A selection of projects that have been executed by the Cycad Process team for clients.

SELECTED EXAMPLES BY DISCIPLINE

Minerals processing

Effectively and intuitively model particle-size distributions using the PSD manager.

Cycad Process® has been used to design or model a large variety of mineral processing plants:

• Crushing and screen plants
• Milling plants
• Magnetic separation plants
• Flotation plants

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Hydrometallurgical

Cycad Process® has been used to design or model a large variety of hydrometallurgical plants:

• Base metal refineries in PGM industry
• PGM refinery unit operations
• Leaching plants
• Pressure leaching plants
• Bacterial leaching plants
• Heap leaching operations
• Concentrate leaching plants
• Crystallization plants

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Pyrometallurgical

Cycad Process has been used to model:

• Fluidized bed roaster plant
• Rotary kiln operations
• Sulphuric acid plants

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Outputs:

• Produce high quality process flow diagrams
• Update mass balance table on each process flowsheet automatically
• Select variables to display on mass balance table on flowsheet
• Create use variables that can be calculated from expressions and displayed in mass balance table.
• Customize reports (mass balance, equipment list, line list, water balance, reagents…).

Interface:

• Interact using graphical user interface conforming to familiar Windows standards
• Drag-and-drop equipment icons onto drawing page
• Select from an extensive library of process units
• Configure process unit using an intuitive Properties Viewer
• Use layers for a drawing page
• Layout flowsheet over easy multi-page navigation system

Outputs:

• Deliver high quality drawings either as:
  • Block flow diagrams
  • Process flow diagrams
• Easily include and update mass balance table on diagrams
• Easily include and update equipment table on diagrams
• Deliver customizable reports:
  • Mass balance
  • Production and reagents
  • Water balance
  • Mass balance design criteria
  • Equipment (including pumps/valves) list
  • Line lists
• Export for use in other applications:
  • Export flowsheets to SVG, JPG, BMP etc
  • Export all reports to Microsoft Excel
  • Export graphs to JPEG, BMP files

Stream manager

• Manage components in stream easily in the Stream Manager
• Copy and paste values from Excel directly into stream manager
• Examine data as individual streams, all streams at once or the inputs and outputs from a process unit

Steady-state simulations:

• Enjoy sequential modular approach by running single units, groups of unit, pages or entire project
• Reduce calculation time using optimized automatic selection of recycle loops
• Reduce error through automatic numbering and ordering of the process units

Calculations:

• Select from a large library of process units
• Select energy balance model integrated within each process unit
• Complement process units with generalized models, like phase splitter etc

Component data:

• Select from more 9000 components in database of physical and thermodynamic data
• Easily add User-Specified components
• Export and import components from other Cycad Process^® projects

Scenario analysis

• Import scenarios from Excel and run project
• Export results from scenario to Excel for further analysis and reporting

Extensive reaction options available:

• Extent/conversion-based reactions
• Rate-based (liquid or gas phases)
• Gas mass transfer
• Shrinking particle/core models

Milling and crushing:

• Milling breakage curves
• Crushing gradation curves.

Particle size distributions:

• Use PSD Manager to configure and track particle size distributions
• Calculate crushing and milling performance using breakage and gradation models.
• Account for particle size distributions on reaction with shrinking-particle model

Designers:

• Target output streams from a process unit using designers
• Select between Unit-specific and overall flowsheet designers
• Select different solver methods for Designers

Compare:

• Compare results between different scenarios and models. Avoid time c consuming searches for differences by using the ‘Compare’ function.

Parameter estimation:

• Fit parameters with the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm
• Fit most process unit parameters to measured data

Cycad Process has its origins in a bespoke programme for visualizing drill core data written for a mining client. Later, we produced software models of pressure leaching reactors and models of the carbon-in-pulp process. These were standalone programmes written for mining clients to design equipment or a section of plant.

Later, in about 1995, this was augmented by models for bacterial leaching circuits.

In about 1998, when our clients asked more complex questions about the overall flowsheet, we began work on a flowsheet simulator. For the next ten years, this was used exclusively to accelerate the efficiency of our consultancy...

The work on the current interface began in 2008. The intuitive interface has been developed and expanded on since then with multiple updates each year. We pride ourselves on making the software as easy to use as possible.

Like the hardy, evergreen cycad plants, we at Cycad Process are here to stay!

Cycad Process^® is the easy-to-use simulation package for metallurgical engineers.

Cycad Process^® combines process simulation with sophisticated drawing capabilities to produce detailed engineering diagrams and reports.

Cycad Process^® is used to design:

• Hydrometallurgical,
• Pyrometallurgical, and
• Minerals processing flowsheets.

Draw the process flow diagram or process block diagram, enter feed definitions, and process parameters, and calculate the mass and energy balance.

Cycad Process^® has been used on major design projects involving hundreds of pieces of equipment and process streams.