The requirements set on the performance of industrial equipment during their life-time are increasing due to the growing demand to minimize expenses and maximize production as a result of tightening global competition. The demand to optimize the equipment performance is making the ability to utilize different services during the equipment more important. Equipment performance optimization includes integration of the process and maintenance information. In this paper the life-cycle management concepts are reviewed and a general framework and a case study in the mineral processing field is presented and discussed.

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In this paper the current status of the modeling, simulation and control of the copper-leaching, solvent-extraction and electrowinning process (LX/SX/EW) is investigated. No implementations of advanced process control in the copper LX/SX/EW process have so far been reported. However, model-based control has been successfully applied to solvent extraction processes in the chemical industry, as well as to some other electrowinning processes. A prototype of a process monitoring application based on copper SX/EW steady-state mass balances was designed and implemented. In this paper the structure of the system is described and the test results presented and discussed.

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