Numerical Simulation And Optimum Research On Open Position Anode Baking Furnace

Anode has been known as the key section of the electrolyzer. With the rapid development of the modern aluminum industry, the quality of anode in the electrolyzer has kept improving. Anode baking is one important aspect of the production of anode and the quality of anode will have a direct impact on aluminum production energy consumption, so how to improve the quality of the anode is an important issue in aluminum industry. View of the complexity of baking process, using computational fluid dynamics software to simulate the thermal process in the baking furnace and improving the structure and operating parameters of baking furnace, is a practical and theoretical value work.Based on a domestic 34 sections anode baking furnace, simplification for the actual manufacturing facilities is carried out and regional discrete method using non-structural gridding applies as well to establish the mathematical model of this anode baking furnace. Based on the field data, numerical simulation of the baking furnace is carried out using computational fluid dynamics software FLUENT6.3 for the computing platform.The numerical simulation results show a reverse flow area existing between the partition walls and flue baffles. With the higher temperature gradient area at the left side of anode nearing the top and bottom of the furnace,137℃for highest temperature difference is obtained. Comparison between the 11 temperature data collected in the actual operating furnace and numerical simulation results, the max error of the comparison is 8.2% which proves the physical and mathematical models are reasonable.Based on the numerical simulation, optimization of anode baking furnace is carried out: 1) Four structural optimization hypotheses are put forward. The reverse flow area in the flue of the furnace is smaller or even disappears after optimization. The average temperature of the anode increases, the temperature difference reduces and the max temperature difference is 38℃;2) Based on the structural optimization, air temperature, air flow rate and the ratio of two fuel inlets were used as variables to carry out the parameters optimization of the baking furnace. Calculation results reveal that as the air temperature rises, the uniformity of the flow rate in the flue and the uniformity of the temperature of anode get better and the temperature difference reduces. When the air flow rate increases, the temperature of fuel in the first fuel inlet decreases, high temperature area in the anode moves right forwards, however, the temperature difference in the anode increases as the air flow rate increases and the uniformity of the flow rate and temperature goes worse. The ratio of flow rate in the left fuel inlet to the right one affects significantly the temperature field and the most optimized ratio is 60%:40%.