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Advanced technologies applied throughout the process to gain efficiencies, improve quality, and enhance business performance.
Aluminum manufacturing methods and processes must evolve with increasing speed to accommodate market demands, competitive pressures, new economic realities and governmental regulations. Thermo Fisher Scientific continues to be your most trusted industry partner in developing and applying technologies that improve the aluminum production processes with a focus on increasing your profitability.
Emissions analysis
Our Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (CEMS) monitor a complete spectrum of process gases during various stages of production, including but not limited to: SO2, NOx, CO, CO2, H2S, TRS, THC, Hg, O2, HCl, and Total Sulfur using a combination of technologies, depending on your requirements for elemental detection and measurement. These technologies can include Nondispersive Infrared (NDIR), used to measure carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, HCl, and other infrared-absorbing gases; Chemiluminescence for the measurement of nitrogen-based compounds; Pulsed Fluorescence for the determination of SO2; Flame Ionization Detection (FID) for hydrocarbons measurement to meet the criterion of USEPA Methods 25A and 25B; Atomic Fluorescence; transmissometers for opacity monitoring; cross-stack and in-stack ultrasonic monitors for determining flow of gas stream; and full extractive and dilution extractive probes.
Using a combination of these technologies, you can achieve compliance with regulatory guidelines while meeting your own specific air quality monitoring needs. These systems are designed to meet US EPA 40CFR Parts 60 and 75 standards while providing unsurpassed sensitivity, accuracy and reliability.
Laboratory automation
Aluminum manufacturers can further drive process control and efficiencies in their applications with laboratory automation technologies. Both OES and XRF spectrometers can be fully automated to increase throughput, improve analysis accuracy, and decrease costs. This level of automation delivers a complete laboratory workflow solution and can reduce response times, increase sample processing cadence, and improve the availability of automatic sample preparation in highly critical production control environments.
Optical Emission Spectrometry (OES)
Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) uses Arc/Spark excitation to perform rapid elemental analysis of solid metallic samples, from trace to percent element concentration levels. This technique meets the most demanding analytical needs of metallurgical industries and analysis laboratories, from production control to R&D, and from incoming material inspection to scrap sorting. OES metal analyzers can also be used for fast, online evaluation of non-metallic micro-inclusions.
Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis/Pulsed Fast Thermal Neutron Activation (PGNAA/PFTNA)
PGNAA and PFTNA are noncontact, non-destructive analytical techniques used in online analysis systems to determine the elemental composition of materials. Both techniques are known collectively as neutron activation analysis and function by bombarding materials with neutrons.
Used for real-time quality control in process optimization, PGNAA/PFTNA provides high frequency online elemental analysis, delivering minute-by-minute, uniform measurement of the entire material stream, not just a sample. Aluminum manufacturers can benefit from this technology to enhance quality control and improve process efficiencies.
In addition, using PGNAA/PFTNA to analyze the incoming coal delivers valuable information on levels of sulfur, moisture, total ash, calorific value, ash elemental concentration, and other critical parameters. This information is used to help maximize the use of resources, enable optimal blending for precise burn and temperature requirements, and reduce pollutants.
Process Mass Spectrometry
A key requirement in aluminum production is to ensure furnaces operate at maximum efficiency. Analysis of the off-gas from the furnace is a vital part of the process control strategy to control and optimize the conversion of carbon-to-carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Process mass spectrometers provide real time off-gas analysis data to furnace control systems and dynamic control models, resulting in significant process benefits.
The ability to measure a wide range of components on a single analyzer, coupled with advanced calibration, data transmission, and self-diagnostic software, makes the modern mass spectrometer ideal for integration into the plant. On blast furnaces, superior gas analysis is used to calculate gas efficiency, mass & heat balances, and heat profiles through probe analysis, as well as being an essential tool in the early detection of cooling water leaks and sample system failures.
Radiation detection
Infinitely recyclable aluminum has led to a supply chain where more than 80% of US production today comes from recycled (or secondary) aluminum. Since it is often produced from scrap metal, where medical equipment or other industrial items that contain radioactive sources could be part of the bundle, it must be carefully screened to prevent radioactive material from contaminating the scrap metal recycling stream.
Radiation detection technology used in scrap metal recycling includes portal monitoring systems for incoming raw materials and handheld radiation detection devices which provide real time detection of gamma radiation with accurate dose rate measurements, verification of the radioactive material founded, and assess whether radioactivity is of natural or artificial (man-made) origin. Portable devices with high gamma and neutron sensitivity ensure a fast response to alarm thresholds can be worn to monitor gamma sensitivity and energy compensated dose rate measurement.
Thickness and coating weight measurement
Non-contact and non-destructive thickness and coating weight measurements are needed to achieve high product quality and maximum productivity. Online thickness and coating weight gauges for hot- and cold-rolling mills provide precise, real-time measurements during high-speed production of aluminum sheet.
X-ray Fluorescence (XRF, EDXRF, WDXRF)
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy is a non-destructive analytical technique used to determine the elemental composition of materials. XRF analyzers work by measuring the fluorescent (or secondary) X-rays emitted from a sample getting irradiated by a primary X-ray source. Each of the elements present in a sample produces a set of characteristic fluorescent X-rays lines like a fingerprint. These fingerprints are distinct for each element, making XRF spectroscopy an excellent tool not only for qualitative analysis but also for quantitative measurements when processing the intensity of the emitted lines. In aluminum production, XRF is used for analysis of raw materials, slags, and alloys. Critically, XRF used in combination with XRD enables process control of the aluminum electrolysis process.
A convenient front-end analysis tool, EDXRF (energy-dispersive XRF) enables quick and easy analysis of even irregular samples with little-to-no sample preparation. WDXRF (wavelength-dispersive XRF), meanwhile, is the standard test method for a wide range of applications due to its outstanding sensitivity and high resolution.
X-ray Diffraction (XRD)
Quickly obtain detailed phase and structural information of your crystalline materials using X-ray diffraction (XRD), a versatile and nondestructive analytical technique. The discovery of X-ray diffraction (Bragg’s Law) enabled physicists, chemists, material scientists and metallurgists to study structure-property relationships leading to a multitude of new discoveries in materials science and technology.
While X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis determines the elemental composition of a sample, it does not provide information about how the various elements are combined together. Such mineralogical information is only available through X-ray diffraction. XRD permits analysis of the phases or compounds in crystalline materials such as bauxite rocks, purified oxides and complex fluorides. In a typical crystalline sample, XRF might measure for example the total Al concentration. In the same sample, XRD takes the analysis a stage further and gives information about Al(OH)3, Al2O3, AlF3 contents and other Al phases.
Additionally, XRD allows to conveniently determine the quality of calcined petroleum coke which is the most common electrode material in Al electrolysis by determining the crystallite size Lc.
For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.