Turn characterization into yield.
Optical super-resolution and AI for continuous particle and phase-proxy measurements in rare-earth extraction, separation, dewatering, and waste recovery.
Move measurement from an episodic lab event to a continuous process signal.
Rare-earth flowsheets are sensitive to feed variability, liberation, fine-particle losses, dewatering behavior, and narrow separation windows. Yet many of the measurements needed to understand those changes arrive hours or days after the process has moved on.
NanoFraction proposes a process microscope for wet streams: measure particle and phase proxies continuously, correlate them with existing assays and plant KPIs, and give operators an earlier signal for corrective action.
Three sources of avoidable loss.
When characterization arrives late, plants widen operating margins, use more reagents, and struggle to explain where valuable material was lost.
Ultrafines escape in overflow or remain trapped in high-water-volume streams.
KPI impact: recovery, throughput, unit costOvergrinding creates difficult fines while undergrinding leaves value locked in composite particles.
KPI impact: grade-recovery curve, energySmall chemistry differences can produce narrow operating windows and unstable phase behavior.
KPI impact: reagent intensity, uptime, quality
Convert wet-stream images into operating leverage.
A sampling cell and optical sensor collect high-throughput imagery. The analytical layer converts that imagery into explainable particle statistics, anomaly signals, and recommendations tied to plant outcomes.
- Particle size and shape
- Agglomeration proxies
- Loss-to-overflow indicators
- Entrainment signatures
- Filter-cake structure
- Tailings-value flags
From wet stream to operating recommendation in minutes.
The initial deployment remains read-only. Control hooks are added only after the optical signals demonstrate stable correlation with current assays and plant KPIs.
OSR sensor
Capture representative images from selected wet-stream measurement points.
AI particle statistics
Measure distributions, classify morphology, and detect process anomalies.
Operations dashboard
Display trends, thresholds, explainable alerts, and recommended checks.
Control hooks
After validation, connect useful signals to setpoint or dosing decisions.
Place the microscope where losses become decisions.
A focused pilot selects two or three points with measurable variability and existing reference data.
Classifier overflow and underflow
Track fines loss and movement in the effective separation cutpoint.
Thickener overflow and underflow
Monitor clarity, solids carryover, agglomeration, and density proxies.
Filter feed and cake
Connect microstructure and floc behavior to filterability and residual value.
Tailings line
Flag particle populations that may indicate a scavenging or recovery opportunity.
Solvent-extraction interface
Watch for optical signatures associated with entrainment, emulsions, crud, or slow disengagement.
Feed variability
Detect particle and morphology shifts that precede downstream performance changes.
Measure distributions—not just representative snapshots.
High-throughput optical imagery can support size and shape distributions, particle segmentation, morphology classes, and anomaly detection across changing feed and operating conditions.
Produce a go-or-no-go operating decision—not an open-ended science project.
The pilot begins with safe, read-only measurement and progresses only when each phase meets a defined evidence gate.
Baseline
Simulation, installation, safety review, sampling-cell setup, and stable data capture.
Correlation
Compare optical signals with current assays, historian data, and one or two primary KPIs.
Operational leverage
Run controlled A/B windows or setpoint interventions and quantify measurable improvement.
Gate A: safe operation and stable data capture • Gate B: demonstrable correlation to at least one KPI • Gate C: measurable improvement through intervention
Select one site, two measurement points, and the KPIs that matter.
At day 90, the intended deliverables are a KPI-correlation report, intervention results, an operating playbook, and a scale-up ROI model.