Can copper be the material for the collector bars?

摘要

The use of copper inserts in steel collector bars has proved to be an efficient way of improving the Hall-Heroult process. It helps to decrease the specific energy consumption and to improve the cell productivity. This paper presents a further step in which only copper conductors are used inside the carbon cathode. The feasibility was modelled, tested on a laboratory scale and measured in a real cell. The problems, advantages and potential of using 100 copper bars as current collectors inside the carbon blocks are discussed. Modelling results have been validated by measurements.