A mineral processing client approached SMC with a familiar problem: the plant was consistently running below its design throughput, and the usual suspects — feed quality, equipment wear, operator practice — had already been investigated without a clear answer.
Starting from operating data
Our engineers built a mass and water balance from three months of operating logs, laboratory results and control-room trends, then compared it with the design basis. The gap between the two pointed to a distribution problem in the feed circuit rather than a capacity problem in the main equipment.
- Feed split across parallel units was uneven, overloading one train
- Reagent addition point was downstream of the optimum location
- Control logic held a fixed setpoint where a flow-proportional target performed better
None of the three findings required major capital. The first was corrected with a revised piping arrangement and a balancing plate; the second moved a dosing point a few metres; the third was a control-logic change implemented over two shifts.
Result
Throughput recovered to design rates and the plant saw a measurable reduction in reagent consumption per tonne treated. The study report listed every recommendation with an estimated cost, expected gain and payback period, so the site could sequence the work against its own maintenance calendar.
The value of a process study is not the report — it is a ranked list of changes a site can actually afford and implement.
SMC offers process optimization studies, water treatment design and compliance support to customers across the region. Please contact us to discuss scope and timing.