Experience with Digital Process Optimization of Zinc Roasting …
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individual requirements, limitations, and potentials exist. For example, for some customers, a stable roasting process is the main issue, whereas at other sites, the process
train is bottlenecked by the sulfuric acid plant, imposing to operating constraints to
the roasting section. Throughout the different applications, observed improvements
in process operations are:
• Production increase of more than 5% (Fig. 4)
• Significant reduction of SO 2 emissions
• Significant improvement and homogenization in product quality (Fig. 5).
While the production increase typically is a result of plant stabilization and optimization, product quality improvements are due to product quality included models
into optimization. Reduction in emissions of the whole roasting, gas cleaning, and
sulfuric acid plant train is possible through the inclusion of a site process model
including downstream plant sections.
Fig. 4 Comparison of plant capacity with and without Roaster Optimizer in operation
Fig. 5 Comparison of product quality with and without Roaster Optimizer in operation