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Reconciliation of Excess Circuit

Data Using Spreadsheet Tools
Gerald H. Luttrell

Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering ,

Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
Published online: 11 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: Gerald H. Luttrell (2004) Reconciliation of Excess

Circuit Data Using Spreadsheet Tools, Coal Preparation, 24:1-2, 35-52, DOI:
10.1080/07349340490465598
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Coal Preparation, 24: 3552, 2004

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ISSN: 0734-9343 print
DOI: 10.1080/07349340490465598

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Reconciliation of Excess Circuit Data Using

Spreadsheet Tools
Gerald H. Luttrell
Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
Mass balances are an effective method for evaluating the reliability of
experimental test data obtained from coal preparation plants. Although
conceptually very simple, the mathematics associated with this procedure
can be overwhelming when conflicting data sets or complex circuits are
evaluated. Fortunately, modern spreadsheet programs now include powerful minimization routines that can be readily adapted to solve common
mass balance problems. This article reviews the mass balance problem
and describes how embedded spreadsheet tools can be used to reconcile
conflicting data. An example problem involving the evaluation of data
from a spiral-flotation circuit is presented to illustrate the inherent
simplicity of this new approach to solving mass balance problems.
Keywords Coal preparation; Mass balance; Material balance; Data
reconciliation; Spreadsheet tools

INTRODUCTION
Test data collected from operating coal preparation plant circuits are
often untrustworthy. There are several possible reasons for this problem
including improper sampling procedures, unreliable laboratory analyses,
and unstable equipment operation. Questionable data may result in
Received 8 March 2004; accepted 23 March 2004.
Address correspondence to Gerald H. Luttrell, Department of Mining and Minerals
Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061,
USA. E-mail: luttrell@vt.edu

35

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36

G. H. Luttrell

misleading conclusions that can result in lost productivity and unnecessary expenditures of capital and operating funds. The traditional
approach of assessing the reliability of experimental data is to repeat
the test program or analyses and to compare the reproducibility.
Unfortunately, this approach is generally impractical due to the high
costs of plant sampling programs and the mathematical complexities
associated with interpreting statistical information.
A simpler and less costly approach of assessing the reliability of circuit
and plant test data is to assess and adjust the data using mass balances.
Mass balances can be readily used to analyze the reliability of the test
data and to make statistically sound estimates of the true performance
indicators [19]. Unfortunately, the mathematics associated with mass
balances can be cumbersome when conflicting data sets and=or complex
circuits are evaluated. To overcome this problem, a spreadsheet-based
mass balance program has been developed using optimization tools
embedded in modern spreadsheet programs. To utilize this program,
users simply enter a description of the processing circuit using a simple
connection matrix followed by the input of the assay values (i.e., ash,
sulfur, heat content, etc.) for each stream. The built-in minimization
routines then generate the best estimates of the assay values and flag
values that may be unreliable. This approach requires no formal
knowledge of advanced mathematics or statistical analyses. In addition,
the mathematical routines incorporated within the spreadsheet-based
platform can be readily modified to handle specific problems without the
need for any formal programming experience.

GENERALIZED MASS BALANCES

The performance of coal processing circuits is determined by the mass
rates and compositions of the streams that pass through the circuit. At
steady state, the law of conservation dictates that the mass flow rate of
any given component entering the circuit must equal the mass flow rate
leaving the circuit. This mass balance provides the elementary foundation upon which all process engineering calculations are based [9]. The
generalized mass balance concept, which has been described in detail by
Wills [10], is best illustrated by means of a simple example. Consider the
classical two-stage water-only cyclone (WOC) circuit shown in Figure 1.
The flowsheet network can be mathematically represented by a series of
interconnected nodes and streams (see Figure 2) using the connection
matrix shown in Table 1. The connection matrix is of size m
n, where m
is the total number of streams and n is the total number of stream connection points (nodes). Two types of nodes are possible, i.e., separators
and junctions. A separator is defined as a node having one stream
entering and two exiting, while a junction has two streams entering and

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Reconciliation of Excess Circuit Data

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FIGURE 1. Flowsheet for a classical two-stage water-only cyclone circuit.

FIGURE 2. Node-stream diagram for the two-stage water-only cyclone circuit.

38

G. H. Luttrell
TABLE 1 Flowsheet Connection Matrix for the Two-stage
WOC Circuit
Node ( j)

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Stream (i)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

1
1
0
0
0
1
0
0

0
1
1
1
0
0
0
0

0
0
1
0
1
1
0
0

0
0
0
1
0
0
1
1

Node 1, Feed Sump; Node 2, Primary WOC; Node 3, Secondary WOC; Node 4, Clean Coal Cyclones.
Stream 1, Circuit Feed; Stream 2, Primary WOC Feed; Stream
3, Primary WOC U=F (or Secondary WOC Feed); Stream 4, Primary WOC O=F (or Clean Coal Cyclone Feed); Stream 5, Secondary WOC U=F (or Refuse); Stream 6, Secondary WOC
O=F; Stream 7, Clean Coal Cyclone U=F (or Clean); Stream 8,
Clean Coal Cyclone O=F (or Flotation Feed).

one exiting. Within the connection matrix, 1 indicates an inflow to the

node, 1 indicates an outflow from the node, and 0 indicates the stream
has no influence on the node. The sum of any row indicates the type of
stream present (i.e., feed stream 1, product stream 1, internal
stream 0). In some cases, a single unit operation may need to be
represented in the connection matrix by several simple nodes (junctions
or separators) in order to account for all of the process streams.
Using the connection matrix (Cij), the generalized mass balance
equations for the circuit can be expressed by:
m
X

Cij Mi 0;

Cij Aki Mi 0;

i1
m
X
i1

where Mi is the mass flow rate of each stream i and Aik is the assay for
each component k in stream i. According to Smith and Frew [11], the
minimum number of streams (N) which must be sampled and assayed to
obtain an unambiguous mass balance can be calculated from

Reconciliation of Excess Circuit Data

39

N 2F S  1;

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where F is the number of feed streams entering the circuit and S is the
number of simple separators (nodes having one stream in and two
streams out). For the case shown in Figure 1, there are three simple
separators (S 3) and one feed stream (F 1). Therefore, in addition to
the feed mass flow rate, samples from 7 different streams must be
collected and assayed for a single component in order to obtain a mass
balance that is exactly defined for this circuit.

Reconciling Excess Data

In most cases, the experimental data obtained from coal processing
circuits are overdefined. This occurs when redundant streams are sampled or when multiple independent assays are available for each stream.
For example, an unambiguous mass balance is obtained for the circuit
shown in Figure 2 when samples are taken from seven independent
streams. On the other hand, if all eight streams were sampled and
assayed, then the system would be overdefined and conflicting balances
may be obtained. Even in cases in which only the minimum number of
required streams is sampled, the various assays for different components
(e.g., ash, sulfur, heat content, etc.) in each stream may result in different,
but equally valid, estimates of the circuit mass flow rates. These differences are due to experimental errors associated with process fluctuations,
sampling techniques, and laboratory analysis procedures.
There are two methods that can be used to resolve conflicting data.
Unfortunately, the first and most widely practiced method used in the
coal industry is to ignore some of the experimental data. This undesirable
approach is somewhat arbitrary and often provides different numerical
solutions that vary according to the specific biases of a particular individual involved in the data analysis. A second and better method is to
adjust the measured assays to create a unique and self-consistent data set
that makes full use of all of the experimental data [5, 9]. The adjustment
must be made such that all mass balance equations are satisfied (i.e.,
Equations (1) and (2)) and the total adjustments to the assays are as small
as possible. Mathematically, this can be achieved by minimizing the
weighted sum-of-squares (WSSQ) given by
!2

c X
m
m

k
X
X
Ak
Mi  Mi 2
i  Ai
4

! 0;
WSSQ
si
ski
k1 i1
i1
where sik and si are standard deviations of the measured assay values
and measured flow rates, respectively [1]. The superscript * is used to
distinguish estimated values from experimental values. In most cases, sik

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G. H. Luttrell

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and si are assumed to be proportional to the value of the measured assay

and are calculated by
ski eki Aki ;

s i ei Mi ;

where eki and ei are the respective relative errors in the measurements of
the kth component assays and mass rates for stream i.
Several mathematical methods can be used to perform the mass
balance minimization. The earliest approaches included the use of
Lagrangian multipliers [2] and direct search techniques [3]. Historically
these approaches have been limited to simple systems (often only one
node) and have typically required the construction of computer programs
to perform the minimization. More recently, complex algorithms have
been developed that can be used to simultaneously compute the best
estimates of mass flow rates and component assays for relatively
complicated circuits. Some of the most noteworthy contributions made to
this scientific area were made by Hodouin and associates [1214].
Unfortunately, many of the advanced mass balance algorithms are
difficult to apply for arbitrary circuit configurations and require computational capabilities that often exceed those of personal computers [10].
More importantly, most practicing process engineers simply lack the
advanced mathematical skills required to solve the constrained minimization problem defined by Equation (4). As a result, commercial
software packages have been specifically developed for this purpose.
Popular software packages include Bilmat (Algosys, Canada), JKMBal
(JKTech, Australia), and Bilco (BRGM, France). All of these packages
are capable of handling relatively complex mass balance problems
commonly encountered in the coal industry. However, the commercial
programs are costly and cannot be distributed among other users without
the purchase of additional licenses. These programs can also be incompatible with other software packages, require considerable user training, and
cannot be modified by the user. More importantly, the commercial packages
have capabilities that tend to exceed the general needs of personnel responsible for the routine evaluation of common coal plant circuits. As a result, the
vast majority of coal processing engineers simply avoid conducting mass
balances when evaluating the performance of coal processing circuits.

SPREADSHEET-BASED MASS BALANCES

Another alternative for performing mass balances is to make use of
spreadsheets. This format obviously provides a convenient interface for
entering circuit data and for displaying numerical output. However, most

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41

process engineers do not realize that spreadsheet developers have incorporated powerful optimization routines into their software. These built-in
routines can be used to quickly solve constrained minimization problems
such as those encountered in mass balances, quickly. This integrated
capability makes it possible for nearly anyone to construct mass balances
without the need for extensive programming skills.
Many of the leading producers of spreadsheet software make use of
global optimization routines developed during the past decade by
Frontline Systems, Inc. These routines include SOLVER for Microsoft
Excel, new SOLVER for Lotus 1-2-3, and OPTIMIZER for Corel
Quattro Pro. These routines, which are typically provided as an add-in
to the basic spreadsheet program, use the GRG2 (Generalized Reduced
Gradient) nonlinear optimization code developed by Leon Lasdon
(University of Texas at Austin) and Allan Waren (Cleveland State
University). These routines make it possible to quickly identify an optimal value for a formula in a target cell that is related, either directly or
indirectly, to other cells in the spreadsheet. These cells can be selected and
adjusted by SOLVER (or OPTIMIZER) to produce the result specified
in the target cell subject to user-defined constraints. For example, consider the generalized mass balance problem discussed previously.
SOLVER can be used to minimize a target cell calculated using Equation
(4) by adjusting mass flow (Mi) and component assay (Aik) values subject
to constraints calculated from Equations (1) and (2). SOLVER allows the
user to have direct control over many of the criteria used in the adjustment of the data (e.g., degree of precision, error tolerance, degree of
convergence, iteration method, etc.). The ability to perform the high-level
minimization without extensive programming makes this approach very
powerful. More importantly, the optimization routine is extremely robust
and capable of dealing with many of the pitfalls commonly encountered
in other mathematical approaches. Because of these advantages,
spreadsheets now offer an attractive alternative to commercial software
packages for solving many industrial mass balance problems.
In order to demonstrate the advantages of spreadsheet-based mass
balances, a generalized program has been developed in the present work
using the Microsoft Excel for Windows. The present form of the
generalized mass balance spreadsheet has been configured to handle plant
circuits with up to 20 streams and 10 nodes. The spreadsheet can be easily
expanded by the user to handle a greater number of nodes and streams.
Custom spreadsheets which balance size-by-size washability (float-sink)
data can also be constructed for relatively complicated mass balancing
problems using the same basic approach. Some of the balances
constructed to date include more than 500 constraints and variables, yet
they can be handled with relative ease by the SOLVER routine. In each
case, the user simply enters the experimental mass rates and component
assays for each size and gravity class. From these input values, all data

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42

G. H. Luttrell

are converted to mass flow rates (i.e., ton per hour of total dry solids, ton
per hour of ash, ton per hour of sulfur, ton per hour of slurry, etc.). The
mass balance is performed by using SOLVER to adjust all input values
(mass flows and assays) by the smallest amount possible such that the
sum of all component mass flows entering a node minus those leaving the
node are equal to zero. These constraints are relatively easy to configure
in a spreadsheet format once the assay values have been converted to
mass flow rates.
In order to demonstrate the utility of mass balance spreadsheets, it is
best to consider a relatively simple example. Consider the flowsheet

FIGURE 3. Simplified flowsheet for a spiral-flotation coal cleaning circuit.

43

Reconciliation of Excess Circuit Data

TABLE 2 Field Data Obtained for an Industrial Spiral-flotation Coal Cleaning

Circuit

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Stream
Circuit feed
Cyclone oversize
Cyclone undersize
Spiral concentrate
Spiral reject
Screen oversize
Screen undersize
Flotation feed
Flotation concentrate
Flotation reject

Rate (tph)*

Ash (%)

Sulfur (%)

67.89
55.52
22.25
41.44
20.03
33.32
8.69
20.76
14.23
10.92

27.90
26.10
33.50
8.60
76.20
7.81
21.40
32.20
8.10
71.80

0.89
0.71
1.33
0.56
1.21
5.50
0.71
1.25
0.86
1.71

*Estimated values based on timed samples or calculated from ash balances.

shown in Figure 3 for a combination coal cleaning circuit incorporating

spirals and froth flotation. Field data obtained using the flowsheet are
summarized in Table 2. The following steps are required to conduct the
spreadsheet-based mass balance:






Step
Step
Step
Step
Step

1Enter the Flowsheet Connection Matrix

2Enter the Experimental Mass and Assay Data
3Enter the Relative Standard Errors
4Initiate the Minimization (SOLVER) Routine
5Evaluate the Minimization Results

Each of these steps is described in the following sections using the

experimental data from the spiral-flotation circuit shown in Figure 3.

Flowsheet Connection Matrix

Figure 4 shows the first page of the mass balance spreadsheet
constructed for this particular example. Numerical values are entered
into any of the darkened regions of the spreadsheet. Items shown in bold
represent user input. Although five additional rows and two additional
columns are actually available for entering stream data, these rows
and columns were removed to save space for this particular illustration.
The connection matrix for the circuit shown in Figure 3 can be easily
entered into the various spreadsheet cells. The names of each node and
stream are entered by the user in the first available row. In this case, the
nodes include the classifying cyclone, spiral separators, clean coal sieve,
and froth flotation bank. Values of 1, 0, or 1 are entered in the

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G. H. Luttrell

FIGURE 4. Completed MATRIX page describing the circuit flowsheet.

appropriate cells to indicate the interconnections. For example, values of

1, 1, and 1 are entered for the cyclone feed, oversize, and undersize
streams, respectively. This procedure is repeated for all remaining nodes.
In each case, the spreadsheet automatically determines whether the node
is a junction (two steams in and one stream out) or a separator (one
stream in and two streams out). Once the values are entered, the
spreadsheet uses if-then-else rules to automatically identify the type of
stream (feed, product, or internal). The example under consideration
consists of one feed stream, four product streams, and five internal
streams. The internal checks provide a convenient means of assessing
whether the flowsheet configuration is entered correctly. The software
also determines the minimum number of streams that must be sampled
and assayed to obtain an unambiguous balance. A minimum of 9 streams
must be included for the current example.

Experimental Mass and Assay Data

The next page of the mass balance spreadsheet is shown in Figure 5.
This page is used to enter the experimentally measured mass flow rates
and assays. For the present example, two sets of assays were entered (i.e.,
ash and sulfur). Approximate estimates of the mass flow rates were also
entered, although they were considered to be unreliable. The only mass
flow rates obtained directly from timed samples were the classifying
cyclone underflow and flotation froth product. All other mass flow rates
were back-calculated around each unit operation using ash assays and the

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FIGURE 5. Completed DATA page showing measured mass and assay values
(after cut-and-paste of measured values into estimated values).

two-product formula. However, because of large routine fluctuations in

the volumetric flows (local surging) within the circuit, none of the process
flow rates are considered to be very reliable. In addition, attempts
to directly calculate the mass yields for the various unit operations give
conflicting results depending on whether the ash assays or sulfur assays
are used in the two-product formula. For this particular example,
double digit differences in the mass yields are observed for some of the
unit operations when comparing the ash- and sulfur-based yield
computations.

Relative Standard Errors

To account for differences in data reliability, a third spreadsheet page
is provided as shown in Figure 6. On this page, the relative standard
deviations are entered for each experimental measurement (or back calculated value) of mass flow rate and assay. Smaller standard deviations
indicate that the measurement is more reliable, while larger values indicate that the measurement is less reliable. For the current example, a very
small value of 0.01% is entered in the first spreadsheet cell to prevent any
adjustment to the mass flow rate for the circuit feed. Since none of the
other mass flow rates are believed to be reliable, a large relative error of
10% is entered in these cells. Also, since the ash and sulfur assays are
believed to be equally valid, all other assays are assigned a 1% relative
error. If known, actual standard deviations could be entered for any of
these measurements in place of these approximations. For reference, the
relative changes in measured values (expressed as a percentage) are also

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46

G. H. Luttrell

FIGURE 6. Completed ERROR page showing estimated relative standard

errors.

provided on the right-hand side of this page. Large changes suggest that
the measured values are not reliable or indicate severe problems with the
internal consistency of the overall data set. Prior to making adjustments,
the percentage change for each value is zero.

Minimization Routine
The total WSSQ must be minimized to obtain the best statistical estimates of the circuit mass flow rates and assays. The value of WSSQ is
calculated internally and displayed at the bottom of the DATA page. In
the Microsoft Excel platform, the WSSQ minimization is conducted using
a built-in tool known as SOLVER. This powerful add-in is provided as a
standard feature of Microsoft Excel, although it may need to be activated
during installation in order to be functional (see the Tools menu).
Figure 7 shows the dialog box that appears when the SOLVER add-in
is called from the Excel toolbar. When invoked, this integrated routine
allows the user to specify a target cell to be minimized. In the present
example, the cell containing the value of the total WSSQ at the bottom of
the DATA page is selected. The Min button is then toggled within the
dialog box to indicate that a minimization problem is to be undertaken.
Finally, the range of cells to be adjusted by the minimization routine is
specified within the By Changing Cells box. The mouse pointer can be
used to select these cells for adjustment. The selected values normally
include all the numerical values to be estimated in the right-hand side of
the DATA page. In most cases, the experimentally measured values serve
as the best approximations of the true values. Therefore, good initial
estimates can be obtained by simply copying the measured values from

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FIGURE 7. Microsoft Excel SOLVER dialog box.

the left side of the DATA page and pasting them onto the right side of the
same page (see Figure 5). The limitations imposed by Equations (1) and
(2) must also be entered as constraints within the SOLVER dialog box.
For convenience, these constraints have been entered already when the
spreadsheet was constructed and need not be changed. However, these
constraints can be readily manipulated by the user to customize the
spreadsheet to solve very specific types of mass balance problems. Special
constraints, such as upper or lower limits on dependent values, can be
readily entered by the user as new mathematical constraints within
SOLVER. These special constraints are typically difficult to handle using
commercial mass balance software. If necessary, the Options button
can be selected prior to minimization. These include adjustable parameters for numerical precision and convergence limits. Solutions can also
be restricted to include only nonnegative values (which is typically
appropriate for mass balances). After entering all of the requested input
values, the minimization routine is initiated by choosing the SOLVE
button.

Evaluation of the Minimization Results

Figure 8 shows the spreadsheet values obtained after SOLVER
identifies a potential mass balance solution. In this particular case, the
relatively high total WSSQ of 8155 indicates a relatively poor fit. The
updated estimates of the mass flow rates and assays are displayed on

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48

G. H. Luttrell

FIGURE 8. DATA and ERROR pages after solving for estimated values.

the right side of the DATA page. To assist in the comparison of the
measured and adjusted values, the percentage change is shown on the right
side of the ERROR page. This figure shows that the spreadsheet made
significant changes (> 25%) to several of the mass flow rates (i.e., spiral
refuse, sieve undersize, and flotation refuse). These large changes are
expected since the relative errors are set very high for these data entries
(i.e., 10%). However, the data also show that a self-consistent data set
could only be obtained by making a significant change to the sulfur assay
for the sieve oversize stream (i.e., from 5.50% to 0.59%). This indicates
that the sulfur assay for this particular stream may be unreliable. In fact, a
follow-up discussion with the analytical laboratory indicated that this
particular sulfur assay had been entered incorrectly by the laboratory staff
as 5.5% instead of the experimentally measured value of 0.55%.
Figure 9 shows the results of a second mass balance conducted after
properly entering the correct numerical value for the sulfur content of the

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Reconciliation of Excess Circuit Data

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FIGURE 9. DATA and ERROR pages after changing the data entry for an
incorrectly entered value of sieve oversize sulfur content.

sieve oversize stream. This change dropped the total WSSQ down to 111,
indicating a much better data fit. More importantly, the relative changes
to the ash and sulfur assays are all well below 3% for this particular
solution. Therefore, these adjusted assay values for ash and sulfur are
believed to be good estimates of the actual circuit performance. On the
other hand, significant changes are still required in order to obtain
reasonable balances for the mass flow rates. As shown in Figure 10, most
of the measured mass flow rates are typically higher than the adjusted
values. These larger changes are expected since the relative standard
deviations for the mass flow rates were set at 10% compared to 1% for
the ash and sulfur assays. This difference was deemed appropriate given
the experimental means and conditions under which the mass flow rates
were determined. The adjusted mass flow rates are believed to be good
estimates of the actual circuit performance since the mass balance

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G. H. Luttrell

FIGURE 10. Correlation plot showing differences in measured (or calculated)

and estimated mass flow rates.

procedure uses the entire data set (and not just isolated values) to
establish these values.

SUMMARY
The establishment of a consistent mass balance is a key step in the
analysis of data obtained from coal processing circuits. Unfortunately,
this task can be difficult when redundant or conflicting data are obtained
experimentally. To help resolve this problem, a spreadsheet-based
approach for reconciling mass balance data has been presented. This
technique makes use of minimization tools that are now available in most
modern spreadsheet programs. These tools, which are typically incorporated as add-ins called SOLVER or OPTIMIZER, make it possible for
plant engineers to perform relatively complicated mass balance equations
that were once considered to be possible only through the use of commercial software packages specifically designed for this purpose. The

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51

spreadsheet approach can be used (1) to evaluate the reliability of

experimental data and (2) to generate least-square estimates of mass flow
rates and assays. The spreadsheet format provides a simple and easily
modified interface for entering circuit data, displaying numerical output,
and transferring information between other well-known software
packages. In addition, the spreadsheet version makes it possible to create
custom mass balances specifically tailored for a given problem without
any formal knowledge of statistics, advanced mathematics, or programming languages. Because of these features, this approach to mass
balancing is ideally suited for day-to-day circuit evaluations by coal plant
personnel. A Microsoft Excel version of a generalized balance spreadsheet that demonstrates the capabilities of this approach to handling
mass balance data is available at no cost to interested parties by a direct
request to the author.

REFERENCES
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[2] G. W. Cutting, Estimation of Interlocking Mass Balances on Complex Mineral
Beneciation Plants, International Journal of Mineral Processing, Vol. 3, pp. 207218
(1976).
[3] A. L. Mular, Data Adjustment Procedures for Mass Balances, Computer Methods for
the 80s in the Mineral Processing Industry (A. Weiss, ed.), SME=AIME, New York,
pp. 843849, 1979.
[4] R. L. Wiegel, The Practical Benets of Improved Metallurgical Balance Techniques,
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Material Balancing of Mineral Processing Data, International Journal of Mineral
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[7] B. A. Wills and R. J. Manser, Reconciliation of Simple Node Excess Data, Trans.
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[8] B. A. Wills, Complex Circuit Mass BalancingA Simple, Practical, Sensitivity
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(1986).
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