The performance of current oxy-fuel combustion technology for secondary aluminum melting

Higher thermal efficiency, lower exhaust gas flows, and lower superstructure temperatures have contributed to more widespread cost-effective use of oxygen-based firing. Operating characteristics of oxy-fuel firing are compared with air-fuel firing for the secondary melting of aluminum scrap. Typical performance gains resulting from oxy-fuel firing are established for rotary, reverberatory and well-type aluminum furnaces. Representative examples are presented in detail. The improvements in thermal performance of a non-axisymmetric self-cooling oxy-fuel burner providing uniform heat transfer to larger melt areas are demonstrated for aluminum furnaces.