Smelter Optimization

Keywords Copper Smelting Smelter Scheduling Smelter Optimization... 

The smelter workforce has a team-oriented, higher performance organization culture. Performance-based incentives are in place for the employees. These incentives are based on performance areas that the workforce can control, such as environmental performance, safety and hygiene, cost control, production optimization and process improvement. The smelter philosophy is to make tomorrow better than today . 

Optimization starts with determining the zinc concentrate mix to be treated. This determination must be made considering all recoverable metal values and also the downstream metallurgical and operational constraints in the rest of the zinc and lead operations. Zinc concentrates with greater precious metal values typically also contain more iron and other impurities, resulting in a lower zinc metal production and an increased production of iron residues, whieh reduces available smelter capacity for other feed materials. Thus the optimum zinc concentrate feed mixture is based on all final products produced considering all downstream capacity implications. 

The optimal selection of the circuit requires that an appropriate objective function be defined upon which the values of the operational and structural variables may be determined. Since in the present case the income depends on the structure and operational conditions, a useful function is the difference between income and costs. Differing relations may be applied for calculation of the income depending on the type of product and its market. For base metals the net-smelter-return formula may be utilized (Schena et al., 1997). 

Different cryolite ratios and additives in different ways influence the basic technical and economic characteristics of the reduction process, improving one characteristic and decreasing another. Currently, it is impossible to describe the optimal composition of electrolyte, and the situation with smelters depends on various local circumstances, including raw materials, energy costs, and design of cells, among other factors. 

Common steps to any optimization process are to identify the limits/constraints wifliin your smelter, and then to look at ways to remove or ease flris restriction on your plant. Other changes to the plant, operating practices and eiqiansions can also be simulated. 

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