Anode Paste for Use in Soderberg-Type Electrolytic Furnace for Aluminum

(1) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an anode paste for use in the electrolytic furnace for aluminum, and particularly, relates to an anode paste for use in Soderberg-type electrolytic furnace for aluminum.

(2) Description of the Prior Art

The anode paste for use in the anode of Soderberg-type electrolytic furnace for aluminum is usually prepared by pulverizing cokes such as calcined pitch cokes or petroleum cokes to obtain pulverized cokes as an aggregate, adding a suitable amount of a binder such as tar pitch to the aggregate, kneading the thus formed mixture to be a paste-like state, and solidifying the paste-like mixture into a briquette-like shape. The thus prepared anode paste is put into the electrolytic furnace from the upper part of the anode in an amount corresponding to the amount of consumption thereof at the lower surface of the anode and then the anode paste constitutes the baked carbon anode while gradually moving downwards with the consumption of the anode by the electrolysis.

As the important items in the performance of carbon anode formed by baking the paste during the electrolysis shown above, the following three points are mentioned.

(1) The carbon anode should have high electrical conductivity.

(2) The amount of consumption of carbon by electrolysis should be small.

(a) On the following two reactions, the amount of consumption of carbon due to the secondary reaction should be small (in other words, the secondary reaction difficultly occurs).

(b) The amount of anode carbon which disintegrates as a floating carbon on the surface of electrolytic bath should be small.

(3) The contact between the spike and the anode should be favorable (there are occasions where anode carbon cracks due to the thermal expansion of the spike and to the contraction of the anode paste during the baking step to make the contact between the spike and the carbon poor.).

Usually, the above-mentioned performances of the anode depends on the composition of the aggregate, the composition of the binder, the amount of them and the like. However, the relationship between the performance of the anode and such a factor has not been satisfactorily clarified.

The present inventors have made studies on the anode paste which is able to maintain the above-mentioned performances as the anode in suitable state, and as a result, have found that the anode of extremely favorable performances can be formed by maintaining the particle size-distribution of the aggregate in a specified range, and have attained the present invention.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an anode paste for use in the electrolytic furnace for aluminum. Another object of the present invention is to provide an anode paste for use in Soderberg-type electrolytic furnace for aluminum.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an anode paste which is able to form an anode for the electrolytic furnace for aluminum, in which the anode has high electrical conductivity, shows a small consumption of carbon thereof in electrolysis, and is small in thermal contraction or shrinkage during baking.

An anode paste for use in Soderberg-type electrolytic furnace for aluminum, comprising an aggregate and a binder, wherein the aggregate contains 20 to 35% by weight of coke particles of a size of smaller than 0.08 mm and the weight ratio of the coke particles of a size of 0.2 to 2.0 mm to the coke particles of a size of smaller than 0.08 mm is 0.5 to 1.3 in the aggregate, is provided by the present invention.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a graph showing a relationship between the content of the particles of a size of smaller than 0.08 mm in the aggregate and the amount of consumption of anode carbon in electrolysis.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing a relationship between the content of the particles of a size of smaller than 0.08 mm in the aggregate and the rate of contraction of the anode during the baking in electrolysis.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing a relationship between the weight ratio of the particles of a size of 0.2 to 2 mm to the particle of a size smaller than 0.08 mm in the aggregate and the specific electrical resistance of the anode.

The present invention will be explained in detail as follows.

As the aggregate used in the anode paste according to the present invention, pitch coke, oil coke and the like can be mentioned.

The relative contents of the particles of different sizes in the aggregate of the present invention are as follows: (1) the content of the particles of a size of smaller than 0.08 mm is 20 to 35% by weight of the aggregate and (2) the weight ratio of the particles of a size of 0.2 to 2 mm to the particles of a size of less than 0.08 mm is 0.5 to 1.3.

As has been shown above, the aggregate is mixed and kneaded with a binder such as a tar pitch to be a paste. There is an optimum value in the amount of the binder to be compounded with the aggregate, and it is preferable to use at least an amount of the binder sufficient to wet the surfaces of all the particles of the aggregate. The amount of the binder used in the present invention is preferably, 20 to 32% by weight of the sum of the weights of the aggregate and the binder, and it is more preferable to be 22 to 26% by weight.

In the present invention, by controlling the content of the particles of a size of smaller than 0.08 mm in the aggregate to be 20 to 35% by weight, the amount of consumption of anode carbon during electrolysis is effectively maintained at a low level, and this is clearly seen in FIG. 1 which shows the relationship between the content of the particles of a size of smaller than 0.08 mm in the aggregate and the consumed amount of anode carbon in electrolysis.

In FIG. 1, the content of the particles of a size of smaller than 0.08 mm in the aggregate was taken in the abscissa (as percentage by weight) and the consumption of anode carbon in the actual operation of electrolysis as compared to the theoretical consumption of anode carbon as 100 percent while taking the current efficiency and the evaporation of carbon into account was taken in the ordinate, and as is seen in FIG. 1, the consumed amount of anode carbon by electrolysis for aluminum is maintained at a low level in the case where the content of the particles of a size of smaller than 0.08 mm is 20 to 35% by weight of the aggregate, preferably 23 to 27% by weight, and particularly suitable at around 25% by weight.

The content of the particles of a size of less than 0.08 mm in the aggregate gives a large effect on the rate of contraction during the formation of anode carbon from the carbon paste by baking and dominates the contact between the spike and the thus formed anode.

It is considered that the rate of contraction of the anode of less than 0.3% gives a favorable contact. According to FIG. 2 wherein the rate of contraction of anode is taken in the ordinate and the content (% by weight) of the particles of a size of less than 0.08 mm in the aggregate was taken in the abscissa, the rate of contraction of anode carbon during the baking is nearly 0.1 to 0.25% in the case where the content of the particles of a size of smaller than 0.08 mm is 20 to 35% by weight of the aggregate. Accordingly, it is clearly understood that the content of the particles of a size of smaller than 0.08 mm in the aggregate according to the present invention can maintain the rate of contraction of anode carbon during the baking in a favorable range.

The weight ratio of the particles of a size of 0.2 to 2 mm to the particles of a size of smaller than 0.08 mm in the aggregate has an influence on the electrical conductivity of the anode prepared thereof. FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the electrical conductivity of the anode and the above-mentioned weight ratio, in which the content of the particles of a size of smaller than 0.08 mm is maintained at 20 to 35% by weight of the aggregate, while taking the weight ratio in the abscissa and taking the specific electrical resistance of the anode in the ordinate. As is clearly seen in the graph of FIG. 3, in the case where the weight ratio is 0.5 to 1.3, particularly 0.7 to 1.0, the specific electrical resistance of the anode is small enough to maintain the electrical conductivity of the anode in a favorable range.

In the present invention, the rest of the aggregate other than those of a size of smaller than 0.08 mm and those of a size in the range of 0.2 to 2 mm is preferably of a size of less than 12 mm.

In the case where the anode paste according to the present invention is used, it is possible to form the anode for use in the electrolytic furnace for aluminum, which has high electrical conductivity, and can maintain a favorable contact to the spike with a small consumption of carbon thereof in electrolysis.

The present invention will be explained more in detail while referring to the following non-limitative examples showing the concrete mode.

Operation of a Soderberg-type electrolytic furnace for aluminum was carried out while using the following two series of anode pastes, i.e., the one for Example and the other for Comparative example. The composition of the anode pastes, i.e., the composition of the aggregate (pitch coke) and the amount of the binder (pitch) was shown in Table with the the results of the operation of electrolysis.

As are seen in Table, a remarkable effect of improvement has been attained by using the anode paste according to the present invention.