International Journal of Mineral Processing, 10 (1983) 279--288 279

Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam -- Printed in The Netherlands

AUTOMATED MATERIAL BALANCE AND ASSAY DATA ADJUSTMENT

AROUND A PIECE OF MINERAL PROCESSING EQUIPMENT

V.R. VOLLER and P.J. RYAN

School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computing, Thames Polytechnic, Wellington Street,
London SE18 6PF (England)
Mineral Resources Research Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
(U.S.A)
(Received July 28, 1982; accepted October 29, 1982)

ABSTRACT

Voller, V.R. and Ryan, P.J., 1983. Automated material balance and assay data adjust-
ment around a piece of mineral processing equipment. Int. J. Miner. Process., 10:
279--288.

This paper describes an algorithm for calculating the minimum adjustment required
to make a set of assays, measured around a single piece of processing equipment, con-
sistent with the mass flows present in that system. This algorithm is then applied to the
problem of hydrocyclone size data reconciliation.

INTRODUCTION

In recent years there have been a number of computer packages developed

for automated material balance and data adjustment in the minerals industry
(Wiegel, 1972, 1978; Hockings and Callen, 1977; Laguitton and Wilson,
1979; Hodouin and Everell, 1980; Reid et al., 1982). These packages are,
in the main, designed for large-scale problems and intended for use on main-
frame computers. Many problems of material balance are not large scale,
however. For example, consider the case of size data adjustment around a
hydrocyclone; this involves only one piece of equipment and three process
streams. For this reason, an algorithm for the solution of material balance
problems on single pieces of process equipment has been developed. This al-
gorithm forms the basis of a relatively simple automated material balance
program, which in its most reduced form can fit onto a hand held program-
mable calculator.

THE M A T E R I A L BALANCE PROBLEM

Consider a single piece of mineral processing equipment, with a feed

stream, a tailings stream and a concentrate stream, schematically shown in

0301-7516/83/$03.00 © 1 9 8 3 Elsevier Science Publisheru B . V .

280

FEED

t
lW = 250

PROCESS
EQUIPMENT

w2=? w3=?

TAIL CONC.

Fig. 1. A single piece of process equipment.

Fig. 1. Further, assume that the feed massflow rate, W,, is known (250
TPH) and that all the streams have been assayed for species k( = 1 through n),
cf. Table I. In order to complete the material balance, i.e., calculate the
mass flows in the tailings and concentrate streams W, and W3, n + l mass
balance equations have to be satisfied, viz.:
W, - - W2 - - W3 = 0 (1)

and
W,X~ -- W2X~ -- W~X~ = 0 (k = I through n) (2)
where X k is the assayed value for species k on stream i. Solution of eqs.
i and 2 leads to the familiar " t w o - p r o d u c t " balance formula, e.g.,
(x,k
: w, - x , k) (3)
and likewise for the concentrate mass flow Ws. The problem with two-
product balance formula is, that due to errors generated in sampling and

TABLE I

Assay data

Stream Assay type

1 2

Feed 23.8 52.1

Tail 5.3 40.7
Concentrate 53.9 63.4
 281

assaying, the estimates of the massflows W2 and W3 depend on the assay

species used. The assay data in Table I represent a typical set of inconsistent
measured assays. Using each of the t w o assay types in turn in the two-
product balance formula produces markedly different estimates for the
massflows W1 and W2, see Table II. There are two possible solution routes
to this problem of over-defined inconsistent equations:
(1) Only use one assay type in calculating the mass balance, then the
mass balance equations are not over-defined.
(2) Adjust the measured assayed data to form a consistent set such that
all the mass balance equations are satisfied.
Intuitively, the second of these approaches is the best, if simply, only for
the reason that it uses all the available data.

TABLE II

Two-product balance flowrate estimates

Assay type used W~ W2 Wj

1 250 154.8 95.2

2 250 124.4 125,6

AN ADJUSTMENT TECHNIQUE

A technique that adjusts the assayed data would have to perform in a

constant manner, i.e., the criteria by which adjustments are made should
be independent of the problem. A suitable criterion for adjustment would
be one in which the adjusted assays: (1) satisfied all the mass balance equa-
tions; and (2} the adjustments made were the minimum possible. In addition,
adjustment of the assays would also have to take account of the relative
errors generated in the sampling and assaying. Errors of this type are often
assumed to be normal (cf. Fig. 2), unbiased and independent. With these
assumptions the minimum adjustment may be taken to occur when:
n
j = ~_j jh = a minimum (4)
h
where, in the simple case of one piece of process equipment connected b y
three streams:

gh = _ o (5)
j=l

and :Y~ is the adjusted assay on stream 1. The functional J in eq. 4 represents
_ qf

a weighted sum of squares. The weighting factors are the standard deviations,
282

0.80[ ~ . ~ Curve a

-2 -1 0 +1 +2

Fig. 2. Normal distribution curves often describe errors in sampling. Normal equation:
y = (x/2n) -1 exp [-- (x -- #)2/2o2]. y = frequency of occurrence; x = sample value; u =
population mean; and a = standard deviation (note: a a < ob).

o..k , associated with the normal sample populations of each assay type on
etch stream, see Fig. 2. In t h i s w a y , inaccurate assays, belonging to normal
populations with large standard deviation, can be adjusted more than assays
associated with small standard deviations in the minimization of J.
On substituting the adjusted assays, X~/, into eq. 2, eqs, 1, 2 and 4 define
the material balance adjustment problem for the case of a single piece o f
equipment connected by three streams. This problem can be stated thus:
Adjust the measured assays in each stream such that the functional J is
minimized and the resulting calculated mass flows and adjusted assays are
consistent, satisfying eqs. 1 and 2.
The problem can be rationalized on the introduction of u n k n o w n mul-
tipliers referred to as Lagrange multipliers. The function of these additional
parameters is to combine the mass balance constraints, eqs. 1 and 2, with
the original function J to form a new functional
L=J+O (Wt--W2--W3) + ~ Xk(W,Xkl--W2f(~--W~k3) (6)
k
The solution of the material balance adjustment problem can then be ob-
tained on the minimization of the new function L. Unfortunately, due to
the non-linear third term in L, direct minimization is not possible. One way
around this problem is to choose a value for the railings mass flow rate, W2,
b y solving one of the two product-balance formulas for example, and cal-
culating a value of W3, the concentrate flow rate, using the known mass
flow rate W1 and equation 1. In this manner the second term in L is iden-
tically zero and the functional is linear. A direct minimization of L then
leads to the minimum adjusted assays corresponding to the choice of W2.
This set of assays, however, does n o t necessarily minimize the functional J.
To find the set o f assays that minimizes J and satisfy equations 1 and 2 a
search in W2 has to be performed. This is achieved by continually updating
the choice of W~, minimizing L and calculating J at each step. When the
minimum value of J is reached the current values of W2, W3, and X/k are
then the solution of the material balance adjustment problem. [This ap-
proach has also been suggested, b u t not implemented, by Wiegel (1979).]
 283

TABLE III

The main steps in algorithm to solve material balance data adjustment problems around
a single process unit

n : number of assay types

W2 : guess for independent flow rate
v

I
l~ t e ~ I
I Calculate adjusted
assays type k

Perform search
I k:k÷l I
on W, : Manual or
Automatic

Calculate J corresponding
to current value of W2

+
Current adjusted assays and mass
flow rates: Solution to data adjustment
and material balance problem

The minimization of L at each step is achieved on partial differentiation

with respect to the unknowns (i.e., X/k and k) and setting the derivatives to
zero. This results in sets of equations, one for each assay type, of the follow-
ing form:

X^ki + (o~)2 Wi ~k = X~ (i = 1,2,3) (7)

w,~, - w 2 ~ - w ~ :0
The solutions to eq. 7, i.e., the set of minimum adjusted assays correspond-
ing to the choice o f W2, are:
~ =~ --di(o~) 2 w i s k (8)
where
284

S k= ~_j diWi Xk (akwi) 2 (9)

i=1 i=1

and di = (+1 or --1) represent the direction of the stream (+1 into the equip-
ment, --1 out of the equipment). Note that: (1) the choice of the fixed WI,
independent, W2, and dependent, W3 mass flow rates is arbitrary, and (2)
in a case where no mass flows are known, one of the mass flows can be fixed
at 100.
A flowsheet outlining the main steps in the data adjustment and material
balance algorithm for a single piece of process equipment is given in Table
III.

PROGRAMMING THE ALGORITHM

There are two main steps in the material balance algorithm outlined in
Table III. Step 1 entails calculating the minimum adjustment to the mea-
sured assays corresponding to the current value of W2. Step 2 entails search
over the values of W2 until J, eq. 4, is an absolute minimum. This search
could be either automatic (i.e., done by the computer), or manual (i.e.,
done by the user). In a case where a manual search is performed, the pro-
gramming space required for the first part of the data-adjustment material-
balance algorithm becomes relatively small. In fact, with careful planning
and data storage usage, the algorithm can be programmed on a Hewlitt
Packard HP 34 hand-held calculator, a calculator towards the smaller end
of the programmable calculator range.
The authors have prepared two programs of the proposed data adjust-
ment material balance algorithm. The first, HANDBAL, is designed to fit
on Hewlitt Packard calculators. This program only includes a routine for
calculating the adjusted assay values corresponding to the current guess
of W2, with a manual search being performed on the independent flow rate
W2 to reach the absolute minimum of J, eq. 4. The second program written
in BASIC+ includes an automatic search routine for calculating the value
of the independent flow rate. This program requires little storage and can
easily fit onto microcomputer systems. Both these programs, along with
detailed documentation, are available from the authors on request.

A SAIVIPLE P R O B L E M

The data given in Table I corresponding to the unit process depicted in

Fig. 1 will be used as a sample problem to demonstrate the use of the mate-
rial balance algorithm outlined in Table III. This data argumented with
typical sampling errors is reproduced in Table IV. The assay and error data
represent the majority of required input for the SINBAL and HANDBAL
programs. The remaining input data is the number of assay types, n (in this
 285

T A B L E IV
D a t a for i n p u t t o c a l c u l a t o r p r o g r a m

Stream Assay t y p e
Value % Error Value % Error

1 23.8 5 52.1 10
2 5.3 5 40.7 10
3 53.9 2 63.4 4

No. of assay, n = 2
(23.8 - - 53.9)
Initial W2 = 250 x 154.825
(5.3--53.9)

example n = 2), and a value for the independent flow rate W2. An initial
value for W2 can be found on use of eq. 3. On this step an initial estimate
for W: using the first assay t y p e is 154.825.
The full results of the sample problem, using the HANDBAL program
on an HP 34C, are shown in Table V. These results are identical with the
results obtained using the SINBAL BASIC+ program and a full-scale auto-
mated material-balance package (Wiegel, 1972) on a DEC PDP 11/60.

TABLE V

Results o f s a m p l e p r o b l e m

Stream Assays Mass flows

1 2
Mean Adj. Mean Adj.

1 23.8 23.87 52.1 49.94 250

2 5.3 5.3 40.7 41.51 154.38
3 53.9 53.87 63.4 63.59 95.62

H Y D R O C Y C L O N E SIZE D A T A A D J U S T M E N T

An obvious application for the data adjustment and automated material

balance algorithm outlined above is in the reconciliation of hydrocyclone
data. In calculating the efficiency of a hydrocyclone, i.e., the percentage of
solids in a given size fraction which reports to the underflow, it is necessary
to calculate the circulating load in the circuit, i.e.:
Underflow W3
CLR- Overflow W2 (10)

where for convenience the feed, overflow and underflow streams of the
286

(2)

~ _ ~ f low

~ nderilow

Fig. 3. Schematic view of hydrocyclone indicating stream numbering.

hydrocyclone have been numbered 1 through 3 (see Fig. 3). This may be
achieved by employing assayed size data in two product-balance formulae.
Table VI gives typical size data obtained from assaying a hydrocyclone
circuit (Reid and Rimmer, 1975). In this data there are seven different size
intervals (i.e., n = number of assays = 7) and each one leads to a different
estimate for the circulating load, cf. Table VI, Column 4.

T A B L E VI

Measured size data and calculatedrecirculatingload

Size interval % Feed % O'Flow % U'Flow RCL

(largestdown)

1 48.6 4.4 62.9 3.1

2 10.3 7.1 12.5 1.4
3 9.6 11.5 8.9 2.89
4 6.5 11.5 5.0 3.39
5 4.3 10.2 2.4 3.06
6 1.9 6.0 0.7 3.30
7 18.8 49.3 7.6 3.30

In order to establish consistency in the system, some o f the size analysis

data need to be adjusted. Following the arguments presented above, the
" b e s t " adjustments are those which minimize the functional L, eq. 6, where
^k (k = 1, . . . . n -- 1) is the adjusted kth size fraction on stream i. The solu-
X~
tion o f this problem then follows from eqs. 8 and 9. Note that
(1) It is important that in this size~ata adjustment problem only the first
n -- 1 adjusted assays are calculated from eqs. 8 and 9. The nth adjusted
size data then follows from:
n--i
X^ki = I 0 0 - - ~ X^ki (II)
/~=l
and the constraint that the sum of all the adjusted size assays totals 100%
is met.
 287

(2) Specific values for the mass flow rates are not required, as the re-
quired value, the circulating load, is a ratio. Hence, the feed flow rate W1
can be fixed at 100 and an appropriate guess for the independent flow rate
W2 can be made on using one of the calculated values for the circulating load
in Table VI.
On assuming that the relative standard deviation associated with each
measured size analysis in Table VI is 2%, i.e. o/k = 0.02 X/k , solution of the
hydrocyclone data adjustment problem, using the HANDBAL program, gives
the results recorded in Table VII. Once again the adjusted assays obtained
from this hand-calculator program are in agreement with the results obtained
using a "full blown" main-frame automated material balance package.

TABLE VII

Adjusted size data and calculated recirculating load

Size interval % Feed % O'Flow % U'Flow RCL

(largest down)

1 48.85 4.40 62.58 3.24

2 10.79 7.04 11.95 3.24
3 9.55 11.52 8.93 3.24
4 6.52 11.48 4.99 3.24
5 4.26 10.25 2.41 3.24
6 1.93 5.92 0.69 3.24
7 18.10 49.39 8.45 3.24

CONCLUDING REMARKS

A u t o m a t e d material balance packages have traditionally been designed

for the solution of large problems on large main-frame machines. In this
paper, we have tried to demonstrate that this does not have to be the case.
The aims of this work have been three-fold:
(1} Introduce and illustrate the basic principles in data-adjustment mate-
rial-balance routines by using the example of a single three-stream process
unit.
(2) Provide a means by which a mineral engineer in the field can perform
simple automated material-balance calculations on a personal computer or
hand calculator and thereby develop an appreciation for the large main-
frame automated material-balance packages.
(3) Make a step towards the development of automated material-balance
packages which can be implemented with limited computing facilities, both
in hardware and personnel.
288

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Mineral Re-
sources Research Center, in particular, Dr. K.J. Reid, Director, for much
useful discussion.

REFERENCES

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balances of continuous process streams. Preprint No. 77-B-372, SME Fall Meeting,
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material balancing of mineral processes data. Int. J. Miner. Process., 7: 91--116.
Laguitton, D. and Wilson, J.M., 1979. MATBAL II, A Fortran program for balancing
mineral processing circuits. 18th Annu. Conf. Metallurgists, CIM Metallurgical Society,
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Reid, K.J. and Rimmer, H.W., 1975. A standardised system for calculating mineral pro-
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