In the wave of intelligentization of the non-ferrous metal industry, zinc
metal manufacturing is experiencing a revolutionary transformation
from traditional metallurgy to digital manufacturing. The full-flow
automated production line shortens the cycle time of converting zinc
concentrate into standard zinc ingots by 40% and reduces energy
consumption by 35%, marking the non-ferrous industry's entry into
a new era of precision control and intelligent decision-making.
The technological evolution of intelligent
roasting systems
Modern zinc smelter adopts fluidized roasting device, equipped with
distributed temperature sensing network, real-time monitoring of 128
temperature zone changes. Dynamically adjusting the oxygen feed ratio
through fuzzy PID algorithm, the zinc concentrate conversion rate is
increased to 98.5%. The innovatively designed cyclone dust collection
system combined with baghouse dust collector stabilizes the flue gas
dust content below 30mg/Nm³.
The intelligent control system is equipped with a material balance model,
which can automatically compensate for fluctuations in raw material
composition. When sulfur content fluctuation of ±2% is detected, the
system completes the synergistic adjustment of air volume-temperature-
feeding speed within 90 seconds. This technology increases the quality
pass rate of roasted sand from 92% in traditional process to 99.3%.
Breakthrough in automation of leaching process
The pressure leaching system is equipped with 16 sets of online analyzers,
which detect the solution composition every 15 seconds. The leaching kinetic
model constructed based on machine learning algorithm can accurately
control the acidity in the process window of pH1.2-1.8. The fully automatic
solid-liquid separation device adopts ceramic membrane filtration
technology, and the water content of leaching residue is controlled below 18%.
The intelligent iron removal system introduces online monitoring of oxidation
reduction potential (ORP) and stabilizes the Fe²+ concentration below 0.15g/L
through the hydrogen peroxide automatic dosing device. This technology
increases the zinc recovery rate of the subsequent process by 2.7
percentage points, and at the same time reduces the consumption
of pharmaceuticals by 25%.
Digital revolution in electrolysis process
The intelligent electrolysis workshop is equipped with 576 electrolyzer voltage
monitoring points, and the data refreshing frequency reaches 100Hz level. The
adaptive control system automatically adjusts the current density according to
the change of pole pitch, reducing the DC power consumption to below
2900kWh/t-Zn. The self-developed automatic cathode plate stripping device
adopts high-frequency vibration + vacuum adsorption technology, and the
stripping efficiency reaches 120 pieces/minute.
The electrolyte intelligent purification system realizes the deep removal of
cadmium, cobalt and other impurities through 32-step countercurrent washing
process. The on-line mass spectrometer monitors the solution composition
in real time, and with the automatic dosing device the total impurities are
controlled within 5ppm. This technology stabilizes the cathode zinc grade
rate above 99.95%.
Intelligent upgrade of melting and casting section
The fully automatic induction melting furnace adopts electromagnetic stirring
technology, and the temperature fluctuation of the molten pool is controlled
within ±3℃. The innovatively designed double chamber structure realizes the
separation of melting and heat preservation, and the metal burn rate is reduced
to 0.8%. Intelligent casting machine is equipped with laser distance measuring
system, the positioning accuracy of casting ladle reaches ±0.2mm, which
ensures the error of zinc liquid flow is less than 1.5%.
The water-cooled casting system is optimized by Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD), which increases the crystallization speed of zinc ingots by 40% through
gradient cooling technology. The visual inspection system scans each ingot for
12 surface defects, and the accuracy of automatic sorting of defective products
reaches 99.8%. Intelligent stacking robot adopts six-axis linkage design, which
can complete 2.4 meters high precision palletizing, and the capacity of single
line exceeds 25 tons/hour.
Technological innovation of environmental
protection control system
The flue gas control system integrates double alkali desulfurization and activated
coke denitrification technology, and the emission index is better than the
ultra-low emission standard. Wastewater treatment center applies MVR
evaporation and crystallization device to achieve 95% reuse rate of water
resources. Intelligent dust removal system automatically adjusts the frequency
of dust removal through differential pressure sensing, and the concentration
of post dust is stabilized at below 1mg/m³.
The energy control platform collects 56 types of energy consumption data
in real time and optimizes energy allocation through digital twin technology.
The waste heat recovery system converts the heat energy of the middle and
low temperature flue gas into steam for production, with an annual energy
saving of 12,000 tons of standard coal. The environmental monitoring
network in the plant area is deployed with 200 IOT sensors to establish a
three-dimensional diffusion model of pollution sources.
Intelligent Manufacturing System Integration Program
Digital Factory Brain: Integrate MES/ERP/SCADA system to realize the whole process data coherence.
Equipment health management: predictive maintenance system based on vibration
analysis and infrared monitoring
Quality traceability system: blockchain technology-enabled full quality data chain.
Intelligent logistics scheduling: material distribution system linking AGVs and
three-dimensional warehouses.
Process optimization platform: big data-driven self-learning model of smelting parameters
With the in-depth application of 5G+Industrial Internet, the zinc smelting industry is
building an intelligent
production system of “virtual mapping - real-time optimization - autonomous decision-making”.
Digital twin technology shortens the optimization cycle of production process parameters from
weekly to hourly, and artificial intelligence algorithms improve the control accuracy of key
processes by two orders of magnitude. Driven by the goal of “double carbon”, the new
generation of zinc smelting plant is leading the non-ferrous industry towards a new era
of green manufacturing through the gradual utilization of energy and material recycling.