Energy optimization of

mineral processing
operations through optimal energy and
inventory management

D. SBARBARO, R. PEÑA, L. MORAN

DEPARTMET OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
UNIVERSIDAD DE CONCEPCION, CHILE
Outline
• Introduction
• Optimization and control strategies
• Example: Water pumping stations
• Hybridization of energy sources
• Production scheduling
• Conclusions and remarks
 Introduction
Chilean copper industry faces complex scenarios

• highly variable energy prices

• falling ore grades
• more complex and fine grained ore-bodies
• increasing water scarcity
• increasing concern about the industry’s
carbon footprint inceasing energy demand

green house gas emmissions

Haas et. al.
Sunset or sunrise? Understanding the barriers and options for the massive deployment of solartechnologies in Chile, Energy Policy, Volume 112, 2018,
 Introduction
Level 1: Assist the current processes

Level 2: Current operations are changed

Level 3: New processes and operations are designed

Some challenges:

Renewable energy sources are variable

Exhibit changing dynamic, nonlinearities and uncertainties
Optimization and Control

External Energy
Storage

Electricity exchange

Process
Mass/Energy Storage

control systems

Real-time
Optimization
Optimization and Control
The receding horizon principle
I(k)
min I k = ∑'*+
%&' ∅(x(i))
I(k+1) $ %
%&',…,'*+

Subject to:
u(k)
x i + 1 = f x i ,u i
u(k+1)
g(x i , u i ) ≤ 0

Δ
u i ∈ 0,1
k k+1 k+K k+1+K
Example: Water pumping
stations

9.4 MW
Objective: minimize the cost of purchased energy plus operational costs
Hybridization of energy sources
External Energy
Storage

Electricity exchange

Process
Mass/Energy Storage

control systems

Real-time
Optimization
 Hybridization of energy sources
Solar energy system coupled with an energy storage system, e.g. a battery system.
The optimization problem

min II k + IJ k
CD %
%&',…,'*+,
E&F*G,F*H

Cost of the purchased energy over a time interval [k, k + K]

P< i Δ is the purchased energy
I< k = ∑'*+
%&' P< i p(i) Δ (E-1) p(i) is a time-sensitivity electricity price
Time-of-Use (TOU) pricing scheme.

Operational cost associated to the battery cycling operation

PKL i is the power charged to the battery,
IN k = ∑'*+
%&' (POP i + PQ i )pN Δ (E-3) PM i is the power discharged from the battery,
pN represents a cost for cycling
 Hybridization of energy sources
PKL i = PR i uF*G (i) (E-4) PR i is the generated power by the solar energy system

SJ uF*H (i) (E-5) SJ maximum battery capacity,

P
PM i = P

uF*G and uF*H are binary decision variables representing the action to charge and discharge

uF*G (i) + uF*H (i) ≤ 1 (I-1)

Energy stored in the battery system

z i + 1 = z i + PKL i η − PM i /η Δ (E-6) η is the charging/discharging efficiency.

𝑧 ≤ z i ≤ zY (I-2)

Energy balance is expressed as follows PM i ∆ + PI i ∆ − ∑F

E&G PE uE i ∆ = 0
(E-7)
Hybridization of energy sources
Inventory of water in the reservoir can be described by the following balance equation

F
x i+1 =x i +[ bE uE i − w k (E-2)
E&G

x i is the reservoir level at instant k,

uE i is a binary variable representing the control of the pumping station states,
bE is the flowrate associated to a specific control action, and
w i is the net output flowrate.

x ≤ x i ≤ xY (I-3)

uE i = 𝑓(x 𝑖 , x ` , x C ) n=1,..N (E-8)

Control level
Inventory scheduling

External Energy
Storage

Electricity exchange

Process
Mass/Energy Storage

control systems

Real-time
Optimization
 Inventory scheduling
Solar energy system coupled with an energy storage system, e.g. a battery system +
production scheduling

The optimization problem

min II k + IJ k
CD %
%&',…,'*+,
E&G,..,c,c*G,c*H

subject to

-equality constraints (E-1),(E-2),(E-3),(E-4),(E-5),(E-6),(E-7).

-inequalities constraints (I-1),(I-2),(I-3).

Some simulation results
Hybridization
60
Level

40
1 if x k ≤ x`
uG k = d
20
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
0 if x k ≥ xC
50
Battery charge

40
30
20
10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

0.6 TOU
Price

0.4
0.2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

4
Solar power

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
time[h]
Some simulation results
30

Scheduling
Level

20

10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Case %
50 reduc
battery charge

40 tion
30
Base -
20
10 Hybridization 10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Scheduling 26
0.4
Price

0.3
0.2
0.1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

4
Solar power

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
time[h]
 Conclusions
• The coordination of both energy and production systems can be carried out
by considering an integrated optimization approach.

• It has been illustrated through two simple examples how renewable energy
sources can be integrated into a process by means of an optimization
approach.

• The results show an important cost reduction and further work is underway
to analyse more realistic scenarios considering data from a Chilean mining
operation.

• Extensions to other areas, such as grinding circuits, are also possible and
deserve further research.

• The challenge regarding the implementation of these strategies in the existing

systems remains open.
 Introduction
In Chile the energy costs have increased by 11% annually since 2000, being the
electricity price one of the highest in Latin American due to the reliance on
fossil fuels.

Water consumption (m3/seg)

35
30
25
20
TWh

sea
fresh 15
10
5
0
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026

LX-SX-EW Concentradora Mina Rajo Mina Subterránea

Fundición Refinería Desalinización Servicios

Some simulation results
TOU
𝑝(k)
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
Price

0.4

0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

4.5
4 𝑃g (k)
3.5
3
Solar power

2.5
Remark: simple system with
only one controlled pump and
2
1.5
1 synthetic data.
0.5
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
time[h]
 Some simulation results
5
Hybridization
Purchased Power

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Dischraging state

0.5

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Charging state

0.5

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
time[h]
Some simulation results
1
0.8 Scheduling
Pump state

0.6
0.4
0.2 Case %
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
reduc
tion
Base -
Charging state

1 Hybridization 10
0.5 Scheduling 26
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

1
Dischraging state

0.5

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
time[h]
 Introduction
35
Forecast
Energy consumption for
different productive areas.
30

25

20
TWh

15

10

0
source: “Proyección del
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
consumo de
electricidad en la
LX-SX-EW Concentradora Mina Rajo Mina Subterránea Fundición Refinería Desalinización Servicios
minería del cobre 2015
– 2026”, Cochilco.