Analysis and modeling of alumina dissolution based on heat and mass transfer

基于传热传质的氧化铝溶解过程分析和建模（英文）

A comprehensive heat and mass transfer model of dissolution process of non-agglomerated and agglomerated alumina particles was established in an aluminum reduction cell. An appropriate finite difference method was used to calculate the size dissolution rate, dissolution time and mass of alumina dissolved employing commercial software and custom algorithm based on the shrinking sphere assumption. The effects of some convection and thermal condition parameters on the dissolution process were studied. The calculated results show that the decrease of alumina content or the increase of alumina diffusion coefficient is beneficial for the increase of size dissolution rate and the decrease of dissolution time of non-agglomerated particles. The increase of bath superheat or alumina preheating temperature results in the increase of size dissolution rate and the decrease of dissolution time of agglomerated particles. The calculated dissolution curve of alumina（mass fraction of alumina dissolved） for a 300 k A aluminum reduction cell is in well accordance with the experimental results. The analysis shows that the dissolution process of alumina can be divided into two distinct stages： the fast dissolution stage of non-agglomerated particles and the slow dissolution stage of agglomerated particles, with the dissolution time in the order of 10 and 100 s, respectively. The agglomerated particles were identified to be the most important factor limiting the dissolution process.

基于铝电解槽熔体内氧化铝溶解过程动力学机理,提出了综合的传热传质控制模型,以描述未结块和结块氧化铝颗粒的溶解过程。基于相关商业软件和自定义算法,并结合颗粒收缩核模型,采用合适的差分求解方法,对氧化铝颗粒溶解速率、溶解时间和溶解质量进行计算,探讨若干对流和热条件参数对氧化铝溶解过程的影响。结果表明:降低氧化铝浓度和增大氧化铝扩散速率可以增大未结块颗粒溶解速率,减少未结块颗粒溶解时间;提高电解质过热度和氧化铝预热温度可以增大结块颗粒溶解速率,减少结块颗粒溶解时间。对某300 k A铝电解槽内氧化铝溶解过程进行计算分析,得到的氧化铝溶解质量比例曲线数据与文献结果比较接近;氧化铝溶解过程主要分为两个阶段:未结块颗粒的快速溶解和结块颗粒的缓慢溶解,溶解时间数量级大小分别大约为10和100 s;结块颗粒是影响整个氧化铝溶解过程的最主要因素。