Adapting a Phenomenological Model of a Rougher Flotation Circuit to Industrial Historical Operating Data Base

The use of simulators is a powerful tool to train plant operators and to be also incorporated in the development and test of supervisory control strategies. However, the phenomenological models describing the process are relatively complex, characterized by nonlinear relationships and whose parameters are depending on many local factors, such as, the plant configuration, the individual characteristics of the equipment, the availability of on-line measurements and the characteristics of the feed, among others. In this work, a previously developed phenomenological model is adapted to the particular characteristics of the rougher circuit of an industrial flotation plant, considering its particular layout and the available information to feed the simulator. The rougher circuit consists of three lines of 8 mechanical cells processing a feed of 4000 ton/h. The new model predictions were tested for a family of feed characteristics, including variation of mineralogical species under different operating conditions. Since some variables are commonly unmeasured during the operation, additional data were incorporated to improve the model predictability. The use of the simulator is illustrated in several examples, as well a discussion of the model prediction limitations due to some particularities found in the historical operating data.