Energy costs represent a significant cost of production 
for an aluminum plant. These energy costs are expected to 
rise at a much higher rate than any other cost for the 
plant in the near future. In an aluminum plant, energy is 
used in a variety of ways ranging from the combustion of 
natural gas for melting and heat treating to the use of 
electricity to run pumps, motors and compressors. A 
comprehensive approach is required in order to improve the 
total efficiency of the plant. 

The recommended approach outlined in this webcast is split 
into two parts: first, a global approach that measures 
energy usage in mechanical equipment and second, a local 
approach that models the energy usage in combustion 
processes. You will learn how a systems level plantwide 
assessment (global approach) and detailed computational 
simulation of the combustion processes (local approach) 
can be used either separately or combined to improve your 
overall plant efficiency. It is expected that a plantwide 
assessment can reduce energy costs by up to 15%. These 
significant savings directly affect the bottom line for a 
typical aluminum plant. 

At the end of this session attendees will: 
- Understand specifically how and why plantwide 
assessments can reduce energy costs 
- See which measurements of systems energy use can lead to 
immediate energy savings 
- Gain insight on the benefit of furnace modeling and how 
it can be used to improve the operation efficiency of the 
furnace 
- 
There will be a brief question and answer session 
following the presentation.