SME Annual Meeting Feb. 28-Mar.

2, 2005, Salt Lake City, UT

Preprint 05-106

BAGDAD CONCENTRATOR PROCESS CONTROL UPDATE

Peter Amelunxen Craig Lockhart Phelps Dodge Bagdad Inc. Bagdad, AZ Abstract
Significant effort was made in 2003 and 2004 to upgrade the existing instrumentation and process control infrastructure at the Phelps Dodge Bagdad copper concentrator. Specifically, cameras were installed on the feed belt for online image analysis data, ultrasonic level sensors were installed for froth height and sump level control, a trial froth image system was installed on one of the rougher rows, and a new expert system to tie everything together was integrated and tuned in-house.

Background
While the Bagdad deposit was already being commercially mined as early 1928, the construction of the original modern mill was only completed in 1977. The 1977 mill was a 40,000 tons per day (stpd) plant consisting of three ABC grinding circuits feeding a copper/molybdenum bulk flotation circuit and a molybdenum plant. In 1981 a fourth grinding line was added, along with a second flotation circuit. Grinding line five was added in 1990, and the flotation circuit of 1981 was expanded to accommodate the new mill. The 1977 configuration, comprised of the first three grinding lines and the original flotation circuit, is known as the Bag I side, and the two grinding lines and one flotation circuit commissioned in 1981 and 1990 are known collectively as the Bag II side. Circuit Description Run of mine ore passes through the 60 by 89 inches Allis Chalmers in-pit crusher and is conveyed uphill on 11 to 14 degree inclines approximately 1,000 vertical feet and radially stacked on the coarse ore stockpile. The three original autogenous mills (automills) are 32 feet in diameter by 13 feet in length and operated in closed circuit with pebble crushing of the 3/8 inch screen oversize. Automills 4 and 5 are also 32 feet in diameter, but mill 4 is 15 feet in length and mill 5 is 11.5 feet in length. The vibrating screens are 8 feet by 20 feet General Kinematics screens and the pebble crushers are all 7-ft Symons shorthead HD crushers. Each crusher is fed with a variable speed belt to control the feed rate and is fitted with a bypass conveyor for collecting the excess pebbles. In 2000 the Symons crusher on grinding line 3 was replaced with a Nordberg MP800, hence line three has a higher pebble crushing capacity than the other lines. Each grinding line has a single 3000 HP, 15 feet by 22 feet ball mill to treat the automill circuit product (grinding line five is the exception, with a ball mill 14 feet

Control philosophy, observations, opinions, and general tips and tricks are discussed with the hope of assisting other plant personnel and expert system integrators.

Introduction
The body of this paper is organized in three parts. The first part describes the background relevant to the recent control improvements. It contains descriptions of the circuit configurations and process constraints. The second part describes the three principle instrumentation improvements undertaken as part of the control upgrade project and discusses the control strategies that they enabled. The third part describes the general logic architecture of the Knowledgescape expert system.

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SME Annual Meeting Feb. 28-Mar. 2, 2005, Salt Lake City, UT

in diameter by 27 feet long and 3500 HP installed power). The screen deck undersize and the ball mill discharge report to a common sump from which a 400 HP Thomas Foundry pump feeds the cyclone cluster. Each cluster contains four 33 inch Krebs cyclones (underflow reporting to the ball mill) and one 20 inch Krebs cyclone (underflow reporting to the automill). The overflow from all cyclones, typically around 250 microns in size (P80), reports to flotation. The 20 inch cyclone is used optionally during ball-mill constraints such as overloading ball mills or roping cyclones. Figure 1 shows a grinding line flow sheet.
Pebble Crusher To Flotation Stockpile Cyclones

Cleaners (3)

Regrind Cyclones

Feed

CleanerScavengers

Con

Rougher Rows (4)

Tails
Regrind Sump

Regrind Ball Mill

Figure 2 Grinding Circuit Constraints There are four state constraints and two exogenous constraints on grinding circuit throughput. The state constraints preventing the incremental ton of throughput are bearing pressure (mill load), power, recycle tons per hour (stph), and ball mill restrictions including overloads, roping cyclones, and/or coarse grinds. The two exogenous constraints can be flotation circuit capacity or operator restrictions, a catch-all that includes any other external condition such as water supply, stockpile condition, or equipment availability. These constraints are described in more detail below. Bearing Pressure. The bearing pressure maximum is typically set by the operators such that the charge level in the mill does not rise above the level of the feed end chair liners, the equivalent of 32% of the effective mill volume. When the charge level gets higher than the chair liners, the feed cart can be pushed out when starting the mill after a crash stop. No direct measurement of charge level is possible so the operators rely on spot checks taken after unscheduled crash stops to set the bearing pressure maximum. Mill Power. The automill power maximum, in kilowatts, is a fixed value that is dependant upon the motor size and the power train efficiencies. The Bagdad autogenous mills are rarely constrained by motor power draw. Note that power and pressure limitations as defined above do not include the classical mill overload condition characterized by increasing charge (pressure) and decreasing power. Figure 3 shows the curve of charge level versus power for grinding line 2. The curve was generated using Morrells power draw model (1993) calibrated using typical Bagdad ore properties together with the operating and geometrical properties of the mills. Note that the overload condition occurs near 50% mill charge, well in excess of the 32% limitation due to feed cart concerns; hence, the classical overload condition is rarely observed in the autogenous mills at Bagdad. Figure

Automill

Screen Sump

Ball mill

Figure 1 The Bag 1 flotation circuit (Figure 2) consists of four parallel rows of fifteen 500 cubic feet Wemco flotation machines in 3-3-3-3-3 configuration. Rougher concentrate reports to the regrind circuit sump. The regrind cyclone cluster contains four Krebs D15B cyclones with the underflow reporting to a 700 hp Hardinge 10 ft by 15 ft regrind ball mill and the overflow reporting to three parallel banks of six 100 cubic feet Galigher flotation cells. The concentrate from the these six cells flows by gravity to a second identical set of cells for final upgrading, and the tails from both cleaner sets are combined and flow to a cleaner-scavenger row of eight 300 cubic feet Denver cells arranged in 4-4 configuration. Concentrate from the cleaner scavenger cells returns to regrind sump along with that from the rougher rows. Tails from the cleaner scavengers reports to the rougher feed. (Jensen 1996) The Bag 2 rougher configuration is similar to the Bag 1 configuration except that there are only two rows of rougher cells, one consisting of eight 1,350 cubic feet Outokumpu cells (1-2-2-3) and the other consisting of ten 1000 cubic feet Wemco cells (3-3-4). The Bag 2 cleaner circuit contains only two rows of Galigher cells, but they are in parallel with a ten feet diameter Pyramid column cell.

Copyright 2005 by SME

SME Annual Meeting Feb. 28-Mar. 2, 2005, Salt Lake City, UT

4 shows ten days of operating data for grinding line 2. Note that the x-axis in Figure 4 is in units of bearing pressure (psi) and that of Figure 3 is in units of volumetric mill load (%).
Mill Power - Load Curve
7000 6000

Flotation Circuit Restrictions. Because of the relatively coarse liberation size at Bagdad, flotation capacity does not typically constrain the grinding circuit production unless one or more of rougher rows are down for maintenance.
Automill Circulating Load
12%

Relative Occurrence (%)

20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Power (kW)

5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 10%

10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0%

Charge Level (% of Vol)

20%

28%

36%

44%

52%

60%

68%

76%

84%

92% 100%

Circulating Load (% of Fresh Feed)

Figure 3
Mill Power - Pressure Curve
7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 500

Figure 5 Flotation Constraints The regrind circuit capacity is at present the only constraining influence on the volume of concentrate that can be recovered by the rougher circuits. Given the Bagdad cleaner circuit configuration (i.e. the graderecovery relationship at Bagdad) and the downstream shipping and smelting costs, final product grade is rarely a constraint in the current economic climate. The capacity of the rougher circuit is tied to the capacity of the regrind cyclone feed pump. Over 75% of the volumetric slurry load on this pump originates in the rougher circuit. If the volumetric rate of slurry recovered to the concentrate (pulling rate) is high, the pump capacity is exceeded and the sump overflows. The pulling rate of the rougher cells must be constrained or reduced to avoid further spillage. In an effort to increase the pumping capacity of the regrind system, Bagdad has made many modifications in recent years. The pump velocity has been increased to the cavitation limit (at near-maximum available suction head), the diameter of the cyclone vortex finders has been increased to reduce the discharge head on the pump, and launders have been modified to facilitate increased sump levels (and suction side heads). As a result, the current pumping capacity is balanced with that of the regrind ball mill and cleaner cells, and further improvements can not be made without investing significant capital. Process Control Background The original plant used Swanson motor controllers and Fischer and Porter analog controllers. In 1991, the crushing and conveying system was upgraded to GE

Power (kW)

600

700

800

900

Bearing Pressure (psi)

Figure 4 Mill Recycle Rate. As a percentage of the fresh feed rate, Bagdad has one of the highest recycle rates among autogenous mills, typically between 45 and 75 percent and regularly exceeding 90 percent. Figure 5 shows the relative circulating load for the same 10-day period used for Figure 4. During periods of high tonnages and/or high relative recycle rates, the amount of pebbles generated by the mills exceeds the capacity of the conveying system. As the production of recycle pebbles approaches the conveying capacity, the tonnage must be constrained to avoid belt overloads. Ball Mill Restrictions. Because Bagdad does not yet have particle size information for the cyclone overflow streams online, ball mill restrictions are defined on the basis of ball mill power and cyclone pressure. At the time of writing, online particle size analyzers are being installed.

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SME Annual Meeting Feb. 28-Mar. 2, 2005, Salt Lake City, UT

Fanuc PLCs and WonderWare InTouch HMIs. The grinding circuit control system was upgraded to a FisherProvox DCS in 1993, and the OSI-PI data historian was installed in 1997. As the Fisher Provox system becomes obsolete, Bagdad is migrating towards an Emerson DeltaV system. The dewatering and filtration circuits were upgraded in 2000 and the molybdenum plant in 2001. By 2005, both flotation circuits are scheduled for migration to DeltaV and the Fisher Provox system will be completely eliminated in 2006 with the final conversion of the grinding circuits. Bagdad has more than a decade of history with expert systems. The first system at Bagdad was integrated by then-named Pyramid Resources using Gensyms G2 expert system shell. In 1999 a new expert system was installed by Minnovex Technologies, again using the G2 shell. The 1999 system was based on the Minnovex Core modules (the precursors to the MET modules). In 2004, the third and most recent expert system was installed. This time Bagdad selected the Knowledgescape platform and completed the integration in-house. The next section discusses the instrumentation improvements made during the conversion to a Knowledgescape expert system.

they are not receiving fresh feed. As they do, more coarse material is drawn from the peripheral areas of the stockpile, resulting in feed size oscillations with a period corresponding to that of the stacker rotation (with some lag due to stockpile height). These oscillations are detected using the image system and the feeder speed ratios are continuously adjusted to maintain the size distribution constant (with the assumption that the two outside feeders contain proportionately more coarse material than the two inside ones). In addition to the process control benefits, the SPLIT system is also providing data for off-line optimization of feed size. Blasting practices and primary crusher settings are currently being reviewed using size distribution data collected over the previous year. Ultrasonic Level Sensors In 2003, Bagdad was already using floating targets coupled with Milltronics ultrasonic level sensors to monitor pulp interface level. These were complemented with the same style sensor to measure froth height. The sensors are mounted on each bank and read the froth height directly off the bubbles on the top of the cell. Between the two ultrasonic sensors, both pulp level and froth depth are known for each bank. The rougher control logic consists of a three-level control scheme. The primary strategy is to maximize the rougher recovery subject to the regrind circuit constraint. The severity of the constraint is diagnosed using sump level and cyclone pressure. Because the pump is a fixed speed pump, when the sump level drops, so too does the cyclone pressure. The expert system constantly adjusts the pulp level setpoint to maintain a consistently high sump level and cyclone pressure, thereby ensuring the greatest utilization of the regrind circuit capacity (and hence a higher rougher recovery). In the secondary control strategy, the expert system uses the froth height data generated by the ultrasonic sensors to ensure that all the banks in the rougher circuit are producing similar volumes of froth. This ensures that the primary control strategy does not lower the pulp level enough to prevent froth overflow in any one bank. In this manner, the froth production is varied uniformly across the entire rougher circuit and all flotation cells are utilized. The froth level low limits are used to adjust the down-the-bank pulling ratios to account for changes in ore characteristics or the stage addition of reagents. The tertiary control strategy is frother dosage control. Because a pulp level high limit (maximum) must be configured in the expert system to prevent pulp overflow into the concentrate launder, the pulp level can approach the high limit. This reduces the controllability of the roughers and generally occurs when the tonnage, head grades, and/or frother dosages are too low. To avoid this

Instrumentation Upgrades
Split Image System Five digital SPLIT image system cameras were installed on the grinding line feed belts in 2003. Image data is fed via fiber optic to a Dell PC server running Windows XP, where size distribution parameters are extracted and communicated via OPC link to the Knowledgescape server. The relevant size distribution parameters are Top size, F80, F50, F20, percent minus 8.5 inches, and percent minus 4.5 inches. Another OPC bridge links the SPLIT server to the data historian for archiving. The availability of the SPLIT system has been excellentat the time of writing the percent downtime since inception has been effectively zero. This is important because many of the tuning parameters for automill tonnage and density control depend upon the size distribution information. It is well known that autogenous mills are particularly sensitive to changes in feed size distribution. The expert system uses the feed size information provided by the cameras to minimize these changes. During ordinary conditions the Bagdad stockpile is fed with a radial stacker operating on a rotation of 15 minutes per grinding line (30 minutes for grinding lines one and five). The grinding lines tend to pull down the feed cones when

Copyright 2005 by SME

SME Annual Meeting Feb. 28-Mar. 2, 2005, Salt Lake City, UT

condition, a pulp level low limit (minimum) was introduced (Figure 6). The normalized pulp level is then calculated as a percentage of the range between the minimum and maximum and averaged across all operating banks in the rougher circuit. Frother dosage is varied to maintain an average normalized pulp level such that the expert system has ample room to manipulate the pulp level setpoints (in case of an ore change or a circuit upset). Typically this value is the midpoint, i.e. 50% of the range between the minimum and maximum; however, the operators can also manipulate it manually if they see fit.

Expert System
This section discusses the logic hierarchy of the expert system and provides an example illustrating the execution order of the various logic groups. The logic is organized into various rule groups according to function and setpoint variable. Referring to Figure 7, the top level Administration rule group is responsible for initializing the system and invoking the various subgroups. The communications monitor sends the heartbeat to the DCS, and during a communications failure DCS-side logic drops the process into DCS control. The Constraint Monitor diagnoses the current circuit constraints and communicates them to the data historian.
Administration

Pulp Level Max Pulp Level SP/PV Pulp Level Min

Communications Monitor

Constraint Monitor

Automill Control

Ball Mill Control

Flotation Control

Feeder Control

BM Feed Water Control

Pulp Level Control

Figure 6 Froth Image System A trial system was installed on one of the four Bag 1 rougher rows. Each bank was fitted with a Panasonic analog color camera. Images are sent via coaxial cable to video capture cards on a server operating on a Microsoft Windows platform. Proprietary Knowledgescape software measures the four primary froth characteristics: froth velocity, bubble size, bubble count, and color. At the time of writing, this system has not been used for process control. Calibration and tuning of the system has not been emphasized because the traditional benefits of the system (measuring froth velocity to infer pulling rate) have already been achieved with excellent success using the ultrasonic sensors discussed above. The authors recognize that different froth textures can be misleading when using froth height alone to infer pulling rate, but Bagdad has a very homogenous orebody and excessive variability of froth texture has not been observed in practice. Therefore, it should be stressed that the use of ultrasonic sensors for rougher control, while successful at Bagdad, may not be so at other properties. Future evaluation of the system is planned. In particular, the use of the color properties in combination with the online x-ray analysis could be useful for collector dosage control.

Feed Rate Control

Cyclone Dilution Water Control

Frother Control

Density Control

Column Cell Control

Pebble Crusher Control

Figure 7 The logic groups for autogenous mill feed rate control and density control are organized by mill restrictions as described in Section 1. The logic groups often overlap. For example, the bearing pressure restriction rules for density control also consider recycle rate when setpoint changes are calculated. This is necessary to avoid competition among rule groups. The result is a set of logic groups ordered by decreasing severity, each of which contains one or more rules to adjust the setpoint variable according to the severity of the current process constraint.

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Considering as an example the logic for feed rate control, the order of execution of logic groups is: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Crusher interruption Extreme power Extreme pressure High recycle Ball mill overload Hi Power Optimization

Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the following for their support and contributions. Phelps Dodge Bagdad Inc., for encouraging the development of the expert system and associated technology

References
1. 2. Jensen, Don L. (1996), Review of the Cyprus Bagdad Flotation Plant, Arizona Conference of the SME, Tucson, AZ. Morrell, Stephen (1993), The Prediction of Power Draw in Wet Tumbling Mills, PhD Thesis, JKMRC Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld., Australia.

The expert system cycles through the logic groups until that corresponding to the current process constraint is found and executed. In this example, if the grinding circuit were constrained by bearing pressure, the pressure control logic group would be executed, which contains the following sub-groups: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Pressure extreme Pressure high Pressure OK Pressure low Pressure very low

Each sub-group contains a collection of discrete rules that relate the current value and slope of the process variables to a calculated setpoint change using any number of constants, limits, multipliers, and other tuning parameters. The result is a set of rules that are not denotatively fuzzy, yet approximate the behavior of fuzzy rules. This approach is neither inherently superior nor inferior to a fuzzy approach, but it does facilitate understanding of the calculations and tuning that underlie the rule base, even if it is more difficult to read than fuzzy logic. The ball mill logic is configured in a similar manner to that of the autogenous mill logic. The flotation logic has already been discussed.

Conclusions
In 2003 and 2004, Bagdad staff successfully integrated a Knowledgescape expert system using inhouse resources. SPLIT image analysis technology was installed to calculate feed size distribution parameters for feeder control and offline optimization. Ultrasonic level sensors successfully control rougher pulp level subject to the downstream constraint. A trial image analysis system was installed on a rougher row, but is not currently being used given the success of the ultrasonic sensors.

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