Product Description
Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) reduction pot equipment — used across prebake and Söderberg cell configurations in aluminum reduction potrooms — allegedly incorporated asbestos-fabric bus bar insulation on the heavy DC conductors feeding each cell and asbestos-block lagging on the anode hoods that captured hot process gases above the pot bath.
According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, the bus bar fabric wrap allegedly served as electrical and thermal insulation against radiant heat from the molten cryolite-alumina bath, and the anode-hood block lagging allegedly retained heat and shielded overhead structures from the 950-970 degree Celsius pot environment. Both applications allegedly degraded, cracked, and released fiber during routine potroom operations, anode changes, and periodic pot relines.
Workers Exposed
- Aluminum smelter potroom operators and potmen tapping metal, changing anodes, and skimming crust
- Potline electricians servicing bus bar connections, riser bars, and cell disconnects
- Refractory bricklayers and millwrights rebuilding pot cathode shells during scheduled relines
- Anode-bake carbon-plant workers handling prebake anode stubs and ring furnace components
- Cast house workers exposed downstream when tapped metal moved to holding furnaces