Industrial Screening

Typical screening is carried out on coarse material and limited to material above 250 m ,
as the efficiency decreases rapidly with fineness (due to screen blinding, wear of the
screens and the cost of the screens).
Hydrodynamic screening dilutes the feed material and then much like a dewatering
screen, uses water to size the fine material. This type of screening can classify material
above 35 mm.

Grizzlies
Fixed Screens (dry)
Trommel Screens
Vibrating Screens
Hydrodynamic Screening
Hydrocyclone
Air Cyclone
0.001 0. 01 0. 1 1 10 100 1,000 10,000
Size, mm

1 Screens
Screen Area Screen Capacity

Area of Screen = [m2]

Tonnage = T [tonne/hr]
Specific Screen Capacity A [tonne/hr/m2]

The capacity of the screen is the base capacity of the screen at 90% efficiency.
The correction factor is applied to adjust for parameters that differ from the base
case. It is a unitless number.

Warning! Specific screen capacities and correction factors vary from

manufacturer to manufacturer and cannot be mixed.

2 Screens
Screen Capacity Curves Size Capacity
mm t/h/m2
1 6.53
2 10.46
3 14.85
4 17.82
5 20.79
10 32.67
15 40.99
20 46.93
25 54.06
25 54.27
45 65.25
65 79.80
85 97.65
105 117.69
125 137.18
145 153.92
165 169.02
Retained Material Factor (B)

Half Size Factor (C)

4 Screens
Deck Position Factor:

Deck Position 1st Deck 2nd Deck 3rd Deck 4th Deck
Deck Position Factor 1 0.9 0.8 0.7

Wet Screening Factor:

Wet screening helps with finer screening. The finer size of the separation, the greater
the effect wet screening has on the area of the screen needed. Hydrodynamic forces
have a greater effect on finer particles then larger particles.
Separation Size [mm] 1-6 6-12 12-25 26-40 41-50 51-75 +75

E 1.4 1.3 1.25 1.2 1.15 1.1 1

Screening at or above 75 mm does not benefit from spray water.

Solid Density Factor:
Material with a high density will quickly stratify and will require less screen area.
Likewise, lighter material will require greater time to stratify.
Solid Density [t/m3] 1.35 2.7 5.4
E 0.5 1 2
Wash Water
Wash water sprays serve multiple purposes:

It cleans fine particles from coarse particles and

prevents agglomerations of particles.

It helps finer material segregate to screen deck.

Bypass fractions can be reduced by proper use of
wash water.

It helps suppresses dust.

The disadvantage of wash water is the cost of

dewatering

6 Screens
Surface Open Area Factor
G = Surface Open Area Factor [unitless]
Surface Open Area Factor:
To correct for different apertures types.
More surface open area directly results in
more screen capacity.

Assume
Unless you have quoted actual open
area, use the following to calculate the
open area:
Open Area 10.336 ln opening in mm 26.89

7 Screens
Open Area
Open area can vary between 12 and 90 percent, depending on the screen
characteristics and projected usage. Capacity and efficiency increase with an increase
in open area. Open area is chosen to minimize the possibility of deck rupture or
damage.

Panel open area and thickness is a balance. Panel thickness should not exceed required
product size, while minimum thickness is typically one fourth of the max feed size.

8 Screens
Shape of Surface Opening Factor

H = Shape of surface opening [unitless]

Surface of Surface Opening Factor:
Aperture shape strongly influences screen
performance. Rectangular/slotted openings offer
more capacity but less accurate cut size.

Opening Round Square Rectangular

H 0.9 1 1.05

Assume

Assume square openings unless

there is a preferred shape.

9 Screens
Shape of Surface Opening Why Consider Other Shapes?

Rectangular or slotted openings offer more open area and less blinding for most ores.
However, square and round openings produce a higher sharpness of separation. In
general, apertures are staggered to prevent particles from riding on screen material too
long before encountering an aperture.

10 Screens
Shape of Surface Opening Matched to Service
Generally speaking:

- Heavy-duty (grizzly): Parallel iron or steel bars

- Punched Plate :
- For heavy duty: Circular or square holes
- For fine work : Slotted openings

- Woven-wire cloths:

- Square mesh : For coarse screening

- Rectangular mesh : For fine screening

Increasing the thickness of wire increases the strenght of the screen, but decreases
open area and consequently the capacity.

Non-metallic screen surfaces are also used as they reduce wear (e.g. Polyurethane
and rubber are resistant to abrasion and impact while reducing noise).

11 Screens
Particle Shape Factor
I = Particle Shape Factor [unitless]
Particle Shape Factor:
Highly angular or cubical particles do not easily pass
through a screen when compared to a equi-
dimensional rounded particle. Flaky particles, such
as a mica, are much more difficult to screen as they
are difficult to classify as their size changes depending
on their orientation. Cubical Shaped Particles
Shape Rounded Cubical Flaky

I 1.2 1 0.9
Note that particles exiting a mill, such as a ball mill,
have rounded characteristics.
Assume
Unless the screen feed is a ball mill discharge, assume
a cubical shape factor. Rounded Shaped Particles

12 Screens
The Efficiency Factor
J = The Efficiency Factor [unitless]

The Efficiency Factor:

Specific screening throughput (the A factor) assumes a 90 % screening efficiency. For any
other efficiency desired, the efficiency factor will adjust accordingly.

The lower the efficiency, the greater the throughput. This may be worth thinking of when
plant real estate is an issue and classification efficiency is not a critical design value.

Efficiency [%] 70 75 80 85 90 92 94 96

J 1.4 1.25 1.1 1.05 1 0.98 0.95 0.9

Assume
Assume an efficiency of 90%

13 Screens
The Screen Type Factor
K = The Screen Type Factor [unitless]

The Screen Type Factor:

Specific screening throughput (the A factor) was done with an inclined screen with
circular motion.
Horizontal Inclined Multislope

Deck Straight Straight Straight Straight Straight Multislope Triple Double Dual
slope slope slope

Vibration Linear Constant Circular Variable Linear Linear Variable Linear Variable
elliptical elliptical elliptical elliptical

Assume
K design sizing
For all 0.9 1.1
applications 1use an inclined
1.1 1
screen 1.3a circular
with 1.4vibration
1.1 (i.e. a 1.3
K
factor of 1).

14 Screens
Moisture Content Factor - (Dry Screening)

L = Moisture Content Factor [unitless]

Moisture Content Factor:
To account for the difficulty of screening material with a high moisture content.
Moisture [%] -3 3-5 6-8

L 1 0.85 0.7

Assume
Unless moisture content is known, 5% moisture is a reasonable estimate.

15 Screens
Limiting Moisture Content - (Dry Screening)
Screening must always be performed on perfectly dry or wet material , but never on
damp material. The following table is a guideline of when moisture may pose problems
for screening.
Screen Opening Size Limiting Moisture
[mm] [% w/w]

-5 0 to 1
- 10 to + 5 1 to 3
- 20 to + 10 3 to 5
-50 to + 20 5 to 8
If moisture if approaching these limits consider either:
+ 50 No limit
Pilot testing with suppliers for potential problems

Consider wet screening

Consider drying the material

16 Screens
 1. Determine screen area Designing Screens
Determine the capacity factor
Determine the correction factors
Design Criteria
Design tonnage
Number of decks and/or number of separations.
Separation Size(s)
Density of the feed
% of Oversized material in feed.
Size Distribution of feed required
% of half-sized material in the feed
Wet or dry.
Assume
That your separation size is the same as aperture opening
Unless the screen feed is a ball mill discharge, assume a cubical shape factor
Assume an efficiency of 90%
Unless moisture content is known, 5% moisture is a reasonable estimate
Assume square openings in deck, an inclined screen with circular vibration
Calculate open area with the following:
Open Area 10.336 ln opening in mm 26.89

17 Screens
The Throughput Sweet Spot

Too Little Bed Depth

Too little oversize material to Too Much Bed Depth
push near sized material onward Material does not
or through the screen. completely stratify.

18 Screens
Bed Depth
Generally speaking:

Particles in an underloaded screen bounce around and will only fall through if they
bounce directly into an opening. This will lead to some bypass, poor sharpness of
separation, and the effective cut size will be reduced since the particle has to fit easily
into the opening.

Large particles on top of a bed prevent finer particles from bouncing around, thereby
keeping them close to the screen surface.

The bed of an overloaded screen is too thick to allow fine particles through, leading to a
significant amount of bypass and poor sharpness of separation.

Oversized particles helps to push near sized particles along the screen or through the
screen to prevent blinding.
Since it is these large particles that are beneficial, it is the depth of oversize particles at
the discharge end of the screen that is measured.

19 Screens
Some Typical Screen Dimensions
Values from this table can be used to make the first width selection (if area far exceeds
the active areas presented, think multiple screens i.e. two, three, ect ...). This will give a
width for the bed depth calculations.

Bed depth calculations are a check to screen selection, it ensures that capacity will not
suffer from underfeeding or overfeeding the individual screens.

20 Screens
Bed Depth
Nominal bed depth calculations are as follows:
50Qo
D
3W 0.15v B
Where:
D = bed depth at screen discharge [mm]
Qo = tonnage of oversized material [t/h]
W = screen width [m]
v = material transport speed[m/min].
B = bulk density of the material [t/m3]
Once bed depth is calculated , ensure it does not exceed maximum bed depth.

Material Transport Speeds

21 Screens
Typical Bulk Densities

Design Criteria

Bulk density (should be listed in ore

characteristics as a material property)

22 Screens
Maximum Bed Depth
Maximum bed depth at the discharge should not exceed n times the screen opening:

Max Bed Depth (mm) n screen opening (mm)

Where n is determined by:

n 2 1.25 bulk density (t m3 )

For example, when:

bulk density is 1.6 t/m3, bed depth should not exceed 4 times the aperture size.

bulk density is 0.8 t/m3, bed depth should not exceed 3 times the aperture size.

23 Screens
Designing Screens
1. Determine screen area
Determine the capacity factor Design Criteria
Determine the correction factors

2. Determine maximum and actual bed depth Design Criteria

3. Determine screen length and width Equipment List

4. Determine the number of screens needed Equipment List

Design Variables
Screen area
Bed Depth
Screen Width x Length
Number of screens

24 Screens