Project Background
This expansion project is a large-scale polymetallic concentrator facility with an ore-processing capacity of 500 t/h. The plant covers crushing & grinding circuit, multi-metal flotation circuit, CIP leaching-adsorption system, tailings treatment and detoxification units. Stable large-volume compressed air is essential for flotation aeration, leaching tank aeration, filter-press actuation, as well as instrument air for the whole-plant automatic control system.
The mine site brings multiple severe challenges to the compressed-air system:
- Harsh continental climate: extreme low temperature down to -41.6 °C in winter, while summer maximum temperature can reach +41 °C. Deep seasonal soil freezing occurs in cold seasons.
- Plateau low-atmospheric-pressure operating environment all year round.
- Limited water resources at remote mine location; water-cooled compression equipment is not feasible.
- Operation requirement: 330 operating days per year, 24-hour continuous production. Redundancy design is mandatory to avoid total-plant shutdown caused by single-unit failure.
Core Project Challenges
- Single-stage screw compressors suffer obvious efficiency drop under low-pressure plateau conditions, resulting in high energy cost for year-round non-stop running.
- Conventional general-purpose compressors cannot cope with the huge temperature swing between freezing winter and hot summer in remote plateau mine areas.
- The system needs to deliver both process air for flotation & leaching process and high-purity instrument air for plant automation. It shall work cooperatively with dryers and buffer storage tanks to build a complete air station.
- The EPC engineering team required full sets of editable engineering drawings for detailed-design review in early project phase.
Our Solution: 315 kW Two-Stage Compressor Compressed-Air-Station Package
Based on the required 55 m³/min FAD air flow and 0.9 MPa working pressure, our engineering team adopted air-cooled 315 kW two-stage micro-oil screw compressors. A 2-duty +1 standby redundancy layout was implemented for the air station. Matched with micro-heat regenerative adsorption air dryers and vertical large-capacity air receivers, a fully functional compressed-air station for metallurgical processing plant was delivered.
✅ Two-stage rotor solves plateau high-energy-consumption pain point Two-stage compression optimizes compression ratio, greatly improving unit efficiency under low-atmospheric-pressure plateau conditions and cutting long-term power-consumption expenditure for the concentrator. Adopting air-cooled design eliminates cooling water dependency, perfectly fitting water-scarce remote mine-site conditions.
✅ Robust design for ultra-low-temperature mine environment Motors with IP55 protection and F-class insulation, the whole unit is validated for full-range extreme site temperature. Air receivers and drain pipelines are equipped with electric trace-heating and thermal insulation to prevent freezing risks in cold seasons.
✅ Intelligent control compatible with plant-wide DCS system Each compressor is fitted with local PLC & HMI control, with reserved remote signal interfaces. Running status and fault alarm signals can be uploaded to the central DCS platform of the concentrator, realizing unattended operation inside compressor building. Multi-safety protection logic ensures stable operation under 24/7 heavy-load production.
✅ Full-scope supply matching EPC project cycle Apart from compressor main units, complete supporting accessories including intake filters, coolers, valves, base frames, anchor bolts and pipe fittings are supplied. One-year spare parts and special maintenance tools are included. All required DWG-format engineering drawings are submitted for EPC detailed-engineering confirmation before manufacturing.
Project Outcomes & Value
- The 2-working plus 1-standby redundancy configuration removes shutdown risks caused by single-machine fault, ensuring reliable 24×330-day compressed-air supply for flotation aeration, leaching reaction, filter-press operation and instrument air of the 500 t/h processing plant.
- High-efficiency two-stage compression host reduces unit specific power consumption and delivers considerable power-cost saving throughout the whole mine service life.
- Air-cooled layout adapts water-shortage remote mine conditions; trace-heating & insulation on buffer tanks and drain pipelines effectively resolve winter freezing hazards under ultra-low-temperature environment.
- Complete deliverable of engineering drawings smoothly cooperates with EPC detailed-design workflow and accelerates overall project progress.
Industry Reference
This solution offers proven reference for compressed-air station construction of large-scale polymetallic concentrator projects located in plateau, high-cold and arid mining zones. If you are working on mineral-processing EPC or mine capacity-expansion projects, our engineering team can provide customized compressed-air-station proposal according to your site altitude, temperature condition, air flow and pressure requirements.
