Nornickel and Reksoft have completed the development and testing of a unique digital control system for the copper matte converting process. The solution is based on the analysis of exhaust gas spectra and allows real-time determination of the process stage and the optimal time for its completion. This is the first industrial implementation of such technology in Russia and the CIS for raw materials not containing lead.
Special UV spectrometers analyze the composition of exhaust gases, determining the content of iron and sulfur in the melt. Machine learning-based algorithms process the data and suggest the optimal time to complete each stage.
Spectrometry, combined with mathematical algorithms, has made it possible to determine the residual amount of iron and sulfur in the melt in online mode and predict the optimal time to complete the operation.
According to preliminary estimates, the implementation of the technology will increase copper extraction by 0.42%, which will bring the company 150–200 million rubles of additional profit annually. If scaled to all Nornickel enterprises, the economic effect could reach $20 million per year.
The development also opens the way for the use of spectrometric control in other metallurgical industries. Alexey Bogomolov from Reksoft noted that the technology can be adapted for 17 large enterprises in Russia and the CIS, which will increase the overall efficiency of non-ferrous metal production.
In the zone of potential interest are 17 large metallurgical enterprises in Russia and the CIS that use the converting process. Scaling the technology will significantly reduce non-ferrous metal losses, improve control and increase overall production efficiency. We are confident that this technology can be applied to various types of non-ferrous metals, and can also be used in other segments of metallurgy, which will further expand the significance and scale of the joint result achieved by the Nornickel and Reksoft team.
Converting is a key stage in copper production, in which impurities (iron, sulfur) are removed from the melt using oxygen. Traditionally, the process is controlled manually: operators assess the color of the flame and the metal sample, which requires high qualifications and can lead to errors. The new system replaces subjective methods with accurate data.
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