Kan-nak SA

When the electrical current flows through a reduction cell, it is used to electrolyse the alumina and heat up the cell, in order to melt the bath that serves as a solvent for the alumina.

As for MHD aspects, it is also crucial to have a good thermal design. The first issue that comes to mind is the protection of the cell integrity by the right amount of side ledge, but of course many aspects are important, related to energy consumption, cell operation and stability.

Thermal modelling relies on a relatively straightforward physical model, in which electic potential and temperature are jointly solved in a stationary way (so-called thermo-electric models, TE).

When designing a reduction cell, it is most interesting to take both thermal and MHD aspects into account, because one will affect the other. It is thus important that the thermal design goes hand in hand with the MHD design.