在过去数年里不断提及“真正的”数字孪生能够为矿物加工和冶金行业提供的价值， 美卓奥图泰相信，凭借其“以科学为基础”的 Geminex数字孪生技术 ，其正处于实现这一价值的前沿。
美卓奥图泰表示， 该解决方案旨在管理可变性并优化资源，通过结合来自内部和外部数据源的运营数据，模拟和优化矿物、火法和湿法冶金过程中的无缝可持续运营。
对于模拟和生产，Geminex技术使用已在全球拥有超2万名用户的HSC公司的工艺模型。据美卓奥图泰称，这些模型结合了多种化学、热力学和矿物加工特性，已成功应用于数百个矿物和金属加工流程开发案例，与选厂运行期优化中使用的模型相同。
美卓奥图泰自动化副总裁Veli-Matti jrvinen表示，“这一数字孪生技术不仅仅是HSC公司的工艺模型。Geminex使用“第一性原理”动态过程和设备模型来校准性能，以帮助为现有矿山提供“准确”的数字孪生。 关键加工数据的质量和可用性都很重要，通常可用的仪器和实验室数据往往是生成数字孪生模拟的主要输入信息。 Geminex通过一系列“ 软传感器 ”还产生了大量无法直接测量的数据，但这些数据可以通过动态过程模型加以利用。这些被称为软传感器的设备能够掌握之前无法获得的过程。例如工艺流中按颗粒粒级划分的元素或矿物含量。这比来自美卓奥图泰可提供实时元素分析测量的Courier在线分析仪的反馈更进了一步。
这使得数字孪生比市场上现有的解决方案更强大，因为其可以向方程式中引入新数据集。J?rvinen表示，“与所有真正的数字孪生一样，这些模型适应实时数据，并通过机器学习算法不断改进。这方面的例子是模型适应具有不同加工性能的不同矿石类型，以辅助管理可变性。由此产生的冶金数字孪生是准确的，其行为反映了物理过程。”
所有这些都意味着 Geminex可以基于精确的工艺模型及真实数据模拟和测试替代的作业场景和参数，提供行业数十年来一直追求的决策工具。
虽然资源可持续性角度是关键，美卓奥图泰已将Gemine纳入Planet Positive产品系列（该公司最环保的高效技术集合）的事实进一步强化了这一点，但数字孪生在考虑影响和限制的同时，以最佳方式使用资源的能力，只是该行业价值案例的一小部分。
在“实时”流程中纳入新设备和工具的能力是非常强大的。“实时”流程考虑了当前矿体的具体特征和每个加工阶段接收物料的条件。我们可以看到，其很容易帮助选厂整合新技术，通过模拟能够为运营商提供利用创新的信心。
J?rvinen表示，“数字孪生的使用还将使企业能够在矿山勘探/开发阶段更早地开始工艺流程设计。一旦客户获得冶金数据，就可以设计和优化工艺，以达到所需的最佳经济效益。”
美卓奥图泰在开发冶金工艺方面的丰富经验，以及其用于矿物加工、火法冶金和湿法冶金工艺的HSC模拟包的工艺模型的整合，可以实现这种早期分析。J?rvinen表示，“通过实现情景分析，这些模型在勘探阶段提供了巨大的价值，将有助于找到工艺流程、设备选型的替代方案，甚至在需要时混合不同类型的矿石。预计Geminex数字孪生将在采矿项目的后期阶段缩短选厂的试产扩量时间和“产品上市时间”，因为运营商将为冷试车和热试车做好更充分的准备。在Geminex的帮助下，通过决策可以在采矿作业和运营策略的运行时间内实现巨大的价值和积极变化的影响。”
Metso Outotec to ‘enrich’ mining, metallurgy decision making with Geminex digital twin
The value a ‘true’ digital twin could provide the mineral processing and metallurgical industries has been spoken of continuously throughout the last few years, and Metso Outotec believes it is on the cusp of realising such value with its “science-based” Metso Outotec Geminex? digital twin.
Designed to manage variability and optimise resources, the solution simulates and optimises seamless sustainable operations in minerals, pyro- and hydro-metallurgical processes by combining operational data from both internal and external data sources, the company says.
For simulation and production, Geminex uses the renowned HSC process models that already have over 20,000 users worldwide. These models – which combine versatile chemical, thermodynamic and mineral processing features – have been successfully implemented in hundreds of minerals and metals processing flowsheet development cases, with the same models used in plant run-time optimisation, according to Metso Outotec.
There’s more to this digital twin than the HSC process models alone, according to Veli-Matti J?rvinen, Vice President, Automation at Metso Outotec.
Geminex uses “first-principle” dynamic process and equipment models for calibrated performance to help provide an ‘accurate’ digital twin for existing operations, he says.
“Here, both quality and availability of key process data are important,” he told IM, mentioning that normally available instrument and laboratory data tend to be sufficient inputs for generating the digital twin’s simulations.
And Geminex, through a series of “soft sensors”, also produces a vast amount of data that cannot be measured directly yet is leveraged through the dynamic process models, according to J?rvinen.
“These soft sensors, as they are called, give an insight to the process that was not available before,” he explained, with examples including element or mineral content by particle size fractions in the process streams. This goes one step further than the feedback from, for instance, Metso Outotec’s Courier? on-stream analysers, which provide real-time elemental analysis measurements.
This makes the digital twin that much more powerful than existing solutions on the market, as it can introduce a new dataset to the equation.
And, as with all ‘true’ digital twins, the models are adapted to live data and continuously improved by machine-learning algorithms, J?rvinen said.
“An example of this is model adaptation for variable ore types with different processing performance to help manage variability,” he said. “The resulting metallurgical digital twin is accurate, and its behaviour reflects the physical process.”
All this means Geminex can simulate and test alternative operational scenarios and parameters based on accurate process models and real data, providing the sort of decision-making tools the industry has been after for decades.
While the resource sustainability angle is key here – reinforced by the fact Metso Outotec has labelled Geminex as a Planet Positive product: a collection of the company’s most environmentally efficient technologies – the digital twin’s ability to use resources in an optimal way while considering both impacts and constraints is only a fraction of the industries’ value case.
The ability to incorporate new equipment and tools in a ‘live’ flowsheet that considers the specific characteristics of the orebody at hand and the conditions in which each processing stage receives material is very powerful. One can see it easily aiding the incorporation of new technology in the plant, with the simulations able to provide operators with the confidence to leverage innovations.
J?rvinen says the digital twin’s use will also enable the company to start process flowsheet design that much earlier in the mine exploration/development stage.
“As soon as the customer has metallurgical data, the process can be designed and optimised to match the required economic optimum,” he said.
Metso Outotec’s strong experience in developing metallurgical processes, as well as incorporation of the process models of Metso Outotec’s HSC simulation package for minerals processing, pyro- and hydro-metallurgical processes, enables this early analysis.
“These models provide great value in the exploratory phase by enabling scenario analysis, which will help find alternatives for process flowsheets, equipment selection and even blending of different types of ore, if needed,” J?rvinen said.
At the same time, J?rvinen expects the Geminex digital twin to reduce the plant ramp-up time and “time to market” in the later mining project stages as operators will be that much better prepared for the likes of cold and hot commissioning.
“Great value and impact towards a positive change can be achieved in the run-time of the mining operation and the operating strategy by enriching decisions with the help of Geminex,” he said.
Geminex may be Metso Outotec’s own proprietary digital twin, but, thanks to an extensive back catalogue of process plant modelling references, it is able to run dynamic simulations that incorporate competitor equipment, according to J?rvinen.
Similarly, while the company has sustainability and Planet Positive aims for Geminex, the equipment to feature in simulations does not have to be classified as Planet Positive, J?rvinen says.
“The processes or assets do not need to be Planet Positive equipment, but those can become such with proper control and optimisation,” he said. “With Metso Outotec Geminex, the full value chain of mineral processing plants and hydro- and pyro-metallurgical plants are considered for Planet Positive production.”
Able to be implemented in modules, Geminex can be deployed piece by piece as part of customers’ digital transformation and continuous improvement projects, he added, opening the possibilities for Metso Outotec to leverage its capabilities beyond full flowsheet design.
In the development phase of Geminex, Metso Outotec carried out several successful pilots with universities and, now commercially available, the company has three ongoing projects in the delivery/commissioning phase with early adopters.
“These projects are already providing good results,” J?rvinen said.
“With the good and growing process expertise, we are well prepared to support numerous customers with various optimisation targets in mind.”
来源: 中国地质调查局地 学文献中心编译
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