Experiences on anode reconstruction process in søderberg technology

Abstract

Anode construction is a challenging process for Søderberg Cells. In order to reestablish the full plant capacity at Alcoa Pocos de Caldas, located in the southern part of Brazil, it was necessary to develop a new process to bake anodes within the potrooms environment. Using reduced amperage as baking element and controlling the current passing through each of fifty stubs, it was possible to assembly new anodes with quality and proper condition for optimum cell operations. This paper describes the sequence of activities applied for bake-in of new Søderberg anodes, the techniques implemented to monitor and control the baking process and finally the outcome after pot start-up.