Advanced thickener control

Thickener control is a complex process and a workable expert control system that could be applied across a range of applications has not been available. With the developments in expert control software, combining the latest process control technologies with new artificial intelligence computing tools, thickener control can be greatly simplified. The paper details the implementation of a thickener expert control system at Cortez Gold in Nevada using KnowledgeScape/sup TM/ expert control software. Input by a number of thickener experts was used to devise a robust rule based control scheme. The benefits realized from the expert control systems so far have been tighter control of output objectives (e.g. underflow density) and fewer emergency conditions in the thickener. The system architecture and some of the design challenges are discussed.