Sustainable Mining and Metallurgy

A flow field model was developed for the crust breaking and feeding device of aluminum electrolysis cell to simulate the flow regime of the new alumina into and out of the constant feeder. The structure of the device was designed based on simulation results and verified under cold-state and hot-state tests. Results show that at a feeding time of 6s, the feeder’s action is stable, smooth and consistent with a constant discharge accuracy higher than 98.36%. It also integrates the relatively independent crust breaking system and feeding system into one single simplified system of crust breaking and feeding, saving costs on equipment maintenance. This offers a solution to the challenges of new alumina fines, which is likely to generate fugitive dust.