Inventory Management and Process Control of Bauxite Ore and Alumina

This article discusses the applications and challenges of alumina production, and shows how 3D level measurement can be effectively used in the process control and inventory management of alumina powder and bauxite ore.

Image Credit: Shutterstock | Arnon Polin

Bauxite Ore

Bauxite ore is supplied from the mine to a flat storage warehouse at the beginning of the production process.

Figure 1. Alumina production

Challenges

Usually, bauxite ore is kept in large flat storage warehouses where it is not easy to estimate the volume of materials. A BinMaster 3DLevelScanner MVL system is designed to use 2 to 32 scanners to determine various points on the surface of the material.

The system provides the only solution to estimate the volume of material stored in large flat storage warehouses. The information obtained from various scanners is synchronized in the 3DVision software, providing volume data and aggregated level. It also offers a visual presentation of the warehouse contents.

Figure 2. 3DLevelScanner MVL system

Alumina Powder Storage

Large silos are used to store the final powdered alumina material.

Challenges

Alumina powder stored in large silos can be up to 200 ft (60 m) tall and can reach 100 ft (30 m) in diameter. In addition to storing large amounts of material, the silos make it complicated for the end user to track their volume and inventory levels.

This issue can be resolved with the BinMaster MVL multiple scanner system, which provides real-time, accurate volume and level measurement along with 3D visualization of the silo contents.

This data provides better inventory management of finished goods, while the 3D visualization of the silo contents helps to detect accumulation that can constantly occur within the silo. This is vital to schedule cleaning and maintenance operations whenever necessary, and can prevent unwanted interruptions during the filling and emptying procedures.

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This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by BinMaster.

For more information on this source, please visit BinMaster.