Prediction of on-line froth depth measurement errors in industrial flotation columns: a promising tool for automatic control

The pulp-froth interface position is important from a metallurgical point of view because it determines the relative importance of the cleaning and the collection zones. The pulp-froth interface position is measured based on variations of specific gravity, temperature or conductivity between the two zones to locate the pulp froth interface position. In this study, the pressure measurements are used to calculate the values of the froth layer height. These two meters are installed in the upper part of the column at 1.4 m and 2.4 m respectively, from the top of the column. Methods using pressure gauges are commonly used in industrial operations Even though their accuracy is limited (due to assumptions of uniformity of the pulp and froth density), and they always have some error. In the Sarcheshmeh copper industrial plant (Iran), a float was installed near the column with 2.5 m height that was calibrated to 5 cm intervals in order to determine the more exact forth height and compare it with the recorded froth height in control room. In this paper, an algorithm based on Kalman Filter is presented to predict on-line froth height errors using two pressure gauges. This research is based on the industrial real data collection for evaluating the performance of the presented algorithm. The quality of the obtained results was very satisfied. The RMS errors of prediction froth height errors was less than 0.025 m.