Physics-Informed Machine Learning for Grade Prediction in Froth Flotation

Abstract

In this paper, physics-informed neural network models are developed to predict the concentrate gold grade in froth flotation cells. Accurate prediction of concentrate grades is important for the automatic control and optimization of mineral processing. Both first-principles and data-driven machine learning methods have been used to model the flotation process. The complexity of models based on first-principles restricts their direct use, while purely data-driven models often fail in dynamic industrial environments, leading to poor generalization. To address these limitations, this study integrates classical mathematical models of froth flotation processes with conventional deep learning methods to construct physics-informed neural networks. These models demonstrated superior generalization and predictive performance compared to purely data-driven models, on simulated data from two flotation cells, in terms of mean squared error and mean relative error.