Comalco Aluminium Limited

Comalco Aluminum Limited

Geoffrey J Houston

Raymond Walter Shaw

Drago Dragutin Juric

Ian A Coad

Kevin D Watson

Draco D Juric

Ian G Stedman

An aluminium smelting cell comprising side walls (5) and a floor (2) defining an active cathode, an anode (3) overlying the cathode floor (2), some said side walls (5) being covered by a wetted cathode material (6), such as one contained TiB.sub.2, so that the covered side walls become active cathode surfaces on which a film of aluminium metal forms to protect the side wall parts against bath attack, thereby enabling the cell to operate at the desired temperatures without the usual protective side ledge of the frozen electrolyte material.

Ledge-free aluminum smelting cell

Electrolysis cell and method for metal production

Aluminium smelting cell

An aluminum smelting cell comprising a cathode having an active upper surface, a plurality of anodes each having a lower surface spaced from the upper surface of the cathode, said cathode upper surface being sloped at an acute angle in a primary or longitudinal direction of each anode, and being formed with pairs of oppositely sloped surfaces extending in a transverse or secondary direction under each anode to cause complementary shaping of the lower anode surfaces to reduce the migration of bubbles between the anode and cathode along the anode surfaces in said primary or longitudinal direction to thereby reduce the path length of said bubbles whereby the turbulence caused by coalesced bubble disengagement from the bath electrolyte is significantly reduced while maintaining adequate bath circulation between the anode and cathode.

Aluminum smelting cells

Growing community of inventors

Ashburton, Australia

Geoffrey J Houston