MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF INCREASING ANODE BAKING FURNACE PRODUCTIVITY

The need to support amperage creep in smelters requires an increase in anode baking furnace productivity. The furnace operation must be adapted to provide more anodes while maintaining adequate baking performance, minimizing energy consumption and assuring anode quality. To do so, the essential factors to optimize include the firing strategy to ensure the adequate baking level for a given fire cycle, fuel combustion efficiency and adequate cooling capability even at accelerated fire cycles and high ambient temperatures. Through the operation of 28 baking furnaces of differing technologies, tools have been developed to support this process. Simulations of firing and baking as a function of the fire cycle and key furnace design parameters such as anode size, pit width and flue design; injector combustion efficiency and cooling capability are now routinely used. Industrial examples are shown from a number of sites with varying baking technology that demonstrate the gains achieved.