Modeling And Optimization Of Hydrometallurgy Leaching Process

With the rapid growth of the national economy and steady progress of industrialization, high grade ore is gradually reducing. While China contains a large number of low-grade non-ferrous mineral resources, it is very important to use such resources effectively and economically for sustainable development strategy of our country. As one of the two extractive metallurgy technologies, hydrometallurgy technology is catching much attention. The remarkable advantages of hydrometallurgy are high comprehensive recovery rates of valuable metals in raw materials, benefit for environmental protection, and easy fulfillment of continuous and automated production processes. Therefore hydrometallurgy is more suitable for recovering low-grade metal resources. Leaching process is one of the central unit operations in the hydrometallurgical processes. It directly determines the purity of metal extraction.This thesis aims at hydrometallurgy leaching process of a gold refinery in Shandong province. Based on deeply analyzing the characteristics of leaching production process, we establish the mechanistic model for forecasting of leaching rate, Then discuss the amount of cyanide added optimal setting for the purpose of lowest cost. The main researches are summarized as follows:1 With sodium cyanide as a leaching agent for gold leaching process in the background, based on material and energy balance principle, establish the mechanistic model of this process. The validity and generalization of the model are proved through simulation which is tested by practical data. Meanwhile, the effect for leaching rate of leading factors is analyzed by simulation experiment.2 Propose a method of identification of the leaching process mechanistic model parameters based on the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) algorithm, and establish hybrid model for forecasting leaching rate on real-time combining with the mechanistic model.3 According to the research of the leaching process, the thesis establishes the optimization model for operation variables of leaching process with the aim of minimum material loss. And then it uses the propagation of particle swarm real-time optimization method to optimize the process operating variables according the practice data.4 Taking the whole process of hydrometallurgical refinery integrated control system project in Shandong province as background, the leaching section plant as a research object, a prediction and optimization operating platform software of leaching section has been designed and developed based on the above theory studies. Prediction for leaching rate of leaching process has been achieved. And can provide the optimal operating guide for this process.