Rising demand for strategic minerals and metals, depleting ore deposits and stricter environmental regulations call for innovative system-level thinking in minerals processing. In response, Metso is launching the Sustainable Flowsheet Explorer (SFX) enabling the assessment, simulation, and comparison of technological alternatives on circuit and full flowsheets within minutes instead of weeks. This innovative digital solution provides valuable insights on energy consumption, water usage, GHG emissions, costs, metallurgical performance, and much more.
“For our mining customers, the Sustainable Flowsheet Explorer streamlines the evaluation and comparison of technological alternatives with a focus on the Metso Plus solutions. It significantly reduces the time needed for initial flowsheet assessments, providing comprehensive flowsheet evaluation of metallurgical performance, environmental footprint, and other relevant indicators that support informed decision-making. By centralizing key performance indicators on a single platform and providing clear visualizations of results, SFX enables more informed decision-making from the outset of a project,” explains Rodrigo Grau, Vice President, Process Performance, Minerals Digital at Metso.
SFX employs a validated Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to ensure accurate and reliable evaluations. The robust methodology used in SFX integrates Metso's extensive know-how in the development of technology and process solutions across the entire value chain, from ore to metal. It is powered by Metso's proprietary process simulation software, HSC Chemistry®. SFX’s web-based platform offers an intuitive and visually appealing 3D visualization of circuit or full process flowsheets, from mine to metal. SFX analyses are done in close collaboration with Metso experts.
Besides assessing technological alternatives, SFX can also assess the impact of different levels of automation in a concentrating plant, leveraging the Metso Plus portfolio to improve energy consumption, water use, and CO2 emissions. In addition, SFX can be used to evaluate the impact of different tailings dewatering configurations, including various thickening technologies and advanced filtration systems.
