Multivariable Feeding Control of Aluminum Reduction Process Using Individual Anode Current Measurement
Jing Shi, Yuchen Yao, Jie Bao, Maria Skyllas‐Kazacos, Barry J. Welch
Abstract
In the Hall-Héroult process, the alumina concentration and its distribution play an important role in determining the process efficiency, but it is difficult and costly to measure the concentration regularly. The recent advances in individual anode current measurement provide the possibilities to develop better control strategies and algorithms for alumina concentration. This paper presents a multivariable feeding control method, aiming to achieve a uniform distribution of alumina concentration, and hence improve cell operation. Also, the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is used to estimate the localized alumina concentration. The simulation results show that the proposed control strategy can significantly reduce the variations in alumina concentration compared to the traditional control method.