Two Dimensional CFD Simulations of a Flue-wall in the Anode Baking Furnace for Aluminum Production

Tajik, Abdul Raouf; Shamim, Tariq; Al‐Rub, Rashid K. Abu; Zaidani, Mouna

doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2017.03.1042

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…A similar work is carried out by Tajik et al, in which the effect of flue-wall design on the flow field, combustion and temperature has been modelled in Ansys Fluent [25][26][27]. The finite volume method is used in Ansys Fluent, whereas COMSOL ® Multiphysics is based on the finite element method (FEM).…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Mesh Generation on Modelling Aluminium Anode Baking Furnaces

Libreros

Trujillo

2021

Fluids

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Anode baking is critical in carbon anode production for aluminium extraction. Operational and geometrical parameters have a direct impact on the performance of anode baking furnaces (ABF), and hence on the resulting anode quality. Gas flow patterns, velocity field, pressure drop, shear stress and turbulent dissipation rate are the main operational parameters to be optimised, considering a specific geometry that is discretised as a mesh. Therefore, this paper aims to establish the need to generate an appropriate mesh to perform accurate numerical simulations of three-dimensional turbulent flow in a single section of an ABF. Two geometries are considered for generating three meshes, using COMSOL and cfMesh, with different refinement zones. The three meshes are used for creating nine incompressible isothermal turbulent flow models, with varying operational parameters. Velocity field, convergence and turbulent viscosity ratio in the outlet of fuel inlet pipes are the quantification criteria. Quantification criteria have shown that a better physical representation is obtained by refining in the whole combustion zone. COMSOL Multiphysics’ built-in mesh generator allows quadrilateral, tetrahedron and hexahedron shapes. Adaptive cell sizes and shapes have a place within modelling, since refining a mesh in appropriate zones brings the Peclet number down when the incompressible isothermal turbulent flow is simulated.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Mesh Generation on Modelling Aluminium Anode Baking Furnaces

Libreros

Trujillo

2021

Fluids

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“…pulse combustion leads to heat transfer improvement. In the case of anode baking furnaces, several numerical investigations on anode baking furnace CFD modeling are reported in the literature which due to sizeable computational cost, the pulse combustion is assumed to be continuous [10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

Section: Imece2019-10500mentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing Pulse Combustion Parameters in Carbon Anode Baking Furnaces for Aluminum Production

Tajik

Shamim

Ghoniem

et al. 2019

Volume 8: Heat Transfer and Thermal Engineering

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Pulsating flame jets have been widely used in open-top carbon anode baking furnaces for aluminum electrolysis. Reducing energy consumption and pollutant emissions are still major challenges in baking (heat-treatment) carbon anode blocks. It is also of immense significance to bake all the anodes uniformly irrespective of their position in the furnace. Baking homogeneity can be enhanced noticeably by optimizing anode baking operational, geometrical, and physical parameters. In the present study, CFD simulations are combined with a response surface methodology to investigate and optimize the effects of pulse pressure, pulse frequency, and mainstream inlet oxygen concentration and mainstream inlet temperature. Two-levels half fractional factorial design with a center point is employed. It is perceived that pulse combustion with short pulse time and high momentum results in significant enhancement of the anode baking furnace energy efficiency. The temperature homogeneity is also significantly improved. It is found that the oxygen concentration is statistically the most significant parameter on NOx and soot formations, followed by the fuel flow rate. For NOx formation, air inlet oxygen concentration has a strong interaction with pulse duration. Coupling CFD models with the response surface methodologies demonstrated great potential in multi-objective optimization of the anode baking process with enhanced energy efficiency and baking uniformity.

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“…Severo et al [9] reported the state-of-the-art technology on the baking of carbon anodes, and they presented several optimization studies. Tajik et al [10][11][12] investigated the impact of flue-wall design modification on carbon anode baking uniformity. It was remarked that closing the baffle openings results in enhanced baking efficiency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Critical Operational Parameters on the Performance of the Aluminum Anode Baking Furnace

Tajik

Shamim

Ghoniem

et al. 2020

Journal of Energy Resources Technology

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Minimizing energy consumption and reducing pollutant emissions during the carbon anode baking process is critically important for the aluminum industry. The present study investigates the effects of oxidizer inlet temperature, inlet oxygen concentration, equivalence ratio, refractory wall thermal conductivity, and refractory wall emissivity on the baking process using URANS-based simulations in conjunction with the presumed probability density function method. Numerical results are combined with a response surface methodology (RSM) to optimize the anode baking process. The advantage of the coupled method is that it can adequately provide information on interactions of different input parameters. It is remarked that the significance level of the studied parameters varies drastically for different outputs. It is noted that diluting inlet oxygen concentration (from 23% in atmospheric air to 15%) at an elevated oxidizer temperature leads to enhanced furnace fuel efficiency, more uniform temperature distribution, and lower pollutant emissions. A linear model is detected to be adequate for response surface modeling of the anode baking furnace NOx formation. On the other hand, furnace soot formation is modeled with a higher-order model due to the quadratic behavior of the response.

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Two Dimensional CFD Simulations of a Flue-wall in the Anode Baking Furnace for Aluminum Production

Cited by 14 publications

References 2 publications

Effects of Mesh Generation on Modelling Aluminium Anode Baking Furnaces

Effects of Mesh Generation on Modelling Aluminium Anode Baking Furnaces

Optimizing Pulse Combustion Parameters in Carbon Anode Baking Furnaces for Aluminum Production

The Impact of Critical Operational Parameters on the Performance of the Aluminum Anode Baking Furnace

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