Combining New and Old Cathode Block Assembly to Increase the Lifetime of Pot at INALUM

The pot relining methodMethod at INALUM is divided into two methodsMethod, namely, a full repair and a partial repair. The partial repair methodMethod has a weakness; when a cracked cathodeCathode block is found, this methodMethod cannot be implemented and has to continue with the full repair methodMethod. Improvements were made in 2021 to replace several damaged cathodeCathode blocks with new ones, combine the new cathodeCathode blocks with the old ones, and continue the partial repair work instead of having to switch to full repair work. The application test of the new partial repair methodMethod was carried out on pot R-117. The average operational parameters from the test pot show similar performance to a reference pot. The partially repaired pot managed to get an additional 2 years of age and a cost savingsCost Saving of 109,725 USD. Moreover, the application of a new partial repair reduces the potential generation of spent pot lining (SPL) by approximately 50 tons per pot.