Articles from Auriga Magasinet No. 2, September 2006
More Skamol products for the aluminium industry
By expanding its product range to include complementary products for the aluminium industry, Skamol strengthens its global leading position. The products are made in China and the Czech Republic.
Skamol’s primary activity is sales to the global aluminium industry which requires large volumes of insulation products to maintain existing smelters and establish new facilities. Skamol is the leading supplier of insulation products for the global aluminium industry and markets its own products based on moler, perlite, calcium silicate and vermiculite. In recent years, the product programme has been extended to include silicon carbide bricks (Sical-78) and barrier bricks (Skamobar-69) produced by external collaboration partners but marketed exclusively by Skamol.
- Sical-78 is used to protect the steel sides of the electrolytic cells against corrosion from the electrolytic bath, while Skamobar-69 is used as a protective layer between the electrolytic bath and the insulation at the bottom of the electrolytic cells, explains Kurt Pedersen Kaalund, Managing Director of Skamol, about applications by the aluminium industry of the products.
Hydro Aluminium on a visit to Hexagon in China. The photograph shows the measuring
and registration of one of many Sical-78 blocks. In this way, the customer ensures
that the quality of the Sical-78 blocks complies with the agreed specifications.
Chinese manufacturer
Skamol’s collaboration partner and the manufacturer of Sical-78, the company Tangshan Hexagon Silicon Carbide, is situated near the town of Tangshan in China – a two-hour drive east of Beijing. Hexagon was founded in 1978, and collaboration with Skamol started in 2002.
- Sales have increased gradually since the early days, and this has meant investments in new production facilities for Hexagon, says Kurt Pedersen Kaalund. - In addition to boosting capacity sufficiently to meeting the increasing demand, the new equipment has also improved quality.
Skamol visits Hexagon regularly. Often international customers join these visits in order to gain first-hand experience of the quality assurance of deliveries. This ensures that both Hexagon and Skamol can keep abreast of developments and customer requirements.
Barrier bricks from the Czech Republic
The company PD Refractories is situated a three-hour drive east of Prague in the town of Velke Opatovice in the Czech Republic. PD Refractories is a modern company which has made ongoing investments in new production facilities and manufactures a number of fireproof products for industrial use.
Skamol’s collaboration with PD Refractories started in 2003 after the successful development by Skamol of a product capable of meeting the special requirements of the aluminium industry. Like Hexagon, Skamol conducts regular visits to its collaboration partner in the Czech Republic.
Most customers in the aluminium industry have currently approved Skamol as a supplier of Sical-78 and Skamobar-69. The market in the aluminium industry for these complementary products is considerably larger than the market for insulation products. In step with the winning of market share, the products will thus contribute to renewed growth for Skamol within this business area, Kurt Pedersen Kaalund concludes.
Aluminium
The illustration shows a cross-section of an electrolytic cell for the production of aluminium. The electrolytic cell consists of a large metal vessel typically measuring 8x12 metres with a base which is lined with insulation bricks and barrier bricks.
The inside of the vessel is lined with coal backfilling in combination with SIC blocks. Alumina powder is placed in the vessel. Alumina powder is a raw material which when heated is transformed into liquid aluminium. The substance is heated by sending a current from the anode through the bath to the cathode. The temperature in the bath is typically 960°C. The bath is highly aggressive, and the SIC blocks are therefore used to ensure that the sides of the vessel are not corroded by the bath.
The insulation bricks at the bottom reduce the loss of heat, which helps reduce energy consumption.
The liquid aluminium is tapped from the bath using a kind of vacuum cleaner while new alumina powder is added. After tapping, the liquid aluminium is cast into rods, bars or coils.
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