The Aluminium Industry: A Review On State-of-the-Art Technologies, Environmental Impacts and Possibilities For Waste Heat Recovery

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.
net/publication/338403683
The Aluminium Industry: A Review on State-of-the-Art Technologies,

Environmental Impacts and Possibilities for Waste Heat Recovery
Article in International Journal of Thermofluids · January 2020

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijft.2019.100007
CITATIONS READS
198 7,571
2 authors:
Daniel Brough Hussam Jouhara

JBMI Group Ltd. Brunel University London
6 PUBLICATIONS 352 CITATIONS 220 PUBLICATIONS 8,629 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE
Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:
PVAdapt (H2020) View project
Pyrolysis View project
All content following this page was uploaded by Daniel Brough on 18 March 2020.
The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

International Journal of Thermofluids 12 (2020) 100007
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
International Journal of Thermofluids

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijtf
The aluminium industry: A review on state-of-the-art technologies,

environmental impacts and possibilities for waste heat recovery
Daniel Brough, Hussam Jouhara*
College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH London, UK
A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
Article History: Aluminium is becoming more frequently used across industries due to its beneficial properties, generally within
Received 24 October 2019 an alloyed form. This paper outlines the entire production process of aluminium from ore to the finished metallic
Revised 4 December 2019 alloy product. In addition, the article looks at the current state of the art technologies used in each discrete pro-
Accepted 9 December 2019
cess step. Particular interest is directed towards casting technologies and secondary recycling as the relative pro-
Available online 5 January 2020
portion of recycled aluminium is increasing dramatically and aluminium is much more energy efficient to recycle
than to produce through primary methods. Future developments within the industries are discussed, in particu-
Keywords:
lar inert anode technology. Aluminium production is responsible for a large environmental impact and the gas-
Aluminium production
Aluminium production environmental impact
eous emissions and solid residue by-products are discussed. In addition to the environmental impact, the
Waste heat recovery industry is highly energy intensive and releases a large proportion of energy to atmosphere in the form of waste
Waste heat recovery technology heat. One method of reducing energy consumption and decreasing the environmental impact of emissions is by
Waste heat recovery applications installing waste heat recovery technology. Applied methods to reduce energy consumption are examined, with a
latter focus on potential applications within the industry for waste heat recovery technologies.
© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
1. Introduction Moving forward, the conscientious use of natural resources should be

at the forefront of sustainable plant design. Historically inefficient
There is a global surge in the zeitgeist towards reducing consump- plants can be upgraded or retrofitted with modern technology to
tion of natural resources and decreasing pollution. This is evidenced by reduce energy usage. One of the methods of reducing energy usage is
government incentives, world goals, ambitious EU energy targets, active by recovering, reclaiming or reuse of waste heat generated. The recla-
citizen protests and the increased contribution of renewable energy mation of heat is a particular area of interest as it has been reported
sources. Examples of these include 195 signatories for the 2016 Paris that 70% of global energy demand in the industrial sector is for heat
Agreement [1], EU 2030 energy targets [2], the EU commission aim to or thermal processes [7], 72% in the United Kingdom [9].
reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 80-95% below 1990 levels After steel, aluminium is the most highly produced metal and the
by 2050 [3], 1151 activists arrested as part of the April 2019 ‘Extinction most produced non-ferrous metal [10,11], being produced in a higher
Rebellion’ protests in London [4] and the commitment of the United volume than all other non-ferrous metals combined [12]. Aluminium
Kingdom government to achieve ‘net zero’ GHG emissions by 2050 [5]. is being used to replace steel components, particularly in the aero-
This change in mood can partly be attributed to the increased awareness space and automotive industries. It is reported that for each kilogram
of the importance of the sustainability and stability of the environment of aluminium that replaces mild steel, high strength steel and cast
and the impact human activity is having on the planet. iron avoids 1320 kg of GHG emissions [13]. The extensive use in the
In saying this, economies are highly driven by industrial sector building, packaging, automotive, aerospace and electrical distribution
performance. In 2017, the industrial sector was accountable for 30.5% industries, as well as its relative value, has meant that it is one of the
of total GDP worldwide. For the United Kingdom, the industrial sector most recycled commodities. According to the Aluminium Association,
contributed 20.2% of GDP, which is growing at a rate of 3.4%, with 90% of aluminium in building and automotive parts is recycled at end
15.2% of the available labour force working in the industrial sector of life [14]. Moreover, 75% of aluminium that has historically been
[6]. However, worldwide, the industrial sector is responsible for 33% produced is still in circulation today [15,16]. In 2010, the United King-
of GHG emissions [7] from 26% of primary energy consumption [8]. dom was producing approximately 343 kt and 260 kt per year of pri-
mary and secondary aluminium, respectively [17]. The two largest of
* Corresponding author. the three primary smelters in the United Kingdom have ceased oper-
E-mail address: [email protected] (H. Jouhara). ations with the last producing c.40 kt of primary Aluminium a year.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijft.2019.100007
2666-2027/© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
2 D. Brough and H. Jouhara / International Journal of Thermofluids 12 (2020) 100007
Nomenclature (Abbreviations and Acronyms)

Symbols and Units
CFB Circulating Fluid Bed A Heat transfer area, m2
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics Cp Specific heat, J.kg-1.K-1
DC Direct Current H Enthalpy, J.kg-1
EU European Union h Convective heat transfer coefficient, W.m-2.K-1
GDP Gross Domestic Product Q Energy, J
GHG Greenhouse Gas Q_ Heat transfer rate, W
GTC Gas Treatment Centre S Seebeck coefficient, V.K-1
GWP Global Warming Potential T Absolute Temperature, K
MEA Monoethanolamine U Overall convective heat transfer coefficient, W.m-2.K-1
OCP Optical Coil Protection V_ Volumetric flowrate, m3.s-1
ORC Organic Rankine Cycle x Width, m
PAH Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons zT Thermoelectric figure of merit, Dimensionless
PBF Packed Bed Filter DTlm Logarithmic mean temperature difference, K
PFC Perfluorocarbon
Greek Symbols
POCP Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential
D Difference, Dimensionless
RSM-UD Response Surface Methodology and Uniform Design
h Efficiency, Dimensionless
RTO Regenerative Thermal Oxidisers
k Thermal conductivity, W.m-1.K-1
SPL Spent Pot Lining
r Density, kg.m-3
STP Standard Temperature and Pressure
s Electrical conductivity, S.m-1
VOC Volatile Organic Compound
WHR Waste Heat Recovery
WSFP Water Scarcity Footprint
The aluminium industry is a highly energy-intensive process and
Chemical formulae it uses elevated temperatures throughout with significant environ-
Al2O3 Aluminium Oxide mental impact at all stages. It is estimated that the aluminium indus-
Al(OH)3 Aluminium Trihydrate try produces 0.45-0.5 Gt of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent
AlF3 Aluminium Fluoride emissions per year [18,19], is responsible for 1% of anthropogenic
CF4 Tetrafluoromethane GHG emissions [20] and 2.5% of CO2 emissions [21]. Heat recovery
C2F6 Hexafluoroethane technologies can be used to reduce these emissions and also lower
CaF2 Calcium Fluoride fuel and electricity usage [22]. Any reduction in fuel and electricity
CaO Calcium Oxide (lime) usage gives a healthier company image of corporate and social
CH4 Methane responsibility, a reduced CO2 footprint, sustainability, as well as
CO2 Carbon Dioxide impacting significantly on profitability. For these reasons, exploring
C2H6 Ethane waste heat recovery (WHR) for reuse in the process has been heavily
H2 Molecular Hydrogen targeted by companies of all industries as an avenue in which to
H2O Water invest. In this regard, the study of the aluminium industry is of great
H2S Hydrogen Sulphide importance, particularly due to intensifying concern regarding global
HF Hydrogen Fluoride warming, GHG emissions, and the rising trend in fuel prices.
KCl Potassium Chloride
MgAlO4 Magnesium Spinel 2. Overview of aluminium production
MgO Magnesium Oxide
Na3AlF6 Cryolite Some call the age in which we live, the ‘Information Age’ due to
NaAl(OH)4 Sodium Aluminate the vast increase in economic value based on information technology,
NaCl Sodium Chloride moving away from traditional economies based on the ‘Industrial
NaF Sodium Fluoride Revolution’. Others have referred to the current era as ‘The Alumin-
NH3 Ammonia ium Age’ [23] due to the exponential increase in its production and
NaOH Sodium Hydroxide use in daily products. In order to fully understand the global alumin-
NOx Nitrogen Oxide Species ium industry’s workings, the following sections give a brief history of
PH3 Phosphine how aluminium was discovered and historically produced, what
SO2 Sulphur Dioxide modern practices of production are, and the technology used within
SiO2 Silicon Oxide each activity. From this, the opportunities for WHR can be ascer-
tained, their magnitudes investigated, and current technology
Subscripts and Superscript assessed for their benefits and limitations of implementation.
a Available
Al Aluminium 2.1. History of aluminium production
c Combustion
eq. Equivalent Aluminium as a commodity is a relatively new concept in our his-
g Gaseous tory. The reason for this is that it is an element in group 13 of the
l Liquid periodic table and can form extremely stable compounds with other
m Melting elements, typically as a 3+ cation [24]. It readily reacts with oxygen
non-aq Non-aqueous in the atmosphere to form aluminium oxide, Al2O3. As it is not freely
p Product available in its elemental form, it was not isolated till relatively late.
s Solid Aluminium was first named in 1808 by Humphry Davy when he the-
orised that aluminium would be a product of electrolytic reduction of
D. Brough and H. Jouhara / International Journal of Thermofluids 12 (2020) 100007 3
aluminium oxide. Davy did not prove this theory; it took until 1845 2.2. Current aluminium production
for Friedrich Woehler to produce the first pure aluminium sample.
The French chemist Saint-Claire Deville developed the first industrial Aluminium is the most abundant metallic element (7.96%) and third
application in 1856 and over 36 years produced only 200 tonnes of most common element found in the earth’s crust [27]. Due to its reactiv-
aluminium. It was not until 1886 that the current method of produc- ity, particularly with oxygen, it is very rarely found in its elemental form
ing primary Aluminium was established. In the same year, but inde- so requires extracting from minerals in ores. Globally, in 2016 alone, the
pendently on different continents, Paul Heroult and Charles Hall first world mined 289 Mt of bauxite ore, produced 118.9 Mt of aluminium
discovered the reduction of molten aluminium oxide in cryolite oxide (alumina) and smelted 58.8 Mt of primary aluminium [10]. These
(Na3AlF6) as a cheaper method of production with both sharing the figures are only predicted to rise, in part due to advancements in alu-
patent and hence the process was named the He roult-Hall process. minium alloy metallurgy, increase in population and economic activity
Karl Joseph Bayer, discovered in 1887 that alumina could be generating a larger demand [18]. There are a range of predictions on the
extracted from the ore, bauxite, (named after the Les Baux province increase in global demand for aluminium. It has been reported that
in France) and be used as a cheap feedstock for the Heroult-Hall pro- demand will double in the next ten years [28], others have more conser-
cess. The extraction process used an alkaline solution (Na2CO3) to vatively predicted doubling or tripling by 2050 [29,30]. Following this,
selectively dissolve Al2O3 from other impurities within the ore and the unavoidable use of natural resources will increase.
then recrystallise it in a purer form. The modern procurement pro- Shown in Figs. 1 and 2 are overviews of the material flow of alu-
cess described below uses these key foundations developed by scien- minium and the procurement process and predicted global mass
tists over the years [25,26]. flow rates for 2019. Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of the procurement
Fig. 1. A schematic of the production process. Reproduced from [31].

Fig. 2. An overview of the production process with predictions of 2019 mass flow rates/ kt in red. Adapted from [32].
process from mining to secondary production with each industry Gibbsite alternative : Al2 O3 ¢ H2 O þ 2NaOH ! 2NaAlO2
indicated. Fig. 2 shows the mass flow rate in kt of each production
þ 4H2 O ! Al2 O3 ¢ 3H2 O þ 2NaOH ð1bÞ
step and how they interact with each other.
Boehmite and diaspore : AlOðOHÞ þ Naþ þ OH

2.2.1. Mining process
Aluminium is rarely found in its elemental form and so requires þ H2 OÐAlðOHÞ4 þ Naþ ð2Þ
extraction in order to produce the quantity in demand. The principal
ore used for aluminium extraction is bauxite, accountable for more The solution, known as a slurry, is filtered to remove impurities
than 99% of primary aluminium production [12]. Bauxite ore is mined and insoluble compounds such as coarse particles and sodalite [42], a
predominantly from open cast mines on the earth’s surface [18,20]. It sodium aluminosilicate precipitate, from the reaction and chemically
contains between 40-60% alumina [33] and typically 50-55% [18] as treated to remove other soluble compounds to form a supersaturated
aluminium oxo-hydroxides compounds in three main forms: gibbsite sodium aluminate liquor. Examples of this include using lime (CaO)
(Al(OH)3), boehmite (g -AlO(OH)), diaspore (a-AlO(OH)) [34]. Due to [41] to remove phosphates and vanadium. It is then cooled in the
further oxide and compound content, the majority requires refining. presence of seeded crystals of Al(OH)3 to reverse Eq. (1) and push the
It is reported that 85% of bauxite mined is sent to refiners to produce equilibrium to the left. The sodium hydroxide is recycled and the alu-
aluminium oxide [35]. The largest producers of bauxite, in order, are minium hydroxide is heated at around 1000°C in a rotary kiln or
Australia, China, Brazil, Guinea and India [10]. Due to the abundance calciner to remove water and produce anhydrous aluminium oxide
of bauxite ore and the increase in secondary production and recy- [38], shown by Eq. (3):
cling, the worldwide reserves, estimated to be between 55-75 Gt, can 2AlðOHÞ3 ! Al2 O3 þ 3H2 O ð3Þ
meet demand for many centuries [10,36]. Therefore, unless a differ-
The anhydrous aluminium oxide is then transported to the pri-
ent production method is developed and globally introduced, there
mary smelters or other industries for processing. A typical bauxite
are long term opportunities for recovery throughout the process.
refining plant is shown in Fig. 3. An overview of a typical refining pro-
cess is provided in Fig. 4 with all discrete steps.
2.2.2. Refining process
The Bayer process is the most commonly used refinement route, 2.2.3. Primary smelting production
though certain countries use alternatives called the combined or par- 90-95% of refined aluminium oxide produced by the Bayer process
allel Bayer-Sinter process and the Nepheline-based process [20,37]. is sent to primary aluminium smelters through the Hall-He roult pro-
This section describes purely the Bayer Process. Due to the impurities cess [18,40]. The balance is used for abrasives, cement, chemical pro-
in the bauxite ore, it requires treatment to produce purer alumina, duction [35] or proppants [44]. The Hall-He roult process involves
Al2O3 [18]. This is achieved by adding blended and ground bauxite, two main approaches, Prebake or Søderberg [18] with Prebake being
for consistent infeed, to a pressure vessel at 145265°C, c.3.5 MPa, the more modern technology. Though these two methods use differ-
with sodium hydroxide (NaOH), conditions are chosen dependent on ent cell technologies, the process is generally similar and described in
the aluminium compounds present [38,39]. The compounds dissolve a later section. Periodically in both electrolytic cell types, powdered
to form an equilibrium, with the conditions pushing the reaction to aluminium oxide is dissolved in molten cryolite (Na3AlF6) and alu-
the right to form hydrated NaAl(OH)4 by the following adapted Eqs. minium fluoride (AlF3) in a cell at 9501000 °C [20,33,45]. Electricity
(1) and (2) [40,41]. This is referred to as digestion. passes through the electrolyte between a carbon anode, introduced
from the top or side, and cathode cell lining under 5V 40-400 kA DC
Gibbsite: AlðOHÞ3 þ Naþ þ OHÐAlðOHÞ4 þ Naþ ð1aÞ
[46,47] to electrolytically reduce the aluminium oxide to form
Fig. 3. An aerial view of the largest alumina refinery, Alunorte. Reproduced from [43].
Fig. 4. An overview of the refining process. Reproduced from [42].
aluminium and predominantly CO2. This process of reduction of alu- 75% of primary aluminium production is powered from hydroelectric
mina is shown by Eq. (4), adapted from [46]. It is predicted by 2020 power sources [14]. Fig. 5 depicts a world map showing the quanti-
that 500600 kA cells will be operational [48]. ties of primary aluminium produced in 2018 by continent. It can be
2Al2 O3ðnonaqÞ þ 3CðsÞ ! 4AlðlÞ þ 3CO2ðgÞ ð4Þ seen that China significantly dominates production of primary alu-
minium worldwide.
Current efficiencies have been reported as being at around
9596% from a study of over 50 different prebake cell technologies of
smelters worldwide [47]. During the reduction process, the molten 2.2.4. Secondary smelting production
aluminium sinks to the bottom of the cell where it is periodically The reason 90% of aluminium in building and automotive parts is
siphoned or tapped and the compositionally pure (99,5-99.9%) metal recycled at end of life [14] and 75% that has historically been pro-
is then sent to a cast house or rolling mill to create the final form. It duced is still in circulation today [15] is due to the ease of recycling of
has been reported that it takes 1316 MWh of electricity to create aluminium and its relative value. Domestically, aluminium is the
one tonne of aluminium from 2.7 t of bauxite [18,49]. Misleadingly, most valuable item put into a recycling bin [14]. Secondary alumin-
some primary smelters re-melt pure grades of aluminium scrap with ium production involves re-melting aluminium, in a variety of furna-
the primary metal from smelting and this is still deemed primary ces, from: manufacturing processes (e.g. swarf, extrusion offcuts,
metal. stampings); internal process arisings (e.g. slag metallics, dross, qual-
Due to the large energy demand, primary smelters require close ity failed ingots) and end of life recyclables (e.g. cast or wrought prod-
proximity to a power station. To reduce GHG emission, many are ucts). This aluminium is known as scrap. The scrap is firstly sorted
located close to water in order to utilise more environmentally into its alloy type, described in a later section, in order to have a good
friendly hydropower and to establish ports at sea. For this reason, understanding of what the composition of a melt will be. Different
Fig. 5. Worldwide quantity/ kt of primary aluminium produced in 2018. Reproduced from [50].
methods of sorting and separating scrap are provided by [51] and impossible to remove some elements from an alloy and so purer alu-
include: magnetic separation to remove ferrous material; air separa- minium is needed to control minor elemental build up.
tion to remove plastic, foams and rubber; eddy current separation to Due to the quality of secondary metal improving over the years,
selectively recover aluminium; dense media separation to sort mate- being almost infinitely recyclable and being much more energy effi-
rial by density; manual hand sorting; hot crushing to separate cient to produce, in the future it has been speculated that the main
wrought from cast products and other emerging technologies. source of aluminium will be recycled secondary metal, in essence,
Some scrap has contaminants on it such as oil, paint, water, coat- switching from being a top-up balance to the main source [55]. Work
ings. These can be removed by using centrifuges or de-coating has to be done on ensuring that the unavoidable build-up of minor
machines. This is done so that less emissions are released, energy is not elements that occurs naturally during the recycling process is kept in
wasted putting non-aluminium into the furnace and to reduce oxida- control [51]. For example, from ladles, launders and incorrectly segre-
tion meaning less dross is formed, increasing metallic yield from the gated materials. Also, high aluminium composition ingots can be very
furnace. Other processes like briquetting swarf provides a higher den- difficult to make through the secondary process due to the lack and
sity, lower surface area material to melt. This material takes less time expense of pure grade scrap.
to charge into a furnace, is more handleable and the recovery yield is As it only takes c.5% [11,49] of the energy to recycle rather than
greater. Other metallic contaminants, like iron can be magnetically sep- produce aluminium through a primary route and its ability to be end-
arated. Bulky scrap like alloy wheels can be fragmented [51,52]. lessly recyclable, re-use of existing material should naturally be the
Some secondary smelters melt only one type of scrap, e.g. engine sensible choice for the main procurement route. In this regard, devel-
blocks and so there is a very good idea of the final composition of the oping extremely energy efficient secondary aluminium smelters is of
metal that will be produced, and little additional alloying is required. paramount importance to future generations and conscientious pro-
Others create alloys by purposely mixing different grades of scrap curement. The secondary aluminium sector is growing, and it uses
and adding minor elements. much less energy than primary aluminium production, with less
Table 1 shows the average elemental spectrograph analysis of a environmental impact. Furthermore, it sources recycled material
year’s worth of melt specifications from a secondary smelter supply- rather than virgin resources and the process can be repeated indefi-
ing the automotive industry. nitely. However, it is a purely transformational process and the
Historically, secondary aluminium was considered of poorer qual- energy used to convert solid scrap to a solid alloy of consistent speci-
ity to primary aluminium due to inclusions and a lack of composi- fication is lost to the environment, most in the form of waste heat. To
tional control [11]. However, technological advances and the mitigate the scale of these losses and reduce energy usage, WHR
introduction of alloy standards now mean that secondary aluminium technologies can be implemented [22].
retains its performance and strength properties after recycling and so Forms of aluminium products from a cast house: The common prod-
the secondary process can be repeated indefinitely to save costs and ucts of secondary smelters are ingots, billet or sow to their customer’s
multiply the environmental benefits [54]. However, it is practically provided specification. These customers, for example, die casters and
Table 1
Yearly average elemental analysis from a typical UK smelter supplying the automotive industry. Provided by JBMI Group Ltd [53].
Balance(Al) Cu Mg Si Fe Mn Ni Zn Pb Sn Ti Cr
»86% 2.0082 0.2312 9.1901 0.8025 0.2528 0.0403 0.8861 0.0306 0.0113 0.055 0.0543
Fig. 6. Aluminium products (L-R): ingot [53], sows [56], slab [57], billet [58], molten Al crucibles [59].
extruders, re-melt the alloy at a separate site to form the final prod- Cast vs Wrought alloys: The first step in the allocation of alloys is
uct. Some foundries, which are located near their customer’s site, whether they fall into a wrought or cast alloy type. Wrought alloys
transport molten metal in a crucible to avoid the capital expense and contain a lower percentage of elements in order to retain the ductile
operational costs of re-melting the solid alloy prior to their process. characteristics of the aluminium in the alloy as wrought products are
Fig. 6 shows these common forms. mechanically worked i.e. rolled, forged, pressed or extruded. A typical
The alloys created by primary and secondary smelters are named example of a wrought product is a rolled aluminium sheet or
after their elemental composition. Each alloy designation has a set extruded window frame section. Cast alloys are designed to be cast
percentage elemental range. The categorisation nomenclature is into shape and finished by machining. The alloying elements used
described below. are the same as with wrought alloys but usually in a much higher
percentage to aid with attaining the properties desired for cast prod-
2.2.5. Alloys and series designation uct. A typical example of a final cast product is an aluminium engine
Aluminium in its pure form does not necessarily have desir- block [60].
able characteristics which is why it is common practise to add Wrought alloys are named by the International Alloy Designation
other elements to form an alloy [60]. This is done to attain System, which is widely accepted. Chemical compositions and nomi-
desired properties or characteristics in both the primary and sec- nal densities are provided for wrought alloys by The Aluminium
ondary industries prior to casting to provide a desired customer Association [62]. A wrought alloy is named using a four-digit system
alloy specification. Many research departments work on develop- to aid ease in identifying the composition and alloying elements. The
ing and testing new alloy compositions to achieve desired first of the four numbers denotes the major alloying element, sum-
properties, for example: corrosion resistance, machinability and marised in Table 2, with typical uses. More detailed applications are
ductility. given by Davis [60].
Each scrap material has a different elemental composition due Cast aluminium alloys use different designation systems mostly
to the characteristics and properties initially desired for the origi- depending on the region. One has been developed by The Aluminium
nal product. Recycling establishments collect and sort scrap into Association. The numbering system is made of 4 digits with a decimal
their varying alloys or series. Depending on the complexity of the point with either a 0, 1 or 2. xxx.0 denotes a casting and xxx.1/2
foundry and quality of scrap infeed used, the process can be to denotes an ingot. As with wrought alloys above, the first digit denotes
melt down and recast the aluminium of a particular composition the major alloying elements. The second and third number denotes
or multiple alloy types can be melted in one batch to create a what the minimum composition of aluminium should be [60]. The
new specification with the addition of other elements, also some- alloys can also be followed by an alphabetical code for their temper
times recycled. Starke and Mridha [61] provide a comprehensive designation in the form xxxx-x with the final x being: F (no treat-
guide to aluminium alloy designation by the alloy, heat treatment ment), H (strain hardened), O (fully annealed), T (tempered by heat
and temper. treatment), W (solution heat treated) [48].
Table 2 SO2 and ammonia (NH3). 77% of the emissions relate to the electroly-
A summary of wrought aluminium alloy designations. Adapted from [62]. sis process, 18% to refining and the balance between casting and min-
Alloy Group Main Alloying element Selected Uses ing (Fig. 7). Interestingly, 74% of all acidification emissions are due to
electricity generation [65].
1xxx Unalloyed, Aluminium >99% Drawn tube, foil, aerospace and
electrical conductors.
2xxx Copper Sheet, plate, aerospace, forgings. 3.2. Depletion of fossil energy resources
3xxx Manganese Beverage cans, sheet, materials
requiring work hardening. In 2018, it required an average of 11,359 MJ per tonne of alumina
4xxx Silicon Rods, forgings, extrusions, mate-
rials requiring work
produced for the refining process [66]. Moreover, over 1,336,249 TJ
hardening. of fuel energy was used worldwide for refining alumina. This figure is
5xxx Magnesium Sheet, plate, rod, extrusions, underreported as the figures only take into account 94% of the
aerospace, marine, welding world’s refiners that contributed data [67]. In order to get this energy
wire, automotive.
power needs to be generated. Fig. 8 shows the proportion of fuel
6xxx Magnesium and Silicon Sheet, plate, aerospace, forging,
extrusions, materials requiring sources used to generate power for the primary industry in Europe.
heat treatment.
7xxx Zinc Aerospace, plate, sheet, foil. 3.3. Eutrophication potential
8xxx Other elements Aerospace, electrical
distribution.
9xxx Unused series N/A. Eutrophication or hypertrophication describes how compounds can
affect water quality, particularly oxygen depletion, by causing extreme
plant growth, such as algal blooms [68]. Typical causes are nitrogen and
3. Environmental impact of aluminium production phosphorous in water courses and the unit used to describe eutrophica-
tion potential is expressed as phosphate equivalents. Even though the
The aluminium production process requires many other back- units are phosphate equivalents, NOx emissions are responsible for 95%
ground processes and materials that contributes to a full life cycle of eutrophication potential from the US primary industry, with 4% com-
assessment. These were best described by Nunez and Jones [63], and ing from nitrate emissions to water, 0.7% from NH3 and phosphorus
include bauxite transport, alumina transport, calcined lime produc- emissions. The total phosphate equivalent produced by the US is 2.35 kg
tion, cathode carbon production, aluminium fluoride production, of phosphate equivalent emissions per US ton of primary aluminium
pitch production, petrol coke production, anode production and ingot produced with Fig. 9 showing the emissions in each step of the
anode butt production. A detailed inventory of all the inputs and out- process [65].
puts of the aluminium production processes is provided by Farjana
et al. [64]. The environmental impact of aluminium production is 3.4. Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential
described below.
Photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP) is a metric used to
3.1. Acidification potential quantify emissions that can contribute to low level smog; the unit is
ethene equivalents. SO2 (59%), volatile organic compounds (VOC’s)
Acidification potential is ‘a measure of emissions that cause acidi- (19%), NOx (17%) and methane (CH4) (2%) contribute to this figure
fying effects to the environment and is expressed as kilogram sulphur from the primary industry. This is a result of compounds like VOC’s
dioxide (SO2) equivalent’ [65]. There are three main acidifying emis- and NOx reacting with ultraviolet light from the sun in the atmo-
sions from aluminium production. These are nitrogen oxides (NOx), sphere. 3.06 kg ethaneeq. (C2H6) per tonne is produced. Roughly, 70%
Fig. 7. US primary industry acidification potential by process step, reproduced from [65].
Fig. 8. The proportions of technology used to develop electrical power for Europe’s primary aluminium smelters, 2010. Developed from data provided within [63].
of these emissions come from electricity generation. Fig. 10 shows aluminium production, the cause can either be direct or indirect,
the POCP emissions for each primary process step [65]. direct being freshwater consumption from mining, refining and
A breakdown of POCP’s for 75 different organic compounds that smelters, indirect being from ancillary materials, fuel and electric-
can be released from anthropogenic sources is provided by Ander- ity. The main direct causes are from cooling water evaporation,
sson-Skold et al. [69]. direct discharge to the sea, water retained in bauxite whist ship-
ping and then losses from the subsequent evaporation. WSFP has
3.5. Water scarcity footprint of primary aluminium been calculated for global primary aluminium production as
18.2m3 H2Oeq.tAl-1 or 9.6 m3 H2Oeq.tAl-1 without the contribution
Water scarcity footprint (WSFP) is a measure of the environ- of China, as the inclusion of China heavily affects the resulting
mental impact on the availability of water. With primary calculations as a heavy user [70].
Fig. 9. Eutrophication potential by process step, reproduced from [65].

Fig. 10. Photochemical ozone creation potential by process step, reproduced from [65].
3.6. Red mud 5 years of operation, the lining of the cell walls becomes expended
hence ‘spent pot lining’, known as SPL. 20-50 kg of SPL is produced
The bauxite residue from the Bayer process is known as ‘red mud’ per tonne of aluminium. SPL consists of two discrete fractions, a high
due to its distinctive colour. To put the quantity into perspective, in cathode portion and a high in refractory portion (silico-aluminous
roughly the same mass of red mud is produced as alumina from the bricks). These are known as the first and second cut, respectively,
Bayer process [39]. Historically, it has been disposed of completely in with the first forming around 55% by weight. The difference in these
landfills but due to the volume and hazardous, high-alkalinity nature, is that the first cut contains mainly a carbonaceous cathode and the
researchers have been looking into treating red mud as an infeed mate- second cut contains the insulating materials used to minimise heat
rial to produce products with some value. The following references pro- loss through the pot walls. SPL is deemed a hazardous waste and mil-
vide the most comprehensive research to date on the composition lions of tonnes are generated annually and disposed of in landfill. The
[39,71] and potential uses for red mud: alkaline recovery of Aluminium main issues presented are contamination of groundwater and soil,
[40]; concrete [72]; geopolymers [73]; gallium extraction [74]; ceramic gaseous emissions and biological destruction. Along with refractory
tiles [75]; the calcification-carbonation method to recover alumina and and carbon, it can contain metals, nitrides, hydroxides, cyanides, car-
NaOH [76]; road bases [77,78]. Each method is not an all-encompassing bides, carbonates, among others. Table 3 shows the typical composi-
solution and some struggle to be economically advantageous. tion of SPL for three different cell smelting technologies. Studies have
been aimed at treating SPL to prevent landfill and create a valu-
3.7. Spent pot lining able product, for example, as an alternative fuel for the cement
industry (which helps reduce NOx emissions), an alternative fuel
Another difficult waste to deal with arising from the primary for primary iron production and potentially a flux in the nonfer-
industry is the end of life reduction cell cathode walls. After roughly rous industry [42,79].
Table 3
Composition of SPL, provided by Holywell and Breault [80].
Component Technology Type A Technology Type B € derberg Technology

So Major Phases
Fluorides (wt.%) 10.9 15.5 18 Na3AlF6, NaF, CaF2

Cyanides (ppm) 680 4480 1040 NaCN, NaFe(CN)6
Aluminium total (wt.%) 13.6 11 12.5 Al2O3, NaAl11O17
Carbon (wt.%) 50.2 45.5 38.4 Graphite
Sodium (wt.%) 12.5 16.3 14.3 Na3AlF6, NaF
Aluminium Metal (wt.%) 1 1 1.9 Metal
Calcium (wt.%) 1.3 2.4 2.4 CaF2
Iron (wt.%) 2.9 3.1 4.3 Fe2O3
Lithium (wt.%) 0.03 0.03 0.6 Li3AlF6, LiF
Titanium (wt.%) 0.23 0.24 0.15 TiB2
Magnesium (wt.%) 0.23 0.09 0.2 -
3.8. Gaseous emissions has meant that the anode effect frequency in the most tightly con-
trolled pot-rooms has dropped to 1 occurrence every 10 days per cell
The Bayer process requires roughly 12.8 MJ.kg-1 of energy and with others reporting 1-3 times per day per cell [84].
produces 0.83 kg of CO2 for each kg of alumina refined [41]. Part of
4Na3 AlF6ðlÞ þ 3CðsÞ ! 4AlðlÞ þ 12NaFðlÞ þ 3CF4ðgÞ ð5Þ
this energy is consumed during the calcination process. It has been
reported that for producing each kg of alumina calcined from Gibb-
2Na3 AlF6ðlÞ þ 2CðsÞ ! 2AlðlÞ þ 6NaFðlÞ þ C2 F6ðgÞ ð6Þ
site at 1100 °C, 4.13 MJ of energy consumption is required, 0.28 kg of
CO2 is produced with an exergy efficiency of 9.45% [41]. Three methods are used to control the release of perfluorocar-
An environmental impact analysis of primary aluminium produc- bons: automatic anode effect suppression, feeding alumina at multi-
tion, using 2012 data, was conducted with a life cycle assessment ple points and introducing computer aided controls to monitor the
study [81], shown in Fig. 11. The Figure shows the theoretical global electrolytic process and operating parameters and to adapt them
warming potential (GWP) and CO2eq. emissions per kg of molten pri- when unfavourable conditions are seen [42].
mary aluminium produced for 29 countries for each industry. Sur-
prisingly, South Africa was the worst performer as it generates its
electricity predominantly from coal (92%). However, as South Africa 3.8.2. Hydrogen fluoride
only produces a fraction of what China is capable of (c. 46% of world Another by-product released into the atmosphere during the pri-
production [81]), China is still by far the largest offender for emis- mary process is hydrogen fluoride (HF) gas. In 2018, 37 t of fluoride
sions. was emitted, 0.56 kg per tonne of aluminium [85]. These gases are
Between 400450 kg of combined carbon from the anode and primarily produced within the reduction cells from hydrolysis reac-
cathode is consumed [82] and 150 kg of CO2 is released from the tions. The hydrogen for these reactions comes from three main sour-
anode for each tonne of primary aluminium produced [33]. Theoreti- ces: structural and adsorbed water in alumina, hydrogen within the
cally, the value of consumed carbon should be closer to 334 kg.t-1 anode and ambient humidity [86]. A further source of HF is from the
[82]. Staggeringly, every kg reduction in net carbon consumption anode baking process, described later. A Packed Bed Filter (PBF) has
from a primary aluminium smelter could save $450,000 per annum been developed and patented by LTB that abates HF emissions during
[82]. Furthermore, literature states that to re-melt and recycle sec- anode baking by passing the gases through limestone in a silo. The
ondary aluminium requires between 510% of the energy required HF reacts with CaCO3 to produce CaF2, CO2 and H2O. After this PBF,
to produce primary metal [11,49]. Recycling aluminium has been cal- emissions of HF are less than 1mg.m-3 from an inlet concentration of
culated to reduce CO2 emissions by 90 Mt a year [54]. 3570 mg.m-3 STP [87]. HF is also produced in the secondary indus-
try. Using lime injection into emissions from furnaces reduces emis-
sions of HF to less than 0.12.5 mg.Nm-3 [42].
3.8.1. Perfluorocarbons
In 2018, the primary industry released 35,706 kt CO2eq. of per-
fluorocarbons (PFC’s), compounds with only carbon and fluorine 3.8.3. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
atoms, which equates to 0.55 t CO2eq. for every tonne of Al produced Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are compounds made of
[83]. In this case, tetrafluoromethane (CF4) and hexafluoroethane carbon and hydrogen that are aromatised in two or more rings. They
(C2F6) are produced. They have a CO2eq. factor of 51006500 and are formed from incomplete combustion, from the Søderberg plants
920010,000, respectively [41]. These compounds are formed as a during electrolysis from the anode and during anode baking for pre-
result of the ‘anode effect’; they are non-toxic to humans but aid in bake cells [42]. Many are toxic to aquatic species even at low expo-
stratospheric ozone depletion and are highly stable, lasting for more sure levels and some are carcinogenic [88]. The average PAH
than 10,000 years. To date, there have been no identified natural emissions produced across a sample of six primary smelters, for a
sources and the major anthropogenic source is smelting alumina duration of four years, was 0.638 kg.t-1 of primary aluminium pro-
[84]. When alumina levels drop because of poor process control, the duced. Of this, 0.28 kg.t-1 was emitted to air with a proportion also
carbon anode reacts with cryolite (the anode effect), shown by Eqs. discharged to water. The main constituent PAH was phenanthrene,
(5) and (6), adapted from [84]. Recognition as to the hazard of PFC’s averaging 66% [89].
Fig. 11. Graph showing the theoretical CO2eq. emissions of each country by industry. Reproduced from [81].
New environmental concerns and targets for Polycyclic Aromatic ability for WHR but has been added to give a fuller picture of the state
Hydrocarbon emissions mean new technology is being developed for of the art.
treating fumes from anode production plants. These includes regen-
erative thermal oxidisers (RTO’s) that thermally treat the emissions 4.1. Primary industry
to ensure complete combustion [87].
An in-depth study was conducted at the primary smelter Alcoa
3.8.4. SOx Deschambault Quebec in Canada [28], which produces c. 260,000 tAl.
Sulphur emissions in the form of SOx are also a concern during the yr-1. The authors found that around 7.7 MWh.Mt-1 of exergy was
anode baking process. There are European limits of 200 mg.m-3. The destroyed throughout the plant and the largest source of exergy
precursor for these emissions come from its presence in the raw destruction was from the exhaust gases, 0.57 MWh per tonne of alu-
materials used to produce the anodes (pitch and coke) and also from minium produced. Figs. 12 and 13, energy and exergy diagrams,
the fuel source [87]. SO2 emission can be reduced by producing ano- respectively, show the sources and quantities of losses for the reduc-
des from coke and raw materials with less sulphur content as coke is tion process.
responsible for 85% of sulphur introduced to the process. Sulphur
content cannot be completely removed as it is required to control 4.1.1. Electrolytic reduction cell pots
certain characteristics of anodes [42]. Even though the electrolytic cells are classified into Søderberg and
Prebake cells, these have different types. For example, you can have
point feeder, centre-break and side-break prebaked anode cells and
3.9. Dross and salt slag vertical or horizontal stud Søderberg cells. In common, Søderberg
cells have a continuous anode, where carbon material is added and is
White dross forms on top of holding furnaces in cast houses not baked in-situ during operation. The anode production processes are
using salt fluxes. It is created from surface oxidisation of aluminium described in the next section. The heat produced internally within
reacting with water. It is scraped off the top throughout the process the cell and the current passing through the anode bake the anode
and contains a high proportion of entrapped metallic aluminium (up during operation. Conductive studs within the anode allow electric
to 45%), which is re-melted. Black dross forms as a layer on top of fur- current to pass through the anode. As the anode is consumed, these
naces in the secondary industry melting furnaces when using salt studs are withdrawn higher up the anode and more unbaked anode
fluxes. The characteristic colour is due to contamination within the is added to allow continuous operation. Alumina is periodically
melted scrap mixing, aluminium oxide and salt. The typical metallic added into the cell. This is done by breaking the surface crust that
aluminium content is 10-20% of its composition [37]. This layer is builds up on top of the molten aluminium bath. Newer plants do not
removed prior to casting. The dross layer is exposed to the hottest require the need to break the cust as they use automatic point feed-
temperatures in the furnace, coming directly into contact with the ing systems. As gas is produced, it passes through burners to try to
burner combustion air and as such is extremely hot when removed. reduce emissions prior to a gas treatment centre (GTC). [42]
However, it takes a long time for this material to cool as it reacts exo- Prebake cells (Fig. 14) use premanufactured and baked carbon
thermically, propagating a reaction and reducing the valuable alu- anodes that require replacement when spent [31], typically after four
minium content. This is referred to as ‘thermiting’ in the industry. weeks [96]. There are multiple anodes (12-40) to pass electric current
Traditionally, this material was left to cool, releasing all the heat to that are steadily lowered into the bath as the anode is consumed.
atmosphere and then landfilled. Table 4 provides a comparison between the two technologies.
It is commercially viable to recover aluminium from black dross. Up to 1% of energy input is lost through off gases from the 264
Once the aluminium recovery process is completed there is residual reduction cells in the Alcoa Deschambault Quebec smelter. Around
salty oxide product, known as salt slag or salt cake. Salt slag is classi- 40 MW is lost through the exhaust gas but end uses and recovery
fied as a toxic and hazardous waste. It is composed of Al, Al2O3, mag- technology are limited due to being only around 100 °C above ambi-
nesium spinel (MgAlO4), magnesium oxide/ periclase (MgO), silicon ent [98]. However, the largest proportion of losses is through the
oxide/ quartz (SiO2), the used salt flux, carbides and nitrides [90]. It is sidewalls, up to 45% of energy input. Heat loss here is high when
considered highly flammable, an irritant, harmful and leachable compared to other furnaces, though this is, in part, intentional. Mol-
[91,92]. As such, its disposal is a global challenge. The main chal- ten cryolite is corrosive so conditions in the cell are designed and
lenges include the formation of potentially dangerous and harmful maintained to keep the cryolite adjacent to cathode solid [99].
gases, predominantly ammonia (NH3) but also methane (CH4), phos-
phine (PH3), hydrogen (H2) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S) [37]. 4.1.2. Anode production
Another challenge is the release of metal ions and other ions leaching As described, anodes and cathodes are needed in order for the
into and polluting groundwater [37]. However, this material still con- electrolytic reduction inside a pot to occur and the anode reacts with
tains a proportion of alloyed aluminium (3-10% [93]). Much work has oxygen liberated to form predominantly CO2 (Eq. (7)). Other smaller
been done to create a commercial product out of this material, for side reactions occur, like the Boudouard reaction (Eq. (8)), where CO2
example a fluxing agent in the steel industry [94]. Others research is reacts with the carbon present to form carbon monoxide (CO). Equa-
summarised by Meshram and Singh [90]. tions adapted from [82]:
CðsÞ þ O2ðgÞ ! CO2ðgÞ ð7Þ
4. State of the art equipment and sources of waste heat
CðsÞ þ CO2ðgÞ ! 2COðgÞ ð8Þ
When using fuel-fired heating equipment, energy loss is unavoid-
able. A major form of energy loss is waste heat. The mixture of fuel An entire industry is devoted to making these anodes, with most
and air (sometimes enriched oxygen) is burned to release chemical smelters having a dedicated carbon anode production plant on site
energy as heat. This is used to transfer heat to the desired load [95]. [42]. ‘Green Paste’ is the name of the unfired precursor anode mix-
This section deals with the typical technologies and equipment used ture. The mixture is variable depending on the cell type it is being
in aluminium industries. Equipment and technology for mining baux- made for. For prebaked anodes, it is formed from blending molten
ite have been omitted as opportunities for heat recovery technologies coal tar pitch (15%), calcined petroleum coke (65%) and recycled
is of a lesser significance. Technology with the ability for WHR is the spent anode butts (20%) [100]. After briquetting, the green paste is
primary focus, although some of the equipment provided has little used ‘as is’ with Søderberg cells. With prebaked cell technology, the
Fig. 12. Sankey diagram for the reduction process, reproduced from [28].
Fig. 13. Exergy balance diagram for the reduction process, reproduced from [28].
green paste is shaped into a ‘green anode’ by vibro-compaction or cracking [102]). Consequently, the process takes a significant period
moulding [101], and baked in a ring furnace at temperatures of of time with much opportunity for heat recovery. In addition, it has
8001200°C [100,101] and the temperature profile is ramped at been reported that in well maintained furnaces 30005000 Nm3 of
approximately 1014°C. hr-1 (no more than 15°C. hr-1 to prevent waste gas is produced for each tonne of anode, with poorly
Inert anodes: A novel, industry changing concept being heavily

invested in within the primary industry is that of inert anodes. This
concept was originally introduced in Charles Martin Hall’s 1886 pat-
ent. The aim is to reduce formation of CO2 to produce primary alu-
minium in a more environmentally friendly manner. The inert
anodes have been developed to replace the carbon anodes currently
used in the primary reduction cells. The primary companies Alcoa
and Rio Tinto along with the Governments of Canada and Quebec
have developed inert anodes in a project called Elysis, and UC Rusal
but they are yet to be proven commercially viable and there are still
issues with metal purity and anode wear [33]. Rusal aim to have a
commercial product by 2021 and Alcoa with Rio Tinto offering the
technology by 2024.
The inert anodes are not carbon and do not produced CO2 by
reacting with oxygen (seen in Eq. (7)) but instead generate pure oxy-
gen during the reduction process, eliminating GHG emissions. The
ideal reaction for an inert anode is shown in Eq. (9) [115]:
3
Al2 O3ðnonaqÞ ! 2AlðlÞ þ O2ðgÞ ð9Þ
2
Ideal properties have been best described by de Nora [116]. High-
lights include high electrical conductivity, resistance against fluori-
roult reduction cell. Reproduced
Fig. 14. A schematic example of a Prebake Hall- He dation, high chemical stability against oxygen at 1050°C, high
from [97]. mechanical strength, retrofittable in the present cell design and low
cost. Research has highlighted the following types of anodes as possi-
Table 4 bilities, abridged in Table 5, updated from [115]:
A comparison between Prebake and Søderberg cell technology, adapted from [42].
Parameter Søderberg Prebake Unit

4.1.3. Carbon capture
Carbon capture technology aims to selectively remove CO2 from
Alumina required 1910 1960 process streams to avoid emissions to atmosphere. New develop-
Anode consumption 470 530 (paste) 410 450 kg.t-1
AlF3 introduced 18 25 13 30 kg.t-1
ments have been made in regard to carbon capture technologies that
Cathode lifespan 46 58 years can be applied to the primary smelting industry. This technology will
Operating current 40 400 kA be particular important to develop if proven economically feasible
Electrolysis energy consumption 14.5 17.0 13.2 15.0 kWh.kg-1 and especially if inert anode technology proves unsuccessful. Pre-
Electrical power required includ- 15.1 17.5 13.6 15.7 kWh.kg-1
venting CO2 production initially would prove this technology redun-
ing auxiliary consumption
dant as applied to the electrolysis cells, but electricity generation still
provides the largest proportion of CO2 footprint, up to 13.60 kg of
CO2eq. emissions per tonne of aluminium produced if coal-fired
maintained or operated furnaces the figure is up to 7000 Nm3 per power is used [136]. Though carbon capture systems are not cur-
tonne [102]. It is critical that the anodes are of high quality to be com- rently applied to the aluminium industry, many feasibility studies
mercially viable. Important characteristics include mechanical have been conducted [136138].
strength, electrical resistivity, density, permeability and thermal With carbon capture technology, up to 95% CO2 gas is initially
shock resistance [101]. To this extent, there have been a significant absorbed by a solvent and then desorbed. The solvent is sent
number of studies conducted on modelling and assessing energy effi- back to absorb more CO2 and the CO2 desorbed is stored and can
ciency of anode baking furnace designs [103114]. From an example be up to 98% pure [136]. Typical CO2 concentrations in exhaust
given for a typical production plant of 170,000 t capacity, an estima- gas from primary process sources are around 11.5% by volume
tion of energy demand requirement is 2.5 GJ per tonne of anode for [136]. It is has been shown by two studies that a concentration of
the baking furnace. Others have reported energy demands of 2 GJ 4% volume of CO2 allows the highest capture rate [137] and most
[103]. There are two types of ring furnaces used to bake the green economical configuration [136]. This would mean the design of
anodes, the open top furnace with a horizontal flue (Fig. 15) and a the electrolysis reduction cells would need modifying without
closed top furnace with a vertical flue. altering working conditions. The two most prominent types of
Although anode baking furnaces are large emitters of heat, no carbon capture plant available use either the solvent Monoetha-
experimental studies have been done to quantify the amount of nolamine (MEA) or NH3. The most economical approach depends
extractable heat. Gas from these furnaces have a large particulate on the concentration of CO2. MEA-based plants are most efficient
load and requires treatment. The gas is released from the furnaces at CO2 concentrations of 3-4% and NH3-based at concentrations of
varies depending on where it is released but can be up to 1200°C. The 710%. It has been recognised that to be commercially effective,
top of the baking furnace also releases a lot of heat energy depending heat recovery systems need to be integrated into these carbon
on the furnace section. Top surface temperatures between 100-1100° capture systems [138].
C are seen with an average of 700°C. For Alcoa Deschambault Que-
bec’s anode baking furnace, exhaust gases with 36 GWh of energy 4.2. Refining industry
content is released per annum, 4.1 MW of continuous heat. It is calcu-
lated that 2 MW of heat could be extracted from this source. There roult process, the overall principles behind the
Like the Hall-He
are 2.7 MW of continuous heat lost from walls, 24 GWh a year. The Bayer process of refining bauxite has not changed drastically
authors of this study highlight how furnace designs would need to be since its conception. However, different equipment has been
changed in order to recover the heat effectively, for example having developed and introduced over the years to increase energy and
converged exhaust ducts [98]. process efficiency and also to increase alumina recovery [139].
Fig. 15. An open top horizontal anode baking furnace. Reproduced from [101].
There are various practises used in the Bayer method, particularly 4.2.1. Digestion and cooling
during digestion. These include split stream, single stream with After mining and prior to shipping, bauxite is dried to minimise
steam injection, single stream tube digestion and double diges- transporting water weight. The dried bauxite can then be ground
tion [140]. A selection of energy intensive equipment found using ball or rod mills. This is done to increase surface area to maxi-
within the refining industry with the possibility for WHR is given mise alumina extraction but also to make the material pumpable
below. [42]. Pre-desilication occurs and recycled NaOH is introduced. The
slurry is pumped at around 100 bars at 100°C from the desilication
process and sent to a preheating section that uses recovered steam to
Table 5 raise the temperature of the slurry. This can be done by using shell
A table of available literature on inert anodes by their type and group. and tube preheaters where flash tank exit vapour is used to preheat
Group Anode Type Reference the slurry prior to sending it to digestion furnaces, which heat the
solution to the final desired temperature (around 270 °C). Digestors
Ceramic NiFe2O4 [117], Doped with V2O5,
(Fig. 16) are used as a reaction vessel for the heated ground bauxite
MnO2, TiO2 [118].
SnO2 Doped with Sb2O3, CuO, and sodium hydroxide solution where it is allowed a set retention
ZnO, Fe2O3 [119, 120]. period at a steady temperature [141].
NiO-Li2O [121] Flash tanks are used to cool down and depressurise the slurry to
Metals Aluminium Bronze [122] with Ni and Fe
atmospheric conditions prior to filtration. They are also a main area
additions.
Cu-Ni-Fe [123126]
of heat recovery. Superheated steam is released from the slurry as
Ni-Fe, Ni-Co Coating [123] the pressure reduces and this is sent to preheat incoming materials.
Cermets(ceramic and Fe-(NiFe2O4 + NiO) [127,128] Multiple flash tanks can be used depending on the bauxite the plant
metal) 17(Cu-10Ni)-(NiFe2O4- [129] is processing and the temperature profile of the slurry, but 312
10NiO)
units is typical. Multiple designs of these tanks have been developed
NiFe2O4-Cu [130]
Cu2O-Cu [131] over the years and they include side entry, bottom entry and central
Ni(NiFe2O4-10NiO) [132] inlet annual discharge flash tanks (Fig. 17) [140].
Unconventional Solid oxide fuel cell [133] The refining industry is very proactive at reusing waste heat
Bipolar electrodes [134] streams during digestion but increasing heat exchanger efficiency is
Depolarised gas anode [135]
an avenue that would very beneficial.
CFB calciners (Fig. 19) have greater energy efficiency, up to 95%

[144], and produce a more uniform product and so are one of the
options for new installations. They were invented in 1961 and the
introduction of these cut c.30% of energy usage compared to rotary
kilns. It has been reported that these can have outputs of 4 kt per day
of alumina and use around 3 GJ to produce 1 tonne of alumina. Alu-
minium hydroxide is fed into the base of the furnace. Combustion air
is passed through this infeed, which fluidises the particles, the high
temperature causes water to be liberated. As the particles are heavily
mixed with the combustion gas, there is a significant amount of heat
exchange and the temperature inside of the furnace becomes inter-
mediate between the solids and combustion gas temperatures. A
cyclone then separates the solids from the gas and the solids pass
through a seal pot to re-enter the furnace. This cycle creates a very
uniform product that eventually leaves the calciner [145].
Interestingly, the energy efficiency of these calciners is mainly
attributed to preheating the incoming aluminium hydroxide [48]
Fig. 20 shows a flowsheet of the CFB calciners installed at Alunorte S.
A, of which there are seven. The aluminium hydroxide (hydrate) is
preheated and partially dehydrated in preheating stages I and II by
exhaust gases. Using this technology over rotary kilns and preheating
the infeed has reduced specific energy consumption by around 2.8
MJ.kg-1 of alumina. However, exhaust gases are still release at 150-
170°C with one site losing approximately 0.77 GJ per tonne of alu-
mina [144]. Continued use of rotary kilns should be reviewed by the
refining industry as CFB’s are a clear advancement in technology
[145].
Another type of calciner is a gas suspension furnace (Fig. 21).
Compared to the circulating fluid-bed calciner, the gas suspension
calciner is a single pass operation with a low velocity (5-7 m.s-1)
[146].
Fig. 16. Five diagrams of digestors designs. (A) Base column, (B) Agitated column, (C)
Table 6 shows the differences between typical circulating fluid
Baffled Column, (D) Base tank, (E) Baffled tank. Reproduced from [142].
bed and gas suspension calciner operating parameters. However,
there are similarities. Both are direct drying methods burning fossil
4.2.2. Calcination fuels, both use their exhaust streams to preheat the material infeed
After digestion, the alumina is separated from red mud and and the hot alumina is then used to preheat the combustion air for
requires calcining. The main three calcining technologies used today the burners [146].
are rotary kilns, circulating fluidised beds (CFBs) and gas suspension
furnaces. Rotary kilns (Fig. 18) are a long steel tube lined with refrac- 4.3. Casthouse technologies
tory with a direct firing burner. The material is fed counter-flow to
the burner path and water is driven off. The material passes down 4.3.1. Furnace technology
the tube, which rotates to spread the material evenly and ensures There are many different furnace technologies in the aluminium
good heat transfer. industry, but they can be split into two distinct categories: fuel
Fig. 17. Three examples of flash tank designs, taken from [140].
Fig. 18. Schematic of a typical rotary kiln used to produce alumina [143].
As furnaces use hot gases to melt or hold the metal, the gas tem-
perature will not decrease below the temperature of the metal,
upholding the second law of thermodynamics. Therefore, the lower
temperature limit of these gases will be the transfer temperature of
the aluminium alloy. Accordingly, waste heat energy from the system
will still correspond to around 40% of the energy input. In the US,
only one third of melting furnaces employ WHR technology [99].
Fixed axis rotary furnaces: One of the most prevalent melting fur-
naces for the secondary industry is a rotary furnace [150]; a fixed axis
rotary furnace is shown in Fig. 23. Rotary furnaces are the main tech-
nology used for recycling dross [90]. It is a refractory brick lined steel
shell that rotates using friction driven wheels, a chain or gears. Scrap
is introduced into the front of the furnace and material is removed
through a tapping hole that is blocked during operation with a
foundry sand plug. An internal burner fires and heats up the refrac-
tory brick walls. The refractory transfers heat to the charge by releas-
ing its heat when rotating under the scrap or molten metal. It then is
reheated when it emerges past the scrap and the cycle repeats.
Rotary furnaces have been numerically modelled for heat transfer,
fluid flow and temperature distribution in both 2D and 3D [151]. CFD
has been undertaken to model aluminium scrap of different sizes
Fig. 19. A multiple- pass circulating fluid-bed calciners, reproduced from [146].
melting in a rotary furnace using a salt flux [152]. The authors looked
at heat transfer, fluid flow and natural gas combustion. It was found
that the scrap size and shape had little influence on melting. Further-
combustion and electric [11]. The varieties of furnaces used through- more, the Taguchi technique (robust design method) has been imple-
out the industry are described in this section. Of these, some are mented on a smelter using a rotary furnace to recycle aluminium in
designed for melting aluminium and others are designed to hold mol- order to increase productivity [153]. Interestingly, the authors found
ten aluminium prior to casting and so an analysis of the metal com- that flux to metal ratio was the most critical variable in determining
position and alloying can occur i.e. melting or holding furnaces. recovery, 91.1% of the recovery variation. Also, the most favourable
Whether the furnace is a melting or holding furnaces is not mutually conditions for good metal yield were low furnace temperature and
exclusive in the case of some furnace designs, but concessions have high load weight and these were major contributors to metal yield
to be made on performance if they are not dedicated to a particular variation. Unfortunately, many parameter variables were not investi-
role. The fuel type depends on geographical location, resources avail- gated due to the difficulties that would have been faced collecting
able and scrap type melted. The fuel can be natural gas, LPG (liquified data or the uncertainties involved.
petroleum gas) or different weights of fuel oil. Over 75% of the energy Tilting rotary furnaces: The next generation of rotary furnaces for
used in the secondary industry is due to the melting furnaces, which the secondary industry incorporated a hydraulic tilting mechanism
only have a thermal efficiency of 23-27.5%. Of this, 50-70% of the heat rather than a tapping hole to release the metal and they are known
is released with the exhaust gas, reaching temperatures between as tilting rotary furnaces (Fig. 24). Scrap is charged into the furnace, a
1100-1315°C [148]. Other main furnace losses include heat held door then covers the entrance and a burner that is attached to the
within the refractory and steel structure, losses from the structure, door fires. Oxygen fuelled burners are commonly used with these fur-
radiated through openings, false air infiltration and incorrect stoi- naces though they can also be air fuelled. As with the rotary furnace,
chiometric burner ratios leading to excess air passing through the heat transfers to the charge by conduction from the refractory as it
furnace [149]. These losses are best summarised by Fig. 22. The effi- rotates and direct radiation from the burner combustion gas [155].
ciency of a furnace can be described by Eq. (10), adapted from [95]. The scrap starts to melt, and more material can be added and some-
times a salt flux. An integral flue on the door directs away exhaust
Qp
h¼ ð10Þ gases. When the charge is molten, the furnace lifts and the metal is
Qc
directed to a holding furnace through a launder system for alloying
where: or cast into a product, such as a sow. Advantages of tilting rotary fur-
h = Furnace efficiency, dimensionless. naces over fixed axis rotaries and reverberatory furnaces include
Qp = Heat energy embedded in final product, J. energy savings (15%), increased metal recovery (3-5%), reduced cycle
Qc = Heat energy supplied by combustion, J. times (50%) and reduction of manual operations [156].
Fig. 20. Alunorte S.A CFB calcining flowsheet, taken from [145].
Holding and alloying furnaces: Holding furnaces tend to be a form

of reverberatory furnace, they can be electric or gas fired and can be
static or tiltable (Fig. 25). Some consider gas-fired reverberatory fur-
naces to be the least efficient system for fossil fuels [158]. They hold
metal at a certain temperature while minor elemental alloying and
spectrography is completed to confirm elemental composition. They
can also be used to raise the molten metal temperature to a sufficient
casting temperature to avoid freezing while casting. Holding furnaces
can be responsible for over 50% of energy used in die casting plants
[159]. Reverberatory furnaces with capacities over 120 t are in opera-
tion [96].
Multiple papers have been published simulating holding furnace
conditions on a small scale.
Wang et al. [160] used computational fluid dynamics, response
surface methodology and uniform design (CFD-RSM-UD). Carmona
and Corte s [161] used CFD to analyse the thermal performance and
convection effects in an aluminium holding furnace. The authors
noticed that CFD is not a methodology used in the design of industrial
furnaces by manufacturers and state: ‘designs continue to be based
on semi-empirical methods’. Further work can be done here to
reduce fuel consumption.
Work has been undertaken aiming to reduce environmental
impact by studying exergy transfer of an aluminium holding furnace
by modelling a small scale electric furnace with a FeCrAl (iron-
chrome alloy with aluminium covering) element, measuring exergy
transfer by conduction, radiation and convection during preheating
and while holding liquid Al introduced at 930 K [162]. The authors
found that most exergy transfer irreversibilities occurred in the resis-
tance chamber and in the interface between a high conductivity
refractory and insulating material layer.
4.3.2. Electric furnaces

Fig. 21. CFD model of the temperature profile within a gas suspension calciner furnace, Electric furnaces are an alternative to using fuel fired furnaces.
reproduced from [147]. These tend to be used for smaller operations with capacities typically
Table 6
Comparison between CFB’s and GSC’s operating conditions. Adapted from [146].
Parameter Circulating Fluid-Bed Gas Suspension Calciner with Holding Vessel Gas Suspension Calciner without Holding Vessel
Temperature/ °C 950 < 960 1050

Pressure/ kPa > 101.3 < 101.3 < 101.3
Retention time 3-5 mins 200 s 10-12 s
Capacity/ t.day-1 3500 3500 4500
Fig. 22. A Sankey diagram of energy loss from a reverberatory holding furnace [149].
Fig. 24. A typical tilting rotary furnace, provided by [157]. Installed at [53].
avoid solidification of the aluminium prior to or in the launder sys-

tem, causing dangerous spills. Various casting methods are described
below.
Fig. 23. Diagram of a fixed axis rotary furnace, provided by Faridabad Furnace Manu-
facturer [154].
between 160-4,500 kg [96]. As no combustion occurs, there is a much

lower level of exhaust gases [51]. As oxygen isn’t introduced into the
furnace chamber within the combustion air, there is much less metal
loss; 0.5-3% compared to 5-8% in fossil fuel furnaces [164]. Energy
losses have been reported as 0.49-0.81 kWh.kg-1 at 90% energy effi-
ciency [96]. Unfortunately, as electricity tends to be more expensive
than fuels, the cost benefit is reduced. Fig. 26 shows a coreless induc-
tion furnaces and its parts.
Further furnace technologies used include electric and gas cruci-
ble, channel induction, chip and swarf melting furnaces, de-ironing
furnaces, single chamber melting furnaces, multi-chamber furnaces,
top loading melting furnaces, shaft furnaces and heat treatment
ovens. Table 7 shows an overview of the most common furnaces
used in the secondary industry.
4.3.3. Casting technology

The process of casting is directing or pouring molten metal into a
mould and allowing the heat to dissipate, causing solidification of the
metal in a desired shape. The molten aluminium is tapped from the
furnace at normally over 720-750°C and directed to the casting
machines through launder systems. The temperature is required to Fig. 25. A reverberatory furnace with tilting capability, taken from [163].
Fig. 26. A coreless induction furnace with parts breakdown, provided by Otto-Junker [165].
Continuous casting conveyor: Continuous casting machines involve large pit until the desired length is achieved. The steam and hot water
open top, usually cast steel, moulds on either a continuous conveyor can be sent to cooling towers, which then releases the heat to atmo-
chain loop or a rotating head (Fig. 27). Molten metal is directed to the sphere, an opportunity for WHR. The heat flow for direct chill casting
moulds using launder systems where the moulds are filled [166]. On mould walls has been best summarised by Prasad et al. [171].
some casting machines, the ingots are sprayed with water to solidify
them, others allow enough time for the heat to dissipate.
Ingot stacking machines: Some companies fully cool the ingots 4.3.4. Ancillary casting house equipment
prior to stacking them in a bundle, some manually ‘hot stack’ ingots A large variety of additional equipment is used by smelters to achieve
as they are formed. Other companies have aimed to reduce man- desired end products or to increase efficiency. Those that could play a
power by automating the stacking process using a robotic stacker role in WHR are described below along with some ancillary equipment.
(Fig. 28). Once the ingot is formed in a mould, it is cooled and Dross/ Slag Presses: To quench the reactions occurring in dross
released. The machine is able to reject quality-failed ingots by size, after removal from the furnace, dross presses were developed, an
rotate the ingot to aid stacking geometry and stack them in the example shown in Fig. 30. The dross is loaded into cast steel pans
desired bundle configuration. from the furnaces in the foundry and then introduced into the
Vertical direct chill casting: The main method of producing billets is machine. A steel press head compacts and cools the material in the
by using vertical direct chill casting (Fig. 29). This technology has pan, stopping the reaction and agglomerating the metallic alumin-
been around since the 1930s and is described within [170]. A starter ium, which is then easier to recover. A thermodynamic analysis has
block is inserted into a copper or aluminium mould to create a seal. been conducted for heat recovery on primary white dross [173] and
Molten metal is introduced into the mould and the starter block is WHR from steel slags [174].
lowered to extrude the desired shape. Water is circulated around the It would be interesting to look at recovering the waste heat from
mould in a manifold to cool and solidify the metal (primary cooling). black dross and salt slag. It is possible to estimate the available energy
Water jets spray the billet as it emerges from the mould (secondary for heat recovery per kilogram of hot material using Eq. (11) adapted
cooling) and the water runs down the length of the billet, removing from [95]:
the largest proportion of heat. The billet continues to lengthen in a Ha ¼ Cpl DT þ Hm þ Cps DT ð11Þ
Table 7
A summary of typical secondary furnaces and emission, adapted from [42].
Consideration Fixed Axis Rotary Tilting Rotary Single Chamber Multiple Chamber Channel Induction
Purpose Melting Melting Melting/ Holding Melting Melting/ Holding

Preferred Feedstock Scrap and dross Scrap and dross Ingots and scrap Coated scrap Ingots and scrap
Flux Usage Y < Fixed axis N N N
Capacity, t <150 <30 <180 <180 <50
Max melt rate, t.hr-1 20 7 30 28 7
Fuels Natural gas, LPG, fuel oils Natural gas, LPG, extra-light Natural gas, LPG, extra-light Natural gas, LPG, extra-light N/A
fuel oil fuel oil fuel oil
Waste Gas, 1000 m3.t-1Al 9-18 9-13 5-13 10-15 14.5
Fig. 27. Continuous and rotary casting machines with cast steel ingot moulds, provided by Worswick Engineering Ltd [167,168].
Cps = Specific heat at constant pressure (solid), J.kg-1.K-1.

It is reported that using hot products to preheat combustion air
can recover 70-80% of the sensible heat, reducing fuel consumption.
In 1 kg of product, if 1 kJ of energy is recovered, fuel savings of 1.5-
2.0 kJ.kg-1 of product is seen from reduction in heat losses from
exhaust gas [95]
Salt slag treatment plants: There are companies that take and
treat salt slag from secondary smelters, the available processes are
summarised by Tsakiridis [37]. Some secondary smelters internally
recycle salt slag [53], first by removing more available aluminium,
and separating the salt from the oxide by washing and recrystallisa-
tion. The aluminium is re-melted, the salt reused, and remaining
oxide sold as a product for further processes. The first in-house salt
slag processing plant (Fig. 31) was developed by Altek [176] and is
now being commercialised and sold around the world.
Metal pumps: Metal pumps (Fig. 32) circulate molten metal within
a furnace or between furnaces areas. This aids in temperature and
elemental homogenisation and decreased cycle times. They can also
be used to transfer molten aluminium to other furnaces or crucibles.
Fig. 28. An example of a robotic ingot stacking machine, taken from [169].
They are particularly useful in melting contaminated scrap and the
clean molten metal is pumped into the larger holding chamber.
where:
Stirrers: Electromagnetic [178] and permanent magnetic
Ha = Available heat energy in hot product per kilogram, J.kg-1. [179,180] stirrers have been developed to aid homogenisation,
Cpl = Specific heat at constant pressure (liquid), J.kg-1.K-1. remove residual gas and increase melt speed within holding furnaces.
DT = Change in temperature, K. Electromagnetic stirrers have been reported to increased productiv-
Hm = Enthalpy of melting or fusion, J.kg-1. ity by 25%, decrease energy consumption by 15% and reduce melt
loss by 30% [181]. They can be mounted underneath furnaces or even
to the side, allowing a stirrer to be retrofitted to an existing furnace.
Scrap loading: Scrap can be loaded into a furnace by various meth-
ods, hand charging, using vehicles or dedicated charging equipment.
The charge is place within a container, which then uses a hydraulic
ram or linearly vibrates the material (Fig. 33) into the furnace. This
can decrease loading time significantly and removes the need for
manual charging.
Fluxes: Some companies introduce fluxes, typically salts, to remove
inclusions and oxides. They form a layer on top of the melt so also pre-
vent the metal from burning from direct contact with burner air. They
work by breaking down the aluminium oxide net that entraps metallic
aluminium [183]. The most common is a eutectic mixture of sodium and
potassium chloride (NaCl and KCl). Fig. 34 shows how a eutectic mixture
works; the melting point of the two compounds reduces to a minimum
of 657°C rather than 776/ 801°C on their own. The melting point of pure
aluminium is 660°C, a correct eutectic mix brings the melting point
below this. Some companies add a small quantity of cryolite or calcium
fluoride, CaF2 [184].
Degassing: When melting and holding aluminium, hydrogen is
produced in the furnace from the aluminium reacting with water
Fig. 29. Schematic of vertical direct chill casting, reproduced from [172]. within false air and combustion gases. This accelerates if the melt is
Fig. 30. A dross press, provided by Light Metal Age [175]. The diagram on the right shows the option to recover aluminium by draining.
Fig. 31. The first developed in-house salt slag treatment plant [176].
overheated and the hydrogen becomes more soluble as temperature

increases [186]. Eqs. (12) and (13) show the production of hydrogen
2AlðlÞ þ 3H2 OðgÞ ! Al2 O3ðlÞ þ H2ðgÞ ð12Þ
within a furnace by oxidisation of aluminium and the solubility of
gaseous hydrogen in Al, adapted from [150,187].
H2ðgÞ Ð2Hðin AlÞ ð13Þ
There are two main methods of degassing [188]. Firstly, argon or

nitrogen gas can be bubbled through the melt removing entrapped
gas but also helping with homogenous elemental distribution in
static furnaces. This can be achieved using lances, rotary degassers or
porous plugs [189,190] under the melt (Fig. 35). Secondly, fluxes can
be added to remove gas, usually chlorine or fluorine salts. The salt is
charged into the molten bath and reacts with aluminium to form alu-
minium chloride or fluoride. These are gaseous and pass through the
bath. The hydrogen diffuses into this and is removed from the furnace
through the exhaust. The argon and nitrogen can be brought in bulk
and stored in a tank on site. On-site nitrogen generators have been
developed as well to reduce costs and means bulk storage is not
required [191,192].
5. Heat recovery technologies with industrial applications
Limited literature is available on applied technologies within the

aluminium industry. However, installations purely within the indus-
try are not the only consideration, it is the form and quality of the
waste heat and where developed technology can be applied. The fol-
Fig. 32. A furnace circulating metal with a metal pump, reproduced from [177]. lowing section highlights available studies conducted within the
the art. It can be seen that literature on existing applications specifi-

cally within the aluminium industry is limited but there is good
potential for applicable technology.
5.1. Heat exchangers
Heat exchangers are pieces of equipment that are designed to

exchange thermal energy between solid surfaces or particles and fluids
or two or more fluids [195]. A variety of heat exchangers have been
developed for the purpose of recovering waste heat. They are found in
many processes: power, transportation, air-conditioning, refrigeration,
cryogenics, heat recovery, alternative fuels, manufacturing [195].
Designs and type of technology installed are based upon many factors.
Considerations include the quality of the waste heat, the temperature
range, flow rate, pressure, space restriction, the presence of particles or
corrosive compounds and whether the two heat streams can mix or
need to be kept separate. Some heat exchangers rely on natural phe-
nomena such as the phase change of a fluid, others do not rely on phase
change and are referred to as ‘sensible’ heat exchangers. The most thor-
ough classifications and design considerations of available heat
Fig. 33. A vibratory charging machine, reproduced from [182]. exchangers is found in [195]. A selection of commonly available technol-
ogies is described below.
It is important to know the energy content recovered by a heat
aluminium industry but, most importantly, what WHR technology is
exchanger. Waste heat quantity recovered can be calculated using
available and what applications there are for an end use of the waste
Eq. (14), adapted from [22].
heat. As exhaust gases are the largest contributor to losses, most
technology has been developed to recover from this source. The Q_ ¼ V_ r Cp DT ð14Þ
choice of technology depends on many factors, one being tempera-
ture. For the purpose of this paper, low, medium and high tempera- where:
ture ranges are described by <100°C, 100-400°C and >400°C [193]. Q_ = Heat energy recovered per second, W.
The section below deals with common methods of recovering avail- V_ = Flowrate, m3.s-1.
able waste heat using heat exchangers or of generating electricity r = Density, kg.m-3.
and steam. Temperature is only a parameter therefore it important Cp = Specific heat capacity, J.kg-1.K-1.
and more valuable to determine the energy content of a waste heat DT = Change in Temperature, K.
stream. To illustrate this, even though a fluid may be high tempera- The aluminium industry has specific challenges when using heat
ture, if there is low volume, density and flowrate, there may be little recovery equipment to recover waste heat from exhaust gases, particu-
total energy content available. A low temperature stream with high larly when recovering waste heat from lower temperature ranges. There
volume, density and flowrate could have much larger available are acidic gases, water vapour and particulate present, which can lead to
energy content to recover. Principles regarding to and types of heat corrosion, if the gases condense, or fouling that reduces heat exchanger
transfer have been thoroughly studied and are found within [194]. effectiveness (Fig. 36). Specialist materials, frequent maintenance or
Table 8 provides a breakdown of technology described in Section replacement components to counteract this corrosivity can be an
4 with existing and potential WHR technology described throughout expensive practice. If the heat exchangers are designed to not drop
Section 5 with additional technologies to fully describe the state of below dew points, there will permanently be a proportion of energy
that is unrecovered. In heat exchangers, if there is a small temperature
gradient between two fluid streams, the heat transfer rate is less com-
pared if there is a higher temperature gradient. Therefore, low tempera-
ture heat exchangers can require a larger heat transfer area to
compensate for the reduced heat transfer rate. For these reasons, if the
heat exchanger is large and requires advanced materials, it can be
uneconomical to recover the waste heat [99].
5.1.1. Air preheaters

Air preheaters are used to transfer heat from exhausts into
another air stream. They are most useful when cross contamination
of fluids must be avoided and typically work in low to medium tem-
perature applications. Typical examples are rotary regenerators, recu-
perators and run around coils, described below [22].
Rotary regenerators: With a rotary regenerator, a hot stream
passes through a porous material with a high thermal capacity such
as a honeycomb or ceramic disk, which heats up. As the porous wheel
rotates, a cooler stream passes through the material and heat is trans-
ferred to the stream from the wheel and the cycle repeats. Typical
uses are for low to medium temperature ranges but high tempera-
tures are possible and they can provide a high efficiency of heat
Fig. 34. A binary phase diagram of KCl and NaCl, reproduced from [185]. ‘ss’ and ‘Liq’ transfer [196]. Overall efficiency has been reported as high as 85%,
meaning solid solution and liquid, respectively. however reliability of the seals and fouling have caused issues
Fig. 35. (a) A rotary degasser (b) A porous plug, provided by Kopeliovich [188,189], respectively.
Table 8
Sources of waste heat and applications of WHR technology.
Sector Equipment Heat Loss Source Temperature Range Existing Applied WHR Potential Applicable WHR
Technology Technology
Primary Reduction cell pots Exhaust gases Medium Not Available in Literature Thermoelectric devices,
HPHEs, Rankine cycles
Cell walls High Not Available in Literature Heat pumps, Thermoelectric
devices, Rankine cycles
Anode baking furnaces Exhaust gases Medium - High Not Available in Literature Regenerators, Economisers,
HPHEs, Recuperators,
Thermoelectric devices,
Waste heat boilers, Burner
technology
Furnace walls Medium - High Not Available in Literature Thermoelectric devices
Compressor rooms Cooling medium Low Not Available in Literature Recuperator, Heat Pumps
Refining Flash tanks Steam Medium Thermo-compressors, Shell Other Heat Exchangers
and tube exchangers
Rotary kiln calciners Exhaust gases, Walls Medium - High Review use in favour of CFB technology
Primary and secondary Melting and holding Exhaust gases High Regenerators, Economisers, Thermoelectric devices
casthouses furnaces HPHEs, Recuperators,
Waste heat boilers, Burner
Technology, Material pre-
heating, Decoating
Furnace walls High Not Available in Literature Thermoelectric devices
Slag or dross High Not Available in Literature Radiative heat pipes
Vertical direct chill casting Aluminium product to High Not Available in Literature Radiative heat pipes
or conveyors atmosphere
Cooling water Low Not Available in Literature Recuperators, Heat Pumps
particularly with plugging of the wheel passages if the gas has partic- other in a rotary regenerator whereas if the streams are sepa-
ulate loading leading to significant pressure drop [197]. These wheels rated at distance a run around coil pumps the heat between loca-
have been built having diameters as large as 21 m and throughput of tions. The downside is that energy is required to pump the heat
1130 m3.min-1 of air [198]. transfer fluid and low effectiveness has been reported [202].
Figs. 37 and 38 show a schematic and installation of rotary regen-
erators developed by Jasper GmbH to reclaim heat from furnace 5.1.2. Compact heat exchangers
exhaust gases. Crucially, high temperatures up to 1600 °C are target- Compact heat exchangers have been developed to reduce the size
able reducing to an output of 140310°C. Up to 62% fuel reduction of a heat exchanger installation. They are designed to have a high
has been calculated with the aim to preheat combustion air for burn- area density i.e. a high area of heat transfer surface to heat exchanger
ers up to 1400°C [199,200]. volume. A heat exchanger is normally defined as compact when val-
Run around coils: A run around coil is another example of an air ues are 700 m2.m-3 for gas to gas exchangers and 400 m2.m-3 for gas
preheater. This contains a heat transfer fluid that is pumped between to liquid or liquid to gas. Li et al. [204] provides a detailed review
two coiled heat exchangers [201]. A warm stream passes through regarding the design and performance of compact heat exchangers.
one heat exchanger, warming the heat transfer fluid, this is trans- Examples of compact heat exchanger designs include plate and
ferred to a heat exchanger where the heat is extracted by a cool frame, brazed plate, plate-fin, welded plate, printed circuit, spiral and
stream and the cycle repeats (Fig. 39). ceramic.
The choice of this design compared to a rotary regenerator is Literature on installations of compact heat exchangers for the alu-
down to access to the streams. The streams pass close to each minium industry are not available but efforts are being made to
the tube. The heat transfers from the exhaust gas to the heat recovery
fluid through the tube walls. The warmed heat transfer fluid is gener-
ally used to optimise a further process by reducing primary energy
required [22]. Examples include raising the temperature of feedwater
in a boiler or steam generator. By recovering flue gas temperatures,
boiler systems have been shown to increase efficiency by 1% for every
5 °C reduction [206].
5.1.4. Heat pipe heat exchangers

A heat pipe is a hermetically sealed pipe or series of pipes, con-
taining a heat transfer working fluid used to transfer heat. The pres-
sure in the heat pipe depends on the saturation temperature of the
internal working fluid. The material for the pipe has commonly been
copper for applications of low temperature (<100°C), but other mate-
rials are being developed with examples provided by Narendra Babu
and Kamath [207], which include variants of stainless steel, carbon
steel, aluminium and titanium. The working fluids are variable,
depending on the application temperature, the most common being
water due to its physical properties, environmental friendliness, non-
flammability, cost and availability. Fig. 41 shows a range of working
fluids and their temperature ranges and due to the range of working
fluids and pipe materials, low medium and high range temperatures
can be covered [208]. The key beneficial feature of a heat pipe heat
exchanger is that is does not have any moving parts, being a totally
passive technology. Each pipe works independently as an individual
Fig. 36. Corroded and fouled recuperators from an Aluminium melting furnace, taken heat exchanger, so redundancy is built in if one pipe fails. If a pipe
from [99]. fails, there is little contamination into the heat streams and one pipe
failure will not affect significantly the operation of the entire system
[209]. They are among the most efficient methods of heat transfer
[210]. Heat pipes have a higher effective thermal conductivity and
conductance potential than other traditional heat exchangers with
heat transfer coefficients of 103-105 W.m-2.K-1 reported [211].
The function of a heat pipe is shown in Fig. 42. Heat introduced at
the evaporator section passes to the working fluid. As the working
fluid is in the saturation phase, it evaporates readily and moves
towards the condenser. Energy is released through the walls of the
condensing section, the working fluid condenses and the cycle can be
repeated as the working fluid travels back to the evaporator section.
Fig. 43 shows how wicks have been incorporated onto the internal
wall of the heat pipe to aid cycling of the working fluid against grav-
ity. The condenser and evaporator sections can be externally split by
using a plate. This has the effect of separating the incoming and out-
going streams of heat.
Fig. 44 shows an external view of a 500 kW heat pipe heat
exchanger designed to preheat combustion air for an aluminium fur-
nace. It was a smooth heat pipe heat exchanger designed to minimise
fouling from high particulate content. The exhaust was cooled from
Fig. 37. EcoReg rotary regenerator schematic, provided by Jasper GmbH [199].
400 to 266°C and air temperature was raised from 30 to 293°C, recov-
ering 528 kW of energy [213].
Further types of heat pipe designs include thermosyphons, capil-
lary driven, annular, rotating, gas loaded, loop, capillary pumped
reduce the size of installations. Bouhabila et al. [205] developed and loop, mono-groove, micro and miniature, inverted meniscus [211],
tested a heat exchanger at Norsk Hydro primary aluminium smelter radiative [215] and pulsating heat pipes [208]. There is substantial
in Norway. Though not technically compact, a heat exchanger with amount of literature available on heat pipes. Jouhara [209] and Faghri
129 m2 of heat transfer surface area was designed and installed to [208] provide thorough reviews on heat pipes with applications
cool 140 °C exhaust gases (68,300 m.hr-1) from the reduction pots found in regard to WHR provided by Srimuang and Amatachaya
prior to entering the GTC. The installed unit had oval shaped tubes [216]. Further work is required to determine whether heat pipe heat
and fins and was able to reduce fouling by approximately 10-15%. exchangers can be applied to waste heat sources from the aluminium
industry.
5.1.3. Economisers
Economisers are usually a gas to liquid or gas to gas heat 5.1.5. Heat pumps
exchanger installed within the ductwork of hot exhaust gas streams. Thermal energy moves from high to low temperature. The basis of
The economiser is normally used for low-medium temperature appli- a heat pump is to reverse this process by applying the second law of
cations. An example of a gas to gas economiser used to recover heat thermodynamics. An impeller draws a warm substance over a system
from flue gas is shown by Fig. 40. There are tubes, sometimes finned of coils with an internal refrigerant. The refrigerant absorbs the heat
or coiled to increase surface area, with a liquid or gas passed through through the walls of the coil, expanding and eventually evaporating.
Fig. 38. EcoReg regenerator, taken from [200].
Fig. 39. Diagram of a run around coil, taken from [203].
The choice of refrigerant is important depending on the heat source

and new refrigerants are being developed that will not affect the
environment if accidently released. A compressor is used to compress
the evaporated refrigerant, this increases its temperature. The hot
refrigerant is directed to where the heat is desired, and the heat is Fig. 40. A diagram of a multi-pass economiser, reproduced from [203].
released by condensing the refrigerant. The liquid refrigerant returns

to the compressor after it passes through an expanding valve which
reduces its pressure and decreases its saturation temperature. Exam- recover waste heat. The majority use mechanical vapour compression
ples include air source, water source and ground source heat pumps in open or closed cycles but thermal types are also used [217,218].
in domestic applications. Heat pumps are not just found in residential Fig. 45 shows examples of heat pump schematics and Fig. 46 shows
applications, but also in industrial and commercial situations. They the thermodynamic cycle used as the operating principle behind heat
are unique in the fact that they are predominantly designed to extract pumps. The fact that as pressure increases, boiling point of fluid
heat from the environment but they have also been applied to increases, is exploited [218].
Fig. 41. Range of working fluids for heat pipes, reproduced from [212].
Fig. 43. A selection of wick designs, reproduced from [214].
recuperator, convective recuperator, hybrid recuperator and ceramic

recuperator [198]. For recuperators with planar walls, the heat trans-
ferred is shown by Eqs. (15) and (16) [95]:
Fig. 42. Diagram of a functioning heat pipe, reproduced from [212]. Q_ ¼ UADTlm ð15Þ
1
U¼ ð16Þ
Nowicki and Gosselin [98] studied the application of heat pumps 1
þ kx þ h 1
hinside outside
to the primary smelter Alcoa Deschambault Quebec to recover waste
heat for space heating purposes. There was 4.9 MW of heat available where:
from casthouse cooling water and 2.5 MW from the water/glycol Q_ = Heat energy transferred per second, W.
mixture in the compressor rooms, both at 40 °C. If a heat pumps with U = Overall convective heat transfer coefficient, W.m-2.K-1.
coefficient of performance of 4 were used, 6 kt of CO2eq. emissions A = Heat transfer area, m2.
could be saved by reducing primary energy needed for space heating DTlm = Logarithmic mean temperature difference, K.
purposes, equating to a saving of around $300,000 per annum. h = Convective heat transfer coefficient, W.m-2.K-1.
x = Width, m.
5.1.6. Recuperators k = Thermal conductivity, W.m-1.K-1.
Recuperators transfer heat from gas to a fluid through a ceramic Radiative recuperators: A radiative recuperator is the simplest
or metallic tube wall. The arrangement is variable, it can be parallel, form of recuperator and it is shown in Fig. 47. It is made from two
cross or counter flow depending on the installation requirements. concentric metal tubes with exhaust gases passing through the inner
There are four main types of recuperator, these are: radiation tube and the heat transfer gas passing around the inner tube,
Fig. 44. Heat pipe heat exchanger used to preheat combustion air. Taken from [213].
extracting heat predominantly by radiation. This type of recuperator 5.2. Direct electrical conversion devices
was traditionally used to recover exhaust gas heat in the primary
industry, operating at over 850°C as they achieve some of the lowest The section below deals with emerging technologies used to create
pressure losses [219]. There is economic justification for their use electricity directly from waste heat. These include piezoelectric power
with the 40-60% efficiencies seen but they require high maintenance generation, thermoelectric generation and thermionic generators.
and cleaning due to fouling by condensable vapours and particulates Piezoelectric devices are an emerging technology designed for low
[197]. However, other technologies are more effective at transferring temperature ranges yet to be fully tested in industrial applications.
heat and dilution was required to cool the exhaust gas if metallic They work by converting compressional or vibrational energy into
radiation recuperators were used. electricity [225], for example oscillatory gas expansion [22]. When
Convective recuperators: A convective recuperator consists of a bun- the piezoelectric material deforms as a result of these applied forces,
dle of multiple tubes, typically of diameters between 25 75 mm, the material polarises, and opposite charges accumulate on different
through which hot gas passes. This is surrounded by a shell enclosing faces. This charge is collected and stored [225]. Material choices
the tubes. A cool fluid passes through this shell in order to extract heat. include piezoelectric ceramic, glass, crystals and thin-films [225].
The inside of the shell can be baffled in order to allow multiple passes These piezoelectric materials are currently expensive to produce,
past the inner tubes in order to increase heat transfer effectiveness, pre- have low efficiency and unimpressive durability [22] but do not
dominantly by convection. These exchangers can work at over 1000°C release emissions and can target low temperature ranges tradition-
but are recommended for low temperature, high mass gas flow. The ally ignored.
main difficulty with this heat exchanger is fouling [221]. Thermoelectric devices were invented in 1821 and work by the
Hybrid recuperators: A hybrid recuperator, shown in Fig. 48, com- Seebeck effect. Even though they were invented nearly two centu-
bines the principles of both the radiation and convective recuperator. ries ago, they have recently been gaining increased research interest,
It has two areas; radiative and convective sections. The first section particularly for WHR applications. They are semiconductors that
cools a fluid using the radiative technology, the hot gas is directed generate current and require two surfaces of different temperatures
through tubes and the cooling fluid is passed through a shell as with (Fig. 50). Currently, they are low efficiency (25%), but work is being
a convective recuperator. undertaken to improve this. The thermoelectric figure of merit val-
Ceramic recuperators: If temperatures exceed 1100°C, metallic ues (determined by Eq. (17)) seen are approaching c.1.5, with values
recuperators experience a significant decrease in lifespan. Ceramic of 3-4 required to be competitive with other technologies like
recuperators were developed to cope with temperatures that metallic mechanical generation [22,197].
recuperators could not. These recuperators can tolerate up to 1550°C
s S2 T
inlet exhaust gas and 815°C outlet for the preheated air [198]. zT ¼ ð17Þ
k
5.1.7. Shell and tube heat exchangers where:
A shell and tube heat exchanger (Fig. 49) consists of a series of tubes zT = Thermoelectric figure of merit, dimensionless.
that a heat transfer fluid can pass through, that can either be heated or s = Electrical conductivity, S.m-1.
cooled. Another fluid passes over and around these tubes to absorb S = Seebeck coefficient, V.K-1.
heat. The tubes can be smoothed or finned to increase heat transfer sur- T = Temperature, K.
face area. Baffles can be introduced around the tubes to direct the flow k = Thermal conductivity, W.m-1.K-1.
of fluid, creating turbulence and therefore increased heat transfer. These Yazawa and Shakouri [226] modelled water-cooled low profile
types of heat exchangers are normally used for high-pressure, medium thermoelectric devices in a 54 cm thick refractory lining of a melting
temperature applications due to high pressure drop. Pressures greater furnace to generate electricity. The furnace modelled was used to
than 30 bar and temperatures greater than 260°C are seen [223]. melt glass pellets. The furnace gases were at 1500 °C to maintain the
As with radiative recuperators, this technology suffers from foul- molten glass at 1000 °C. 10 kW.m-2 heat flux thermoelectric devices
ing with particulates or condensable vapours. Furthermore, cold were chosen and power generation of up to 1.72 kW.m-2 was esti-
spots with condensation moisture can suffer from corrosion [197]. mated for the 500 t per day facility.
Fig. 45. Schematics of three heat pump systems, reproduced from [217]. (a) two-stage cycle with intercooler, (b) two-stage cycle with closed economiser, (c) cascade cycle, (d) legend.
Thermionic devices are the last direct electrical conversion device 5.3.1. Waste heat boilers
described of which there are two types, a vacuum or vapour therm- Heat can be used to make steam using waste heat boilers and can
ionic energy converter. They were created in the 1950’s but have be recovered by using heat recovery steam generators. Hot exhaust
since had little accomplishment in successful applications mainly due gas is passed over tubes containing water, which vaporises. The
to lack of material choice. They use a phenomenon known as therm- steam is collected and used for heating, process steam or electricity
ionic emission across two surfaces with a differential temperature, an generation (Fig. 51). The steam needs a medium - high temperature
emitter and a collector. Electrons can flow from the metallic or metal range to be effective. In the example below, 480-590°C exhaust gases
oxide emitter to the collector, through an interelectrode space, which were used with supplementary burners. The boiler was 65-70% effi-
is in a vacuum vapour or plasma, generating electricity. They have be cient [197].
found to be usefully limited to high temperature applications (2000 °
C was modelled by Yarygin et al. [228]) but are practically inefficient 5.3.2. Thermo-compressors
even with theoretically high Carnot efficiencies [229,230]. Steam jet thermo-compressors (Fig. 52) are a technology used to
recycle steam generated from within a process. Fresh, high tempera-
5.3. Steam generation and reuse ture steam is generated and is passed through a chamber at high
pressure. This draws in the lower temperature process steam, which
A common method of recovering waste heat is by generating is mixed. The mixed steam of an intermediate temperature is repres-
steam. The benefits of using water are that it is freely available, non- surised and reused, recycling the energy content. In the refining pro-
harmful and can be discharged with little environment impact. Waste cess, evaporated steam produced is used to preheat the bauxite,
heat boilers and thermo-compressors are the main technologies that sodium hydroxide solution. In this way, waste heat is reused. How-
deal with steam. ever, to reach the final temperature required for digestion involves
Fig. 46. Graph showing the thermodynamic cycle principle used for heat pumps, reproduced from [218].
experimentally validated by Karamarkovic et al. [232]. The recupera-

tor reduced fuel consumption by 12%, increased energy efficiency by
7.35% and increased exergy efficiency by 3.81%. Saying this, recupera-
tive burners have lower efficiency in heat recovery than other tech-
nologies (<30%) and cannot be used with particulate-loaded or
condensable vapour-containing exhaust gases [197].
5.4.2. Regenerative burners

Regenerative burners work like recuperative burners by pre-
heating the combustion air but using alternating burners and
direct heating and they are described by Jouhara et al. [22]. While
one burner is firing, the exhaust gas passes through the body of
the second burner combustion firing port to a heat exchanger
medium, usually non-reactive ceramic alumina balls with a diam-
eter of 23 cm [11], which extracts and stores heat energy from
the gas. Once the medium is heated, the fuel, exhaust and air
valves reverse the flow and the combustion air flows through the
heated medium, preheating the air and increasing burner effi-
ciency whereupon the cycle repeats. Though fuel consumption
Fig. 47. A radiative recuperator. Reproduced from [220]. can be reduced by as much as 40-45% [158,233], the system can
be complicated and requires additional control measures. Retro-
injecting additional steam created from primary energy [42]. Gener- fitting these burners requires modifications to the furnace body
ating additional steam from other processes could aid filling this gap. and the installation of new pipe and ductwork. This can come at
a high capital cost. Most smelters only have limited downtime
5.4. Burner technology and so major modifications can only be scheduled at certain
times and the smelters cannot suffer downtime of production.
One method of optimising process conditions is to ensure full and Fig. 54 shows the workings of a pair of regenerative burners.
efficient combustion. Recuperative and regenerative burners have Voyer and Caron [234] built an energy efficiency model and
been developed to improve combustion efficiency by utilising waste determined that installation of regenerative burners was cost
heat. effective for melting furnaces but not for holding furnaces.
Hassan and Al Kindi [158] conducted a feasibility study of
5.4.1. Recuperative burners regenerative burners in aluminium holding furnaces by develop-
It is calculated that preheating combustion air can increase fur- ing a thermodynamic model and validating the results at a work-
nace efficiency up to 50%, a very attractive proposition, shown in ing foundry. Interestingly, the authors found that regenerative
Table 9 [99]. Recuperative burners (Fig. 53) work by preheating the burner furnaces were not profitable in saving energy and could
air used for combustion, which increases the combustion efficiency, shorten the lifespan of the furnace. The main reasons for this
therefore reducing fuel consumption and overall emissions. The heat were that due to the increase in combustion air temperature, the
is taken from the exhaust gas and burner nozzle and transferred to resulting flame has a higher temperature, which led to thermal
the combustion air through heat exchanger surfaces [22]. shocks in the refractory lining, increased dross generation and
For a rotary kiln in the ceramics industry, a recuperative heat metal alloy degradation due to the superheating of the surface of
exchanger to preheat combustion air was numerically modelled and the molten metal bath. The study found that the most significant
Fig. 48. A hybrid recuperator with both a convective section. Reproduced from [222].
Fig. 49. An example of the internal workings of a shell and tube heat exchanger, reproduced from [224].
Table 9
Furnace efficiency improvement by preheating combustion air, adapted from [99].
Furnace Outlet temperature, °C. Combustion Air Preheat Temperature
204 °C 316 °C 427°C 538 °C 649 °C
1427 22% 30% 37% 43% 48%

1316 18% 26% 33% 38% 43%
1204 16% 23% 29% 34% 39%
1093 14% 20% 26% 31% 36%
982 13% 19% 24% 29% 33%
871 11% 17% 22% 26% 30%
760 10% 16% 20% 25% 28%
Fig. 50. Thermoelectric generator showing current (I) generated by a temperature dif-
ference across semiconductor material, reproduced from [227].
safety benefits, and the following ways identified that could be
factors in increasing the efficiency of operation were reducing the applied to the aluminium industry are highlighted below.
amount of time the furnace doors are open and by reducing the
overall holding time. 6.1. Space and district heating
Heat can be redirected for space heating purposes of adjacent offi-

6. Potential applications for technologies ces or by transferring heat to cooler areas either through a liquid or
gaseous medium. Large producers of heat have heated neighbouring
Whilst prevention of waste heat should be at the forefront of towns and villages [236]. Space heating can reduce electricity or fuel
design and technology, waste heat is inevitable. Heat that is costs by eliminating the need for boilers or alternative space heaters,
reclaimed can be utilised, providing economic, environmental or reducing operating overhead costs. However, this may not be
Fig. 51. A waste heat boiler using gas turbine exhaust gases, reproduced from [197].
Fig. 52. A steam jet thermocompressor. Provided by Spirax Sarco [231].

period of time before charging into a molten bath. This can require
the furnace door to be open, which loses a large quantity of heat from
convection and radiant heat. If the material is loaded dry and sub-
merged, the furnace door can be shut more quickly, and less heat is
lost. This reduces fuel consumption and emissions and improves pro-
ductivity by decreasing the production cycle times. Preheating scrap
to 100°C prior to charging can reduce cycle times by 8 min [238]. Fur-
thermore, 21.1% energy saving and a 25.5% increase in production
have been calculated if exhaust gases were used to preheat the
charge [241].
Johansen and Strømhaug [242] measured energy input to a typical
furnace cycle where charged metal was preheated and then molten
metal was added prior to casting. They calculated the relative energy
consumption used in the process. The authors found that around 75%
of energy was used to preheat cold metal and 18% during casting to
prevent freezing and maintain metal temperature.
The benefits of preheating scrap prior to charging are resounding
Fig. 53. Schematic of a recuperator being used to preheat combustion air, taken from but the capital costs are high and the installation requires the rerout-
[149]. ing of major flue ducting. Companies with limited space will struggle
to retrofit a large installation. Careful attention has to be paid to the
required in geographically warm climates or not all year round in scrap that is introduced as any contamination or coatings can be vola-
mild climates, limiting the benefits. tilised and release harmful emissions. Controls have to be added to
It was proposed that a steel casting factory could heat the most avoid hotspots causing the aluminium to melt and the preheating
densely populated areas of a town called Udine in Italy by recovering station is an interface between an operator and hot process gases so
was heat. A heat exchanger for district heating was proposed close to requires careful safety consideration to its use. A preheater installed
the facility in order to create hot water for the 1750 inhabitants. for preheating aluminium sows is shown by Fig. 55.
[237] modelled and confirmed feasibility.
6.3. De-coating
6.2. Scrap and material preheating Melting scrap that is coated with a paint, polymer or lacquer
increases the amount of oxidation and dross produced and conse-
Material that is introduced into a furnace that contains a molten quently there are reduced recovery yields. Additionally, harmful
bath needs to be dry to avoid superheated steam generation causing emissions like dioxins, furans, nitrous oxides and volatile organic
devastating explosions. The waste heat in the exhaust gas from the compounds can be generated which require additional equipment
furnace burners can be used to dry the moisture from the material such as afterburners to treat. It has been shown that de-coating the
but also raise its temperature from ambient [238,239]. Scrap preheat- scrap prior to charging increases recovery yield [11]. Recovered heat
ing has also been studied using solar thermal energy [240]. If the from exhaust gases has been used in rotary kilns to de-coat scrap and
material is raised from ambient, it requires less energy to melt when the calorific value can be returned to the furnace [244]. Furthermore,
introduced to the furnaces and cycle times are decreased. A normal organic material present on scrap can be used as a fuel to supply the
practice when charging furnaces is to put material on the ledge for a energy required to de-coat the material [51].
Fig. 54. Diagram of a regenerative burner system with pipework and control valves, reproduced from [235].
7. Conclusion
In this paper, the historic and current processes for producing alu-
minium have been presented. Over the years, more energy efficient
technology and methods have been developed and historically ineffi-
cient or environmentally unfriendly equipment is being upgraded as
the understanding of the consequences of emissions are being more
fully understood. It can be seen that the primary industry is the
heaviest contributor to gaseous emissions, in particular the electroly-
sis process. Foresight to reducing these emissions can be seen by the
proportion of hydroelectric plants providing power for the primary
industry. Furthermore, the continued development of inert anodes
and their imminent commercialisation in the primary industry is an
exciting prospect especially considering the ability to mitigate a large
proportion of the CO2 produced. If this technology is implemented
worldwide, a significant proportion of emissions will not only be pre-
vented from the electrolysis process, but also the requirement for the
extremely high impact process of manufacturing and consequent
baking of carbon anodes for Prebake cells will be negated. The mate-
rial choice for these inert anodes has been significantly researched.
The refining industry produces the highest proportion of prob-
lematic solid residues, in particular red mud, but SPL and salt slag
produced by the primary and secondary industries is also a concern.
Fig. 55. A chamber preheating aluminium sows using waste heat, reproduced from Continued work must be done to ensure the hazardous nature of the
[243]. solid by-products can be mitigated by producing a value added or
inert product, not just ending in landfill.
The proportion of secondary metal production is increasing and is
6.4. Electricity generation more environmentally friendly to produce. It is recognised that pri-
mary metal is still a necessity but both environmentally friendly pri-
Methodologies and technologies have been developed to generate mary and secondary smelters are of paramount importance. To
electricity from heat sources in other industries. These include Ran- increase the benefit, one energy efficiency and GHG reduction mea-
kine cycles for water desalination and steel production [245] and sure that can be introduced are WHR technologies. New technology
Kalina cycles for cement production [246], steam generators from is being developed constantly and real progress has been made in
power generation plants [22], thermoelectric generators for silicon providing affordable and commercially advantageous products. As a
casting [247], among numerous others. The technology is chosen major contributor of anthropogenic GHG emissions and a heavy
depending on the grade of heat. Most use expansion or the phase energy consumer, the aluminium industry needs to take steps for-
change of a fluid or gas to produce a rotary movement, like a turbine, ward in sustainable procedures, particularly in light of the environ-
to generate electricity. Electricity can be distributed throughout the mental impacts it causes.
site to reduce operating costs or can be introduced back to the grid to In the refining industry, the processes that can be targeted are the
generate an income. Electricity generation from thermoelectric gen- digestion and calcination process steps. Already, steam is reused and
erators typically has a low recovery rate compared to other technolo- heat exchangers are used for preheating incoming materials. Improv-
gies [247] and installation capital costs of all technologies can be ing heat exchanger efficiency for preheating the slurry is an attractive
high. concept, also potentially targeting exhaust gas energy content from
Hybrid systems have been simulated where a radiative [219] or calcination. Circulating fluid bed calciners have been developed to
convective [248] recuperator was tied to a steam Rankine cycle. Gas mitigate losses but off gases are still released.
turbines have been studied [249,250]. Caglayan and Caliskan [249] A variety of furnace technologies and the rationale for their cho-
proposed a cogeneration system to generate electricity from a sen application is described. It is interesting to review that furnaces
ceramic roller kiln using a combined heat and power unit. A 4.4 MW are still designed by ‘semi-empirical’ methods and that continued
gas turbine running at an efficiency of around 20% was suggested. work is ongoing to model furnace energy efficiency by CFD and
Montorsi, Milani, Stefani and Terzi [250] built upon this with numeri- numerical methods.
cal modelling and CFD analysis. They were able to predict return on As the industry is so energy intensive, it is sensible to target the
investments and the reduction in fuel consumption. Even though kiln highest energy losses initially. There is a wide spectrum of tempera-
efficiency was increased and the electrical energy requirement was tures seen across the entire process of aluminium procurement and a
reduced, the proposal was not economically advantageous, and the variety of equipment is readily available to access this spectrum. The
benefit was marginal. combustion processes see high temperature and medium tempera-
Peris, Navarro-Esbrí, Mole s and Mota-Babiloni [251] used an ture ranges. Material choice required for high temperature applica-
organic Rankine cycle (ORC) to produce 18.51-21.79 kW and recover tions can be costly, these high temperature streams can be diluted to
128.19-179.87 kW of thermal power from the ceramic industry. The bring the range into a more manageable spectrum. Table 10 describes
working fluid used to recover heat from exhaust gases was R245fa. a summary of commonly used WHR technology discussed through-
The energy was transferred to the ORC module using thermal oil at out this paper and their applicable temperature ranges. A combina-
165 °C. tion of these will be required to increase energy efficiency within the
Regarding the primary aluminium industry, limited studies have aluminium industry.
been made to recover heat using indirect Rankine cycles [252] for A variety of heat exchangers have been developed to target spe-
exhaust gases and ORCs [253] for exhaust gases and cell walls. This cific heat streams, quality of waste heat and source and the choice
technology is far from being commercialised and needs more work to depends on numerous factors. Air preheaters, including rotary regen-
assess whether it is economically viable. erators and run around coils can used to recover waste heat from
Table 10 [5] C. Skidmore, Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy. UK becomes
A summary of WHR technology discussed and their applicable temperature ranges. first major economy to pass net zero emissions law 2019. https://www.gov.uk/
government/news/uk-becomes-first-major-economy-to-pass-net-zero-emis-
High Temperature Medium Temperature Low Temperature Range sions-law.
Range (>400°C) Range (400-100°C) (<100°C) [6] Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook 2016-17. 2018.
[7] H. Jouhara, A.G. Olabi, Editorial: Industrial waste heat recovery, Energy 160
Ceramic recuperators De-coating Air preheaters (2018) 1–2, doi: 10.1016/j.energy.2018.07.013.
Heat pipes Economisers Compact heat [8] R. Agathokleous, G. Panayiotou, L. Aresti, M.C. Argyrou, G.S. Georgiou, H. Jouhara,
Material preheating Heat pipes exchangers et al., Waste Heat Recovery in the EU industry and proposed new technologies,
Radiation/convective/ Material preheating Piezoelectric devices Energy Procedia 161 (2019) 489–496, doi: 10.1016/J.EGYPRO.2019.02.064.
hybrid recuperators Radiation/convective/ Plate heat exchanger [9] A. Simeone, Y. Luo, E. Woolley, S. Rahimifard, C. Boe €r, A decision support system
Regenerative/recu- hybrid recuperators Thermoelectric for waste heat recovery in manufacturing, CIRP Ann 65 (2016) 21–24, doi:
perative burners Recuperative burners RAC’s 10.1016/J.CIRP.2016.04.034.
Rotary regenerators Rotary regenerators Shell and tube heat [10] T.J. Brown, N.E. Idoine, E.R. Raycraft, R.A. Shaw, S.F. Hobbs, P. Everett, et al.,
Steam generation Shell and tube exchangers World Mineral Production 2012-2016, British Geological Survey, 2018.
[11] M.E. Schlesinger, Aluminium Recycling, New Edition, Taylor & Francis Inc, 2013.
Thermionic devices Thermo-compressors
[12] H. Kvande, Occurrence and production of aluminum. Encycl. Inorg. Bioinorg.
Waste heat boilers Thermoelectric
Chem. 2015:110. doi:10.1002/9781119951438.eibc2350.
devices [13] G. Liu, D.B. Mu€ ller, Addressing sustainability in the aluminum industry: a critical
Waste heat boilers review of life cycle assessments, J. Clean Prod. 35 (2012) 108–117, doi: 10.1016/
j.jclepro.2012.05.030.
[14] The Aluminium Association. Aluminium Recycling n.d. https://www.aluminum.
org/industries/production/recycling (accessed August 19, 2019).
exhaust gases. Compact heat exchangers can be applied when there [15] H. Kvande, The aluminum smelting process, J. Occup. Environ. Med. 56 (2014) 2–
4, doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000000154.
are space limitations though pressure drop and the increased risk of [16] M. Bertram, K.J. Martchek, G. Rombach, Material flow analysis in the aluminum
fouling leading to reduced efficiency are considerations. Economisers industry, J. Ind. Ecol. 13 (2009) 650–654, doi: 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2009.00158.x.
are also used to target recovery from exhaust gases. Heat pipe heat [17] R.C. McKenna, J.B. Norman, Spatial modelling of industrial heat loads and recov-
ery potentials in the UK, Energy Policy 38 (2010) 5878–5891, doi: 10.1016/J.
exchangers are an extremely effective method of recovering heat and ENPOL.2010.05.042.
are, in particular, a promising technology due to their numerous [18] W.D. Menzie, J.J. Barry, D.I. Bleiwas, E.L. Bray, T.G. Goonan, G. Matos, The Global
advantageous properties described. Recuperators are one of the sim- Flow of Aluminum from 2006 Through 2025 (2010) 1–78, doi: 10.1016/S0020-
1693(00)91289-1.
plest methods of recovering waste heat, can be put in line with duct- [19] S. Das, Achieving carbon neutrality in the global aluminum industry, J. Miner
ing so have a small footprint and come in many conformations and Met. Mater. Soc. 64 (2012) 285–290.
materials. Shell and tube heat exchangers can effectively transfer [20] Z. Luo, A. Soria, Prospective study of the world aluminium industry. EUR 22951
EN. 2008. doi:10.2791/36024.
heat but have a larger footprint than other technologies and can suf-
[21] A. Steinfeld, High-temperature solar thermochemistry for CO2 mitigation in the
fer from corrosion and high pressure drop. Direct electrical conver- extractive metallurgical industry, Energy 22 (1997) 311–316, doi: 10.1016/
sion devices are providing an additional field to WHR, although S0360-5442(96)00103-X.
[22] H. Jouhara, N. Khordehgah, S. Almahmoud, B. Delpech, A. Chauhan, S.A. Tassou,
current technology is yet to be fully tried and proven. Additional
Waste heat recovery technologies and applications, Therm. Sci. Eng. Prog. 6
work is recommended in this area, particularly focusing on increasing (2018) 268–289, doi: 10.1016/J.TSEP.2018.04.017.
efficiencies. Waste heat boilers tend to require a heat source from [23] The “Age of Aluminium”, Out of acorns grow big trees, Alum. Int. Today (2017)
higher temperature ranges but are a proven available technology. 2–3.
[24] Royal Society of Chemistry. Periodic table- Aluminium n.d. http://www.rsc.org/
Thermo-compressors are extremely useful when steam is being gen- periodic-table/element/13/aluminium (accessed August 19, 2019).
erated and can be reused in a process, they are simple and effective. [25] M. Laparra, A portrait of aluminium, metal of dream and modernity, ICSOBA,
Current and potential applications for technologies have been 2015.
[26] UC Rusal. The History of Aluminium Industry n.d. https://www.aluminium-
addressed and tend to be site specific. The main applications fall into leader.com/history/industry_history/ (accessed May 8, 2019).
three categories: space and district heating, process optimisation and [27] K.H. Wedepohl, The composition of the continental crust, Geochim. Cosmochim.
electricity generation. With energy efficiency not only being a com- Acta 59 (1995) 1217–1232, doi: 10.1016/B978-0-08-095975-7.00301-6.
[28] R. Zhao, C. Nowicki, L. Gosselin, C. Duchesne, Energy and exergy inventory in
mercially advantageous situation but a global issue, these technolo- aluminum smelter from a thermal integration point-of-view, Int. J. Energy Res.
gies, among other effective energy efficiency measures, must (2016), doi: 10.1002/er.3508.
continue to be introduced and applied conscientiously throughout [29] J.M. Cullen, J.M. Allwood, Mapping the global flow of aluminium: from liquid
aluminium to fabricated goods, Environ. Sci. Technol. 47 (2013) 1–17, doi:
the aluminium industry.
10.1021/es304256s.
[30] R.L. Milford, J.M. Allwood, J.M. Cullen, Assessing the potential of yield improve-
ments, through process scrap reduction, for energy and CO2 abatement in the
Declaration of competing interest steel and aluminium sectors, Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 55 (2011) 1185–1195,
doi: 10.1016/J.RESCONREC.2011.05.021.
None. [31] J. Haraldsson, M.T. Johansson, Review of measures for improved energy effi-
ciency in production-related processes in the aluminium industry From elec-
trolysis to recycling, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. (2018), doi: 10.1016/j.
rser.2018.05.043.
Acknowledgements
[32] World Aluminium. Global Aluminium Cycle 2019 n.d. http://www.world-alu-
minium.org/statistics/massflow/ (accessed August 2, 2019).
The research presented in this paper has received funding by the [33] H. Kvande, P.A. Drabløs, The aluminum smelting process and innovative alterna-
tive technologies, J. Occup. Environ. Med. 56 (2014) 23–32, doi: 10.1097/
European Union’s projects Spire 2030, DREAM, and Horizon 2020,
JOM.0000000000000062.
ETEKINA, under grant agreement No’s 723641 and 768772. [34] J.T. Kloprogge, L.V. Duong, B.J. Wood, R.L. Frost, XPS study of the major minerals
in bauxite: Gibbsite, bayerite and (pseudo-)boehmite, J. Colloid Interface Sci.
296 (2006) 572–576, doi: 10.1016/J.JCIS.2005.09.054.
References [35] A.P. Plunkert, Bauxite and Alumina, US Geol Surv Miner Handb, 2001.
[36] E. Bray, Bauxite mineral commodity summary 2018;1:20178.
[1] United Nations Treaty Collection. Paris Agreement. 2015. [37] P.E. Tsakiridis, Aluminium salt slag characterization and utilization - a review, J.
[2] European Commission. 2030 climate & energy framework n.d. https://ec.europa. Hazard Mater. (2012) 217–218 110, doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2012.03.052.
eu/clima/policies/strategies/2030_en (accessed August 19, 2019). [38] A.M. Donoghue, N. Frisch, D. Olney, Bauxite mining and alumina refining: pro-
[3] European Commission. Energy Roadmap 2050. Luxemb Publ Off Eur cess description and occupational health risks, J. Occup. Environ. Med. 56
Union2012:20. doi:10.2833/10759. (2014), doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000000001.
[4] Climate Change News. Hundreds of Extinction Rebellion activists face court, in [39] E. Balomenos, I. Gianopoulou, D. Panias, I. Paspaliaris, A. Nikolaos, K. Perry, Effi-
summer of prosecutions 2019. https://www.climatechangenews.com/2019/07/ cient and complete exploitation of the bauxite residue (Red Mud) produced in
15/hundreds-extinction-rebellion-activists-face-court-summer-prosecutions/ the Bayer process, Eur. Metall. Conf. 3 (2011) 745–757 http://dx.doi.org/
(accessed August 19, 2019). 10.1016/j.phanu.2013.11.097 .
[40] F.M. Kaußen, B. Friedrich, Methods for alkaline recovery of aluminum from [73] Y. Li, X. Min, Y. Ke, D. Liu, C. Tang, Preparation of red mud-based geopolymer
bauxite residue, J. Sustain. Metall. 2 (2016) 353–364, doi: 10.1007/s40831-016- materials from MSWI fly ash and red mud by mechanical activation, Waste
0059-3. Manag. 83 (2019) 202–208, doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2018.11.019.
[41] E. Balomenos, D. Panias, I. Paspaliaris, Energy and exergy analysis of the primary [74] B. Xue, B. Wei, L. Ruan, F. Li, Y. Jiang, W. Tian, et al., The influencing factor study
aluminum production processes: a review on current and future sustainability, on the extraction of gallium from red mud, Hydrometallurgy 186 (2019) 91–97,
Miner. Process. Extr. Metall. Rev. 32 (2011) 69–89, doi: 10.1080/ doi: 10.1016/j.hydromet.2019.04.005.
08827508.2010.530721. [75] X. Xu, J. Song, Y. Li, J. Wu, X. Liu, C. Zhang, The microstructure and properties of
[42] G. Cusano, M.R. Gonzalo, F. Farrell, R. Remus, S. Roudier, L.D. Sancho, Best avail- ceramic tiles from solid wastes of Bayer red muds, Constr. Build. Mater. 212
able techniques (BAT) reference document for the non-ferrous metals industries. (2019) 266–274, doi: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.03.280.
2017. doi:10.2760/8224. [76] G. Lu, T. Zhang, L. Ma, Y. Wang, W. Zhang, Z. Zhang, et al., Utilization of Bayer red
[43] ABB, Alunorte alumina plant, bauxite mine and pipeline in Brazil n.d. https:// mud by a calcificationcarbonation method using calcium aluminate hydrate as
new.abb.com/control-systems/industry-specific-solutions/aluminium/800xa- a calcium source, Hydrometallurgy 188 (2019) 248–255, doi: 10.1016/j.hydro-
for-alunorte-alumina-plant-in-brazil (accessed September 2, 2019). met.2019.05.018.
[44] F. Liang, M. Sayed, G.A. Al-Muntasheri, F.F. Chang, L. Li, A comprehensive review [77] R. Chen, G. Cai, X. Dong, D. Mi, A.J. Puppala, W. Duan, Mechanical properties and
on proppant technologies, Petroleum 2 (2016) 26–39, doi: 10.1016/j. micro-mechanism of loess roadbed filling using by-product red mud as a partial
petlm.2015.11.001. alternative, Constr. Build. Mater. 216 (2019) 188–201, doi: 10.1016/j.conbuild-
[45] K. Grjotheim, H. Kvande, Introduction to Aluminium Electrolysis: Understanding mat.2019.04.254.
the Hall-Heroult Process, 2nd ed., Beuth Verlag, 1993. [78] E. Mukiza, L.L. Zhang, X. Liu, N. Zhang, Utilization of red mud in road base and
[46] S. Prasad, Studies on the HallHeroult aluminum electrowinning process, J. Braz. subgrade materials: a review, Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 141 (2019) 187–199, doi:
Chem. Soc. 11 (2000) 245–251, doi: 10.1590/S0103-50532000000300008. 10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.10.031.
[47] A. Tabereaux, Prebake cell technology: a global review, JOM 52 (2000) 23–29, [79] C. Ghenai, A. Inayat, A. Shanableh, E. Al-Sarairah, I. Janajreh, Combustion and
doi: 10.1007/s11837-000-0043-y. emissions analysis of Spent Pot lining (SPL) as alternative fuel in cement indus-
[48] R. Lumley, J. Metson, H. Kvande, G. Wallace, J.F. Grandfield, S. Otarawanna, et al., try, Sci. Total Environ. 684 (2019) 519–526, doi: 10.1016/j.scito-
Fundamentals of aluminium metallurgy, 1st ed., Woodhead Publishing Limited, tenv.2019.05.157.
2011. [80] G. Holywell, R. Breault, An overview of useful methods to treat, recover, or recy-
[49] S.K. Das, W. Yin, The worldwide aluminum economy: the current state of the cle spent potlining, JOM 65 (2013), doi: 10.1007/s11837-013-0769-y.
industry 2007:5763. doi:10.1007/s11837-007-0142-0. [81] D. Paraskevas, K. Kellens, A. Van De Voorde, W. Dewulf, J.R. Duflou, Environmen-
[50] World Aluminium. Primary Aluminium Production n.d. http://www.world-alu- tal impact analysis of primary aluminium production at country level, Procedia
minium.org/statistics/primary-aluminium-production/#map (accessed August CIRP 40 (2016) 209–213, doi: 10.1016/j.procir.2016.01.104.
2, 2019). [82] K. Khaji, M. Al Qassemi, The role of anode manufacturing processes in net carbon
[51] S. Capuzzi, G. Timelli, Preparation and melting of scrap in aluminum recycling: a consumption, Metals (Basel) 6 (2016) 128, doi: 10.3390/met6060128.
review, Metals (Basel) 8 (2018) 24, doi: 10.3390/met8040249. [83] World Aluminium. Perfluorocarbon (PFC) Emissions n.d. http://www.world-alu-
[52] K. Vas, Using technology and automation for enhanced returns in aluminium minium.org/statistics/perfluorocarbon-pfc-emissions/ (accessed August 2,
scrap processing, in: Proceedings of the 21st International Recycled Aluminium 2019).
Conference, 2013. [84] R. Huglen, H. Kvande, Global considerations of aluminium electrolysis on energy
[53] JBMI Group Ltd. n.d. https://www.jbmi.com (accessed October 14, 2019). and the environment, Essential Readings in Light Metals 2 (1994) 948–955, doi:
[54] L. Kucharikova , E. Tillov
a, O. Bokuvka, Recycling and properties of recycled alu- 10.1007/978-3-319-48156-2_140.
minium alloys used in the transportation industry, Transp. Probl. 11 (2016) [85] W. Aluminium, Fluoride Emissions n.d. http://www.world-aluminium.org/sta-
117–122, doi: 10.20858/tp.2016.11.2.11. tistics/fluoride-emissions/ (accessed August 22, 2019).
[55] T.Y. Canby, Aluminium, the magic metal, Natl. Geogr. Soc. (1978). [86] Y.J. Yang, M. Hyland, Z.W. Wang, C. Seal, Modelling HF generation in aluminium
[56] Metroalloys. Aluminium sows n.d. https://www.metroalloys.com/images/ reduction cell, Can. Metall. Q. 54 (2015) 149–160, doi: 10.1179/
AlumRSI.jpg (accessed August 5, 2019). 1879139514Y.0000000169.
[57] J. Benedyk, AK’s greenfield casthouse produces jumbo billet and slab to supply [87] M. Hagen, B. Schricker, Fume treatment systems based on RTO technology for
aerospace ai globally. Light Met Age n.d. https://www.lightmetalage.com/news/ carbon baking furnaces. In: Sadler B., (ed). Light Met. 2013, 2013, p. 131722.
industry-news/casthouse/article-aks-greenfield-casthouse-produces-jumbo-bil- doi:10.1007/978-3-319-65136-1_222.
let-and-slab-to-supply-aerospace-al-globally/ (Accessed 5 August 2019). [88] C.B. Crawford, B. Quinn, The interactions of microplastics and chemical pollu-
[58] Hui Tai Technology. Aluminium billets casting table n.d. http://www.alumi- tants, in: C.B. Crawford, B. Quinn (Eds.), Microplastic Pollut., Elsevier, 2017,
niumfurnace.com/products_info.asp?id=6 (accessed August 5, 2019). pp. 131–157 https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809406-8.00006-2 .
[59] Nicromet. Transport n.d. http://www.nicromet.pl/en/products/transport (accessed [89] Ospar Commission, Emissions and Discharges of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocar-
August 5, 2019). bons (PAHs) from Primary Aluminium Electrolysis, Soederberg Technology,
[60] J.R. Davis, Aluminium and aluminium alloys, Alloy Underst. Basics (2001) 351– 2002, p. 25.
416, doi: 10.1361/autb2001p351. [90] A. Meshram, K.K. Singh, Recovery of valuable products from hazardous alumi-
[61] E.A. Starke, S. Mridha, Aluminum Alloys: Alloy, Heat Treatment, and Temper num dross: a review, Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 130 (2018) 95–108, doi: 10.1016/
Designation, Ref. Modul. Mater. Sci. Mater. Eng. (2016), doi: 10.1016/B978-0- j.resconrec.2017.11.026.
12-803581-8.02553-4. [91] Environmental Protection Agency. European waste catalogue and hazardous
[62] The Aluminium Association. International Alloy Designations and Chemical waste list. 2002.
Composition Limits for Wrought Aluminum and Wrought Aluminum Alloys [92] K.E. Lorber, H. Antrekowitsch, Treatment and disposal of residues from alumin-
with Support for On-line Access From: Aluminum Extruders Council Use of the ium dross recovery, in: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference Hazard
Information. Alum Assoc Arlington, Virginia 2015:31. India Waste Management, 2010.
[63] P. Nunez, S. Jones, Cradle to gate: life cycle impact of primary aluminium pro- [93] O. Manfredi, W. Wuth, I. Bohlinger, Characterizing the physical and chemical
duction, Int. J. Life Cycle Assess 21 (2016) 1594–1604, doi: 10.1007/s11367-015- properties of aluminum dross, JOM 49 (1997) 48–51, doi: 10.1007/s11837-997-
1003-7. 0012-9.
[64] S.H. Farjana, N. Huda, M.A.P. Mahmud, Impacts of aluminum production: a cra- [94] R. Beheshti, J. Moosberg-Bustnes, S. Akhtar, R.E. Aune, Black dross processing:
dle to gate investigation using life-cycle assessment, Sci. Total Environ. 663 utilization of black dross in the production of a ladle fluxing agent, J. Sustain
(2019) 958–970, doi: 10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2019.01.400. Metall. 3 (2017) 265–273, doi: 10.1007/s40831-016-0076-2.
[65] P.E. Americas, Life Cycle Impact Assessment of Aluminum Beverage Cans. Final [95] P. Mullinger, B. Jenkins, 1st ed., Industrial and Process Furnaces, 7506, Architec-
Report 2010:1127. tural Press, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2008.
[66] World Aluminium. Metallurgical Alumina Refining Energy Intensity n.d. http:// [96] U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Energy requirements for aluminum production:
www.world-aluminium.org/statistics/metallurgical-alumina-refining-energy- historical perspective, theoretical limits and current practices, Ind Technol Progr
intensity/ (accessed August 7, 2019). Energy Effic Renew Energy (2007).
[67] World Aluminium. Metallurgical Alumina Refining Fuel Consumption n.d. http:// [97] Kashkhan, Hall-Heroult Cell. 2008. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
www.world-aluminium.org/statistics/metallurgical-alumina-refining-fuel-con- Hall-heroult-kk-2008-12-31.png (accessed August 2, 2019).
sumption/ (accessed August 7, 2019). [98] C. Nowicki, L. Gosselin, An overview of opportunities for waste heat recovery
[68] M.F. Chislock, E. Doster, R.A. Zitomer, A.E. Wilson, Eutrophication: causes, conse- and thermal integration in the primary aluminum industry, JOM 64 (2012) 990–
quences, and controls in aquatic ecosystems, Nat. Educ. Knowl. 4 (2013). 996, doi: 10.1007/s11837-012-0367-4.
[69] Y. Andersson-Skold, P. Grennfelt, K. Pleijel, Photochemical ozone creation poten- [99] I. Johnson, W.T. Choate, A. Davidson, BCS, Incorporated, Waste heat recovery:
tials: a study of different concepts, J. Air Waste Manag. Assoc. 42 (1992) 1152– technology opportunities in the US Industry, Incorporated, US Dep. Energy Ind.
1158, doi: 10.1080/10473289.1992.10467060. Technol. Progr (2008) 1–112.
[70] K. Buxmann, A. Koehler, D. Thylmann, Water scarcity footprint of primary alumin- [100] N. Oumarou, D. Kocaefe, Y. Kocaefe, B. Morais, J. Chabot, A dynamic process model
ium, Int. J. Life Cycle Assess 21 (2016) 1605–1615, doi: 10.1007/s11367-015-0997-1. for simulating horizontal anode baking furnaces, Mat Sci Tech 3 (2013) 2071–2077.
[71] M.A. Khairul, J. Zanganeh, B. Moghtaderi, The composition, recycling and utilisa- [101] F. Gregoire, L. Gosselin, Comparison of three combustion models for simulating
tion of Bayer red mud, Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 141 (2019) 483–498, doi: anode baking furnaces, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 129 (2018) 532–544, doi: 10.1016/j.
10.1016/J.RESCONREC.2018.11.006. ijthermalsci.2018.04.006.
[72] W.C. Tang, Z. Wang, S.W. Donne, M. Forghani, Y. Liu, Influence of red mud on [102] V. Gusberti, M.W. Meier, P.O. Sulger, F. Keller, D.S. Severo, Specific energy con-
mechanical and durability performance of self-compacting concrete, J. Hazard sumption in anode bake furnaces. Essent. Read. Light Met. 2016:40813.
Mater. 379 (2019) 120802, doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.120802. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-48200-2_55.
[103] A.R. Tajik, T. Shamim, M. Zaidani, R.K. Abu Al-Rub, The effects of flue-wall design [133] R.A. Rapp, Method featuring a non-consumable anode for the electrotwinning of
modifications on combustion and flow characteristics of an aluminum anode aluminium. 6039862US, 2000.
baking furnace-CFD modeling, Appl. Energy 230 (2018) 207–219, doi: 10.1016/j. [134] H. Alder, Process for the electrolysis of a molten charge using inconsumable bi-
apenergy.2018.08.078. polar electrodes. 3930967US, 1976.
[104] P. Zhou, C. Mei, J. Zhou, N. Zhou, Q. Xu, Simulation of the influence of the baffle [135] G.M. Haarberg, E. Kvalheim, A.P. Ratvik, S.J. Xiao, T. Mokkelbost, Depolarised gas
on flowing field in the anode baking ring furnace, J. Cent. South Univ. Technol. 9 anodes for aluminium electrowinning, Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 20
(2002) 208–211, doi: 10.1007/s11771-002-0028-9. (2010) 2152–2154 English Ed, doi: 10.1016/S1003-6326(09)60434-9.
[105] L. Chaodong, C. Yinhe, Z. Shanhong, X. Haifei, S. Yi, Research and application for [136] O. Lassagne, L. Gosselin, M. De silets, M.C. Iliuta, Techno-economic study of CO2
large scale, High Efficiency Energy Saving Baking Furnace Technology, 2018, capture for aluminum primary production for different electrolytic cell ventila-
pp. 1419–1423, doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-72284-9_185. tion rates, Chem. Eng. J. 230 (2013) 338–350, doi: 10.1016/j.cej.2013.06.038.
[106] Ø. Gundersen, J.G. Balchen, Modeling and simulation of an anode carbon baking [137] A. Mathisen, H. Sørensen, N. Eldrup, R. Skagestad, M. Melaaen, G.I. Mu € ller, Cost
furnace, Model. Identif. Control 16 (1995) 3–33, doi: 10.4173/mic.1995.1.1. optimised CO2 capture from aluminium production, Energy Procedia 51 (2014)
[107] D.S. Severo, V. Gusberti, E. C V Pinto, Advanced 3D modelling for anode baking 184–190, doi: 10.1016/j.egypro.2014.07.021.
furnaces, TMS Light Met (2005). [138] H. Jilvero, A. Mathisen, N.H. Eldrup, F. Normann, F. Johnsson, G.I. Mu € ller, et al.,
[108] F. Keller, U. Mannweiler, D. Severo, Computational modeling in anode baking, Techno-economic analysis of carbon capture at an aluminum production plant -
Second International Carbon Conference, China, 2006, pp. 1–12. Comparison of post-combustion capture using MEA and Ammonia, Energy Pro-
[109] F. Ordronneau, M. Gendre, L. Pomerleau, N. Backhouse, A. Berkovich, X. Huang, cedia 63 (2014) 6590–6601, doi: 10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.695.
Meeting the challenge of increasing anode baking furnace productivity, Light [139] R. Den Hond, I. Hiralal, A. Rijkeboer, Alumina yield in the Bayer process past,
Metals (2011) 865–870, doi: 10.1002/9781118061992.ch148. present and prospects, Essent. Read. Light Met. 1 (2017) 528–533, doi: 10.1007/
[110] F. Gregoire, L. Gosselin, H. Alamdari, Sensitivity of carbon anode baking model 978-3-319-48176-0.
outputs to kinetic parameters describing pitch pyrolysis, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. [140] B. Haneman, A. Wang, Optimising Digestion Flash Tank Design for the Alumina
(2013) 4465–4474 Ind. Eng., doi: 10.1021/ie3030467. Industry, in: Proceedings of the 9th International Alumina Quality, Work., 2012,
[111] M. Baiteche, D. Kocaefe, Y. Kocaefe, D. Marceau, B. Morais, J. Lafrance, Descrip- pp. 127–131.
tion and applications of a 3D mathematical model for horizontal anode baking [141] M. Farrokh, Thermodynamic Process Modeling and Simulation of a Diaspore
furnaces, Light Met 2015 (2015) 1115–1120, doi: 10.1002/9781119093435. Bauxite Digestion Process, School of Business, Society and Engineering, Sweden,
ch187. 2013.
[112] Y. Kocaefe, N. Oumarou, M. Baiteche, D. Kocaefe, B. Morais, M. Gagnon, Use of [142] T. Kumaresan, S. Thakre, B. Basu, K. Kaple, H. Gupta, A. Bandi, et al., Performance
mathematical modelling to study the behavior of a horizontal anode baking fur- improvement of alumina digestors, in: Proceedings of the 7th International Con-
nace, TMS Light Met, 2013, pp. 1139–1144. ference CFD Miner Process Industries, 2009, pp. 1–6.
[113] Y. El Ghaoui, S. Besson, Y. Drouet, F. Morales, A. Tomsett, M. Gendre, et al., Anode [143] D. Moore, Design features of rotary kilns, https://www.cementkilns.co.uk/long_dry
baking furnace fluewall design evolution: a return of experience of latest baffle- _kilns.html. (accessed October 23, 2019)
less technology implementation, Light Metals (2016) 941–945, doi: 10.1007/ [144] L.M. Perander, E. Gasafi, A. Scarsella, Cost and Energy Efficiency Improvment in
978-3-319-48251-4_158. Alumina Calcination, Alumina Quality Workshop Inc, 2018.
[114] M. Zaidani, R.A. Al-Rub, A.R. Tajik, T. Shamim, 3D Multiphysics model of the [145] M. Missalla, Significant improvement of energy efficiency at Alunorte's calcina-
effect of flue-wall deformation on the anode baking homogeneity in horizontal tion facility, TMS Light Metals (2011), doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-48160-9_27.
flue carbon furnace, Energy Procedia 142 (2017) 3982–3989, doi: 10.1016/j.egy- [146] B.E. Raahauge, N. Devarajan, Experience with Particle Breakdown in Gas Suspen-
pro.2017.12.307. sion Calciners, Presented at the International Commitee for the Study of Bauxite,
[115] K. Padamata, A.S. Yasinskiy, P.V. Polyakov, Progress of inert anodes in aluminium Alumina and Aluminium (ICSOBA) Conference, UAE, Dubai, 2015.
industry: review, J. Sib. Fed. Univ. Chem. 11 (2018) 18–30, doi: 10.17516/1998- [147] C. Marsh, CFD modelling of alumina calciner furnaces. Proceedings of the 7th
2836-0055. International Conference CFD Miner Process Industries 2009:200710.
[116] V. de Nora, Inert anodes are knocking at the door of aluminium producers, CRU [148] V. Bratu, A. Gaba, E.V. Stoian, F.V. Anghelina, Natural gas consumption reducing
annual meeting, London, 2001. in aluminum melting furnaces by heat recovery of flue, Sci. Bull. Valahia Univ.
[117] C. Augustin, UA. Sen, Green anode for aluminium production, Int. Conf. Alum. 2 Mater. Mech. 14 (2016) 17–22, doi: 10.1515/bsmm-2016-0003.
(1998) 173–176. [149] U.S. Department of Energy, Waste Heat Reduction and Recovery for Improving
[118] J. Du, B. Wang, Y. Liu, Z. Fang, P. Hu, Study on the bubble behaviour and anodic Furnace Efficiency, Productivity and Emissions Performance, 2004.
overvoltage of NiFe2O4 ceramic based inert anode. Light Met.2015:11937. [150] D. Dispinar, Determination of Metal Quality of Aluminium and Its Alloys, Ph.D.
[119] H. Alder, Electrolysis of a molten charge using inconsumable electrodes. University of Birmingham, 2005.
3960678US, 1976. [151] A.R. Khoei, I. Masters, D.T. Gethin, Numerical modelling of the rotary furnace in
[120] L. Issaeva, G.M. Haarberg, H. Xiao, J. Thonstad, The interaction between tin oxide aluminium recycling processes, J. Mater. Process. Technol. 139 (2003) 567–572,
and cryolite-alumina melts, ECS Proc. Vol. (1994) 568–577 199413, doi: doi: 10.1016/S0924-0136.
10.1149/199413.0568pv. [152] B. Zhou, Y. Yang, M.A. Reuter, U.M.J. Boin, Modelling of aluminium scrap melting
[121] Y.P. Zaikov, Ceramic properties of electrodes based on Ni0-Li20 and their solu- in a rotary furnace, Miner. Eng. 19 (2006) 299–308, doi: 10.1016/J.
bility in cryolite alumina melts, in: Proceedings of the Vill. AI Symposium, Ziar MINENG.2005.07.017.
Nad Hronom, Slovakia, 1995, pp. 239–241. [153] A.R. Khoei, I. Masters, D.T. Gethin, Design optimisation of aluminium recycling
[122] M. Glucina, M. Hyland, Laboratory testing of aluminium bronze as an inert anode processes using Taguchi technique, J. Mater. Process. Technol. 127 (2002) 96–
for aluminium electrolysis. TMS Light Met. 2005:5238. 106, doi: 10.1016/S0924-0136(02)00273-X.
[123] T. Nguyen, V. De Nora, De Nora oxygen evolving inert metallic anode, TMS Light [154] Faridabad Furnace Manufacturer. Aluminiunm Melting Rotary Furnace n.d.
Met. 2006 (2006) 385–390. https://faridabadfurnacemanufacturer.wordpress.com/category/aluminium-
[124] D.A. Simoylov, et al., Progress in the development of reduction technology with melting-rotary-furnace/ (accessed August 8, 2019).
inert anodes, Proc. Non Ferr. Met. (2012) 363–369. € u
[155] N. Unl € , M.G. Drouet, Comparison of salt-free aluminum dross treatment pro-
[125] S. Helle, M. Pedron, B. Assouli, B. Davis, D. Guay, L. Roue , Structure and high-tem- cesses, Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 36 (2002) 61–72, doi: 10.1016/S0921-3449(02)
perature oxidation behaviour of Cu-Ni-Fe alloys prepared by high-energy ball 00010-1.
milling for application as inert anodes in aluminium electrolysis, Corros. Sci. 52 [156] Melting Solutions. Tilting Rotary Furnace n.d. http://www.meltingsolutions.co.
(2010) 3348–3355, doi: 10.1016/j.corsci.2010.06.011. uk/tilting-rotary-furnace/ (accessed August 22, 2019).
[126] G. Goupil, S. Helle, B. Davis, D. Guay, L. Roue , Anodic behavior of mechanically [157] Altek, Mechatherm. https://www.altek-al.com/tilting-rotary-furnaces.html n.d.
alloyed Cu-Ni-Fe and Cu-Ni-Fe-O electrodes for aluminum electrolysis in low- https://www.altek-al.com/tilting-rotary-furnaces.html (accessed August 2,
temperature KF-AlF3 electrolyte, Electrochim Acta 112 (2013) 176–182, doi: 2019).
10.1016/j.electacta.2013.08.157. [158] M.I. Hassan, R. Al Kindi, Feasibility study of regenerative burners in aluminum
[127] S.P. Ray, R.A. Rapp, Method of making composition suitable for use as inert elec- holding furnaces, JOM 66 (2014) 1603–1611, doi: 10.1007/s11837-014-1110-0.
trode having good electrical conductivity and mechanical properties. [159] X. Dai, M. Jolly, Potential energy savings by application of the novel CRIMSON
4584172US, 1986. aluminium casting process, Appl. Energy 89 (2012) 111–116, doi: 10.1016/J.APE-
[128] S.P. Ray, R.A. Rapp, Composition suitable for use as inert electrode having good NERGY.2010.12.029.
electrical conductivity and mechanical properties. 4454015US, 1984. [160] J. Wang, S. Lan, W. Li, Numerical simulation and process optimization of an alu-
[129] J.Y. Liu, Z.Y. Li, Y.Q. Tao, D. Zhang, K.C. Zhou, Phase evolution of 17(Cu-10Ni)- minum holding furnace based on response surface methodology and uniform
(NiFe2O4 -10NiO) cermet inert anode during aluminum electrolysis, Trans. Non- design, Energy 72 (2014) 521–535, doi: 10.1016/J.ENERGY.2014.05.077.
ferrous Met. Soc. China 21 (2011) 566–572 English Ed, doi: 10.1016/S1003-6326 [161] M. Carmona, C. Corte s, Analysis of the thermal performance and convection
(11)60752-8. effects in an aluminum holding furnace using CFD, Appl. Therm. Eng. 76 (2015)
[130] Z.-L. Tian, Y.-Q. Lai, G. Zhang, Q.-W. Qin, J.-F. Wang, et al., Preparation of 484–495, doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2014.11.044.
NiFe2O4-Cu based cermet inert anodes in aluminium electrolysis, The Cinese [162] L. Acevedo, S. Uso n, J. Uche, Exergy transfer analysis of an aluminum holding fur-
Journal of Nonferrous Metals 13 (6) (2003) 1540–1545. nace, Energy Conv. Manag. 89 (2015) 484–496, doi: 10.1016/J.ENCON-
[131] L.C. Feng, N. Xie, W.Z. Shao, L. Zhen, V.V. Ivanov, Exploring Cu2O/Cu cermet as a MAN.2014.10.021.
partially inert anode to produce aluminum in a sustainable way, J. Alloys Compd. [163] Insertec. Chamber Reverb Furnace n.d. https://www.insertec-store.com/en/
610 (2014) 214–223, doi: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2014.04.198. industrial-furnaces/aluminium-recycling-furnaces/holding-alloying/chamber-
[132] L. Zhang, Z.Y. Li, K.C. Zhou, J. Li, Y.Q. Lai, Sintering of the NiFe2O4-10NiO/xNi cer- reverb-furnace.html (accessed August 13, 2019).
met, J. Cent. South Univ. Technol. 13 (2006) 332–336 English Ed, doi: 10.1007/ [164] E. Rooy, Aluminum dross: liability into opportunity, Light Met. Age 53 (1995)
s11771-006-0044-2. 40.
[165] Otto-Junker. Coreless induction furnace n.d. https://www.otto-junker.com/en/ [197] A. Thekdi, S.U. Nimbalkar, Industrial Waste Heat Recovery - Potential Applica-
products-technologies/furnaces-plants-for-aluminium-and-aluminium-based- tions, Available Technologies and Crosscutting R&D Opportunities, 2014, doi:
alloys/foundry-and-casthouse/medium-frequency-coreless-induction-furnaces/ 10.2172/1185778.
(accessed August 20, 2019). [198] Y. Ilgaz. Thermal Energy Equipment: Waste Heat Recovery. Energy Effic Guid Ind
[166] J.F. Grandfield, Ingot casting and casthouse metallurgy of aluminium and its Asia 2006:118.
alloys, Fundam. Alum. Metall. Prod. Process. Appl. (2010) 83–140, doi: 10.1533/ [199] Jasper GmbH, EcoReg, Rotary bed regenerator n.d. https://www.jasper-gmbh.de/
9780857090256.1.83. ecoreg-2434 (accessed December 2, 2019).
[167] T. Masters and Sons Ltd. https://www.tmasters.co.uk/ingotCastingMachines. [200] B. Henning, R. Jasper, Multimelter - The new generation of aluminium melting
phpn.d. furnaces, Heat Processing- International Magazine for Industrial Furnaces (2)
[168] Worswick Engineering Ltd. n.d. http://www.worswick.com/castingmachines. (2004) 92–94.
html (accessed August 2, 2019). [201] S. Toolan, Heat Recovery for Commercial Buildings, Dublin Institute of Technol-
[169] Melting Solutions. Ingot casting machines n.d. http://www.meltingsolutions.co. ogy, 2012.
uk/ingot-casting-machines/ (accessed September 12, 2019). [202] Indian Institute of Technology, Chapter 4, Waste Heat Recovery Through Heat
[170] R. Pelayo, (2020). Direct Chill and Casting of Aluminum Alloys. Ph. D. University Exchangers, Guwahati, 2017.
of Waterloo. [203] The Renewable Energy Hub UK. Types of Heat Recovery System n.d. https://
[171] A. Prasad, J.A. Taylor, I.F. Bainbridge, The Measurement of heat flow within a DC www.renewableenergyhub.co.uk/main/heat-recovery-systems-information/
casting mould, in: J.F. Grandfield, D.G. Eskin (Eds.), Essent. Readings Light Met., types-of-heat-recovery-system/ (accessed August 12, 2019).
3, Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2016, pp. 659–664 Cast Shop Alum. [204] Q. Li, G. Flamant, X. Yuan, P. Neveu, L. Luo, Compact heat exchangers: a review
Prod., doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-48228-6_82. and future applications for a new generation of high temperature solar
[172] E. Caron, A. Baserinia, R.O. Pelayo, D.C. Weckman, M. Wells, Primary cooling heat receivers, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 15 (2011) 4855–4875, doi: 10.1016/j.
transfer during the direct-chill casting of aluminum alloy AA6111, ICAA13 2012, rser.2011.07.066.
p. 148392. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-48761-8_225. [205] E.H. Bouhabila, E. Næss, V.K. Einejord, K. Kristjansson, An innovative compact
[173] F. Yang, Q. Yu, Z. Zuo, L. Hou, Thermodynamic analysis of waste heat recovery of heat exchanger solution for aluminum off-gas cooling and heat recovery,
aluminum dross in electrolytic aluminum industry, Energy Sources Part A Recov. in: B.A. Sadler (Ed.), Light Met., 2016, Springer International Publishing, Cham,
Util. Environ. Eff. (2019) 1–13, doi: 10.1080/15567036.2019.1634163. 2013, pp. 793–797, doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-65136-1_135.
[174] Y. Sun, Z. Zhang, L. Liu, X. Wang, Heat recovery from high temperature slags: a [206] Spirax Sarco. An explanation of specialist boiler types and other specialist features.
review of chemical methods, Energies 8 (2015) 1917–1935, doi: 10.3390/ https://www.spiraxsarco.com/learn-about-steam/the-boiler-house/miscella-
en8031917. neous-boiler-types-economisers-and-superheaters. (Accessed October 10, 2019).
[175] Light Metal Age. Harsco Acquires Altek n.d. https://www.lightmetalage.com/ [207] N. Narendra Babu, Hc Kamath, Materials used in heat pipe, Mater. Today Proc. 2
news/marketplace/supplier-news/harsco-acquires-altek/ (accessed August 8, (2015) 1469–1478, doi: 10.1016/J.MATPR.2015.07.072.
2019). [208] A. Faghri, Heat pipes: review, opportunities and challenges, Front Heat Pipes 5
[176] Altek. Alusalt salt slag recycling processing n.d. https://www.altek-al.com/alu- (2014), doi: 10.5098/fhp.5.1.
salt-salt-slag-recycling-processing.html. [209] H. Jouhara, 4.3 Heat Pipes, Compr. Energy Syst. 4 (2018) 70–97, doi: 10.1016/
tu, F. Ajersch, C. Saliba, C. Vild, Fluid modeling of the
[177] M. Bright, F. Ilinca, J.-.F. He b978-0-12-809597-3.00403-x.
flow and free surface parameters in the metaullics lotuss system, in: Proceedings [210] H. Jouhara, A. Chauhan, T. Nannou, S. Almahmoud, B. Delpech, L.C. Wrobel, Heat
of the TMS Annual Meeting, 2009. pipe based systems - advances and applications, Energy 128 (2017) 729–754,
[178] W.D. Griffiths, DG. McCartney, The effect of electromagnetic stirring during doi: 10.1016/j.energy.2017.04.028.
solidification on the structure of Al-Si alloys, Mater. Sci. Eng. 216 (1996) 47–60. [211] L.L. Vasiliev, Heat pipes in modern heat exchangers, Appl. Therm. Eng. 25 (2005)
[179] A. Bojarevics, T. Beinerts, Y. Gelfgat, I. Kaldre, Permanent magnet centrifugal 1–19, doi: 10.1016/J.APPLTHERMALENG.2003.12.004.
pump for liquid aluminium stirring, Int. J. Cast. Met. Res. 29 (2016) 154–157, [212] Transterm. Overview of Heat Pipe Basics n.d. http://www.transterm.ro/Over-
doi: 10.1080/13640461.2015.1120998. view.htm (accessed August 13, 2019).
[180] A. Bojarevics, R. Baranovskis, I. Kaldre, M. Milgravis, T. Beinerts, Two cylinder [213] Econotherm Limited. n.d. https://www.econotherm.eu (accessed August 20,
permanent magnet stirrer for liquid metals, IOP Conf. Ser. Mater. Sci. Eng. 228 2019).
(2017), doi: 10.1088/1757-899X/228/1/012022. [214] Celsia. Heat Pipe & Vapor Chamber Technology Overview n.d. https://celsiainc.
[181] Altek. The Rise of ALTEK ’ s Side Mounted Electromagnetic Stirrers the installa- com/heat-pipe-and-vapor-chamber-technology-overview/ (accessed May 3,
tion of the future n.d. https://www.altek-al.com/pdfs/ems-side-stirrer-editorial. 2019).
pdf (accessed August 12, 2019). [215] B. Delpech, B. Axcell, H. Jouhara, Experimental investigation of a radiative heat
[182] Melting Solutions. Charging machines n.d. http://www.meltingsolutions.co.uk/ pipe for waste heat recovery in a ceramics kiln, Energy 170 (2018) 636–651,
charging-machines/ (accessed August 12, 2019). doi: 10.1016/j.energy.2018.12.133.
[183] J.A.S. Tenorio, DCR. Espinosa, Effect of salt/oxide interaction on the process of [216] W. Srimuang, P. Amatachaya, A review of the applications of heat pipe heat
aluminum recycling, J. Light Met. 2 (2002) 89–93, doi: 10.1016/S1471-5317(02) exchangers for heat recovery, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 16 (2012) 4303–
00027-5. 4315, doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2012.03.030.
[184] Y. Xiao, M.A. Reuter, U.D. Boin, Aluminium recycling and environmental issues of [217] K.J. Chua, S.K. Chou, W.M. Yang, Advances in heat pump systems: a review, Appl.
salt slag treatment, J. Environ. Sci. Heal Part A 40 (2005) 1861–1875, doi: Energy 87 (2010) 3611–3624, doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2010.06.014.
10.1080/10934520500183824. [218] Industrial Heat Pumps. Industrial heat pumps, how it works n.d. http://industri-
[185] M. Brostro €m, S. Enestam, R. Backman, K. M€akel€a, Condensation in the KCl-NaCl alheatpumps.nl/en/how_it_works/ (accessed August 23, 2019).
system, Fuel Process. Technol. 105 (2013) 142–148, doi: 10.1016/j. [219] F.P. Incropera, P.J. Prescott, D.D. Voelkel, Hybrid systems for furnace waste heat
fuproc.2011.08.006. recovery: I. Use of a radiation recuperator with a Rankine cycle, J. Heat Recov.
[186] D.E.J. Talbot, DA. Granger, Secondary hydrogen porosity in aluminium, J. Inst. Syst. 5 (1985) 321–330, doi: 10.1016/0198-7593(85)90006-2.
Met. 92 (1963) 290–297. [220] W.D. Cotter, A Guide to Heat Exchangers for Industrial Heat Recovery, New York
[187] T.A. Engh, T. Pedersen, Removal of hydrogen from molten aluminium by gas State Energy Res Dev Auth, 1984.
purging, in: J.F. Grandfield, D.G. Eskin (Eds.), Essent. Readings Light Met., Vol. 3, [221] R. Beltran, Study of Radiative Recuperators Applied to High Temperature Furna-
Springer International Publishing, Cast Shop Alum. Prod. Cham, 2016, pp. 218– ces, Postgraduate, Federal University of Santa Catarina, 2017.
225, doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-48228-6_26. [222] H. Ray, B. Singh, S. Bhattacharjee, V.N. Misra, Energy in Minerals and Metallurgi-
[188] D. Kopeliovich, Degassing Treatment of Molten Aluminum Alloys n.d. http:// cal Industries, 1st ed., Allied Publishers Limited, Delhi, 2005.
www.substech.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=degassing_treatment_of_molten_a- [223] S.K. Patel, AR. Patel, Review paper on investigation of performance for shell and
luminum_alloys (accessed October 14, 2019). tube heat exchanger, Int. J. Adv. Eng. Res. Dev. 2 (2015) 552–556.
[189] B. Friedrich, C. Kr€autlein, K. Krone, Melt treatment of copper and aluminium - [224] PT. Surya Besindo Sakti. Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger n.d. https://www.sbs.co.
the complex step before casting. Contin. Cast. 2006:122. doi:10.1002/ id/index.php/products/shell-and-tube-heat-exchanger (accessed August 13,
9783527607969.ch1. 2019).
[190] R. Schwaiger, K. Gamweger, Porous plugs - A new generation of degassing tech- [225] X. Sun, An overview on piezoelectric power generation system for electricity gener-
nology in aluminium foundry ladles 2006;59:16972. ation, J. Power Energy Eng. 05 (2017) 11–18, doi: 10.4236/jpee.2017.52002.
[191] P. Froehlich, A Sustainable Approach to the Supply of Nitrogen, Parker Hannifin [226] K. Yazawa, A. Shakouri, Thermal optimization of embedded thermoelectric gen-
Corporation, 2013. erators in refractory furnaces, in: Proceedings of the 15th IEEE ITHERM Confer-
[192] Launch of on-site nitrogen and oxygen generators, Filtr 54 (2017) 12, doi: ence, 2016, pp. 1489–1493.
10.1016/s0015-1882(17)30021-6. [227] B.D. In, K.H. Lee, A study of a thermoelectric generator applied to a diesel engine,
[193] S. Bru€ ckner, S. Liu, L. Miro, M. Radspieler, L.F. Cabeza, E. La €vemann, Industrial Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. Part D J. Autom. Eng. 230 (2016) 133–143, doi: 10.1177/
waste heat recovery technologies: an economic analysis of heat transformation 0954407015576440.
technologies, Appl. Energy 151 (2015) 157–167, doi: 10.1016/j.ape- [228] V.I. Yarygin, V.V. Klepikov, Y.A. Meleta, A.S. Mikheyev, D.V. Yarygin, L.R. Wolff,
nergy.2015.01.147. Combustion heated cold seal TEC [thermionic energy convertor], in: Proceedings
[194] F. Kreith, R.M. Manglik, M.S. Bohn, Principles of Heat Transfer, 7th ed., Cengage of the IECEC, 1997, pp. 2264–2270.
Learning, Inc, Stamford, 2011. [229] K.A.A. Khalid, T.J. Leong, K. Mohamed, Review on thermionic energy converters, IEEE
[195] R.K. Shah, DP. Sekulic, Fundamentals of Heat Exchanger Design, 4, John Wiley & Trans. Electron. Devices 63 (2016) 2231–2241, doi: 10.1109/TED.2016.2556751.
Sons, Inc, 2003. [230] V. Viswanathan, R. Davies, J. Holbery, Opportunity Analysis for Recovering
[196] The National Productivity Council of India, United Nations Environment Pro- Energy from Industrial Waste Heat and Emissions, US Dep Energy, Washingt,
gramme, Waste Heat Recovery, 2006. 2006.
[231] Spirax Sarco, Steam Jet Thermocompressor n.d. https://beta.spiraxsarco.com/ [244] R. Evans, G.Guest, The Aluminium Decoating Handbook 2002.
global/en-US/products/heat-transfer-solutions/thermocompressors (accessed [245] T. Sung, E. Yun, H.D. Kim, S.Y. Yoon, B.S. Choi, K. Kim, et al., Performance charac-
September 16, 2019). teristics of a 200-kW organic Rankine cycle system in a steel processing plant,

[232] V. Karamarkovic, M. Marasevic, R. Karamarkovic, M. Karamarkovic, Recuperator Appl. Energy 183 (2016) 623–635, doi: 10.1016/J.APENERGY.2016.09.018.
for waste heat recovery from rotary kilns, Appl. Therm. Eng. 54 (2013) 470–480, nior, M.D.P. Arrieta, F.R.P. Arrieta, C.H.F. Silva, Assessment of a Kalina
[246] E.P.B. Ju
doi: 10.1016/J.APPLTHERMALENG.2013.02.027. cycle for waste heat recovery in the cement industry, Appl. Therm. Eng. 147
[233] D.S. Costa, D.F. Whipple, The use of regenerative burners systems to improve (2019) 421–437, doi: 10.1016/J.APPLTHERMALENG.2018.10.088.
aluminium melting efficiencies, in: Proceedings of the Aluminium Two Thou- [247] M.T. Børset, Ø. Wilhelmsen, S. Kjelstrup, O.S. Burheim, Exploring the potential
sand 5th World Congress Alum, 2003. Interall P. for waste heat recovery during metal casting with thermoelectric generators:
[234] R. Voyer, F. Caron, Energy efficiency of casthouse furnaces, Light Met. (2010) On-site experiments and mathematical modeling, Energy 118 (2017) 865–875,
651–655 n.d. doi: 10.1016/J.ENERGY.2016.10.109.
[235] Tipton Corp. Regenerative Burner Mechanism n.d. http://www.tipton.co.jp/ [248] P.J. Precott, FP. Incropera, Hybrid systems for furnace waste heat recovery: II.
english/sc/sc02.html (accessed August 12, 2019). Use of a convective recuperator with a Rankine cycle, J. Heat Recover Syst. 5
[236] Q. Chen, J. Swithenbank, V.N. Sharifi, Review of Industrial Condensing Boilers, (1985) 331–339.
Technology & Cost, 2010. [249] H. Caglayan, H. Caliskan, Energy, exergy and sustainability assessments of a
[237] P. Simeoni, G. Ciotti, M. Cottes, A. Meneghetti, Integrating industrial waste heat cogeneration system for ceramic industry, Appl. Therm. Eng. 136 (2018) 504–
recovery into sustainable smart energy systems, Energy 175 (2019) 941–951, 515, doi: 10.1016/J.APPLTHERMALENG.2018.02.064.
doi: 10.1016/J.ENERGY.2019.03.104. [250] L. Montorsi, M. Milani, M. Stefani, S. Terzi, Numerical analysis of the exhaust
[238] T. Arink, M.I. Hassan, Metal scrap preheating using flue gas waste heat, Energy gases recovery from a turbine CHP unit to improve the energy efficiency of a
Procedia 105 (2017) 4788–4795, doi: 10.1016/J.EGYPRO.2017.03.945. ceramic kiln, Therm. Sci. Eng. Prog. 5 (2018) 444–453, doi: 10.1016/J.
[239] E.F. Dell’Oste, Procedure and means for preheating scrap to be charged into a TSEP.2018.01.013.
smelting furnace. 4559629AUS, 1985. [251] B. Peris, J. Navarro-Esbrí, F. Moles, A. Mota-Babiloni, Experimental study of an
[240] J. Selvaraj, V. Harikesavan, Solar thermal preheating of metallic scraps in foun- ORC (organic Rankine cycle) for low grade waste heat recovery in a ceramic
dries, Int. J. Appl. Eng. Res. 10 (2015) 16693–16708. industry, Energy 85 (2015) 534–542, doi: 10.1016/J.ENERGY.2015.03.065.
[241] U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Tips - Process Heating, Tip Sheet #9, Com- [252] M. Nikolaisen, T. Andresen, Optimization of system operation and heat
bust. Technol. Man (2007). exchanger sizing in rankine cycles: a case study on aluminium smelter heat-to-
[242] I. Johansen, SI. Strømhaug, Energy control in primary aluminium casthouse fur- power conversion, in: Proceedings of the International Seminar ORC Power Sys-
naces, in: B.A. Sadler (Ed.), Light Met. 2013, Springer International Publishing, tem, 2019, p. 8.
Cham, 2016, pp. 935–939, doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-65136-1_159. [253] A.F. Castelli, C. Elsido, R. Scaccabarozzi, L.O. Nord, E. Martelli, Optimization of
[243] J.M. Migchielsen, J.D. De Groot, Design consideration for charge preheating organic rankine cycles for waste heat recovery from aluminum production
ovens, Miner Met. Mater. Soc. Annu. Meetign. Ans. Exhib. (2006) 737–740. plants, Front Energy Res. 7 (2019), doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2019.00044.
View publication stats

The Aluminium Industry: A Review On State-of-the-Art Technologies, Environmental Impacts and Possibilities For Waste Heat Recovery

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Aluminium Industry: A Review On State-of-the-Art Technologies, Environmental Impacts and Possibilities For Waste Heat Recovery

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Aluminium Industry: A Review On State-of-the-Art Technologies, Environmental Impacts and Possibilities For Waste Heat Recovery

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

The Aluminium Industry: A Review on State-of-the-Art Technologies,

Article in International Journal of Thermofluids · January 2020

Daniel Brough Hussam Jouhara

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

PVAdapt (H2020) View project

Pyrolysis View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Thermoﬂuids

The aluminium industry: A review on state-of-the-art technologies,

1. Introduction Moving forward, the conscientious use of natural resources should be

Nomenclature (Abbreviations and Acronyms)

Fig. 1. A schematic of the production process. Reproduced from [31].

Boehmite and diaspore : AlOðOHÞ þ Naþ þ OH

Fig. 4. An overview of the reﬁning process. Reproduced from [42].

Fig. 9. Eutrophication potential by process step, reproduced from [65].

Component Technology Type A Technology Type B € derberg Technology

Fluorides (wt.%) 10.9 15.5 18 Na3AlF6, NaF, CaF2

Inert anodes: A novel, industry changing concept being heavily

Parameter Søderberg Prebake Unit

CFB calciners (Fig. 19) have greater energy efﬁciency, up to 95%

Holding and alloying furnaces: Holding furnaces tend to be a form

4.3.2. Electric furnaces

Temperature/ °C 950 < 960 1050

avoid solidiﬁcation of the aluminium prior to or in the launder sys-

between 160-4,500 kg [96]. As no combustion occurs, there is a much

4.3.3. Casting technology

Purpose Melting Melting Melting/ Holding Melting Melting/ Holding

Cps = Speciﬁc heat at constant pressure (solid), J.kg-1.K-1.

overheated and the hydrogen becomes more soluble as temperature

There are two main methods of degassing [188]. Firstly, argon or

5. Heat recovery technologies with industrial applications

Limited literature is available on applied technologies within the

the art. It can be seen that literature on existing applications speciﬁ-

5.1. Heat exchangers

Heat exchangers are pieces of equipment that are designed to

5.1.1. Air preheaters

5.1.4. Heat pipe heat exchangers

Fig. 38. EcoReg regenerator, taken from [200].

Fig. 39. Diagram of a run around coil, taken from [203].

The choice of refrigerant is important depending on the heat source

released by condensing the refrigerant. The liquid refrigerant returns

Fig. 43. A selection of wick designs, reproduced from [214].

recuperator, convective recuperator, hybrid recuperator and ceramic

experimentally validated by Karamarkovic et al. [232]. The recupera-

5.4.2. Regenerative burners

Furnace Outlet temperature, °C. Combustion Air Preheat Temperature

204 °C 316 °C 427°C 538 °C 649 °C

1427 22% 30% 37% 43% 48%

Heat can be redirected for space heating purposes of adjacent ofﬁ-

Fig. 52. A steam jet thermocompressor. Provided by Spirax Sarco [231].

View publication stats

You might also like