02.11.2015
RUSAL tests the newest RA-550 pot
Moscow, 2 November 2015 – UC RUSAL (SEHK: 486; Euronext: RUSAL/RUAL; Moscow Exchange: RUAL/RUALR), a leading global aluminium producer, announces the completion of engineering works and the preparation of a testing site for the world’s most powerful RA-550 reduction cell. The first cell is expected to be commissioned in the 3rd quarter 2016.
The purpose of developing the RA-550 cell is to achieve breakthrough levels of technical and economic performance in aluminium smelting. According to estimates, the new cell will have a 50-80% higher productivity compared to the older RA-300 and RA-400 cell designs, reaching over 4 tonnes of metal a day. Also, the new technical solutions to evacuate pot gases will improve the pot sealing coefficient, enabling better environmental efficiency compared to older designs.
RA-550 design was started as a project by RUSAL’s Engineering and Technology Centre in 2007. Today a pilot potroom at the Sayanogorsk aluminium smelter is assembling engineering structures and busbars in a test production area, a substation has been built, and booster units have been installed. Fabrication of pot components has been launched, too.
‘RA-550 is a reduction cell with a breakthrough design for future smelters and upgrade projects at RUSAL’s existing smelting capacities. Alongside the technical and process standards, it is a compulsory requirement for any modern production facility to comply with health and safety standards and to minimize hazardous emissions into the atmosphere. So all technological processes involving RA-550 cells are supported by the most advanced process control systems’, says Viktor Mann, RUSAL’s Technical Director. ‘Back in the days it was SAZ that tested the RA-300 technology and brought RA-300 cells, which were later installed at the Khakass and Boguchansky aluminium smelters, into full scale industrial production. For many years the Company has been investing in the development of proprietary technology – no further development or retention of competitive advantages is possible without it. Moreover, with new technology at hand we can enter external technological design markets, too.’
The purpose of developing the RA-550 cell is to achieve breakthrough levels of technical and economic performance in aluminium smelting. According to estimates, the new cell will have a 50-80% higher productivity compared to the older RA-300 and RA-400 cell designs, reaching over 4 tonnes of metal a day. Also, the new technical solutions to evacuate pot gases will improve the pot sealing coefficient, enabling better environmental efficiency compared to older designs.
RA-550 design was started as a project by RUSAL’s Engineering and Technology Centre in 2007. Today a pilot potroom at the Sayanogorsk aluminium smelter is assembling engineering structures and busbars in a test production area, a substation has been built, and booster units have been installed. Fabrication of pot components has been launched, too.
‘RA-550 is a reduction cell with a breakthrough design for future smelters and upgrade projects at RUSAL’s existing smelting capacities. Alongside the technical and process standards, it is a compulsory requirement for any modern production facility to comply with health and safety standards and to minimize hazardous emissions into the atmosphere. So all technological processes involving RA-550 cells are supported by the most advanced process control systems’, says Viktor Mann, RUSAL’s Technical Director. ‘Back in the days it was SAZ that tested the RA-300 technology and brought RA-300 cells, which were later installed at the Khakass and Boguchansky aluminium smelters, into full scale industrial production. For many years the Company has been investing in the development of proprietary technology – no further development or retention of competitive advantages is possible without it. Moreover, with new technology at hand we can enter external technological design markets, too.’
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