Modeling the bubble driven flow in the electrolyte as a tool for slotted anode design improvement

Abstract

Slotted anodes have been used in recent years by aluminum smelters in order to reduce gas bubble resistance at the anode/electrolyte interface. Bubbles are responsible also for part of the cell electric noise. The main objective of this study is to present a CFD model of the bubble driven flow in the electrolyte. The model is detailed enough to differentiate the effects of different anode and slot geometries. We consider the multiphase flow as a continuous liquid/dispersed gas pair, turbulent and steady state. A comparison with measurements found in the literature is made. The model is applied to study options for the slotted anodes at ALBRAS. The simulations were done using the commercial code ANSYS CFX 10.0.