Using a Virtual Flotation Process to Track a Real Flotation Circuit

This paper presents a novel way of using a dynamic flotation process simulation environment for concurrent simulation alongside a real flotation process. The simulation environment is actively adapted to a real flotation process. This yields new possibilities on the usability of the simulation model. For example, virtual measurements can be introduced that provide completely new variables or increased fault tolerance through redundancy. Another option is to provide feedback for the process operators in the form of textual reports. These reports contain e.g. shift-specific performance indices that can be compared against reference data. Furthermore, by speeding up the simulation, it is possible to make prognosis on the effects of different control actions before actually making them.