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November 2, 2007
Alcoa bakes $89m upgrade
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Alcoa Point Henry’s $89m carbon bake upgrade has been completed on schedule, with commissioning of the rebuilt facility scheduled for early November.
The project marks a key milestone for the ongoing sustainability of Alcoa's Point Henry operations and is the most significant investment by the company in Victoria for over 15 years. The upgrade will help maintain production levels and significantly improve environmental performance.
In the carbon bake, anodes (which are an integral component used in the smelting pots to produce molten aluminium) are placed in an underground furnace and ‘baked’ up to a temperature of 1120ºC over a period of two weeks. The baking process removes any impurities that may be contained in the raw or ‘green’ anodes and hardens them so they can withstand the extreme conditions inside the smelting pots.
The $89m upgrade of the carbon bake involved extending the length of the furnace, removing 1000 truckloads of used refractory bricks, repairing the ‘tub’ which lines the furnace and laying new refractory bricks to form 384 individual baking pits that can each hold 18 anodes. A new crane was purchased, a number of other cranes and anode handling equipment were refurbished, and a significant amount of electrical work and cabling was undertaken.
The fume treatment centre, called the carbon bake scrubber, was also upgraded as part of the project. This upgrade will assist Alcoa to deliver significant environment improvements as a result of the majority of the structure being replaced with new improvement components. These improvements are expected to decrease scrubber downtime, allow online maintenance, a higher draft capacity and a reduction in required cleaning from three times per year to once.
Alcoa Point Henry Smelter manager Jenny Purdie has paid tribute to the people involved in the project.
“I am extremely proud to have been here to observe the dedication and commitment of the carbon bake upgrade team,” said Jenny
“The carbon bake upgrade is a major project that is vital to the long-term sustainability and improved environmental performance of our Point Henry operations,” she added.
For further information contact:
Joanne Forssman
Community Relations Officer
Alcoa Point Henry
Ph: 0404 800 737
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