Modeling, Optimization, and Control of Solution Purification Process in Zinc Hydrometallurgy

The solution purification process is an essential step in zinc hydrometallurgy. The performance of solution purification directly affects the normal functioning and economical benefits of zinc hydrometallurgy. This paper summarizes the authors' recent work on the modeling, optimization, and control of solution purification process. The online measurable property of the oxidation reduction potential (ORP) and the multiple reactors, multiple running statuses characteristic of the solution purification process are extensively utilized in this research. The absence of reliable online equipment for detecting the impurity ion concentration is circumvented by introducing the oxidation-reduction potential into the kinetic model. A steady-state multiple reactors gradient optimization, unsteady-state operational-pattern adjustment strategy, and a process evaluation strategy based on the oxidation-reduction potential are proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed research is demonstrated by its industrial experiment.