Abstract
Energy makes up a major portion of the controllable costs involved in melting aluminum. While technology such as regenerative burners and multi-chamber furnaces improve energy efficiency, these technologies are expensive and difficult to cost justify given current U.S. natural gas prices. Low cost methods to improve energy efficiency without high capital outlays include process optimization, better maintenance, and furnace settings. The burners on many furnaces are over-fired and poorly controlled. This case study shows the results from a trial made with different fire rates and control schemes on a round-top aluminum melting furnace.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
B. Golchert et al., “How Flames/Loads Interaction Affects Furnace Efficiency in Round Top Furnace Operation,” Recycling and Waste Processing, ed. M. Schlesinger (TMS, 2007), pp. 61–66.
C. Belt, “Save Money by Optimizing Your Fire Rate”, Industrial Heating, April 2014
M. Roy, V. Goutiere, C. Dupuis, “Implementation of a Global Casthouse Furnace Energy Efficiency Program at Rio Tinto Alcan”, Light Metals 2010, ed. J. Johnson (TMS,2010), pp.669–673.
C. Belt, R. Peterson, and D. Bequette, “Five Low Cost Methods to Improve Energy Efficiency on Reverberatory Furnaces”, Energy Technology 2010: Conservation, Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management, Alternative Energy Sources, ed. N. Neelameggham (TMS, 2010), pp. 71–79.
J. Wang, Y. Zhou, H. Yan, J. Zhou, “Computational Analysis of Thermal Process of a Regenerative Aluminum Melting Furnace”, Light Metals 2014, ed. J. Grandfield (TMS, 2014)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 TMS (The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Belt, C. (2016). Case Study on Round-Top Fire Rates. In: Williams, E. (eds) Light Metals 2016. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48251-4_126
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48251-4_126
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-48615-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-48251-4
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)