Alumina dissolution in cryolitic electrolytes has been a subject of intensive studies, and its relation to the alumina physical properties had been attempted through various studies over past decades as reported in the open literature. The findings from these reported lab studies have been proved to be difficult to relate alumina dissolution rate in industrial operating cells due to lack of similarities between the two settings. Alcoa has been using a different experimental approach to measure alumina dissolution rate to monitor ore quality changes for providing necessary information to our smelting operations. This paper briefly describes the background for alumina dissolution studies, experimental setup and procedures for measuring dissolution rate. Some comparison results of typical good and bad alumina ores in term of dissolution rate are presented.

Alumina dissolution in cryolitic electrolytes has been a subject of intensive studies, and its relation to the alumina physical properties had been attempted through various studies over past decades as reported in the open literature. The findings from these reported lab studies have been proved to be difficult to relate alumina dissolution rate in industrial operating cells due to lack of similarities between the two settings. Alcoa has been using a different experimental approach to measure alumina dissolution rate to monitor ore quality changes for providing necessary information to our smelting operations. This paper briefly describes the background for alumina dissolution studies, experimental setup and procedures for measuring dissolution rate. Some comparison results of typical good and bad alumina ores in term of dissolution rate are presented.