Depolarised gas anodes for aluminium electrowinning

Consumable carbon anodes are used in the electrowinning of aluminium by the Hall-Heroult process. Emissions of CO₂ may be eliminated by introducing an inert oxygen evolving anode, which however will require a higher anode potential. An alternative approach is to use a natural gas or hydrogen gas anode to reduce the CO₂ emissions and lower the anode potential. Preliminary laboratory experiments were carried out in an alternative molten salt electrolyte consisting of CaCl₂-CaO-NaCl at 680 °C. Porous anodes of platinum and tin oxide were tested during electrolysis at constant current. The behaviour of inert anode candidate materials such as tin oxide and nickel ferrite were also studied.