The lead smelter at Teck's Trail Operations consists of three major furnaces: the KIVCET?rnfurnace (slag and lead bullion), the continuous drossing furnace (bullion) and the #3 slag fuming furnacern(slag). Management of slag and bullion inventories in this system is an important factor in maintainingrnprocess stability and maximizing metal recovery. A key goal in improving operational efficiencies hasrnbeen to maximize charge size in the fuming furnace in order to extend the residence time, giving improvedrnmetals recoveries from slag. To achieve this, a bath level sensor was required to provide real timerninformation on the slag and bullion levels for control of the tapping processes. A "time-of-flight" sensorrnwas successfully tested which reliably reports the bath surface elevation, and has been used as the basis forrna set of inventory management tools: slag tap time predictor, slag charge size estimator and a soft sensor forrnbullion level. Together, these have been used to implement a level control strategy for all three furnaces.rnThe impact of this strategy on overall smelting efficiency and metals recoveries is discussed.
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