Continuous Improvement of Process Advisor Optimizing Furnace Model

The Outotec® Process Advisor has successfully been used for automatic control of flash smelting furnace setpoints continuously for 5 years. This is one contribution that has enabled record long furnace campaign life due to the improved matte temperature control, which has prevented matte infiltration into the hearth. Building on this success, the Process Advisor has been enhanced to further utilize the online dynamic heat and material balance model also for other purposes than direct process control. This paper covers some of the latest improvements taken into use after the initial startup. These include, for example, an online maximum feed rate estimator, which continuously updates the maximum feed rate possible for the operator and an online matte level estimator to get a better matte level estimate also between sounding.