Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2017
24th ABCM International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
PROVE THE CYCLOIDAL SLOTTED ANODE EFFICIENCY BY MODELING THE BUBBLE FLOW
Submission Author:
Ronaldo Moura , PA
Co-Authors:
Ronaldo Moura, André Mesquita
Presenter: Ronaldo Moura
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2017.COB17-0303
Abstract
The electric energy consumption has a strong impact on production costs of an aluminum smelter. On the alumina reduction reaction process gas bubbles are generated what create a resistance layer at the anode/electrolyte interface what leads to an increase on energy consumption. Slotted anodes have been used in order to reduce gas bubble resistance. However, that is not consensus in aluminum industry about what is the best slot shape. The main objective of this study is to present a new slot shape: the cycloidal slotted anode and by using a CFD model of the bubble driven flow, to prove its better efficiency when compared with the traditional slotted anode shapes. 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 simulations were done using the commercial code ANSYS CFD 14.0.
Keywords
aluminum smelter, gas bubbles, slotted anode, CFD model, multiphase flow
