SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL AND METALLURGICAL ENGINEERING

CHMT4011-PROCESS CONTROL
Project Part 1

Machethe Lebogang Given-686211

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Contents
1. Project (Simulation) Description Summary.............................................................................1
2.

Simulation Analysis..................................................................................................................3

3.

Appendices...............................................................................................................................4
3.1

Appendix A: Nomenclature and numerical constants.......................................................4

3.2

Appendix B: List of equations..........................................................................................5

3.3

Appendix C: Process Flow Diagram-Milling Circuit.......................................................6

3.4

Appendix D: Simulink Model Map..................................................................................7

1. Project (Simulation) Description Summary

This project involves the simulation of a grinding circuit that consists of a ball mill, sump and a
hydro-cyclone in a closed loop (see figure 3.2.1) using Simulink. For convenience and better
overview, the model has been divided into 3 major sections, namely control, calculation and
report sections. The control section is where most simulation parameters can be found and
manipulated to the interest of the person modeling. The calculation section contains all the
equipment model calculations of the most important process variables such as ball mill residence
time, slurry S.G, percent oversize material etc. Lastly, the report section encloses the scope
display blocks and this is where simulation results can be viewed after each simulation run. The
scopes are intended to give stream properties (mass & volumetric flow-rates and specific
gravities) while the displays show the steady state values.
Equations for modeling the circuit included material balance equations coupled with empirical
equations as listed in appendix C. Parameters of interest in this simulation are the ball mill
residence time and the oversize material mass fraction in hydro-cyclone product stream
(overflow). The circuit capacity was also tested by determining the maximum amount of dry ore
the system can operate with before the capacities of individual equipment are exceeded
(especially the sump which has a fixed height of 4m).
It was found that under normal conditions, with the provided parameters, the slurry level in sump
is approximately 6m (overflowing), mill residence time was 1129 min ( 18 h ours ) and the
percentage of solids in the hydro-cyclone overflow was found to be 50% while the fraction of
oversize material was very small at 0.2%.
For reference, the Simulink model can be accessed from: http://1drv.ms/1IDqNsJ

Important Assumptions
1. Density
Density is necessary for the conversion of mass flow rate to volumetric flow-rate; therefore, after
calculating specific gravity (using equation 3 in appendix B), it needs to be translated into
density through a relationship.
By definition, specific gravity is a ratio of densities between fluid of interest and a reference
fluid (usually water at 4 and 1 atm). Mathematically it can be written as follows:
S .G=

fluid /slurry
1Hatm
O
2

The reference density of water was taken as 1000 kg/m3and assumed constant throughout and
densities of slurries were calculated from the relation above.
2. Oversize material concentration
For this simulation, the oversize mass concentration (or fraction) is taken and used on wet basis;
i.e. if Dc represents the mass fraction of oversize material in stream D, then this would be the
fraction of oversize material in the whole slurry. This distinction is important because the dry and
wet basis mass fractions will always be different excerpt in a slurry with no water (e.g. Fresh ore
feed).
3. Hydro-cyclone operation
For the purpose of making hydro-cyclone material balance solvable, it is assumed that the solids
in the underflow (recycle) contain only the oversize material. This is a fair assumption since it is
highly desired to recycle the least amount of finer particles as it would be useless to recycle
fines.
4. Initial slurry level in the sump
To make it possible to solve the dynamic volume balance over the sump, an initial height of 1m
was taken as basis. The simple reason for this assumption is that at t=0 min , volumetric
efflux, given by Q out =80 h will not be computable if h=0; i.e. the simulation will return an
error since square-root of zero is not defined. This has negligible effect at the start of simulation.
5. Parameter change

The Kc value given was not compatible with the hydro-cyclone operation assumption above and
had to be changed to 0.01 in order to give sensible answers. This can be viewed as reducing the
amount of oversize material being recycled.

2. Simulation Analysis
2.1

Maximum and Minimum feed that the circuit can cope with.
The minimum dry ore feed that the system can cope with is approximately 22.5 kg/min. This
minimum is the feed rate required to maintain slurry level in sump at an initial value of 1m. The
maximum that can be achieved before sump overflows is 45kg/min of dry ore feed; above this
value the slurry level exceeds the height of 4m (the tank height).

2.2

Effect of water step input (sump dilution water) to the circuit.

An introduction of water disturbance of 10 l/min which is equivalent to 10 kg /min

has the

following effects on the circuit.

Increased steady state slurry level in sump-figure 2.1

Dilute sump discharge (small fraction of solids)

Dilute hydro-cyclone exit streams (overflow and underflow)

Increased recirculation load and overflow and eventually mill feed stream

Reduced mill residence time (due to decrease increase in volumetric flow into mill)figure 2.2

Figure 2.1: Effect of step input in sump dilution water to the slurry level in sump

Figure 2.2: Effect of step input in sump dilution water to the mill residence time

2.3

Suggestions on aspects to put under automatic control

Sump level control to prevent overflow

Mill & Sump water setting for control of slurry S.Gs (For desired S.Gs of slurries); S.Gs
are parameters to control in order to match pump requirements involved in pushing the
slurries around the circuit.Recycle rate used as process variable.

Hydro-cyclone portioning (oversize recycle)

Kw- A parameter that dictates the amount of water being recycled back into mill. This
parameter must be automatically controlled to maintain amount of water in cyclone
overflow at constant value. Usually it is desired to minimise water in cyclone overflow to
prevent downstream solid-liquid separations of fine particles from water.

3. Appendices
5.1

Appendix A: Nomenclature and numerical constants

Symbols
F: Dry Feed rate
W1: Mill Feed Dilution Water Feed rate
W2: Sump Feed Dilution Water Feed rate
T: Mill Feed rate

D: Mill Discharge rate

CF: Sump Discharge rate
R: Recycle rate
P (OF): Product (Cyclone Overflow) rate
S: Selection Function
: Residence Time of Mill contents
h: Tank height
MSIS: Specific Gravity of Slurry M
OS: Dry Solids Specific Gravity
%J: Mill Filling
Subscripts
m: Mass Flow rate
v: Volumetric Flow rate
%: Solids Mass Percentage
c: Mass Fraction of Oversize material (Dry Basis)
Constants

KL=0.72
KW=0.28
KC=5 (changed to 0.01)
=1000 kg/m3
5.2
Dc=

Appendix B: List of equations

Tc
1+ S ..Equation 1

MTSISg=0.06 %J +2TSISg +

MSISg=

200
Tv ............Equation 2

100OSg
M %Osg100OSgM

Equation 3

dh 1
= ( QinQout ) .Equation 4
dt A
Qout=80 h ....Equation 5
Rv
=K L exp ( 0.54 ) ..Equation 6
Pv
Rv , water=K W CF v 0.9 .Equation 7
Rc =

K c CF c
CF v

0.45

(OSg1)0.5 .Equation 8

5.3

Appendix C: Process Flow Diagram-Milling Circuit

Mill Water
(W1)

New Feed
(F)

Sump Water (W2)

Total Feed
(T)

Ball Mill
Product
(OF)

Discharge
Sump

Cyclone Feed (CF)

Hydro-cyclone

Recirculation Load (R)

Figure 3.1.1: Mill Circuit

5.4

Appendix D: Simulink Model Map

Figure 3.3.1: Model Overview: shows the different areas of the model (feed, mill, sump, and
hydro-cyclones systems). It also shows the areas where parameters and simulation results
can be found.

Figure 3.3.2: Parameters found inside the control section system

Figure 3.3.3: Subsystems found inside the model calculations system

Figure 3.3.4: Subsystems found inside the report scopes system (these subsystems contain scopes for viewing results on
each stream including variables such as mill residence time and sump slurry level)