PARTICLE SIZE REDUCTION COMMINUTION

crushing, grinding, milling, micronizing and etc

PURPOSE:
To create particles of a

certain size and shape

An energy

intensive
Highly an
inefficient process

To increase the surface

area available for

chemical reaction
To liberate valuable

minerals held within

particles

Sugar three

different grades
Granular,castor and
icing

TYPES OF COMMINUTION EQUIPMENT

Factors Affecting Choice of Machine
Stressing mechanism
Size of feed and product
Material properties
Carrier medium
Mode of operation
Capacity
Combination with other unit operation

TYPES OF COMMINUTION EQUIPMENT

Factors Affecting Choice of Machine
Stressing mechanismThree stresses
mechanism responsible
for particle size
reduction in mills.
1) Stress applied between
two surfaces ( either
surface particle or
particle particle) at
low velocity, 0.01 10
m/s
Crushing plus attrition

2) Stress applied at a
single solid surface
(surface particle or
particle-particle at high
velocity,10-200 m/s
Impact fracture plus
attrition
3) Stress applied by
carrier medium usually
in wet grinding to bring
about disagglomeration

Stressing mechanism
Machines using mainly mechanism 1
crushing
Jaw crusher
Working principle:
The motor drives the belt pulley and
the belt pulley drives the eccentric
shaft to rotate, and make the moving
jar approach and leave the fixed jaw
periodically, to crush, rub and grind
the materials repeatedly, thus to make
the material slower and slower and
gradually fall down and finally
discharge from the discharge opening.
Jaw Crusher Features:
high reduction ratio, uniform grain
size, simple structure, reliable
operation, simple convenience and low
operation cost.

Stressing mechanism
Machines using mainly
mechanism 1 crushing
Gyratory crusher
-has a fixed jaw in the form
of a truncated cone. The
other jaw is a cone which
rotates inside the fixed
jaw on an eccentric
mounting. Material is
discharge when it is small
enough to pass through
the gap between the jaws

Stressing mechanism
Machines using mainly mechanism 1
crushing
Crushing roll machine
have a theoretical MAXIMUM reduction
ratio of 4:1.
If a 2 inch particle is fed to the roll
crusher the absolute smallest size one
could expect from the crusher is 1/2 inch.
Roll crushers will only crush material
down to a minimum particle size of about
10 Mesh (2 mm).
A roll crusher crushes using
compression, with two rolls rotating
about a shaft, towards the gap between
the rolls. The gap between the rolls is set
to the size of product desired, with the
realization that the largest feed particle
can only be 4 times the gap dimension.

Stressing mechanism
The particles are drawn into the gap between
the rolls by their rotating motion and a
friction angle formed between the rolls and
the particle, called the nip angle. The two
rolls force the particle between their rotating
surface into the ever smaller gap area, and it
fractures from the compressive forces
presented by the rotating rolls.
Advantages:

give a very fine product size distribution

and they produce very little dust or fines.
Rolls crushers are effectively used in minerals
crushing where the ores are not too abrasive
and they are also used in smaller scale
production mining of more abrasive metal
ores, such as gold
Coal production

Stressing mechanism

Horizontal table mill- the feed material falls

on to the center of a circular rotating table
and is thrown out by centrifugal force. In
moving outwards the material passes under
a roller and is crushed

Stressing mechanism
Mechanism 2-high
velocity impact
Hammer mill-this
device rotates inside
a cylinder.The
particles are fed into
the cylinder either by
gravity or by gas
stream.

Stressing mechanism
Mechanism 2-high
velocity impact
Pin mill-two parallel circular
discs each carrying a set of
projecting pins. One disc is
fixed and the other rotates
at high speed so that its
pins pass close to those on
the fixed disc. Particles are
carried in air into the center
and as they move radially
outwards are fractured by
impart or by attrition

Stressing mechanism
Mechanism 2-high
velocity impact
Fluid energy mill relies
on the turbulence
created in high
velocity jets of air or
stream in order to
produce conditions for
interparticle collisions
which bring about
particle fracture

Stressing mechanism
Mechanism 2-high velocity impact
Material is conveyed from the grinding
area near the jets at the base of the
loop to the classifier and exit
situated at the top of the loop.These
mills have a very high specific
energy consumption and are subject
to extreme wear when handling
abrasive materials. These problems
have been overcome to a certain
extent in the fluidized bed jet mill
which the bed is used to absorb the
energy from the high speed particles Figure
ejected from the grinding zone
12.12

page

Stressing mechanism
Machines
using
a
combination of mechanism
1 and 2 crushing and
impact with attrition.
The sand mill-vertical cylinder
containing a stirred bed of
sand, glass beads or shot. The
feed, in the form of slurry, is
pumped into the bottom of
the bed and the product
passes out at the top through
a screen which retains the
bed material.

Stressing mechanism
Machines using a combination of
mechanism 1 and 2 crushing and
impact with attrition.
Colloid mill. The motor drives the rotor
by the belt to make high speed rotation
against the stator, the processed
materials produces the spiral impact
force downwards by its own weight or
outer pressure (may be produced by a
pump), thus the material bears strong
physical actions such as shear, friction
and high frequency vibration, and gets
effective emulsification, dispersion and
grinding and reaches the effects of
being superfine grinded and
emulsified.

Figure 12.14 p/g

325

Stressing mechanism
Machines
using
a
combination
of
mechanism 1 and 2
crushing and impact
with attrition.
Ball mill-a rotating cylindrical
or cylindrical conical shell
about half filled with balls
of steel or ceramic. The
speed of rotation of the
cylinder balls are caused
to tumble over one another
without causing cascading.

Size
range of
product

Term used

1-0.1 m

Coarse crushing

0.1m

crushing

1 cm

Fine crushing,coarse
grinding

1mm

Intermediate
grinding,milling

100
micron

Fine grinding

10 micron

Ultrafine grinding

Size of feed and product

Particle size
Most important in
selecting the
Down
3mm-50
Less than
equipment
to 3
mm

micron

50 micron

crushers Ball mills

Ball mills

Table
mills

Rod mills

Vibration
mills

Edge
runner
mill

Pin mills
Tube mills
Vibration
mills

Sand mills
Perl mills
Colloid mills
Fluid energy
mills

Material

Mohs
Bond
hardnes Work
s
Index
(kwh/ton
Hardness- measured in
)
Mohs scale of hardness Talc
1
2
7
-measure of resistance to Gypsum
Calcite
3
abrasion
Fluorite
4
10
Abrasiveness-very
Glass
Scratche 11
abrasive materials above
Apatite
5
grounded in mills
12
operating at low speeds Orthoclase 6
Feldspar
to reduce wear of
Quartz
7
14
machine parts in contact Topaz and 8
beryl
with the material
Carborund 9
26
um

Material Properties

Material properties
Toughness-material resists Fibrous nature must be

the propagation of cracks. comminuted in shredders or

cutters which are based on
Cohesivity/adhesivity
hammer mill design
particles of material stick
Low melting point caused by
together and to other
heat generated in the millsurfaces. related to
problem can be overcome by
moisture content and
using cold air as the carrier
particle size. Decrease
medium
Other special properties
particle size or increase
moisture content increases Thermally sensitive, have a
cohesivity and adhesivity

tendency to spontaneous
combustion or high
inflamability-ground by inert
carrier medium nitrogen

Carrier medium
Function serves to transport
the material through the
mill
Transmits forces to the
particles
Influences friction and
abrasion
Affects cracks formation and
cohesivity/adhesivity
Influence the electrostatic
charges and the
inflammability of the
material

-gas,liquid
Common gas- air and
inert gas
Common liquid- water
but sometimes oil

Mode of operation and combination with other operations

Combine with drying,

Batch or continuos
mixing or sieving
Based on throughput,
the process and
economics
Capacity batch : few
gram to a few tonnes
Capacity continuousseveral hundreds g /hr
to several thousand
tonnes / h

Types of milling circuit

Closed circuit- the
Open circuit the material
material leaving the
passes only once through
the mill, and so the only
mill is subjected to
controllable variable is the
some form of seiving
residence time of the
with the oversize being
material in the mill
returned to the mill
-product size and distribution with the feed material.
can be controlled over a
-flexible since product
certain range by varying
the material residence time mean size and size
distribution can be
(throughput)
controlled
System is inflexible