• COMPUTER APPLICATIONS AND PROCESS CONTROL

Computer Adjustment of Metallurgical Balances

H. W. SMITH and N. ICHIYEN,
Department of Electrical Engineering,
University of Toronto,
Toronto, Ont.
ABSTRACT
A convenient method for the calculation of metallurgical
balances, based on statistical treatment of all available
data, is presented. An error analysis is included. Examples
show the advantages of the method, and also that such
balances are less precise than might be supposed.
INTRODUCTION
THE COMPUTATION of metallurgical balances from im-
precise analytical data is a frequently occurring prob-
lem in flotation plants. In mill practice, very approxi-
mate methods have normally been used, due to the
computational difficulty of more accurate statistical
methods. With the steadily growing availability to
mill staff of computer facilities, more accurate meth-
makes possible the on-line computation of metallurgi-
cal balances. Finally, the application of steady-state
process modelsu·21 for flotation circuit analysis and
optimization requires, as a first step, the computation
of complete and accurate internal metallurgical bal-
ances from experimental data.
This paper describes a numerical procedure for
computing mass balances which minimizes special-
purpose programming effort and computer storage
requirements, and which is suitable for both labora-
tory and plant (including on-line) use. An error
analysis is included.
PROBLEM, STATEMENT
Consider a flotation circuit in which streams 1, .. . ,
n have metallurgical compositions given by the com-
position vectors

[
ods are now feasible. In addition, the growing use
of on-line X-ray analysis and control computers now C·*
l =
~fl]
•

ctn

for metallurgical species i = 1, ... , m. In addition,

there will be a vector of mass flows within the cir-
cuit

wT J
w* = [ ~;
H. W. SMITH N. M. JCBIYEN
to be determined from the mass balance equations
HAROLD W. SMITH, a native of Toronto, holds degrees for the circuit
from the University of Toronto (B.A.Sc., 1950) and
M.I.T. (Sc.D., instrumentation and control, 1961). He f; (c( , w*) = 0, i = 1, .. • , m.
served in the Royal Canadian Navy (1945-1966), resigning
to join the University of Toronto, where he is currently
Professor of Electrical Engineering. His research in- However, the data available are not the true composi-
terests include the application of modelling, control and tion vectors c:, but rather the measured composition
estimation theory to the improved control of metallurgical vectors
processes. In addition to his university appointment, he is
a consultant to Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd., and a Ci = cf + e;
consulting partner in Urwick, Currie and Partners Ltd.,
Toronto. where Eis a vector of sampling and measurement errors.
NORMAN M. ICHIYEN, a native of Montreal, Quebec,
graduated from McGill University in Montreal with a The adjustment problem is thus to determine esti-
Bachelor of Electrical Engineering in 1970. In 1973, he
received an M.A.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the
mates c1, i = 1, ... , m, and w,
which satisfy the mass
University of Toronto. His thesis work involved simula- balance equations
tion of a complex zinc flotation circuit. His supervisor was
Professor H. W. Smith. He is currently with Atomic
Energy of Canada Limited. f; <2. w) = o
PAPER SUBMITTED: in November of 1972; revised and which are in some sense the " best" estimates of
manuscript received on June 29, 1973. c7 and w* respectively.
KEYWORDS: Computers, Process control, Flotation, On the assumption that sampling and measurement
Mass balance, Metallurgical balances, Statistical methods, errors are Gaussian and unbiased, the maximum like-
Flotation. lihood estimate of c,, w is that which minimizes the
objective function

(CIM) Bulletin for September, 1973 97

 J
00

~ (Ci - 'M"j 1 (Ci -

4. Using a direct search program, hill-climb on w
=
i=l
C; ) Ci)
to find a minimum over w
of J, repeating steps 2 and
where 3 at each iteration. A suitable method is that of Rosen-
brockr•i , which consists of stages having one one-di-
M, = E (e;d ) mensional minimization for each element of At w.
(i.e. the covariance matrix of sampling and measure- the end of each stage, the directions of search are
ment error ) and the prime denotes the transpose of a rotated, although still remaining orthogonal, so that
vector or matrix. the first search in the next stage is in the direction
found to be most successfu·l in the previous stage. The
'Briefly stated, therefore, the problem is: minimize
the objective function search terminates when the minimum is located to a
pre-specified accuracy:x·
J = ~ (c, -
1
C;) 'M-;- 1 (C, - ci)
This method permits the use of a standard pro-
i=l .. . - - - - gram; only the program to evaluate B (w ) is specific
to each application, and this program is very simple.
subject to the mass balance constraints The search method suggested is easily programmed,
f; ([;, ~) = 0. a"ud is effective in the ill-conditioned problems which
occur when recycle streams are large.

METHOD OF SOLUTION
COMPUTATIONAL EXAMPLES
The problem as stated is a standard problem in
First consider a flotation circuit having the con-
nonlinear least-squares analysis, and may be solved
figuration 8hown in Figure 1. Grab samples were
by first-order (Gauss-Newton ) or second-order (New-
taken from the eight process streams indicated, and
ton-Raphson ) gradient methodsm. However, the com-
putation of the gradient requires significant addi- analyzed to yield the data shown in the first column in
Table 1. The three mass flows indicated in Figure 1
tional programming which is specific to the circuit
configuration under study. This is undesirable in cir- are to be estimated, together with the corrected values
of the twentycfour analyses.
cuit optimization studies because of the programming
effort involved when many configurations may be
studied. In on-line applications, computer storage is
usually at a premium, and the additional storage re-
quirements of gradient methods are unattractive. For @ ___!!1:.
these reasons, the following direct search method is
proposed:
mi®~®
R S
1. Express the mass balance equations in the form

w~
B (w)c; = 0.
2. For some initial estimate of compute the ad- w,
justment to the composition vector which minimizes
J for that value of w
and satisfies the mass balance 3 w,c ®
equations; this is found, by standard minimum vari-
a nce techniques [3J , to be
oci = - M ,B'(BM,B')- 1Bci. FIGURE 1 - Zinc Circu it .

3 . Form
c, = C; + OCi
''' FORTRAN and APL versions of this algorithm may be
:and evaluate J (w ) . obtained from the authors at reproduction cost.

TABLE 1 - Balance for Circuit of Figure I

Experimental Analysis Adjusted Analysis Per Cent Adjustment

Stream Cu Zn Fe Cu Zn Fe Cu Zn Fe
1 0.163 3.93 11.57 0.170 3.85 12.34 4.17 - 1.87 6.59
2 0.447 11.63 12.79 0.462 11.73 13.56 3.29 0.83 6.02
3 0.466 8.11 14.35 0.406 8.72 13.45 -12.83 7.48 -6.22
4 0.140 0.49 13.09 0.136 0.49 12.18 - 2.76 0.12 - 6.94
5 0.960 34.64 14.37 0.964 38.85 14.48 0.43 12.16 0.77
6 0.657 52.07 14.67 0.649 51.70 14.56 - 1.20 - 0.71 -0.73
7 1.020 42.73 14.66 1.009 37.01 14.47 - 1.06 - 13.39 - 1.30
8 0.440 · U.86 13.75 0.472 10.75 13.77 7.38 - 9.39 0.11
I
Mass flows (with 503 probable error):
w1= .06563 ± .00783; w2= 3.781 ± o.738; wa = o.5238 ± o.1346.

98 The Canadian Mtliiug and Metallurgical

 Four mass balance equations must be satisfied for @)
each of the three circuit sections - one each for the CD UNIT ® COPPER
@ ZINC
rougher, cleaner and scavenger, and one for the total CELLS FLOTATION FLOTATION
circuit. These are:

l. Circuit: ® WI \J)
w3
2. Scavenger: ® W2

FIGURE 2 - Flotation Circuit.

3. Cleaner :
W3C5 - W1C6 - (w a - W1)C1 = 0
4. Rougher:
TABLE 2 - Balance for Circuit of Figure 2
(1 - W1 + W2 +~w3) C2 - (1 - W1 + W2)C3 - W3C5 = 0
It is easily verified that the values of w obtained Experi menta I Adjusted Per Cent
by solving the first three equations are far from sa- Analysis Analysis Adjustment
tisfying the fourth, and that the results obtained from
the sets of copper, zinc and iron analyses are com-
Stream Cu Zn Cu Zn Cu Zn
pletely inconsistent.
From the mass balance equations, by inspection, ----
1 1.93 3.81 1.91 4.61 -1.02 20.94
2 0.45 4.92 0.45 4.58 0.01 - 6.82
1 0 0 - (1-wi) 3 0.13 5.36 0.13 4.38 -3.78 - 18.26
4 0.09 0.41 0.09 0.41 2.45 - 0.09
B (w) = 0 0 -(1-wi) 5 19.86 7.09 20.04 6.91 0.91 - 2.55
6 21.44 4.95 21.45 4.92 0.03 - 0.51
0 0 0 0 7 0.51 52.10 0.52 51.59 l.17 - 0.98

0
Mass flows (with 503 probable error):
wI = .06954 ± .00232; W2 = .08964 ± .00261;
0 0 wa= .07066 ± .00668.

0 0
As a second example, consider a metallurgical bal-
-(wa-W1) 0 ance over an entire plant, based on X-ray data. The
plant is shown in Figure 2 and the data in Table 2.
-W3 0 0 0
The mass balance equations are:

1. Unit cells
In this case, no reliable data were at hand regarding
C1 - (1 - W1 ) C2 - W1C5 = 0
the precision of sampling and analysis. It was assumed
that the relative precision of each measurement was 2. Copper section
identical and that errors were uncorrelated . On these C1 - (1 - W2 ) C3 - W2C6 = 0
assumptions, except for a scale factor,
3. Zinc section
M i = diag[c; 1 , ... , cr.,] (1 - W2)C3 - (l - W2 - W3) C4 - W3C7 = 0

A starting value for w

was obtained by solving the from which the B(w) matrix is found. In this parti-
first three zinc mass balance equations ; this yielded cular case, the precision of the different X-ray mea-
surements was approximately known from calibra-
,v, = .067, w2 = .459, wa = -.058. tion experiments, and the M matrices were based on
these data. A starting value of was found from w
The value of ;.,a is nonsensical, and was replaced by standard two-product formulas:
w 3 = 0.1, a guess based on experience. The direct
search program converged in four stages to the solu-
tion
w, = o.70, w2 = 0.091, w3= o.096.
The direct search program converged in five stages
iv, = o.06563 w2= 3.781 wa = o.5238 to the solution
and to the corrected analyses given in the second col-
ume of Table 1. The third column gives the per cent iv, = o.06954, w2 = o.08964, wa = o.07066,
change in the original analysis. The r.m.s. sampling
and analytical error may be approximated by the and the adjusted analyses are shown in Table 2. It
standard deviation of the corrections, which is will be noted that three zinc analyses have very large
adjustments. As noted in the report from which the
a = 6.56% . data for this example were takenm, it was later dis-
covered t hat some analyses had X-ray calibration
This value is not unreasonable in practice. errors which were unknown at the time.

(CIM) Bulletin for September, 1973 9S

ERROR ANALYS IS SENSITIVITY OF SOLUTIONS

In fitting models to analytical data, it is frequently For the first example given above, the covariance
des irable to find not only the estimate, of mass w, matrix was computed and found to be
flows in a circuit, but also an estimate of its probable
error. This is particularly true when large recycle
streams exist, as mass flow estimates are then very
sensitive to data errors. A linear estimate of the E [(~*-~ ) ~*-~)'] =
.000135 .000644 - .000027
.000644 1.197 .1039
J
[
probable error may be found in the following way. -.000027 .1039 .0398
If the mass balance equations are perturbed, the per-
turbation equations are found to be This yields the standard deviations

Ai(c,) ow + B (w) oci = o i = l, ... , m.

0
w 1 = 0.01161, aW2 = 1.094, 0
wa = 0.1995,

B (w) is the matrix previously defined, and A, (c,) whiCh are large in comparison with the estimates.
is the matrix of coefficients obtained by writing the Further, although errors in W1 are nearly independent
mass balance equations in the form of those in W2 and wa,
errors in these last two quanti-
ties are strongly correlated (correlation coefficient
A;(c;) w ~ = b (c;) , i = 1, .•• ,m. 0.50). It must be recognized that estimates of mass
flows in large recycle streams are subject to signifi-
Then a perturbation in the data, 8c1, yields a mass cant error even when sampling and measurement er-
flow perturbation rors are relatively small.
Under these conditions, it is essential to use all
ow= -AtB oc; available data, weighted according to precision, and,
where in on-line applications, to use time averaging of X-ray
analytical data to reduce random error in the data.
At = (A:Ai)- 1A:

the pseudo-inverse of A/ 61 • The covariance matrix

E[owow'J = At B E[Oc,oc;J (AtB)'. CONCLUSIONS

If, now, the expectation on the right-hand side is
replaced by the measurement covariance matrix, the
covariance matrix of w
is obtained;
E[(w* - w) (w* -w)'] = AtBM, (AtB)'.
To use all the experimental data, the m sets of equa-
tions must be combined. It is easily verified that this
is done by forming
The numerical method proposed offers a convenient
method of obtaining the best estimate of metallurgical
balances, based on proper statistical treatment of the
available data. The error analysis presented allows
estimation of the precision of such balances; in gen-
eral, this precision is lower than is usually supposed.

A' = [A; M ... A,:.] ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

B 0 0 The authors are grateful to the management and

mill staff of the Lake Dufault Division, Falconbridge
B= I 0 B 0 Copper Ltd., for allowing plant access and providing
analytical services in gathering the data for one of
the examples used. The work reported was supported
0 0 B in part by National Research Council Grant A-4165.

M1 0 . 0
M =I 0 M2 0 REFERENCES

(1) King, R. P., Model for the Design and Control of

Flotation Plants, 10th Annual Symposium on the
Application of Computer Methods in the Mineral hi-
0 0 Mrn dustry, Johannesburg, R.S.A., April 1972.
(2) Loveday, B. K., and .Marchant, G. R., Simulation of
Multicomponent Flotation Plants, as for (1).
and finding (3) Deutsch, R., Estimation Theory, Ch. 6 (Prentice-Hall,
Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1965).
E[ (w*-w) (w*-w)'J = A+BM(A+B)' (4) Rosenbrock, H. H., An Automatic Method of Finding
the Greatest or Least Value of a Function, Computer
If more precise data concerning measurement error J., 3, pp. 175-184, October 1960.
covariance are not at hand, the M1 matrices may be (5) Smith, H. W., and Lewis, C. L., Computer Control
Experiments at Lake Dufault, CIM Bulletin, 62, W ·
approximated by 109-115, February 1969.
(6) Penrose, R. A., A Generalized Inverse for Matrices,
Mi ~ a 2 diag [c ..... C; n].
2
Proc. Cambridge Phil. Soc., 51, pp. 406-413, 1955.

100 The Canadian Minin2 and Metallurgical