Abstract
AT the Edinburgh meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on May 30, Mr. G. Boex read an interesting paper describing the extensive electrical plant and the processes employed at the various works of the British Aluminiuni Co. in Scotland. As well as producing the metal electrolytically, the British Aluminium Co. manufactures alumina carbon electrodes. It has alumina works at Burntisland, where a chemical process is employed. At the carbon works at Kinlochleven, the electrodes necessary for three factories in the north of Scotland are produced. The electrolytic works at Foyers, Kinlochleven, and Lochaber are close to large hydroelectric stations where 33,000 kilowatts are already being used. The metallurgist and the physicist have been working for the last twenty years on methods of improving the quality of aluminium and its alloys. Alloys are now produced which, weight for weight, have three times the strength of steel. American manufacturers are laying down rolling mills capable of producing sections made of these alloys comparable with those made of steel. The increase in the first cost is more than offset by the advantage in strength for a given weight or by a definite reduction of the weight of a section. The metal aluminium can be made economically only by the use of electric power. Direct current in bulk is required. A total of about 26,000 kilowatt hours is required for the production of one ton of aluminium from alumina. The Company has routine laboratories at all its works and research laboratories at three of them. The aluminium works in the Highlands of Scotland have been a great help to the inhabitants both during construction and when operating. From the economical point of view it is hoped that the success of these undertakings will encourage the development of the smaller water power resources of the Highlands and that industries will spring up in their neighbourhood.
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Aluminium Production. Nature 132, 201 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132201b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132201b0