No abstract

This paper looks at the evolution and the current status of inert electrodes. It also describes attempts to design new-generation aluminium cells with wettable cathodes and vertical electrodes. Numerous laboratory studies and pilot tests demonstrate that aluminium cells equipped with inert electrodes are environmentally safe and can deliver a breakthrough technology enabling to bring the power consumption down below 10 kWt·h/kg Al and at the same time increase the production even in the limited capacity of the electrolytic bath. There exists a number of projects aimed at commercializing the inert electrode technology. And despite the apparent loss of interest in this technology on the part of researchers and aluminium producers, relevant pilot tests are scheduled for 2024. A number of alternative innovative power saving cryolite-alumina bath techniques are being discussed, which should allow to get close to the theoretical level of power consumption and provide a dramatic boost in the cell capacity. The paper examines potential application of thermoelectric generators to reduce heat losses, the use of minimum anode-to-cathode distance and vertical nonwettable electrodes, and a transition to 3D electrodeposition of aluminium with cathode polarization.

No abstract

No abstract

This article is aimed at identifying issues associated with the use of solid cathodes in the electrolysis of cryolitealumina melts in order to determine conditions for their practical application. The contemporary technology of using solid anodes and cathodes is reviewed from its inception to the present time. The problems of stable electrolysis are discussed, such as effects of the electrode surface on the technological process. It is shown that all attempts undertaken over the recent 100 years to use solid electrodes, both reactive and inert, have been challenged with the emergence of electrolysis instability, formation of precipitates of varying intensity on the electrodes and impossibility of maintaining a prolonged process at current densities of above 0.4–0.5 A/cm2. Information is provided on the attempts to use purified electrolyte components with different ratios, metal-like and ceramic electrodes with a high purity and a smooth surface in order to approach real industrial conditions. However, to the best of our current knowledge, these experiments have not found commercial application. The authors believe that the most probable reason for the decreased current efficiency and passivation of solid electrodes consists in the chemical inhomogeneity and micro-defects of the bulk and surface structure of polycrystalline cathodes and anodes. It was the physical inhomogeneity of carbon electrodes that directed the development of the nascent electrolytic production of aluminium towards the use of electrolytic cells with a horizontal arrangement of electrodes and liquid aluminium as a cathode. This reason is assumed to limit the progress of electrolytic aluminium production based on the use of inert anodes and wettable cathodes in the designs of new generation electrolytic cells implying vertically arranged drained cathodes. The theoretical and experimental examination of this assumption will be presented in the following parts of the article.