Improvement of carbon anode quality in view of reducing energy consumption and environmental emissions in aluminum industry

全球目标是通过开发尚未在工业中使用的新技术来改进阳极，以减少能源消耗和温室气体（GHG）排放。它们在本质上是原始的和基本的。*******项目一-石墨烯在阳极生产中的应用：能源消耗是铝生产成本的主要部分。提高阳极质量可以降低成本、能源、碳消耗和温室气体排放。石墨烯导电效率高。它一直是许多创新的主题，但它从未用于阳极。用石墨烯代替一小部分焦炭可以降低阳极的电阻率，从而降低能耗。该研究还旨在用废弃的阳极而不是石墨生产石墨烯，以增加工业废弃物的价值。这是前所未有的。*******项目2-阳极膏体的流变行为：将开发一种新的工具来了解阳极膏体的流变行为并将其与阳极性能相关联。这将使从阳极生产前的浆料质量评估阳极质量成为可能。它还将允许确定最佳的沥青量，目前在工厂通过试错来调整。*******项目3-高软化点沥青（HSPP）在阳极制造中的利用：低软化点沥青在阳极烘烤过程中释放出含有多环芳烃的挥发物，增加温室气体排放。hspp具有较低的挥发性含量，这将减少温室气体的排放。然而，挥发物提供了阳极烘烤所需能量的一半。挥发物的减少会增加对燃料的需求。目的是确定使用HSPP对阳极质量、成本和温室气体排放的影响。*******项目4-不使用铸铁的阳极组件：阳极与阳极组件配对并安装在电解池中。阳极组件由适合阳极孔的钢桩、连接桩的横条和连接在横条上的杆组成。将热铸铁倒入残根和阳极碳之间的空间以将它们固定在一起。电池组件的电阻影响能量消耗。在这个项目中，将开发一种新的阳极组件，它将消除铸铁的使用，从而消除阳极/铸铁和铸铁/钢界面电阻，降低能耗。此外，由于大部分阳极可用于电解，因此产生的阳极接头的数量将减少。*********

The global objective is to improve anodes by developing new technologies, which are not yet used in industry, in view of reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. They are original and fundamental in nature.*******Project 1- Utilization of graphene in anode production: The energy consumption is a major part of the aluminum production cost. Improving anode quality decreases the cost, energy, carbon consumption, and GHG emissions. Graphene conducts electricity efficiently. It has been the subject of many innovations, but it was never used in anodes. Replacing a small part of coke with graphene could decrease the anode electrical resistivity, hence energy consumption. The study also aims to produce graphene from rejected anodes instead of graphite to add value to industrial rejects. This has never been done before.*******Project 2- Rheological behavior of anode paste: A new tool will be developed to understand the rheological behavior of anode paste and correlate this with anode properties. This will make the assessment of anode quality possible from the paste quality before anode production. It will also permit the determination of the optimum pitch quantity, which is currently adjusted by trial and error in plants.*******Project 3- Utilization of high softening-point pitch (HSPP) in anode making: The low softening-point pitches release volatiles containing PAHs during anode baking and increase the GHG emissions. HSPPs have lower volatile content, which would decrease the GHG emissions. However, the volatiles provide half of the energy needed for anode baking. A decrease in volatiles will increase the fuel requirement. The objective is to determine the impact of using HSPP on anode quality, cost, and GHG emissions.*******Project 4- Anode assembly without using cast iron: Anodes are paired with an anode assembly and installed in an electrolysis cell. The anode assembly consists of steel stubs that fit into anode holes, a crossbar that connects the stubs, and a rod that is attached to the crossbar. Hot cast iron at is poured into the space between the stubs and the anode carbon to hold them together. The electrical resistances of cell components affect energy consumption. In this project, a new anode assembly will be developed, which will eliminate the utilization of cast iron and hence anode/cast iron and cast iron/steel interface resistances, reducing the energy consumption. Also, the amount of anode butts produced will be reduced since a larger portion of the anodes can be used for the electrolysis.*********