DESIGN OF EXPERIMENT TO MINIMIZE FLUORIDE AND PARTICULATE EMISSIONS AT ALUMAR

Most of Aluminum plants have been struggling to minimize the fluoride and particulate emissions at the main source, which is the pot rooms, in order to reduce the environmental impacts. Nowadays, this challenge has been more difficult to be reached because of some reasons, such as: amperage increase, alumina quality deterioration and pot room expansions. Alumar, one of Alcoa's units, following a corporate vision, is continuously searching for alternatives to eliminate or reduce the environmental impact caused by operations. Many actions and studies arc in place currently. This full factorial experiment 2(k) was done in order to identify the main factors and their impacts on fluoride and particulate emissions. The statistical model is showing that the fluoride emission has been affected mainly by Pot Draft, Pot Dressing, and the Usage of Compressed air for Housekeeping with R-2 at 82%, and for particulate at 58%. Based on the models, certain actions were recommended to minimize both of these emissions. In addition, this paper describes, step by step, how this kind of experiment can be applied to the Aluminum industry