PRECIPITATION KINETIC PARAMETER ESTIMATION

The aim of the Bayer refinery precipitation circuit is to maximise product yield whilst meeting product quality constraints, particularly product size. In order to optimise the precipitation circuit it is important to have a good understanding of the processes of growth, agglomeration, and nucleation; and to build mathematical relationships for these processes into precipitation circuit population balance models. A mathematical model has been developed that is capable of estimating the precipitation growth (G), nucleation (Bu), and agglomeration (β₀) kinetic parameters from batch experimental data. These kinetic parameters are required for solving the population balance equation, which is the cornerstone of precipitation circuit population models. The method is primarily based on work conducted by Bramley et al.¹, Litster et al.², and Wynn³.