Plant‐wide optimization for gold hydrometallurgy based on the fuzzy qualitative model and interval number. (5th September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Yadong; Chang, Yuqing; Niu, Dapeng; Wang, Fuli
• Is Part Of: Journal of chemometrics. Volume 32:Number 12(2018)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2018-09-05
• Subjects: expert knowledge -- hydrometallurgy -- interval number -- plant‐wide optimization -- qualitative model; Chemistry -- Mathematics -- Periodicals; Chemistry -- Statistical methods -- Periodicals; 542.85
• DOI: 10.1002/cem.3077
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0886-9383

Abstract

Abstract: Since the difficulty of obtaining accurate online‐measurement of some key variables in hydrometallurgy plant‐wide production process causes that the quantitative models of some procedures are difficult to establish and the plant‐wide optimization based on quantitative model is difficult to realize, a plant‐wide optimization method based on interval numbers is proposed in this work. First, based on the information of expert knowledge and the experience of field workers, a fuzzy qualitative model is constructed, and outputs of the qualitative model are reasonably divided into multiple modes simultaneously. By analyzing the process properties, an optimal control problem for hydrometallurgy plant‐wide production process in the steady state is proposed to achieve process requirements which is to obtain the lowest cost of sodium cyanide and zinc as well as high gold quality. Then, by using interval numbers to represent the key variables that cannot be measured, an optimization method based on interval numbers is proposed for every output mode of the qualitative model. Finally, the hydrometallurgy process is carried in industrial simulation experiment. The results demonstrate that the proposed optimization scheme has much wider applicability than conventional optimization methods, especially for its improved performance of solving optimization problem with uncertainty. Abstract : The fuzzy qualitative model based on expert knowledge and experiential knowledge of field workers can solve the problem that some procedures cannot establish the quantitative models, and through connecting this fuzzy qualitative model with the quantitative models, the plant‐wide optimization control can be realized. Through using the interval number to represent the key variables that cannot be measured, the optimization method based on interval number can effectively solve the problem of the complex plant‐wide productive process with uncertainty characteristic. For a complex process consisting of multiple unit processes, the plant‐wide optimization method can effectively resolve optimization problem of the complex hydrometallurgy productive process and achieve production with high efficiency and low consumption.