Aluminium electrowinning cells having a drained cathode bottom and an aluminium collection reservoir

摘要

A cell for the electrowinning of aluminium has a cell bottom that comprises: a series of carbon cathode blocks (25) having an aluminium-wettable upper surface (22); aluminium-wettable openly porous plates (21) which are placed on the upper surfaces of the carbon cathode blocks and which are filled with molten aluminium to form an aluminium-wetted drained active cathode surface (20) above the upper surfaces of the carbon cathode blocks ; and a recess (35) formed in a reservoir body (30) and located at a level below the upper surfaces of the carbon cathode blocks and which during use collects molten aluminium (60) drained from the aluminium-wettable drained active cathode surface. The openly porous plates on the upper surfaces of the carbon cathode blocks extend over at least part of the recess such that part of the aluminium-wetted drained active cathode surface is located over the aluminium collection recess.