Improvement and control of carbon anode quality for primary aluminum production

铝的电解生产需要不断消耗阳极。由于电池电流效率和其他副反应造成的损失，即使在现代冶炼厂，碳消耗也比理论碳需求高出20%以上。阳极质量是对电池性能有重大影响的主要因素之一。高质量的阳极有助于减少碳损失、能源消耗、环境排放和生产成本。 该项目的总体目标是提高阳极的质量，并确保在阳极制造过程中保持该质量的稳定性。为了实现这一总体目标，研究计划分为三个部分，并为每个部分定义了以下具体目标：在第一部分，通过检测或减少杂质或减少其对质量的影响来提高质量，并了解它们对阳极反应性的影响；第二部分，设计工具和方法，帮助生产更好的阳极，保持质量，并在工艺过程中检测有缺陷或低质量的阳极，以消除其进一步加工；以及在第三部分，确定更好地在阳极内分布电流的条件，以帮助预测电解槽中的阳极行为。 拟议的研究计划涉及基础研究项目和应用研究项目的结合，将有助于形成训练有素的人员。两名博士后研究员，六名硕士。五名本科生将接受培训。此外，两名研究助理和近两名技术人员将被牵连。作为加拿大铝生产主要参与者的两个地区之间已经与先前的CRD建立了充满活力的伙伴关系，这种伙伴关系将继续进一步发展。除了在这一领域的技术和科学贡献外，技术转让还将帮助工业保持其技术优势，并降低成本、能源消耗和环境排放。

The electrolytic production of aluminum requires continuous consumption of anodes. Due to cell current efficiency and other losses resulting from side reactions, the carbon consumption exceeds the theoretical carbon demand by more than 20% even in the modern smelters. Anode quality is one of the major factors that have a substantial impact on cell performance. High-quality anodes help reduce the carbon loss, energy consumption, environmental emissions, and the cost of production. The overall objective of the project is to improve the anode quality and to ensure the constancy of this quality during anode manufacturing. To achieve this overall objective, the research program has been divided into three parts and the following specific objectives have been defined for each part: in part1, to improve the quality by detecting or reducing the impurities or decreasing their impact on quality and understanding their effects on anode reactivity; part2, to design tools and methods that will help produce better anodes, maintain quality, and detect defective or low quality anodes during the process to eliminate their further processing; and in part 3, to determine conditions for better electrical current distribution within the anode to help predict the anode behavior in the electrolytic cell. The proposed research program involves a combination of fundamental and applied research projects and will contribute to the formation of highly trained personnel. Two post-doctoral fellows, six M.Sc. and five undergraduate students will be trained. Also, two research associates and nearly two technicians will be implicated. The dynamic partnership which has already been established with a previous CRD between two regions that are major players in Canadian aluminum production will continue to develop further. In addition to technical and scientific contributions in this field, the technology transfer will help industry maintain its technological excellence and reduce the cost, energy consumption, and environmental emissions.