DYNAMIC SIMULATION FOR PROCESS CONTROL Use of dynamic simulation as an aid in control of mineral processes - An application to control the milling and flotation of iron ore

The objective of this project was to use dynamic simulation and information measured from the process in order to obtain other important information from a mill grinding plant and flotation of iron ore. This important information such as the product of grinding granulometry and the flow of circulating loads are essential to good plant control, and are not measured by the absence or deficiency of instruments. The dynamic simulator used consists of external static simulation software with mathematical models that describe the process, which is handled by a expert system software, able to communicate with this simulator. The expert system receives information from the process, such as flow rates, densities, operating equipment and laboratory results. This information is then filtered and processed to be used for calculating the parameters of the mathematical models used in the external simulator. After running the simulator, detailed information of flows are sent to the expert system that compares with the existing information of the process and if it is within an acceptable margin of error the information of interest are sent to the advanced process control, otherwise the expert system changes the parameters of the models using fuzzy/crisp logic rules. The system provides important information from multiple streams to the control, especially on milling where the granulometry online meter constantly fails.