CFD simulation of effect of anode configuration on gas–liquid flow and alumina transport process in an aluminum reduction cell
来源期刊：中南大学学报(英文版)2015年第7期
论文作者：ZHAN Shui-qing LI Mao ZHOU Jie-min YANG Jian-hong ZHOU Yi-wen
文章页码：2482 - 2492
Key words：aluminum reduction cell; anode configuration; gas–liquid flow; alumina transport process; simulation; alumina content distribution
Abstract: Numerical simulations of gas–liquid two-phase flow and alumina transport process in an aluminum reduction cell were conducted to investigate the effects of anode configurations on the bath flow, gas volume fraction and alumina content distributions. An Euler–Euler two-fluid model was employed coupled with a species transport equation for alumina content. Three different anode configurations such as anode without a slot, anode with a longitudinal slot and anode with a transversal slot were studied in the simulation. The simulation results clearly show that the slots can reduce the bath velocity and promote the releasing of the anode gas, but can not contribute to the uniformity of the alumina content. Comparisons of the effects between the longitudinal and transversal slots indicate that the longitudinal slot is better in terms of gas–liquid flow but is disadvantageous for alumina mixing and transport process due to a decrease of anode gas under the anode bottom surface. It is demonstrated from the simulations that the mixing and transfer characteristics of alumina are controlled to great extent by the anode gas forces while the electromagnetic forces (EMFs) play the second role.
ZHAN Shui-qing(詹水清)1, LI Mao(李茂)1, ZHOU Jie-min(周孑民)1, YANG Jian-hong(杨建红)2, ZHOU Yi-wen(周益文)2
(1. School of Energy Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China;
2. Zhengzhou Research Institute, Aluminum Corporation of China Ltd., Zhengzhou 450041, China)
Abstract:Numerical simulations of gas–liquid two-phase flow and alumina transport process in an aluminum reduction cell were conducted to investigate the effects of anode configurations on the bath flow, gas volume fraction and alumina content distributions. An Euler–Euler two-fluid model was employed coupled with a species transport equation for alumina content. Three different anode configurations such as anode without a slot, anode with a longitudinal slot and anode with a transversal slot were studied in the simulation. The simulation results clearly show that the slots can reduce the bath velocity and promote the releasing of the anode gas, but can not contribute to the uniformity of the alumina content. Comparisons of the effects between the longitudinal and transversal slots indicate that the longitudinal slot is better in terms of gas–liquid flow but is disadvantageous for alumina mixing and transport process due to a decrease of anode gas under the anode bottom surface. It is demonstrated from the simulations that the mixing and transfer characteristics of alumina are controlled to great extent by the anode gas forces while the electromagnetic forces (EMFs) play the second role.
Key words:aluminum reduction cell; anode configuration; gas–liquid flow; alumina transport process; simulation; alumina content distribution
