1. Decision Science Forum
Simulating pot room logistics in
Aluminium Smelters
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November 9, 2011 Your presentation title 1

2. Aluminium Smelters
• What is an Aluminium Smelter?
• What is an Aluminium pot?
• KPI’s in Aluminium Industry
• The cost of Aluminium Production
• The role of logistics
• System Architecture
• Example
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3. Aluminium Smelter
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4. Aluminium Smelter
Continuous Production
with Discrete input and output
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5. Aluminium Production
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6. Product Line Aluminium smelters
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7. Hall Herault Process
No Cells Year Output mT
120 1960 <100.000
256 1980 < 180.000
365 1990 <365.000
720 2010 <1.500.000
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8. Hall Herault Process (cell stability)
CE Maintaining cell stability
'Smelters need to maintain stable operating conditions so that energy and
carbon are consumed in such a way that aluminium production is optimized
and greenhouse gas emissions are minimized,' says Dr Lwin, from CSIRO's
Mathematical and Information Sciences division.
 Cell operation is controlled by three variables:
– anode-cathode distance (ACD)
– alumina concentration in the cell bath
– and heat-balance in the cell.
 The control of these variables depends on
monitoring and assessment of measurable
signals:
– Cell resistance and/or voltage, meausred during the
electrolysis from the cell
'Abnormal patterns in the voltage signal, for example, trigger actions such as
varying the ACD, or breaking the crust of the cell and feeding it with
alumina.‘
kWh/T Preliminary results indicate that early warning alert systems for detecting
certain abnormal patterns are achievable
.
Dr Lwin says the signal analysis project team is collaborating with three major
aluminium companies.
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9. Typical KPI’s In Al Industry
• Current efficiencies : >95%
– Actual production per cell = Theoretical Production x CE/100
– Where Theoretical Production = Current x 0,08056 (Ton/Day)
• DC power consumption: <14 kwH/T
– kWH/kg = Volts/CE x 298
• Output Smelter:
– Output = Actual per cell x number of cells x 365
• Capital Charge: <$700/YT production
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10. The cost of Aluminium Production
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11. The cost of Aluminium Production
AVERAGE SMELTER RUSSIAN SMELTER EFFICIENT SMELTER
CE 95% 14kWh CE 91% 14,5kWH CE 98% 12,9kWh
Capital Charge $ 700,00 30,5% $ 250,00 13,4% $ 600,00 26,8%
Alumina LME TODAY
$ 528,00 23,0% $ 550,00 28,3% $ 511,00 24,5%
ALUMINIUM Prompt Date Buyer ($) Seller ($)
Energy $ 505,00 22,0% $ 480,00 25,8% $ 465,00 22,3%
Cash 03/11/2011 2,091.00 2,092.00
Carbon $ 275,00 12,0% $ 290,00 14,8% $ 266,00 12,7%
Labour $ 69,00 3,0% $ 69,00 3,7% $ 69,00 3,3%
Miscellaneous $ 218,00 9,5% $ 270,00 14,0% $ 218,00 10,4%
$ 2.295,00 100,0% $ 1.909,00 100,0% $ 2.089,00 100,0%
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12. The role of Discrete Logistics
•Economy of scale makes proven technologies
Run out of Time
•CE and KwH/T are dependent on accuracy in
time and space
But
• Industry focus is on further development of
High Amperage Hall Herault cells and capital
charge cost reduction.
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13. Discrete Logistics
AVERAGE SMELTER
CE 95% 14kWh
Evaluation
Capital Charge $ 700,00 30,5% of
Alumina $ 528,00 23,0% required equipment
Energy $ 505,00 22,0% Efficiency
Carbon $ 275,00 12,0%
and
Accuracy
Labour $ 69,00 3,0%
Miscellaneous $ 218,00 9,5%
$ 2.295,00 100,0%
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14. System Architecture
Scenario Navigator Simio
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15. System Architecture
MES interface
Cell Supervision &
demand Scheduling
safety
feet
RT
simulation Virtual Discrete
Demand
Soft
commissioning
Traffic control
HTC Maintenance
Control AGV energy
Fleet mgmt
simulation mgmt
Network
mgmt
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16. Demo
Please refer to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkV6zOt2F5g
for a movie of the simulation model
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