Economics of oxygen-based aluminum smelters

Furnace design and operating practices, including furnace size and shape, and burner design and location, strongly influence the performance of aluminum smelters. As today's market dictates the need to increase aluminum production with minimum capital investment, the use of oxygen-based combustion technology provides an economically attractive means of achieving this goal. A brief description of reverberatory furnace operation and a summary of economic calculations that justify this claim are presented herein.