Zinc Hydrometallurgy Electrolyte Preparation Process Control Systems Research And Development

The energy consumption is very large in the electrolysis zinc process in which zinc is deposited in the zinc sulfate solution with direct current. The main affection to energy consumption includes current density, ratio of H₂SO₄/Zn²⁺ (RHZ) and temperature of electrolyte in the electrolysis zinc process. According to time-sharing price counting policy of electric power, time-sharing power supply scheme is used in zinc smelting enterprise. To different current density, it is important to optimize RHZ and temperature of electrolyte in order to reduce the energy consumption.The impact of current density, RHZ and temperature of electrolyte to energy consumption was analyzed. According to practical production and experiment of electrolysis zinc, the relationship between RHZ and temperature of electrolyte and current density was established to ensure energy consumption lower.On the basis, the expert control was adopted to prepare electrolyte. Based on the balance of material, the flow model of zinc sulfate solution and the model of forecasting RHZ were built. The flow of zinc sulfate solution and waste electrolyte was given by the expert system based on the result of the model and was controlled on-line by the neuron PID controller. Based on the temperature deviation and the rate of temperature deviation, the cooling fans were controlled by the expert control system to adjust the temperature of electrolyte.Finally, the preparation of the electrolyte control system was developed. The electrolysis zinc process was monitored, the energy consumption was reduced by optimal controling RHZ and temperature of electrolyte and the electrolysis zinc process was steady.