Aluminium Sector
Replication in aluminium sector
Nº energy sources
1
Type of fuel
Natural Gas
Energy Consumption
190 Nm3/h for preheating, 20,3 Nm3/h for melting
Type of Process
Preheating and melting
Operating Temperature
From 450 to 500°C for preheating
and from 700 to 720°C for melting
Number and type of burners
Preheating: 3 burners used in preheating furnace.
Melting: 2 North American TwinBed II regenerative burners used in melting furnace.
Estimation of process efficiency
90% for preheating, 80% for melting
Refractory materials
Preheating: BT-185LC material is used. (Al2O3: 85%, CaO: 1,5%, Fe2O3: 2%, SiO2: 10%
Melting: Albond HS material is used. (Al2O3: 81%, CaO: 12.6%, Fe2O3: 1.2%, SiO2: 11.5%, TiO2: 2.5%)
Heat recovery equipment
Recuperator is used for preheating furnace.
Regenerative burner system for melting furnace.
ASAS, aluminium manufacturer, is involved in the project to assess the replicability of the retrofitting solutions in the aluminium sector by means of CFD simulations in one of the furnaces, as well as evaluating the suitability of the in-house holistic tool towards decision making in the retrofitting actions and prediction of overall performance in two furnaces. ASAS is a big aluminium manufacturer, and its facility counts with the following elements: 4 melting furnaces of 24 tonnes each, two homogenization furnaces, seven gas furnaces on extrusion process and finally, five aging furnaces with a total capacity of 250 tonnes per day of aging. In total, the production of the plant is 75.000 ton/year of aluminium profiles, 25.000 ton per year of PVC panel production, 10.000.000 m2 per year of composite panel production. The actions expected within the project are the following:
The involvement of the aluminium sector is crucial to enlarge replication potential and ensure that cross-sectorial approach is fully covered within VULKANO
Selection of one melting furnace suitable for the analysis of retrofitting solutions developed in VULKANO in an integrated approach, so that to validate, at CFD simulation level, the feasibility of those solutions in the aluminium sector and therefore the real replication potential they have.
The validation of the holistic in-house predictive tool as a support for decision making in the retrofitting of furnaces for the aluminium sector, validating the cross-sectorial approach and providing, if necessary, modification parameters to finalize the in-house predictive tool in the same two types of furnaces involved in VULKANO (preheating and melting).
