Optimal control of a rougher flotation cell using adaptive dynamic programming

Abstract The operation of a rougher flotation cell affects the performance of mineral processing plant. The dynamics of a rougher flotation cell varies due to the diversity of the feeding conditions. In order to eliminate the dependence of optimal control on a precise model, this paper studies the optimal control of a flotation cell using adaptive dynamic programming which can learn from the operation data and iteratively improve the controller. A classic flotation model is adopted to simulate a rougher flotation cell. The simulation results indicate the effectiveness of the controller.