Chapter five
Process simulation
5-1 Introduction:
Simulation technology has been used in the gold industry for over two decades. It is firmly
established in the engineering and design field, and is most commonly used to produce steadystate mass and energy balances.
However, there are many other reasons to consider simulation in the industry, such as:
To design and then test process control strategies.
To train plant operators on both new and as yet unbuilt processing plants as well as on
existing operations.
To predict the effect of changes on existing plants.
To debottleneck existing plants.
To characterize the physical behavior of the process solids or fluids.
Process simulation involves building a model either of a single area of the gold recovery plant
or of the whole operation, usually using specialized software tools. This model will respond to
given inputs much as the operation would be expected to behave in the real world [1] .Using it the
engineer can experiment, testing various ideas and options to get an understanding of how the
actual operation would behave in certain situations. It can be used to size new plant and
equipment, trial new equipment or control strategies and to see how the system will perform at
different loads or ore blends.
By simulating the process plant closely the process engineer can remove a large amount of
uncertainty from engineering decisions. Modeling for decision support is therefore becoming a
project requirement in the gold industry [3].
As an example of the use of simulation, consider a design team that is contemplating
optimizing the milling and classification plant of a gold recovery operation [2], but it is not
known if the potential gain in productivity would justify the engineering cost. It certainly would
not be cost-effective to make the changes and then remove them later if it does not work out.
However, a careful simulation study could shed some light on the question by simulating the
operation of the plant in its current configuration and as it would operate with the proposed
changes.
However, before diving into a simulation, the engineer must first determine the key objective
of the simulation and second have a very good idea of the amount and reliability of data
available for the simulation. These two points are of utmost importance to any modeling project,
but are often overlooked [1]. Many modeling projects have gone off the rails before the first unit
is inserted on the computer, owing to a lack of planning.
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5-2 Benefits of Simulation:
Simulation has a continual application for decision support in all facets of a project, from the
conceptual design, through the development, implementation, commissioning and operational
stages.
Simulation is being recognized more and more by top-level management as tool to assist with
risk reduction and protection of investments [1] .The investment may be an existing gold
operation, or a new resource. Simulation, in this context, is used as a decision-support tool to
verify and optimize capital expenditures to meet the objectives of a new project or system
modification.
By modeling the system the process engineer reduces the surprises that can happen in
designing complex systems. When presenting the results of simulation to management the use of
animation, inherent in most simulation tools, is a strong communication tool. It helps people who
are not involved in the technical aspects of a project to gain a better understanding of the
proposed process design. In addition, animated simulation models give management, or clients,
confidence that the proposed system will perform in the real environment [3].
Process engineers can use simulation as a cost-savings and cost-avoidance tool during the
design phases of a project. It allows the designers to test drive and optimize a system before a
design is finalized and implemented.
There are many advantages of producing the mass and energy balance of the recovery plant
using a steady-state simulation rather than via a spreadsheet [1]:
The process can be easily audited and validated;
The underlying algorithms are not open to change, as would be the case in a spreadsheet.
Changes can be implemented relatively smoothly; and
The simulation model provides a graphical representation of the process.
Some of the simulation packages that are used in the gold industry to produce steady-state
models are:
Metsim this package includes a chemical species database and is used throughout the
world for mass-balancing purposes. Add-on modules also include a heap-leach capability,
for example, which is useful for modeling this area of a gold plant, if required.
SysCAD this package has the advantage of being both a steady-state and dynamic
simulation package. Hence, it can be used to produce a mass and energy balance, which
can be extended into the dynamic world, if required.
Ideas this package is relatively new to the metallurgical industry.
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In this chapter, a simulation will be created for the process presented in chapter two. The
simulation will be created using Metsim package [2]. The material and energy balance results
from the simulation will be compared to the values obtained using hand calculation.
Metsim package had been selected for simulation of gold process because it offers many
advantages such as:
1. Computer simulation is less costly than operating a pilot plant.
2. Metsim facilities extrapolation and scale-up of process options.
3. Metsim requires the engineer to develop a detailed understanding of the
process and
provides a format for evaluating process design criteria.
4. Metsim allows evaluation of operating techniques and anticipation of potential problems.
5-3 Classification of Simulation Models:
Gold operations can be categorized to be one of two types, discrete and continuous [1]:
A discrete operation is one for which the variables change instantaneously at separated
points in time. An ore-haulage system using trucks is an example of a discrete operation,
since the variables, for example, the number of trucks with ore, change only when a
truck delivers or receives a load of ore.
A continuous operation is one for which the variables change continuously with respect
to time. A comminution and classifying operation is an example of a continuous
operation, since variables such as tank level and slurry density can change continuously
over time.
5-4 Process Simulation Using Metsim:
Mass and energy balances are performed using the sequential modular approach. In
accordance with the approach Metsim comprises modules containing subsets of equations
describing specifications and performance characteristics for each process step [1].
The system solves the equation subset for each module, allowing for an individual analysis of
each unit operation in the flow sheet [3]. Detecting possible modeling or specification errors is
made easier by this approach, as intermediate results can be obtained from any stage of the
process.
Any of the unit operation modules can be joined together in a single flow sheet. This is a
feature which many other software packages just cannot handle [2]. There is no limit to the
number of components, streams, unit operations, chemical reactions, temperature controls or
process controls which can be handled by any single flow sheet.
Metsim Simulation model is generally statistically based, so it can more realistically reflect a
system operation. Thus, by conducting a number of what if analyses [2], the decisions based on
simulation of an operation are much more accurate than spreadsheet or hand calculations.
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5-5 Building the Simulation
The Unified Interaction Parameter Model (UIPM) has been widely used as thermodynamic
model for gold industry [1] .Figure 5.1 shows the PFD for the gold processing obtained from
Metsim package.
Figure (5-1): Process Simulation flow diagram.
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Process simulation
Figure (5-2): Metsim result for streams data [1_19]
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Process simulation
Figure (5-3): Metsim result for streams data [20_36]
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5-6 Comments
As shown in the Metsim results, the amount of water that come out from the heap is 80.33
ton/hr while the hand calculation gave amount of water equal 81.19ton/hr, this deviation
refer to the assumption that we assumed in the hand calculation that there are about 10
lit/day had been evaporated, but in Metsim the evaporated water determined according to
the built-in data in the package which cant be alter which is considered the primary
disadvantage of Metsim package.
Also there is little deviation in the amount of sodium cyanide that come out in the pregnant
solution from the heap, the hand calculation found it equal to 0.0040 ton/hr while the
package gave 0.0044 ton/hr, this difference in values refer to the assumption of the program
which assume that there is no accumulation for the sodium cyanide in the heap.
In the hand calculation we assumed that the ore come out with the pregnant solution is 50
ppm of the solution, but the package calculate the accurate amount of it which is 52.3 ppm
of the pregnant solution.
Generally there is no big deviation between the hand calculations and the package, but the
package seems to be more accurate and so important in the production of gold which can be
used as cost-savings and cost-avoidance tool during the design phases of a project.
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5-7 Profiles:
An accurate and reliable process model of the gold process was built and used for exploring
different operating scenarios. Two profiles had been developed to determine the optimum
conditions for filters, figure (5-4) illustrate the effect of changing vacuum pressure on specific
cake resistance, and figure (5-5) illustrate change of cumulative filtrate volume with time.
Figure (5-4): specific cake resistance VS vacuum pressure
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Figure (5-5): cumulative filtrate volume VS time.
5-8 Conclusion:
The accurate mass and energy balance are critical for hydrometallurgical process
development, and are essential for the designing and scaling the process equipments.
The major components in streams and their mass flow obtained from the mass and energy
balances results can be clearly presented by Metsim in form of tables.
Metsim package is the most common simulation package in gold industry; it can provide
an accurate and detailed description of all streams data and their behavior during process.
Metsim is a user-friendly software package that enables metallurgists and engineers alike
to assess the impact of various operating and circuit changes on the overall performance
of the process. It incorporates a highly flexible structure,
Metsim package represents a significant milestone towards integrating different
industries through a global approach; it can simulate treatment from the mine to the
metallurgy plant. Although in this chapter, only the mass and energy balance have been
calculated, the model established in this chapter can further be utilized for process design,
and economic evaluation, which are very important in a process design.
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5-9 References:
[1]
[Link], [Link] ,"Development in mineral processing
volume15, Advances in gold ore processing", first edition, 2005, Elsevier B.V.
[2] [Link] (1 july,7:40 PM )
[3] U.S. Department of the Interior, "Bureau of Mines Gold and Silver Leaching
Practices in the United States" , 1984, Information Circular No. [Link], DC.
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