Abstract
Digital twins are powerful tools with significant advantages, especially when developing a new control strategy. The virtual environment allows for the conducting of experiments that are non-intrusive to the normal plant operation. Furthermore, these experiments can be performed in a relatively short time, with the possibility of testing extreme operational conditions as well as different circuit configurations. The result is that one can develop a robust control strategy capable of dealing with the vast array of possible scenarios that can occur on site.
Boliden have collaborated with ABB in such an approach to target the optimization of their copper grinding circuit of Aitik in Sweden. Grinding mills form a critical part in the energy intensive comminution process, an essential step in extracting valuable metals from mineral deposits. On concentrator plants, the milling circuit is often the bottleneck of the entire operation. Thus, improvements in the mill operation can be directly translated to economic benefits.
By first developing the controller in a virtual environment, the implementation phase can be done with minimum upsets and reduced risk. Benefits are therefore achieved with limited disruption to the normal production.