Hycast I-60 SIR- a unique concept for inline metal refining

Idar Kjetil Steen1, Erling Myrbostad1, Arild Hakonsen1, Terje Haugen1 1 Hycast AS. Industrivn. 49 (P.O. Box 225); N-6600 (N-6601) Sunndalsra; Norway

Keywords: Inline metal refining, hydrogen, inclusions, operational experience Abstract Hycast AS, a 100% Hydro Aluminium AS subsidiary, developed a new generation of inline melt refining units (I-60 SIR) for the aluminium industry at the beginning of this decade A traditional gas fluxing principle combined with a unique reactor design eliminates disadvantages of the conventional inline refining systems available today. The I-60 SIR ( Siphon Inert Reactor) has shown a remarkable high and stable removal efficiency of hydrogen and inclusions from molten aluminium. The operational costs are very low due to low process gas (Argon) consumption, a drain free reactor and only 2 rotors in operation for a refining capacity of more than 65 metric tons per hour. The system is fully automated either as a standalone system or integrated in a superior control system. Installation and verification during the last 8 years in more than 70% of the actual casting lines in Hydro has been fulfilled, and the concept is now available for the international market. Introduction Hycast AS was established in 1990 as a spin off company from the Hydro Aluminium RTD Centre (Research and Technology Development) in Sunndalsra, Norway. The first products from Hycast offered to the aluminium casthouses was a family of inline filters called Hycast HI-20, Hycast HI-45, Hycast HI-70 an Hycast HI-80 (figure 1). These inline metal refining systems were based on a traditional designed reactor but with a unique patented rotor design for creating small and evenly distributed Argon bubbles in the melt and maintaining a calm metal surface to minimize inclusion re-entrainment [Myrbostad 1986] The rotor was in the form of a hollow cylinder with a hole in the bottom. When rotated in the reactor the melt was sucked up through the bottom hole and ejected through peripheral holes in the rotor wall together with the process gas. (Figure2)

Figure 2. Traditional Hycast rotor concept. The conventional Hycast inline melt refining units had a high removal efficiency of both inclusion and hydrogen combined with low operational cost. The main draw back for these traditional units was the metal content in the reactor between casts. When changing alloys the reactor had to be emptied (up to 1,8 metric tons), alternatively the idle metal volume in the reactor had to be heated between casts. The main idea behind the development of the I-60 SIR (Siphon Inert Reactor) was to develop a drain free reactor for minimizing casthouse costs, but still maintain high removal efficiency of inclusions. Since Hydro has very strict HSE requirements it was decided to develop a refining unit without the use of chlorine addition in the process gas. I-60 SIR Development To achieve a high impurity removal efficiency combined with low gas consumption, it is necessary to have a long residence time for the argon bubbles in the reactor and a calm metal surface without vortex formation. Long residence time means a high metal level above the gas distributing rotors. The reactor of the SIR is raised above the launder level, and the necessary metal height during operation is created by lowering the atmospheric pressure in the reactor by the use of a PLC controlled ejector system [Mland 2002]. Due to the negative pressure

Figure 1. Hycast HI-70, 3 rotor inline refining unit.

inside the reactor, the metal level inside the reactor will raise gradually until the preset height is reached. The negative pressure in the reactor is only possible to achieve when the rector is totally sealed from the outside atmosphere (Figure 3). A secondary but important effect of this is a minimum of dross formation on the metal surface and little or no back reaction of the Hydrogen removed from the melt. During operation the metal level in the reactor remains at a height of approximately 1100mm above the base of the launder which gives 50-60 % increased residence time for the bubbles compared to conventional reactor designs.

door a special gasket concept is used consisting of an inner metal seal and an outer air seal. The metal seal needs to be changed after the door is opened while the air seal is reusable. When combining the drain free reactor design with bottom installed rotor and a high metal level, the Hycast I-60 SIR refining unit represents a technological step change in inline melt refining for the aluminium industry.

Figure 3. I-60 SIR installed at HA Sunndal. Another important feature with the SIR is the bottom installed rotors (Figure 4). Normally rotors are connected to a driving device by a shaft installed from the upper side down through the liquid metal surface. When spinning the rotors creates a vortex around the shafts on the metal surface. This increases the probability of re-entrainment of inclusions into the melt.

Figure 5. Drawing of I-60 SIR with the door in open position. The first I-60 SIR unit was implemented into regular production at the Hydro Aluminium Sunndal extrusion ingot casthouse in 2001. Currently the refining unit is implemented and in daily operation in 35 casting lines at Hydro Aluminium and Hydro Aluminium partners world wide. Hycast as has developed a wide range of equipment for aluminium casthouses. All equipment units are implemented and verified both in remelt and primary casthouses. The commercial product portfolio at Hycast for external sales is as follows: Hycast GC: Casting system for extrusion ingot. Hycast RAM: Removal of Alkaline Metals Hycast RF: Rod Feeder (grain refiner rod feeding). Hycast Launder System: L-20, L-45 & L-80(Mt/h), with insulated lids and preheating options. Hycast CCS: Casting Control System (automation system) Hycast CMV: Casting Machine Vertical (Hydraulic casting machine for DC casting) Hycast I-60 SIR: Inline melt refining unit. Hycast Rolling Slab Casting System

Figure 4. Principal sketch of bottom installed rotors in I-60 SIR. From [Mland 2002] Removal of dross buildup from the reactor is performed at regular intervals between casts. A large door in the reactor front gives easy access for cleaning of the reactor interior (figure5). To achieve an air and metal tight seal between the reactor and the

Operational Experience Together with metallurgical performance, the investment and operational cost are important issues for casthouses when implementing new production equipment. Table I shows the relative cost improvement for an I-60 SIR compared with a traditional inline refining unit with static metal capacity and comparable metal treatment capacity.

As the table shows the largest improvement factor on cost are on capital cost and the lack of drain metal. Table I. Relative cost improvements to the conventional de-gasser Hycast I-70 IR. Cost factor Capital cost Argon gas Electrical energy Rotors Lining Other consumables Maintenance Drained metal SUM cost I-60 SIR 0,18 0,03 0,04 0,03 0,06 0,06 0,13 0,00 0,53 I-70 IR 0,36 0,06 0,06 0,02 0,06 0,06 0,13 0,25 1,00

if necessary. Heating between casts is normally not necessary if the time between two casts is kept shorter than 4 hours. The rated maximum power on the heating system is 45kWh. Reactor cleaning frequency The frequency for opening the main door for reactor cleaning has to be adapted locally based on metal chemistry (alloy), charge size and metal base input. A typical reactor cleaning frequency is once every second day (15-30 casts). However other cleaning intervals have been experienced. Alloy and product range. The refining unit is currently in use for the production of: Rolling slabs, Extrusion ingot and Primary foundry alloys. Typical alloys produced are: AA 1000-series, AA 3000-series, AA 5000-series, AA 6000 series and AA 8000 series.

Removal Efficiency The I-60 SIR units in operation world wide are today treating more than 2 mill tons of aluminium pr year. The unit has been implemented both in greenfield primary and remelting casthouses, and also implemented in existing casting lines. The small footprint and short installation time has proven to be an important issue especially for brownfield installations. The strong HSE focus in Hydro Aluminium Casthouses involves minimizing the use of chemical substances harmful for the internal / external environment. For primary plants it is necessary to reduce the content of Sodium/ Calcium in the pot-room metal before casting. Since it was decided not to use chlorine gas or chlorine based salt in the SIR I-60 or in the furnaces, it is necessary to remove alkaline metals before the metal is poured into the furnace. For this purpose Hydro Primary Casthouses are using at pretreatment system called RAM (Removal of Alkaline Metals). The system is based on injection of AlF3 through a rotor when the metal is in the transport crucible [Rasch 1998]. Drain free Compared with a traditional unit with idle metal capacity, the main improvement on the operational cost is the lack of drain metal. A traditional unit with a capacity of handling 65Mt/h had an idle capacity of approximately 2Mt. In casthouses with frequent alloy changes the reactor had to be drained up to 600 times per year per casting line! This means that 1200 Mt of metal per casting line had to be handled as internal scrap and remelted. Less time for reactor cleaning and maintenance has also helped to minimize the cycle times and thereby increase the total casthouse capacity. Gas consumption Typical gas consumption (Argon) for the unit is 150Nl/mt of liquid metal. This is 40% less than for state of the art conventional inline units for comparable removal rates. Small bubble size, good mixing and long residence time for the bubbles in contact with the metal are the main reasons for the low usage of process gas. Inclusion removal In [Hkonsen 2004] an analytical solution for the removal efficiency of inclusions in the I-60 SIR unit was derived:
& V D 9Q g R p E = 1 exp 2 & 2 Q m AR Db Equation 1

Here VR is the volume of the melt inside the reactor, Dp is the inclusion diameter, Db is the gas bubble diameter, AR is the & is horizontal cross-section area of the metal inside the reactor, Q m

& is the volume the metal volume flux through the reactor and Q g flux of gas.
Note that the removal efficiency according to this equation is independent on the rice velocity of the bubbles, and the number density of particles present in the melt. Since it is normal to keep the gas-flow/metal-flow ratio constant the removal efficiency should according to (1) be mass flow independent if the average bubble diameter is constant. The only real online quantitative measuring method of inclusion size distributions in melt, is the LiMCA method, see e.g. [Cooksey 2001]. Using the LIMCA method is difficult post refining units since the micro-bubbles created within the reactors influence the measurements. This problem may to some extent be reduced by using an extension probe, see [Cooksey 2001]. In [Hkonsen 2004] the removal efficiency of inclusion within the I60 SIR unit was measured using LiMCA II and the extension probe (post the unit) for a wide range of melt flows (10-63mt/h). In addition a statistical method was applied to eliminate noise from the micro-bubbles, this is especially important for inclusion sizes less than 40m. The result from this work is shown in Figure 6.

Heating system A electrical Hot air heating system is used for gentle heating of the Reactor refractory lining before startup and between the casts

1 0,9 0,8
Analytical Db=10mm

0,7
E=1-Nout/Nin

0,6 0,5 0,4 0,3 0,2 0,1 0 0 20

Analytical Db=5mm Average Q=10mt/h Average Q=20mt/h Average Q=30mt/h Average Q=52mt/h Average Q=60mt/h

40
Dp (m)

60

80

100

Conclusions Hycast has successfully developed and implemented a new drain free inline melt refining unit (Hycast I-60 SIR) for aluminium casthouses. The unit has a unique design with two bottom assembled rotors positioned at the same level as the bottom of the launder. A PLC controlled ejector system is used for creating the necessary negative-pressure in the reactor to achieve the defined metal level in the reactor. The two rotor system is fully automated and has a treatment capacity of more than 65 Mt/h. Extensive measurement campaign in production casthouses (both primary and remelt) has reviled very high removal rates of hydrogen and inclusions. The I-60 SIR inline melt refining unit is at the moment implemented in 35 casting lines in Hydro.

Figure 6. Measured removal efficiency versus inclusion diameter compared to (1) for two bubble sizes. Taken from [Hkonsen 2004]. Hydrogen removal Several measuring campaigns using the Alscan method where performed to validate the performance of the I-60 SIR unit whit respect to Hydrogen removal. Figure 7 sums up some of these measurements for a wide range of metal flow rates (10-63mt/h). The removal efficiency is dependent of the absolute level of dissolved Hydrogen. This is due to thermodynamic reasons and is therefore the case for all de-gassing technologies. The performance demonstrated in Figure 7 is for a gas usage of 150Nl/Mt metal. The Hydrogen removal efficiency may be increased by increasing the gas amount, but this is normally not necessary since the typical industrial requirement for Hydrogen content in DC cast products is 0,17cc/100gAl. The necessary removal efficiency to obtain this out-level of Hydrogen is shown as the red line in Figure 7.
1 0,9 0,8 0,7 E=1-Hout/Hin 0,6 0,5 0,4 0,3 0,2 0,1 0 0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 Hin (ml/100g)
Q=10mt/h Q=25mt/h Q=52mt/h Q=63mt/h Best fit E(Hout=0.17ml/100g)

References [Myrbostad 1986], E. Myrbostad et al., The SV Inline system for refining of aluminium, Light Metals, 1986 pp. 861-866
[Rasch 1998], Bjrn Rasch, et. Al, Refining of pot-room metal using the Hydro RAM Crucible fluxing process, Ligth Metals , 1998, pp. 851-854 [Mland 2002], Geir Mland et. Al., Hycast I-60 SIR- a new generation inline melt refining system Light Metals 2002,pp 855859 [Hkonsen 2004], A. Hkonsen et al., "The Pick-up of Micro Bubbles During LiMCA Measurements Post an Inline Gas Fluxing Unit", Light Metals, 2004, pp.749-754. [Cooksey 2001], M. Cooksey, T. Ware and M. J. Couper, "Effect of pressure cycle and extension probe on LiMCA measurement of inclusions", Light Metals, 2001, pp.965-971.

Figure 7. Measured Hydrogen removal efficiency versus the inlet level of Hydrogen. Measurements are performed by the Alscan method. The Q-values in the legends refer to the flow rate in (Mt/h).