List of News Articles for Measurement and Control Solutions
Mintek process control commissioned on SA’s largest ferrochrome furnace
2006-05-30 Mintek has commissioned its FurnStar MinstralTM control system for submerged-arc furnaces to optimise the smelting process on the new No. 4 furnace at Hernic Ferrochrome, near Brits in the Northwestern Province. The furnace, a closed unit that employs Outokumpu technology, is the largest ferrochromium furnace in the southern hemisphere, with a power rating of 78 Megavolt-Amperes (MVA). “All four of the furnaces at Hernic are now under Minstral control,” said Paul Brereton Stiles, head of Furnace Control in the Measurement and...
read moreArcmon Study Attracts Worldwide Interest
Latest research findings revealed at INFACON In February this year Dr Ian Barker, specialist consultant attached to Mintek’s Measurement and Control (MaC) division, presented a paper on the most recent research findings regarding the Minstral Arc Monitoring System (Arcmon) at the eleventh International Ferroalloy Congress (INFACON XI), held in New Delhi and hosted by the Indian Ferroalloy Producers’ Association. Attended by representatives of the world’s major players in the ferroalloy field, the conference provided the ideal platform...
read moreMintek Releases StarSC Process Control Platform
Mintek has formally released its new StarCS Version 6.0advanced process control platform. “Like its predecessor, PlantStar, the latest StarCS is a platform primarily for implementing Mintek’s Star control systems, MillStar, FloatStar, FurnStar and LeachStar,” explained Edgar King, chief engineer of Mintek’s Measurement and Control (MAC) division and head of the StarCS development team. “The upgrade to StarCS offers all of PlantStar’s existing functionality, simultaneously introducing a number of additional...
read moreMintek Control System Boosts Anglo Gold Plant
Mintek, specialists in mineral and metallurgical research and development (R&D), technology transfer and beneficiation, recently sold their first LeachStar™ system for gold circuits to Anglogold Ashanti’s Mponeng mine near Carltonville. The LeachStar process control system was successfully integrated with the existing instrumentation of the mine’s gold treatment plant. Installation of this predictive technology has resulted in improved plant stability and substantial savings in the consumption of cyanide and flocculent, two strategic...
read moreFurnstar Minstrals To Control Xstrata Lion Furnces
Mintek has recently been awarded orders to supply FurnStar Minstral controllers for the first two furnaces to be built at the Xstrata Lion plant. Xstrata plans to expand the plant to a total of six furnaces over the next three years. Further Minstral Controllers on Silicon Furnaces
read moreRelease Of The Millstar Power Optimiser Version 2.0
The most recent addition to the MillStar Advanced Control Suit is version 2.0 of the Power Optimiser. This module has been changed substantially to improve the decision making of the module. Version 1 of the power optimizer basically steps the solids feed rate and then monitors the change in the load and the power. Based on the direction of change of these 2 variables, a decision is made whether the mill is over- or underloaded, which determines the direction of the next step in the solids feed rate. The problem with this method is that if the...
read moreMintek's Arcmon Installed on Ferrochrome Furnace
Mintek’s revolutionary arc monitoring system has recently been installed on a large ferrochrome furnace in South Africa. Among other important parameters, the Arcmon is able determine the degree of arcing taking place beneath each of the three electrodes independently without the need for a hearth voltage connection. This is the third industrial ferroalloy plant that the Arcmon is being installed on, but the first on ferrochrome (the other Arcmons are installed on silicon furnaces). The production of ferrochrome is quite different from...
read moreNew Software Modules For Floatstar And The Advanced Control Suite
The Measurement and Control Division of Mintek is continuously improving and enhancing its control solutions; and has recently developed a number of new and enhanced software modules for the FloatStar product package (for flotation control) and the Advanced Control Suite. FloatStar Performance Monitor This module quantifies the performance of flotation bank level controllers, be it Mintek’s advanced FloatStar Level Stabiliser or normal plant controllers. The algorithm makes use of the Integral of the Absolute Error (the IAE) of the levels...
read moreFurther Minstral Controllers On Silicon Furnaces
Major producer of Silicon metal and ferrosilicon, Pechiney Electrometallurgie (PEM), has in recent months purchased four Minstral controllers for their furnaces in South Africa and France. The first two controllers were installed on furnaces at Silicon Smelters near Polokwane in South Africa, one of which is up until recently been regarded as the largest silicon metal furnace in the world. Subsequent to these installations, a further Minstral was installed on a large FeSi furnace at the PEM furnace at Laudun in France in October 2004. A...
read moreMinstral Installation At Ferbasa, Brazil
After the successful evaluation of the Minstral submerged-arc furnace controller on one of their ferrochrome furnaces, Cia De Ferro Ligas Da Bahia located near Salvador in Brazil proceeded with the purchase of the Minstral controller in January 2005.
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