Evolutionary Design for Ore Processing Plants. This project will investigate the use of evolutionary algorithms (EAs) in the design of ore processing plants. Ore processing is a major activity in the Australian mining industry, and a significant source of export dollars. Prior work has demonstrated that EAs can out-perform previous manual and automated design techniques for individual processing units. This project will apply EAs to the design of whole flowsheets containing arbitrary combination ....Evolutionary Design for Ore Processing Plants. This project will investigate the use of evolutionary algorithms (EAs) in the design of ore processing plants. Ore processing is a major activity in the Australian mining industry, and a significant source of export dollars. Prior work has demonstrated that EAs can out-perform previous manual and automated design techniques for individual processing units. This project will apply EAs to the design of whole flowsheets containing arbitrary combinations of different types of units. The complexity of typical flowsheet layouts will require new algorithms to discover improved designs in practical time, so parallel hardware, and new parallel EAs, will be utilised.
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Characterisation and Mitigation of Caustic Cracking: A Safety and Maintenance Concern in Alumina and Pulp-and-Paper Processing. Extraction of alumina from mineral bauxite (Bayer process) and pulp-and-paper processing (Kraft process) are major industries in Australia. Cracking of reaction vessels, digesters, cleaning tanks and pipework are major concern for plant integrity, occupational health, safety and environment. Caustic cracking is often the first suspect when a failure occurs. The propose ....Characterisation and Mitigation of Caustic Cracking: A Safety and Maintenance Concern in Alumina and Pulp-and-Paper Processing. Extraction of alumina from mineral bauxite (Bayer process) and pulp-and-paper processing (Kraft process) are major industries in Australia. Cracking of reaction vessels, digesters, cleaning tanks and pipework are major concern for plant integrity, occupational health, safety and environment. Caustic cracking is often the first suspect when a failure occurs. The proposed program will investigate the role of critical impurities and additives, temperature and stress fluctuations in caustic cracking of mild steel and their weldments (known to be most susceptible). This project will also develop an intellectual and infrastructural base that will also be a vital resource for several Australian industries where such cracking is a major concern.Read moreRead less
Experimental and numerical studies of the packing of alumina powders. This project is to investigate the packing of alumina powders at both microscopic and macroscopic levels by means of physical and numerical experiments, aiming to develop a comprehensive understanding of the underlying physics and computer models for predicting the packing properties under conditions corresponding to different operations in alumina refining and smelting processes. It will generate an effective method to solve ....Experimental and numerical studies of the packing of alumina powders. This project is to investigate the packing of alumina powders at both microscopic and macroscopic levels by means of physical and numerical experiments, aiming to develop a comprehensive understanding of the underlying physics and computer models for predicting the packing properties under conditions corresponding to different operations in alumina refining and smelting processes. It will generate an effective method to solve the complex packing problems for process and/or property control in alumina/aluminium industry.Read moreRead less
Economic Operability Assessment of Leaching Process at Kwinana Nickel Refinery. Process operability is concerned with systematic analysis and improvement of process performance in the face of variable operating conditions. This project will develop a rigorous methodology for analysis of process operability with respect to short-term and transient disturbances. The proposed technique will be applied to the Kwinana Nickel Refinery Leach section, in order to reduce the plant variability and increas ....Economic Operability Assessment of Leaching Process at Kwinana Nickel Refinery. Process operability is concerned with systematic analysis and improvement of process performance in the face of variable operating conditions. This project will develop a rigorous methodology for analysis of process operability with respect to short-term and transient disturbances. The proposed technique will be applied to the Kwinana Nickel Refinery Leach section, in order to reduce the plant variability and increase nickel throughput and plant availability. This can be considered as significant move by a process industry to embrace advanced theoretical developments and will act as a benchmark to promote future links between Australian industry and academia.Read moreRead less
WAVELET-BASED MODELLING AND MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF COMPLEX MULTIDIMENSIONAL CRYSTALLISATION PROCESSES. The results of this project will directly contribute to a better understanding of crystallisation which is an important unit operation to achieve high purity separations. Many Australian industries for example, mineral processing, sugar processing, pharmaceuticals, etc will benefit from the results in order to enhance optimal operation and control to ensure globally competitive production ....WAVELET-BASED MODELLING AND MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF COMPLEX MULTIDIMENSIONAL CRYSTALLISATION PROCESSES. The results of this project will directly contribute to a better understanding of crystallisation which is an important unit operation to achieve high purity separations. Many Australian industries for example, mineral processing, sugar processing, pharmaceuticals, etc will benefit from the results in order to enhance optimal operation and control to ensure globally competitive production which is on time, minimize wastes and raw materials and inventories. The leading edge results will increase the contributions of these industries to the Australian economy and our global competitiveness necessary to maintain our culture and the beauty of our environment. Read moreRead less
The evolution of effective stress in sedimenting clayey slurries. Activities such as water treatment, mining and dredging produce enormous volumes of semi-solid waste annually. The safe and environmentally responsible management of these wastes is costly, consumes vast quantities of water, and sterilises large areas of land. We will address these issues through understanding and manipulating the interaction between individual particles in these slurries to produce desired engineering outcomes. T ....The evolution of effective stress in sedimenting clayey slurries. Activities such as water treatment, mining and dredging produce enormous volumes of semi-solid waste annually. The safe and environmentally responsible management of these wastes is costly, consumes vast quantities of water, and sterilises large areas of land. We will address these issues through understanding and manipulating the interaction between individual particles in these slurries to produce desired engineering outcomes. This will be done by developing a laboratory testing column in which the gain in strength and rigidity of a settling slurry are fully characterised, enabling an improvement in design of safe and economical impoundment structures for these waste materials.
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Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354672
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$20,000.00
Summary
ARC Network in Mineral Processing, Extraction and Refining. The Network aims to develop long-term, collaborative research and training links between world-class researchers and research centres in mineral processing, extraction and refining. The goal is to ensure that Australia's major export industry is sustainable, environmentally acceptable and technically at the cutting edge.
Networking key researchers with complementary skills and expertise will enhance research quality, encourage a hol ....ARC Network in Mineral Processing, Extraction and Refining. The Network aims to develop long-term, collaborative research and training links between world-class researchers and research centres in mineral processing, extraction and refining. The goal is to ensure that Australia's major export industry is sustainable, environmentally acceptable and technically at the cutting edge.
Networking key researchers with complementary skills and expertise will enhance research quality, encourage a holistic approach to problem solving and support researchers to tackle big challenges, beyond their usual scope, that will transform the industry. The outcomes will be greater international competitiveness, better resource utilisation, and the incubation of new research leaders, enhancing Australia's minerals R&D infrastructure.Read moreRead less
Enhanced metal recovery from a modified Caron leach of mixed nickel-cobalt intermediate concentrate. Nickel metal production from lateritic deposits involves dissolution in acid followed by purification and selective alkaline precipitation of the nickel and cobalt as hydroxide phase. Hydroxides from several plants are transported to a central refinery where the hydroxide is redissolved in ammoniacal solutions and nickel and cobalt are separated and reduced to metal.
This project will examine t ....Enhanced metal recovery from a modified Caron leach of mixed nickel-cobalt intermediate concentrate. Nickel metal production from lateritic deposits involves dissolution in acid followed by purification and selective alkaline precipitation of the nickel and cobalt as hydroxide phase. Hydroxides from several plants are transported to a central refinery where the hydroxide is redissolved in ammoniacal solutions and nickel and cobalt are separated and reduced to metal.
This project will examine the effect of preparation conditions and aging of the hydroxide precipitate on the refining process.
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Enhancing regional resource synergies through the application of industrial ecology strategies for sustainable development in the Kwinana Industrial Area. The project will investigate the potential contribution of industrial ecology strategies for sustainable development at the regional level in heavy industrial areas, in particular the Kwinana Industrial Area (WA). Industrial ecology mimics natural processes in industrial production and consumption to achieve better environmental, economic and ....Enhancing regional resource synergies through the application of industrial ecology strategies for sustainable development in the Kwinana Industrial Area. The project will investigate the potential contribution of industrial ecology strategies for sustainable development at the regional level in heavy industrial areas, in particular the Kwinana Industrial Area (WA). Industrial ecology mimics natural processes in industrial production and consumption to achieve better environmental, economic and social outcomes. Despite its compelling logic, industrial ecology faces a number of barriers. This research will investigate such barriers and develop and pilot test innovative ways for overcoming those, in particular through the provision of facilitating structures, operational arrangements and evaluation tools.Read moreRead less
Template-free Control of Titania Precipitation from Homogeneous Aqueous Solution. Used in the paint, plastic, ceramic, paper and synthetic fibre industries and having strategic nano-technological applications, titania is an important commodity for Australia, earning about $1.3 billion p.a. in exports. Better production methods through improved understanding of titania precipitation chemistry will help to increase our industrial productivity and minimise energy consumption. It may also lead to us ....Template-free Control of Titania Precipitation from Homogeneous Aqueous Solution. Used in the paint, plastic, ceramic, paper and synthetic fibre industries and having strategic nano-technological applications, titania is an important commodity for Australia, earning about $1.3 billion p.a. in exports. Better production methods through improved understanding of titania precipitation chemistry will help to increase our industrial productivity and minimise energy consumption. It may also lead to useful new processes and/or materials with catalytic properties. In an increasingly competitive global market, this is most relevant to Australian titania exporters and to Australian renewable energy programs (particularly for generating photovoltaic power). Read moreRead less