Process and apparatus for smelting aluminum

#(1) Field of the Invention

#The present invention relates to an apparatus and process for the production of aluminum by electrolysis, and more particularly to an apparatus for aluminum smelting having separate sections for alumina dissolution and for electrolysis.

#(2) Description of the Related Art

#FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of the present aluminum smelting apparatus having a separate melting furnace and electrolytic cell which are free of permanent interconnection;

#FIG. 2 shows embodiments of the present smelting apparatus having (a) multiple melting furnaces that service one electrolytic cell, and (b) one melting furnace that services multiple electrolytic cells;

#FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the present smelting apparatus that has multiple melting furnaces that service multiple electrolytic cells;

#Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding part thought the several views of the drawings.

#In accordance with the present invention, it has been discovered that an apparatus for smelting aluminum can be provided that includes a melting furnace and an electrolytic cell. An apparatus embodying the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. A preferred feature of the present apparatus is that the melting furnace (10) and the electrolytic cell (20) are each separate from the other and free of permanent interconnection. This arrangement is in contrast to the normal Hall Héroult cell unitary design, in which both operations of melting/mixing and electrolysis are carried out in the same, single cell, and is also in contrast to the apparatus described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,501,387, 3,616,439, and 4,681,671, each of which shows smelting apparatus having separate, but permanently interconnected melting/mixing and electrolysis vessels.

#The feature of providing separate units for melting/mixing and electrolysis gives the present invention an advantage of permitting the device that is employed for each of the separate operations to be designed and optimized for its specific duty without regard for the requirements necessary to accommodate the other operation. For example, the melting furnace can be designed and optimized for intermixing and heating alumina with cryolite electrolyte materials, without regard for electrolysis, gas venting, or aluminum recovery requirements. And the electrolysis cell of the present invention can be designed for construction at a reduced capital cost and optimized for electrolysis of alumina from a bath of molten cryolite that is saturated with dissolved alumina, without regard for intermixing and heating.