Abstract
Bauxite slurry and heated caustic liquor are fed into digestion reactors for alumina extraction. The main parameter of the reactor output, the A/C (alumina/caustic) ratio is adjusted manually through the bauxite flow, based on laboratory analyses that are made to calibrate the system every two hours. Since many variables interfere in the A/C ratio, such as bauxite and liquor composition and scaling process, the measurements have low reliability, making this control not effective. This case focuses on Fuzzy technology application in a bauxite digester in order to control the bauxite slurry.
The software does not require phenomenological knowledge to control the A/C ratio and uses empirical rules to estimate it. By anticipating production variances, the process variability was reduced by 50%, which saved 3.2% of the steam used for caustic liquor heating.
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References
Hind, A. R., Bhargava, S. K., Grocott, S. C. “The surface chemistry of Bayer process solids: a review”, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 146 1999 pp 359–374.
Hond, R. D., Hiralal, I., Rijkeboer, A. “Alumina Yield in the Bayer Process: Past, Present and Prospects”, TMS (The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society), 2007.
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Franco, T.T., Junior, R.S., Duck, A.R.K., Filho, L.J.R.F., Santiago, I.B. (2015). Fuzzy Technology Application in a Bauxite Digestion Unit. In: Hyland, M. (eds) Light Metals 2015. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48248-4_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48248-4_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-48610-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-48248-4
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