High carbon spent pot lining and methods of fueling a furnace with the same

Abstract

A method of creating and using a high-carbon spent pot lining (SPL) as a fuel, including delining the high-carbon spent pot lining from an electrolytic cell and combusting the SPL in a furnace.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of creating a high-carbon spent pot lining (SPL) fuel, comprising:
 delining a spent pot lining from an electrolytic cell; and   pulverizing the spent pot lining to create a spent pot lining fuel,   wherein the spent pot lining comprises at least 65% by weight carbon compounds content, based on a total weight of the spent pot lining, with the remainder comprising one or more of oxygen compounds, cyanide compounds, fluoride compounds, sodium compounds, aluminum compounds, and silicon compounds.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the delining of the spent pot lining comprises:
 removing a 1 st  bath layer;   removing a metal layer;   removing a 2 nd  bath layer;   cleaning a cathode block;   breaking the cathode block;   removing the cathode block; and   removing the side blocks ( 27 ),   wherein the spent pot lining consists essentially of the cathode block.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 combining the spent pot lining with an enriching compound to create an enriched SPL having at least 65% carbon content, based on a total weight of the enriched SPL,   wherein pulverizing the spent pot lining to create a spent pot lining fuel comprises pulverizing the enriched SPL.   
     
     
         4 . A method of using the SPL fuel of  claim 1  as a furnace fuel, comprising:
 feeding a fuel comprising the SPL fuel to a burner; and 
 combusting the fuel in the burner to generate a thermal energy and directing the thermal energy to a furnace. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the fuel further comprises a supplemental fuel, and wherein the SPL fuel comprises between 50% and 80% of the fuel. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the fuel comprises no more than 50% supplemental fuel. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the SPL fuel is an enriched SPL. 
     
     
         8 . A method of using the SPL fuel of  claim 3  as a furnace fuel, comprising:
 feeding a fuel comprising the enriched SPL fuel to a burner; and 
 combusting the fuel in the burner to generate a thermal energy and directing the thermal energy to a furnace. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the fuel further comprises a supplemental fuel, and wherein the enriched SPL fuel comprises between 50% and 80% of the fuel. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the SPL fuel has a particle size of at most 150 μm, and   the SPL fuel has trace amounts or less of HAP,   the SPL fuel has trace amounts or less of BPC's,   the SPL fuel has trace amounts or less of Dioxine, and   the SPL fuel has trace amounts or less of Furan.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the SPL fuel comprises:
 at most 5% by weight oxygen compounds content, based on the total weight of the SPL fuel;   at most 0.5% by weight cyanide compounds content, based on the total weight of the SPL fuel;   at most 10% by weight fluoride compounds content, based on the total weight of the SPL fuel;   at most 10% by weight sodium compounds content, based on the total weight of the SPL fuel;   at most 5% by weight aluminum compounds content, based on the total weight of the SPL fuel; and   at most 5% by weight silicon content, based on the total weight of the SPL fuel.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the SPL fuel has a heat value of at least 18,400 kJ/Kg. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the enriching compound comprises:
 at least 80% by weight carbon compounds content, based on a total weight of the enriching smelting residue;   at most 5% by weight oxygen compounds content, based on the total weight of the enriching smelting residue;   at most 0.1% by weight cyanide compounds content, based on the total weight of the enriching smelting residue;   at most 5% by weight fluoride compounds content, based on the total weight of the enriching smelting residue;   at most 5% by weight sodium compounds content, based on the total weight of the enriching smelting residue;   at most 5% by weight aluminum compounds content, based on the total weight of the enriching smelting residue; and   at most 1% by weight silicon content, based on the total weight of the enriching smelting residue.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the enriching compound has a heat value of at least 18,400 kJ/Kg