Anode Baking Furnace Fluewall Design Evolution: A Return of Experience of Latest Baffleless Technology Implementation

Abstract

In the early 2000's, a project to redefine fluewall design was started at the LRF, St Jean de Maurienne, France. The goal of this project was to improve the performance of the fluewall in term of safety, flow and heat distribution, pressure drop and thermo mechanical behavior. The idea came to remove the baffles and, with the help of finite element modelling, a long and difficult development process started with several generations of design that were tested in various smelters across the world. Some pitfalls were found on the road like uneven heat distribution, too fast degassing or fluewall pinching. However, those problems were progressively addressed and baffle less furnaces erected at Tomago in 2008 and Qatalum in 2009 are showing now, after several years of operation, that initial goals are being reached.