Process automation reduced the time to deliver results to the control system

Samarco's pelletizing process started to rely on a robot for measuring the moisture of iron ore fines as of last June. The equipment is installed in the filtration outlet that supplies power plant 4 at the Ubu Complex, in Anchieta (ES). The automation of the process brings agility and efficiency to the moisture measurement process, reducing the time to deliver the result to the control room by one hour and thirty minutes. The previous procedure was performed manually in the laboratory and required two hours. Now the result is delivered in 30 minutes.

“The robot collects the sample of iron ore fines – the pellet feed – weighs the wet material, and takes the sample to the infrared dryer. At the end of drying, the robot retrieves the sample and places it on the scale for a new weighing, this time of the dry weight. Then the plant's control system, which orchestrates all the equipment in the robotic cell, calculates the moisture according to the weight difference”, explained the automation engineer, Luciano Rocha.

Among the main benefits of the robotic system, Luciano highlights greater repeatability and maximum reproducibility of moisture results, as the influence of different operators is null. With the measurement arriving at greater speed, the Filtration Control Room team can also understand better the process and adjust its parameters to produce with the quality as per the goal.

The novelty brought positive results, providing more information for the advanced control system at this stage of the pellet production process in Ubu. The conception, design and programming of the robot were developed by Samarco, in partnership with the company Robotics, which manufactured and assembled the system.