Restart of Albras’ Potline 2—Improving Performance and Changing Paradigms

In February 2022, Albras had a potline freeze due to a power outage, shutting down 223 pots (the number of pots operating at the time). After 5 months, Albras was able to return 100% of the pots to operationOperations and production levels are back to normal. The early failure rate was a record low of 5% when considering a restart under such conditions, with only 12 failures. During the restart campaign, there were few thermal excursions above 1000 °C (daily average at 5.5). Average acidity was kept below 4% during the first 5 days of pot operationOperations. Originally expected to end in late November, the work was concluded in July, four months in advance, without any safetySafety incidents. The aim of this work is to describe the steps leading to what has become the most successful restart in Albras’ history in terms of schedule completion, success rate, process consistency, operational stability, and human capital development.