and 8.19 W/m2.k. These values are confirmed with the data
published in elsewhere, where the heat transfer coefficients into cathode
.assembly was ranged between 1 and 15 W/m2.k
The temperature of 965.9 ͦ C at the surface of the cathode carbon block as molten
metal temperature, and 209.56 ͦ C at the outer of steel collector bar based on
actual cell measurements
 Electrical field .4.2

•Zero voltage is prescribed at the top surface of the cathode carbon block. Being
a Dirichlet boundary condition. In practice, potential at the top surface of the
cathode carbon block is not zero; however, since voltage drop is essential here,
describing a zero potential will simplify the calculation as described in elsewhere.
•The current flows into the cathode assembly from the anode, bath and molten
metal.
•A current of 6562.5 A is applied at the end part of the collector bar, the design
current of Egyptalum reduction cell is 210 kA and 16 cathodes (32 collector bar)
per cell as shown in Figure 3.10
EXPERIMENTAL WORKS-5
 Thermal measurements .5.1
Ten cells were selected at Egyptalum to do the thermal measurements. Temperature
measurements were carried on the anode assembly at different positions as shown in Figure.
These measurements were done using Fluke 568 infrared temperature measurement device
.as shown in the following Figure, and the results are illustrated in the following Table

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Fluke 568 infrared temperature voltage drop measurements locations on the cathode
assembly.
Cathodic voltage drop measurements .5.2
.This figure illustrates locations of the voltage drop measurements on the cathode assembly
Voltage drop at different locations was measured with the Digilance C.V therm instrument as
shown in Figure. These measurements were carried out on the same cells, previous
.thermally measured at the same conditions

Digilance C.V therm instrument

Values of voltage drop measurements on the cathode assembly
 Model Validation .5.3

• Validation of the cell model is considered the most

important step in the FEM model.
• Temperature and voltage drop measurements from
Egyptalum reduction cells were done for different
cathodes in different cells. The average measured data
are compared to the predicted simulation results.
• ‫كمل بقي‬