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7
Melting Furnace
Fundamentals
Most of the scrap aluminum recycled today is remelted in a furnace red with fossil
fuels, most commonly natural gas. Furnaces of this type have been used since the
recycling of aluminum began, and while the optimal design has changed, the funda-
mentals behind the melting of aluminum have not. Appreciation of these fundamen-
tals is important to understanding the reasons for the numerous furnace designs and
equipment innovations that have taken place over the past 20 years.
HEAT-TRANSFER KINETICS
Figure 7.1 presents a simple view of a typical reverberatory (reverb) furnace for
melting solid aluminum. The furnace ...