Fault detection for simulated valve faults in a high pressure leaching process

A simulation of a high pressure leaching process in a base metals refinery (BMR) is used to simulate fault conditions for two types of valve faults. The faults were modelled using empirical models fitted to actual process data from Western Platinum Ltd. BMR. The effects of the faults on process performance were determined. Following this, principal component analysis (PCA) was used to determine whether these faults could be detected. It was found that both faults had a significant effect on control performance, and that PCA was able to detect both faults accurately.