In the US, it is referred to as the perfect storm: all negative circumstances and influences converge at the same time and intensify. At Noranda Aluminum in the southern state of Missouri, pneumatics faced a perfect storm. During primary aluminium production, an approximately ten cm-thick oxide layer, the crust, covers the molten metal in the furnace. In this process, a pneumatic shaft penetrates the crust, making a small hole to add new aluminium oxide, the so-called alumina.
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