Multi-Criteria Decision Support System for Optimal Blending Process in Zinc Production

The formation of input batch zinc concentrates is one of the key processes on which the quality and efficiency of all subsequent operations during the production of zinc cathodes directly depends. The optimization of the formation of a mixed batch aims at making a selection between the zinc concentrates that have different contents of useful and harmful components and to determine their share in the optimal mix. A multi criteria optimization model, which can be a good support for the defined problem of determining the optimal mixture of zinc concentrates, was developed in this study. For an evaluation of this model, according to four different research scenarios, the PROMETHEE/GAIA methodology was used to rank the considered zinc concentrates and determine their optimal share in the mix batch. In addition, the determination of the significance of the criteria in the optimization model was performed by application of the subjective AHP approach and the objective entropic approach. The results of this study, which were obtained during an analysis of a real case from the practice of a zinc production facility, indicate that the choice and formation of the optimal mixture of concentrates directly depends on the subjective or objective type of assessment of the significance of several chemical components in the zinc concentrates, and on the market price of the considered concentrates.