Optimización Combinatoria para el incremento de la eficiencia energética en el trasiego de fluidos no newtonianos

Optimization Procedure for increasing energy efficiency in the transfer of non-Newteonean fluids

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to increase the energy efficiency in the transport of fluids in the nickel industry through modeling and solving an optimization problem, where the factors analyzed are: solids content, granulometry, chemical composition and temperature, due to the little knowledge of how these variables influence the energy efficiency of said equipment. Based on experimental studies and using statistical procedures and estimators, the behavior of the rheological parameters is modeled as a function of temperature, solids content and chemical composition. It is observed that the lateritic hydromixtures present plastic properties adjusting to a Herschel Bulkley model for real plastics. From an appropriate discretization of the raw pulp pumping system model and the application of the combinatorial optimization procedure, the exploitation parameters of this system were obtained.