Iron Ore Composition Monitoring Using an …apc-analytics.com/sites/default/files/pdf_documents/isa...Iron Ore Composition Monitoring Using an Automated On-Line X-Ray Spectrometer

Iron Ore Composition Monitoring Using an Automated On-Line X-Ray Spectrometer Analyzer

Iron Ore Composition Monitoring Using anAutomated On-Line X-Ray Spectrometer Analyzer

Sidney A. A. Viana, Allan S. Souza, Wallace C. Araujo, Rilei V. Ribeiro

VALE

Stefan W. Brauer, Ronald Polski, Gerhard Pflug

APC Analytics GmbH


Summary

● Quality Control in Mining Plants

● What is SOLAS?

● Plant Installation

● Principle of Operation

● Off-Line & On-Line Calibration

● Practical Results

● Advantadges and Limitations


Quality Control in Mining Plants

● Well stabilished standards and procedures.

● Time-consuming tasks for samples extraction, preparation and analysis.

● Necessity for faster - and yet reliable - analysis.

● Improvements from advances in analysis technology and equipments (e.g.: on-line spectrometers for chemical; on-line laser difractometers for size distribution).

● Automated quality control.


SOLAS (Sampling On-Line Analyzer System) is an analyzer system composed of several mechanical, pneumatic, electrical, and electronic equipments, fully integrated into an unique system housed in a container.

What is SOLAS?


What is SOLAS?

Sampled material handling system


Plant Installation


Operation Principle:

What is SOLAS?


• SOLAS is the combination of pneumatic sampling, pneumatic transport, pneumatical milling and EDXRF analysis, all integrated by a specifc controlunit.

• First step is Airmill for rapid grinding of the sample material < 200 µm

What is SOLAS?



Sample

X-RayTube

Detector

X-Ray Analysis

∆E 6,40 [keV]

1,74 [keV]

1,49[keV]

FeSiAl

Problems of x-ray analysis:• Absorption of x-rays in ambient

air• Sensitivity only on surface / grain

size effectsSolutions:• Helium Flushing• Fine grinding


0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Energie [keV]

Impu

lse

Al

Si

SRh

K

Ca

Ti

Fe

Peak Areaproportionalto concentration

Helium flushingamplified peaksAl + Si

X-Ray spectrum of lignite


Calibration

Example of spectrum provided by SOLAS for iron ore:


Calibration

● Off-Line Calibration

A set of samples is divided in two parts: one to be analysed in Laboratory, and the other to be analysed by SOLAS.

Chemicals of interest: Fe, Mn, Si, P, Al, and Ti.


Iron (Fe)

60,0

61,0

62,0

63,0

64,0

65,0

66,0

67,0

68,0

69,0

70,0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Sample

Con

cent

rati

on R

esul

ts (

%)

Laboratory SOLAS Manganese (Mn)

0,0

0,5

1,0

1,5

2,0

2,5

3,0

3,5

4,0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

SampleC

once

ntra

tion

Res

ults

(%

)

Laboratory SOLAS Silicium (Si)

0,0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1,0

1,2

1,4

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Sample

Con

cent

rati

on R

esul

ts (

%)

Laboratory SOLAS

Phosphor (P)

0,00

0,01

0,02

0,03

0,04

0,05

0,06

0,07

0,08

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Sample

Con

cent

rati

on R

esul

ts (

%)

Laboratory SOLAS Aluminium (Al)

0,0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1,0

1,2

1,4

1,6

1,8

2,0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Sample

Con

cent

rati

on R

esul

ts (

%)

Laboratory SOLAS Titanium (Ti)

0,00

0,02

0,04

0,06

0,08

0,10

0,12

0,14

0,16

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Sample

Con

cent

rati

on R

esul

ts (

%)

Laboratory SOLAS

Calibration

Off-Line Calibration Results (Laboratory x SOLAS)

Fe Mn Si

P Al Ti


Iron (Fe)

60,0

61,0

62,0

63,0

64,0

65,0

66,0

67,0

68,0

69,0

70,0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Sample

Con

cent

rati

on R

esul

ts (

%)

Laboratory SOLAS Manganese (Mn)

0,0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1,0

1,2

1,4

1,6

1,8

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

SampleC

once

ntra

tion

Res

ults

(%

)

Laboratory SOLAS Silicium (Si)

0,0

0,5

1,0

1,5

2,0

2,5

3,0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Sample

Con

cent

rati

on R

esul

ts (

%)

Laboratory SOLAS

Phosphor (P)

0,00

0,01

0,02

0,03

0,04

0,05

0,06

0,07

0,08

0,09

0,10

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Sample

Con

cent

rati

on R

esul

ts (

%)

Laboratory SOLAS Aluminium (Al)

0,0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1,0

1,2

1,4

1,6

1,8

2,0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Sample

Con

cent

rati

on R

esul

ts (

%)

Laboratory SOLAS Titanium (Ti)

0,00

0,02

0,04

0,06

0,08

0,10

0,12

0,14

0,16

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Sample

Con

cent

rati

on R

esul

ts (

%)

Laboratory SOLAS

Fe Mn Si

P Al Ti

Calibration

On-Line Calibration Results (SOLAS x Plant Laboratory)


Practical Results

On-Line Monitoring shows:

• The process has fast changes in ore-quality

• Fast changes demand high sampling & analysing frequency


• To compare Online Analyser results in practice is very difficult, because no comparison system was available.

• We tried to have an impression by comparing SOLAS prediction with resultsfrom the existing sampling tower (provided by plant laboratory).

• In between the sampling of SOLAS and the sampling-tower:• Varying time delays, processes, adding other material.

Practical Results

Begin(Plant Input)

Plant process

SOLASSamplingTower

End(Plant Output)


Manganese (Mn)

0,0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1,0

1,2

1,4

1,6

1,8

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Sample

Con

cent

rati

on (

%)

Laboratory (averaged) SOLAS

Silicium (Si)

0,0

0,5

1,0

1,5

2,0

2,5

3,0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Sample

Con

cent

rati

on (

%)

Laboratory (averaged) SOLAS Phosphor (P)

0,00

0,01

0,02

0,03

0,04

0,05

0,06

0,07

0,08

0,09

0,10

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Sample

Con

cent

rati

on (

%)

Laboratory (averaged) SOLAS

Practical Results

Plant Sampling Tower x SOLAS

Iron (Fe)

0,0

10,0

20,0

30,0

40,0

50,0

60,0

70,0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Sample

Con

cent

rati

on (

%)

Laboratory Predicted using SOLAS


Limitations

● Material aggregation inside sampling tubes, depending on the characteristics of the ore.

Problematical Conditions:


Advantadges

● No problems regarding sampling and handling the sample material in normal dry conditions. ● Accurate on-line analysis results.● Remote monitoring from the Control Room.● Provide support for fast decision-making

Normal Conditions:


SOLAS was initially developed to analyze sulfur content of lignite and bituminous coal. Later, its applications were extended to analyse the ash content and the mineral composition of these bulk materials.

* In installation.

What is SOLAS?


Thank you.

[email protected]

[email protected]

Documents

Iron Ore Composition Monitoring Using an …apc-analytics.com/sites/default/files/pdf_documents/isa...Iron Ore Composition Monitoring Using an Automated On-Line X-Ray Spectrometer