Computer simulation of mineral and hydrometallurgical processes: USIM PAC 2, a single software from design to optimization

COMPUTER SIMULATION OF MINERAL AND HYDROMETALLURGICAL PROCESSES:

USIM PAC 2, A SINGLE SOFTWARE FROM DESIGN TO OPTIMIZATION

M.-V. DURANCE, J.-C. GUILLANEAU, J. VILLENEUVE, G. FOURNIGUET, S. BROCHOT

BRGM
COMPUTER APPLICATION SERVICE OF THE MINERAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
AVENUE DE CONCYR, BP 6009, 45060 ORLEANS CEDEX 2, FRANCE

ABSTRACT

Most of the bases for the development of unit operation models are derived from chemical
engineering concepts. A particular case is the modelling of particulate material processes.
Several steady state simulators have been created for these processes and especially for the
mineral processing industry.

In order to optimize entire flowsheets from the comminution phase to the purification phase,
these software packages must be extended to hydrometallurgical processes. The main problem
was to describe the composition of the streams along the circuit through a practical and
flexible model of the circulating material.

This description will be presented and the new possibilities of the USIM PAC 2 software will
be illustrated through an example.

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Computer simulation of mineral and hydrometallurgical processes: USIM PAC 2, a single software from design to optimization

INTRODUCTION

Steady-state simulation is now widely used in various fields to predict the operation of
industrial plants and to design and optimize them. The first people interested in such methods
were chemical researchers who created powerful software such as ASPEN + (1), Speedup (2).
The food processing industry and hazardous waste treatment also use these kind of tools (3,
4).
During the last ten years, mineral processing researchers have applied steady-state simulation
to their activities. Several software packages have appeared such as METSIM (5), SPOC (6),
MODSIM (7), MINSIM (8), JK-SimMet (9).
USIM PAC (10, 11, 12, 13, 14), developed by the mineral technology department of BRGM,
has been commercialised since 1986 to design and optimize complete industrial plants. It has
already been used at different stages of the process such as comminution, gravity or magnetic
separation and flotation.

During the same time, the USIM PAC team has created another software package dedicated to
hydrometallurgical operations: USIM HYDRO. The hydrometallurgical processes are
increasingly commun in the mineral processing industry. It is becoming more and more
popular for energy saving, treatment of low grade ores and processing of refractory ores. The
need for a global steady-state simulator, taking into account a complete flowsheet from
comminution to purification drove the authors to integrate the know-how of USIM HYDRO
into USIM PAC.

Because the simulator is designed to be used by mineral processing engineers, it is flexible to

fit the user's objectives which always drive the projects and conduct the methodologies
definition and the choice of each object description type (streams or units of equipment). Two
main improvements, that take these objectives into account, will be presented; the description
of the processed material and the structure of the unit operation models.

THE GENERAL FUNCTIONS OF A STEADY-STATE SIMULATOR

In an existing plant, a mineral processing engineer often has to adapt the operation to new
constraints, either external (changes in concentrate specifications, orientation toward different
markets, need to increase production) or internal (changes in ore grade or liberation size, etc.)
(15). Even if, at a given time, he does not have to face immediate problems of plant
adaptation, it is unlikely that some aspect of the process could not be improved, to generate
substantial savings or capacity increases .

However, it is difficult to evaluate any potential solution for adapting or improving the plant
configuration, because industrial tests carried out to assess a potential solution are generally
difficult to organize, costly, and difficult to evaluate.

Engineers in charge of designing and manufacturing equipment for mineral processing plants
have to be able to rapidly select the most suitable piece of equipment for each application and
to predict its performance under the different conditions of use anticipated by the customer
(16). In other cases, the manufacturing companies would like to provide a computer tool to
help the plant operators obtain the best results from the equipment.

A steady-state mineral processing plant simulator is a software package capable of predicting

plant operation according to the characteristics of the ore feed and the circuit. It is a way to
follow most of the parameters of a plant: stream description, equipment and ore parameters,

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Computer simulation of mineral and hydrometallurgical processes: USIM PAC 2, a single software from design to optimization

power consumption, capital cost investment. Depending on his objective - e.g., design or
optimization, grinding, flotation, leaching operations,... - the mineral processing engineer
must choose a way to represent the circulating material, in the phase model, and the different
mathematical models for each unit of equipment (see fig. 1).

Then, with a good know-how of simulation, he is able to calculate all the parameters he needs.
Two algorithms are available for that: the direct simulation predicts the plant performances
(stream description, power consumption, capital cost...); the reverse simulation back-
calculates to size units of equipment and to make settings to reach predefined operations (17).

Choice of the level of detail

for the description of the processed
material

Choice of the unit operation models

Objectives

Complete and
detailed
plant configuration
Stream description

ore parameters

unit of equipment sizes,

settings and operating
parameters

power consumption

capital cost estimation

Figure 1 - General functions of a steady-state simulator

THE PHASE DESCRIPTION IN USIM PAC 2

For a steady state simulator, a good material description is as fundamental as a good unit
operation model. Furthermore, a detailed phase description allows a more precise modelling
and can increase the model possibilities and accuracy.

For the physical treatment, such as comminution, gravity separation or flotation, a rather
simple phase model is required, with ore and water; in USIM PAC 1.x, the phase model
contained these two phases, the ore was described in terms of size distribution and
composition. With such a phase model, all the physical operations (i.e., crushing, grinding,
gravity separation, flotation,...) could be simulated. However, hydrometallurgical processes
can include other phases - such as gas, other solids (carbon, resins,...), other liquids - and also
additional concepts - such as chemical reactions or exchanges between phases.

New concepts for the phase model

To study as well simple and complete flowsheets the phase description must be flexible.
Depending on his objective(s), a mineral processing engineer will described the circulating
material of the plant in different way (see fig. 2):

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Computer simulation of mineral and hydrometallurgical processes: USIM PAC 2, a single software from design to optimization

1. if the project consists of a preliminary grinding plant design, the only necessary
parameters are the ore flowrate, size distribution and the water flowrate.

2. if the project is a grinding plant optimization, the engineer will be interested in the
grinding selectivity and must describe all the components in the ore.

3. if the project concerns a grinding and flotation plant, the engineer must describe the same
parameters as above but he must also define sub-populations according to their floating
ability.

4. if the project deals with a complete gold ore treatment, (grinding, flotation, leaching and
CIP stages), the ore model must be described as in the previous case, the liquid phase
composition must be detailed, and the carbon phase must be taken into account in terms of
global flowrate and composition.

Floating abilty
Particle size per component
Ore F F
Mineral 1 F F
F F

N N N N N
N

F F F F

Particle size per component Floating abilty

Gold Mineral 2 N N N N
Ore F F F F
Mineral 1 F F
F: Floating
N: Non-floating
N N N N N N

F F F
F

Mineral 2 N N N N
Component grade
F: Floating Activated carbon
N: Non-floating
Carbon

Gold

Solution

Water Component grade

Ore Solution
Gold
Ore
Size distribution Particle size per component
Water Mineral 1

Mineral 2

Grinding
and flotation Gold ore
Solution
plant treatment
Water plant Solution

Preliminary Grinding
grinding plant Water

plant optimization
design

Figure 2 - Influence of the project objective on the material description

For that, four phase types have been predefined: ore, solid, liquid and gas (18). Thus the ore
type can have particular properties that the other solids (carbon, resins,...) do not need.
General concepts have been used in USIM PAC 2, and generic terms have been defined. A
criterion of classification represents a description parameter type: criteria can be
Mineralogical composition, Particle size, Floating ability, etc.

A hierarchy is a way to organize the description of each phase. A hierarchy has a dimension
depending on the number of criteria used in it. A hierarchy can be unique to each stream or
can be shared by multiple streams depending on type. In the version 2 of USIM PAC, the

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Computer simulation of mineral and hydrometallurgical processes: USIM PAC 2, a single software from design to optimization

following two types have been defined: type 1, such as Flowrate, which is described per
stream and the 2, such as Density, which is shared by all streams.

The criteria of description are sorted according to hierarchies (size distribution, component
grade, phase density, floating ability per component, component density,...). For instance,
Floating ability by component is a 2-dimension hierarchy: it uses the criterion Floating ability
and the criterion Composition; this hierarchy is of type 1. Some hierarchies, such as Phase
flowrate or Phase density do not need special criteria of description; they are called
0-dimension hierarchies. The Phase density is a type 2 hierarchy and is then common to all
streams.

Two flowsheets corresponding to the first and to the fourth previous cases are presented (see
fig. 3 and 4).
The respective phase models used for these projects are detailed in tables 1 and 2.

Figure 3 - A grinding plant flowsheet

Table 1- The phase model for the grinding plant

Phase Criteria Hierarchy

Ore Particle size Size distribution
Water - Phase flowrate

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Computer simulation of mineral and hydrometallurgical processes: USIM PAC 2, a single software from design to optimization

Figure 4 - A gold ore treatment flowsheet

Table 2- The phase model for the gold ore treatment plant

Phase Criteria Hierarchy

Ore Particle size Particle size per component
Composition Floating ability per component
Floating ability Component density
Solution Composition Component grade
Component density
Carbon Composition Component grade
Component density

The stream description, in terms of flowrates, size distribution or component grades, depends
of course on the phase model. If the phase model is simple as in the first example (grinding
plant) only the global flowrate for each phase and the size distribution for the ore phase will
be displayed (see fig. 5).

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Computer simulation of mineral and hydrometallurgical processes: USIM PAC 2, a single software from design to optimization

Figure 5 - Stream description for grinding plant phase model

If the phase model is more complete, as in the second example, more data are displayed. For
each phase, the global flowrate and the component grades can be followed, for the ore phase,
additional data, such as floating ability or size distribution, is given (see fig. 6).
All the units presented in the figures can be easily changed to the user's customs. They can be
replaced by predefined units or by user-defined ones in the Configuration menu.

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Computer simulation of mineral and hydrometallurgical processes: USIM PAC 2, a single software from design to optimization

Figure 6 - Stream description for gold ore treatment phase model

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Computer simulation of mineral and hydrometallurgical processes: USIM PAC 2, a single software from design to optimization

THE NEW MODEL CONCEPTS

As seen above, the phase model can be very different from one project to another depending
on the flowsheet complexity and on the parameters which must be followed. However, the
unit operation models must run independently from the way the processed material is
described.

The Meta-models

The author's team has defined a new concept called the Meta-model. A Meta-model is made
of two layers (see fig. 7). The inside layer constitutes the mathematical model per se,
representing the operation in the unit; and other functions such as cost calculation, parameter
property definitions or power consumption calculation; the peripheral layer, common to all the
models, is used to exchange data between the stream description and the model itself.

Data from
stream description

Peripheral layer
of the Meta-models
Pick up and adapt
data from the stream
description to the model
Translate the calculation
results to restore the
stream description data

Mathematical Model

Cost calculation function

Power consumption calculation

Parameter property definitions

...

Group of Meta-models

Figure 7 - The Meta-model structure

This layer gets the data in the stream description, using the phase model, and translate it into
the required form for the model. If the data does not exist in the stream description module,
because the phase model is not adequately defined, the basis of the unit operation model is not
called. All existing data which is not processed in the mathematical model is treated by
default in this layer.

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Computer simulation of mineral and hydrometallurgical processes: USIM PAC 2, a single software from design to optimization

Example of two unit operation models with the same phase model

In these examples, we keep the gold plant phase model, described above, containing three
phases well detailed (see Table 2).

The first model considered is a very simple screen model. This model uses Degoul's function
to represent the partition curve. It needs only the fraction per size class of the ore phase to
calculate the output of the screen. It also calculates the liquid split.
The peripheral layer of the meta-models selects the required data from the stream description.
The model calculates the unit output in terms of size fraction and the peripheral layer rebuilds
the complete stream description from the calculation results (see fig. 8).

Solution
Ore Global flowrate
Global flowrate Composition
Particle size Carbon
Floating ability Global flowrate
Composition Composition

Composition
Floating ability
Peripheral layer Composition
of the Meta-models Global flowrate
Composition

Ore Solution
Global flowrate Global flowrate
Particle size

Screen
model

Figure 8 - Exchanges between a screen model and the stream description data

The second model is a Carbon In Leach (CIL) sump model. For each component of the ore
phase, the model calculates the fraction of the component moving from the ore phase to the
solution. It then calculates the fraction of the component moving from the solution to the solid
phase. By a material conservation law, it gives the composition of the leached ore phase, of
the barren solution and of the loaded solid phase (activated carbon). For that, it needs the
component grades of each phase, but does not take into account the size distribution (see
fig. 9).

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Computer simulation of mineral and hydrometallurgical processes: USIM PAC 2, a single software from design to optimization

Solution
Global flowrate
Ore Composition
Global flowrate
Particle size
Floating ability
Composition Carbon
Global flowrate
Composition

Particle size
Floating ability

Peripheral layer
of the Meta-models

Solution
Global flowrate
Composition
Ore
Global flowrate Carbon
Composition Global flowrate
Composition

CIL
model

Figure 9 - Exchanges between a CIL model and the stream description data

PERSPECTIVES

The new phase model of USIM PAC 2, linked with the meta-model structure, opens real
possibilities for unit operation modelling. With generic concepts, such as criteria and
hierarchies, the USIM PAC developers can easily define new criteria e.g., chemical
composition, mineral liberation properties, etc. It expresses a fundamental evolution in steady-
state simulation of mineral processing operations.

New concepts will be introduced in future versions of USIM PAC to facilitate material
description and unit operation modelling:

· Shared criteria, which are criteria shared by several phases. This allows study of the
exchange of one element between two phases.

· Conversions, which allows exchange between two criteria of description for the same
phase. One example is the conversion Chemical composition-Mineralogical composition.

With this powerful and efficient software, the USIM PAC team is making real efforts in
hydrometallurgical process modelling.

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Computer simulation of mineral and hydrometallurgical processes: USIM PAC 2, a single software from design to optimization

CONCLUSION

USIM PAC represents a new generation of steady-state simulators. Its flexible structure
associated to generic concepts allows very important evolution. Already widely used to design
and optimize industrial plants in the field of physical treatment, it now becomes an efficient
tool for the hydrometallurgical engineer. It is clearly driven by the user's objectives and is
adaptable to his vocabulary and customs.

Developed in the WindowsTM environment, USIM PAC 2 takes advantages of a very friendly
interface, intuitive for the process engineer. It also uses the great memory management
capabilities proposed by WindowsTM and special programming has been performed to
improve the efficiency and the accuracy of all the algorithms embedded in the software (16,
19).

The package also contains a development module which allows the user to incorporate his
own models into the model library. This makes USIM PAC 2 a real modelling environment
for the researchers, preventing them from all the peripheral problems such as material
description or flowsheet drawing and comprehension.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This is the BRGM contribution No. 93027; this work was financed by a BRGM research
project.

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Computer simulation of mineral and hydrometallurgical processes: USIM PAC 2, a single software from design to optimization

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