Size Reduction
Ø Size - Physical dimension or magnitude of any object
ØSize reduction: Size reduction is applied to all the ways in which
particles of solids are cut or broken into smaller pieces.
Ø More precisely, large size particles are converted into smaller
particles of desired size and shape with the help of certain external
forces.
Ø Another term for size reduction is comminution
0
Purpose of size reduction
üTo increase the surface area
üTo produce solids particles of desired shape, size, or size ranges
and specific surface
üTo dispose of solid wastes easily
üTo mix the solid particles more intimately
üTo improve the handling (Storage and transportation)
characteristics.
1
Mechanisms of Size Reduction
Commonly used size reduction mechanisms
1. Compression
2. Impact
3. Attrition/rubbing
4. Cutting
5. Non-mechanical introduction of energy-thermal shock,
explosive shattering, and ultrasonic grinding 2
Compression
Ø Gripping + compressing between two surfaces
Ø Work done by both surfaces
Ø Feed:
ü Very coarse
ü Abrasive
ü Non-sticky
Ø Product: relatively few fines
Ø Example: Nut cracker
Ø Coarse reduction of hard solids to give fines 3
Impact
Ø Striking / collision of one body to another moving body
Ø Gravity impact
Ø Dynamic impact
Ø Feed:
ü Brittle
ü hard
ü Abrasive
ü High moisture
Ø Product: fines, intermediate, some coarse
Ø Example: Hammer 4
Attrition/ Rubbing
Ø Sliding / scrubbing / rolling of material with surface or each other
Ø Feed:
ü Soft
ü Non-Abrasive
Ø Product: fines
Ø Example: file
5
Cutting / Shear
Ø Slipping of planes
Ø Trimming action
Ø Feed:
ü Ductile
ü Fibrous
Ø Product: definite shape / definite size – no fines
Ø Example: Pair of shears
6
Principles of Size Reduction
ØFor particular size reduction operation, choice of machine to be used
mainly depend on
ØThe size and quantity of material to be handled
ØThe nature of the product required.
Ø The important aspects of feed material besides size and quantity are its
properties, such as hardness, toughness, stickiness, moisture content,
friability, explosive nature, soapiness, crystallinity, and temperature
sensitivity.
7
Factors affecting the size reduction process in terms of
capacity and performance
1. Presence of moisture and sticky material in the equipment’s
feed
2. Presence of fines in the feed
3. Segregation of feed particles in the crushing chamber
4. Lack of feed control
5. Wrong motor size
6. Insufficient crusher discharge area
7. Insufficient capacity of crusher’s discharge conveyor
8. Materials are extremely hard to crush
8
Characteristics of Comminuted product
Ø The objective of the size reduction is to produce small particles form
large once.
Ø Smaller particles are desired either because of their large surface area
or because of their shape, size and number.
Ø Non uniform product – mixture of different sizes
Ø Ranging from max. particle size (coarse) to min. particle size
Ø Ratio of diameters of largest and smallest particle is of the order of
104
Ø Unless the particles are smoothed by abrasion after size reduction,
comminuted particles resemble polyhedrons with nearly plane faces
and sharp edges and corners.
9
Energy & Power requirement in comminution
Ø The cost of power is a significant expense in crushing and grinding.
Ø The mechanism involved in size reduction
§ Material feed is strained
§ The work used for staining them is stored temporarily in the solids
as mechanical energy of stress.
§ As additional force is applied to the stressed particles, they are
distorted beyond their ultimate strength and suddenly rupture into
fragments.
From the conservation of energy, the stress in excess of the new surface
energy created must appear as heat.
Ø Energy
ü To run equipment
ü losses
10
Crushing efficiency
Size reduction is one of the least energy-efficient of all the unit
operations.
Ø Efficiency = Output / Input
Ø Crushing efficiency is the ratio of surface energy created by crushing
to the energy delivered to the solid
ü es = surface energy created per unit area
ü ΔAw = specific surface created per unit mass
ü Wn = mechanical energy delivered to unit mass of material
ü Crushing Efficiency < 1
11
Mechanical efficiency
Ø Mechanical efficiency = Energy delivered to solid / Energy
supplied to the machine
Where W = Energy supplied to machine
Mechanical efficiency ranges from 25-60%
12
Choice of size reduction equipment
Ø Coarse crushers (Larger feed size to (50-5) mm product
size)
Ø Intermediate Crushers ((50-5)mm to (5-0.1) mm product
size)
Ø Fine crushers/Grinders ((5-2)mm to 200 mesh)
Ø Ultra-fine Grinders (6 mm to (1-50) µm)
Ø Cutting Machines (definite size between 2 to 10mm length)
13
Size Reduction Equipments
The principal types of size-reduction machines are as follows:
A. Crushers (coarse and fine) Coarse mine material is crushed into
1. Jaw crushers lumps of 250 to 150 mm. Again these
2. Gyratory crushers lumps are broken into particle of 6
3. Crushing rolls mm in size.
B. Grinders (intermediate and fine) Grinders reduce crushed feed to
1. Hammer mills, Impactors powder. The product from an
2. Attrition mills intermediate grinder might pass a 40-
3. Tumbling mills mesh screen and product from fine
a. Rod mills grinders pass a 200-mesh screen with a
b. Ball mills 74 um opening.
C. Ultrafine grinders
1. Fluid-energy /jet mills Feed < 6 mm
2. In. Classified H.M Product: 1- 50 um
3. Agitated Mills
D. Cutting machines Give particles of definite size and
1. Knife cutters & Scissors shape, 2 to 10 mm in length
14
Crushers
Ø Slow-speed machines
Ø coarse reduction
Ø large quantities of solids.
Ø The main types are
ü jaw crushers
ü gyratory crushers
ü smooth-roll crushers
ü Toothed-roll crushers
Ø The first three operate by compression and toothed-roll crushers tear
the feed apart as well as crush it.
15
Crushers
Ø The coarse crushers main employ the compression action to large lumps
of solid materials
ØThe compression action builds up strain with in the particles to be broken,
which resulting in fracturing whenever they exceed the elastic limit of
materials.
Ø The coarse crushing always conducted on dry materials.
16
Jaw Crushers
Ø Two jaw - V opening
Ø One – Fixed jaw – anvil jaw
Ø Other – moving jaw – swinging jaw
Ø Angle b/w jaws 20o – 30o
Ø Jaws are flat or slightly bulged
Ø crushed at upper portion & then dropped and recrushed at narrow end
Ø 250 – 400 times per min
ØFeed size = 1.8 m and product size = 250 mm
ØCapacity = 1200 ton/hr
17
Blake jaw crusher
Ø Jaw crusher consists of two crushing faces (jaws)- one of them is fixed
vertically to the frame , while other one is movable, which is either pivoted
at top or bottom
Ø It makes an angle of 20ο to 30 ο
Ø It consists eccentric, toggles, flywheel, pitman, pivot and spring.
Ø The eccentric causes the pitman to oscillate vertically and this vertical
motion of the pitman is transmitted to the movable jaw to have back and
forth motion horizontally by toggles.
Ø The movable jaw is held against the toggle by a tie rod and spring
18
Jaw Crushers
19
Types of Blake Jaw Crushers
Ø Single toggle : An eccentric shaft is positioned on the top of the
crusher
Ø Double toggle: Two shafts: The first is pivoted at the top of the crusher,
whereas the other eccentric shaft drives both toggle plates. Eccentric is located
behind the swinging jaw. It has two effects- it keeps eccentric out of harm. The
other effect is the limited plane of motion for the swinging jaw, which reduces
the productivity of the crusher.
20
Blake Jaw Crusher Vs. Dodge Jaw Crusher
Blake Jaw Crusher Dodge Jaw Crusher
• Pivoted at bottom
• Pivoted at top • Uniform & closely sized product
• Non-uniform product size • Large opening- large feed-large
size reduction
• Blockage of crushed particles.
(not suitable for industrial use)
21
• The universal jaw crusher combines the both blake and dodge jaw
crushers.
• The pivot is slightly above the bottom end of the movable jaw and
therefore it provides two strokes per revolutions.
22
Gyratory Crushers
Ø Jaw crusher with circular jaws
Ø Conical crushing head
Ø Funnel-shaped casing open at the top
Ø Crushing head is carried on heavy shaft
Ø solid broken and re-broken again & again
Ø 125-425 gyrations per min
Ø motion – Slow
Ø Product – continuous, non-uniform
Ø Capacity – 4500 ton/hr
Ø Relatively less power as well as maintenance required
23
Principle of gyratory crusher
Ø Gyratory crushers employ compressive force for size reduction
Ø It consists of two vertical conical shells; the outer shell has its apex
downward direction while the inner cone is positioned with its apex
upward. The inner shell acts as a crushing head, which is in the form of a
truncated cone and mounted on an oscillating shaft.
24
Gyratory Crushers
25
Gyratory Crushers
26
Crushing Rolls
Ø Heavy rolls rotating at slow speeds
Ø two heavy smooth faced metal rolls
Ø turning on parallel horizontal axis
Ø compression b/w rolls and then drop out
Ø turn towards each other with same speed
Ø 50 – 300 rpm
Ø feed 12 – 75 mm
Ø product 12 – 1 mm
Ø R.R < 5
27
Crushing Rolls
28
Angle of nip
The largest angle that will just grip a lump between the rolls of a crusher.
D roll diameter α
d-feed diameter
L max product size
Cos α/2=(D+L)/
(D+d)
Co-efficient of friction α/2
μ = Tan α/2 α/2
L
29
Angle of nip
The feed of 50 mm diameter have to be crushed to a product size
of “L” such that angle of nip is 30 degrees, and the roll diameter 1
m.
Find out the max product size.
30
31
32
Toothed Roll crusher
Ø Maybe one roll or two rolls
Ø One roll working against a stationary curved breaker plate
Ø Disintegrators – two corrugated rolls – different speeds
Ø Small high-speed rolls with transverse breaker bars on their faces
turned toward large slow-speed smooth rolls
Ø versatile but cannot handle very hard material
Ø Compression + Impact + Shear
Ø Feed < 500 mm
Ø Capacity up to 500 tons/hr
33
Toothed Roll crusher
34
Grinders
Ø The term grinder describes a variety of size-reduction machines
for intermediate and fine duties.
Ø The product from a crusher is often fed to a grinder, in which it
is reduced to powder.
Ø The types of commercial grinders are hammer mill, attrition
mills and tumbling mills.
35
Hammer Mills
Ø High speed rotor
Ø Cylindrical casing
Ø Horizontal shaft
Ø Swing hammers attached with rotor
Ø Hammers – dynamic impact + rubbing
Ø Discharge opening – Screen
Ø Feed (top) – Break(casing) – Product (bottom)
Ø 4 – 8 hammers on single shaft
Ø Intermediate – 25 mm to 20 mesh size
Ø Fine - < 200 mesh at 0.1 to 15 ton/hr
36
Grinders: Impactors:
vResembles a heavy-duty hammer mill except that it contains no
grate or screen.
vParticles are broken by impact alone without the rubbing action
characteristic of a hammer mill.
vImpactors are often primary reduction machines for rock and ore
processing up to 600 ton/hr.
vThe rotor in an impactor, like in many hammer mills, rotates in both
directions to prolong the life of hammers.
37
Tumbling Mills
Ø Cylindrical shell
Ø Turning about its horizontal axis
Ø Half filled by solid grinding medium
Ø Grinding medium
ü Metal rods in the Rod mill
ü Balls of metal, rubber, or wood in Ball mill
ü Pebble, porcelain or zircon spheres in pebble mill
Ø Operation - Continuous or Batch
Ø Impact + attrition
Ø Product - fines
38
Tumbling Mills
Rod Mill
ØRolling compression + attrition
Ø Several sizes of rods – 25 to 125 mm in diameter
Ø intermediate grinders
Ø 20 mm feed to 10 mesh product
Ball Mill or Pebble Mills
Ø Impact + Compression
Ø ball 25 to 125 mm
Ø Pebble 50 to 175 mm
39
Tumbling Mills
Ø A rotating (Tumbling) chamber filled with the steel balls and rods
ØFeed material is subjected to impact and shear due to movement of
balls or rods
Ø Shear predominates at lower speeds while impact becomes more
important at higher speeds (If speed is too high, balls can be carried
around the periphery and grinding ceases)
40
Ball mill principle
Ø A ball is a type of grinder and cylindrical device used for grinding
the materials like ores, chemicals, ceramic materials and paints
Ø Ball mills rotate around a horizontal axis, partially filled with the
material to be ground plus grinding medium (20-30% of volume of
mill).
Ø Industrial ball mill operate continuously, fed at one end and
discharge at other end
Ø The grinding works on principle of critical speed
41
Principle of critical speed
ØThe grinding works on principle of critical speed
Ø The critical speed can be understood that speed after which steel
balls (which are responsible for the grinding of particles) start rotating
along the direction of cylindrical device; thus causing no further
grinding
N-medium
N-slow
Fast
No grinding Cascading Contracting condition
Centrifuging Condition-Attrition Gravity impact 42
Principle of critical speed
43
Force balance at critical speed
Centrifugal force
Gravitational force
Critical speed NC=1/2π (g/R-r)
Operating speed is = 50-70% of Nc
Does critical speed changes with material of the ball?
44
Principle of critical speed
Operating speed = ~50 to 70% of critical speed
https://www.911metallurgist.com/blog/ball-
mill-critical-speed
What operating speed would you recommend for a ball mill of 1 m
dia with 60 mm dia balls.
45
46
Factors affecting the size of the product
Ø Feed rate
Ø Properties of feed materials
Ø The weight of the balls
Ø The diameter of the balls
Ø The speed of rotation of the mill
Ø The level of material in the mill
47
Advantages of ball mill
Ø The low cost of installation and of power requirements
Ø The cheap grinding medium
Ø The mill can be operated batch wise or continuously, and wet or dry
Ø The mill is suitable for materials of all degrees of hardness
48
Rod mills
Ø Used for sticky materials which would glue balls together, at that
time, instead of balls, we will go for rod mills
Ø Here grinding medium is the rods
Ø Length of mill should be greater than the diameter of the mill
Ø Product from rod mills contains less amount of fines compared to
ball mill.
49
Contd.
50
Attrition Mills
Ø For soft solids
Ø corrugated or flat faces of rotating circular disk
Ø Horizontal axis, sometimes vertical
Ø Single runner mill – one disk is stationary, and one rotates
Ø Double runner mill– both disks are driven – high speeds
Ø Product – very fine / powders
Ø Air is drawn – to get product
Ø cooling is essential
Ø Speed – 350 to 700 rpm ( single )
- 1200 to 7000 rpm (Double)
Ø Capacity 0.5 to 8 ton/hr , - < 200 mesh
Ø 8 – 80 kWh per ton
51
Attrition Mills
Ø Mainly utilize the rubbing action between the plate and stationary
surface or between two plates for fine grinding
Ø In a single disc mill, feedstock passes between a high-speed rotating
grooved disc and the stationary casing of a mill.
Ø In a double disc mill, two discs are required, rotating in opposite
directions.
Ø The attrition mill produces particles within a relatively narrow
particle size spectrum, from granular (10 to 200 mesh)
52
Attrition Mills
53
Capacity & Power requirement in Tumbling mills
Ø Amount of Energy supplied depends upon
ü Mass of grinding media
ü speed of rotation
Ø Rod mill – 5 to 200 ton/h of 10-mesh product – 4 kWh/t
Ø Ball mill – 1 to 50 ton/h of 70 to 90% of 200-mesh – 16 kWh/t
54
Ultrafine Grinders
Ø Many commercial powders must contain particles averaging 1 to 20
µm, substantially all passing through a standard 325 mesh screen with
an opening of 44 µm wide. Mill that reduces the solid particles into
fines. This is called ultra-fine grinders.
Ø All particles passing a standard 325-mesh (44 µm)
ü High-speed hammer mill with internal classification
ü Fluid energy or jet mills
55
In these mills particles are suspended in
Fluid Energy Mills: high velocity gas stream.
Some reduction occurs when the particles
strike or rub against the walls of the
confining chamber.
Most of the reduction is believed to be
caused by inter-particle attrition.
Internal classification keeps the larger
particles in the mill until they are reduced
to the desired size.
Suspending gas is usually air or
superheated steam, Admitted at a pressure
of 7 atm through energizing nozzles.
Oval loop of pipe 25 to 200 mm in diameter
and 1.2 to 2.4 m high.
It can accept feed of 12 mm in size but is
effective with feed of size less than 100-
mesh, reducing them to 0.5 to 10 µm at a
rate of 1 ton/h. 56
Cutting Machines: Knife Cutters
In a few problems, the feed must be reduced to particles of fixed
dimensions.
Contains a horizontal rotor rotating at 200 to 900 r/min.
On the rotor are 2 to 12 flying
knifes with edges of tampered
steel having close clearances
with 1 to 7 stationary bed
knives.
Feed particles entering from
above may be cut several times
before they are small enough to
pass through a bottom screen
with 5 to 8 mm opening.
57
Wet vs. Dry Grinding
Ø Power consumption is reduced
Ø Capacity is increased
Ø Product removal is easier
Ø Dust formation is eliminated
Ø More wear on chamber walls and grinding media
58
Equipment Operation
ü Open-circuit à material is passed only once through machine
ü Closed-circuit à oversize material is recycled for second cycle
of crushing
Closed circuit
Open circuit
59
Crusher and size reduction pattern
Crusher Compression Impact Attrition Shear
Jaw crusher
Gyratory
crusher
Hammer mill
Ball mill
Fluid energy
mill
60
Laws of Size Reduction
Ø Refer Class notes
61
What is the power required to crush 100 ton/h of limestone if
80% of the feed passes a 2 inch screen and 80% of the
product a 1/8 in screen.
Work index =12.74.
P=169.6 Kw
62
Food is milled from 6 mm to 0.0012 mm using a 10 hp motor.
Would this motor be adequate to reduce the size of the
particles to 0.0008 mm? Assume Rittinger’s equation and that
1 hp 745.7 W.
63
EXAMPLE 2
Sugar is ground from crystals of which it is acceptable that 80%
pass a 500 um sieve (US Standard Sieve No.35), down to a size in
which it is acceptable that 80% passes a 88 um (No.170) sieve, and
a 5-horsepower motor is found just sufficient for the required
throughput. If the requirements are changed such that the grinding
is only down to 80% through a 125 um (No.120) sieve but the
throughput is to be increased by 50% would the existing motor
have sufficient power to operate the grinder? Assume Bond's
equation.
Given :
1st condition E1 = 5 hp. , rate of throughout = M kg./s.
d1 =500 um. = 500x10-6 m. , d2=88 um. = 88x10-6 m
2nd condition E2 = ?. , rate of throughout = 1.5M kg./s.
d1 =500 um. = 500x10-6 m. , d2=125 um. = 125x10-6 m
64
