Thanks to the folks at Hongqiao, we were able to visit the new smelter in Zouping. What a great looking smelter!
It’s clearly still very new, but even so, there was nothing out of place, and the potroom we visited was spotless. The only thing we couldn’t see was any workers! There was also no sign of any tapping crucibles or anodes waiting to be installed, but we did see several liquid metal crucibles being transported to a nearby rolling mill.
I can only quote the data given to us by Mr Wang, who I gather was the potline manager. According to Mr Wang, the line is now running at 601KA. That’s not just a few trial pots. According to him, all 376 pots in the two rooms are on 600KA. They are pulling 4.5t per pot per day, for a total of 600,000t per year. Mr Wang told us they are running at 12,500KwH per tonne DC, with a current efficiency of 92.5% “plus” - he wouldn’t tell us exactly what his rate was.
The Hongqiao campus is huge, with a power station the size of a suburb and a 1mt alumina refinery squeezed in between the power station and the smelter. The campus also includes accommodation for the workers. Our guide told us there were 40,000 workers and their families living in these quarters, which come complete with 4 kindergartens and a hospital/medical centre.
The 600KA pot is much bigger than I have seen with smaller amperages - of course. Each anode is over 1.7 metres long, and has a cycle of 30 days. The anodes are purchased from local suppliers. The cathodes are 50% graphite. Mr Wang said he will get at least 5 years out of the cathodes, though that remains to be seen.
Importantly, Mr Wang told us they have had zero serious injuries.
Our Hongqiao tour guide told us there were no plans at this stage to add any additional lines.
Congratulations to the Hongqiao team and the NEUI designers. This was an awesome smelter - world class. My thanks to Christine and Xiao Xiao for the visit.
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