Equipments of size reduction

For commercial reduction in size of masses of solids 1 ft or

more in diameter to 200 mesh ( 0.074 mm = 0.0029”)
usually at least 3 steps are followed

1. Coarse size reduction: feed from 2” to 96” or more .

2. Intermediate size reduction: feeds from 1” to 3”
3. Fine size reduction: 0.25” to 0.5”.

Crushing equipments
Coarse crushers Intermediate Fine crushers
crushers
Stag jaw crusher Crushing rolls Ball mill
Blake crusher Hammer mill Tube mill
Dodge jaw crusher Roll crusher Hardinge mill
Gyratory crusher Disc crusher
 Jaw crusher. In a jaw crusher feed is admitted between two
jaws, set to form a V open at the top. One jaw is fixed (anvil jaw)
and is nearly vertical and does not move. The other the swinging
jaw reciprocates in a horizontal plane. It makes an angle of 20 to
30o to the anvil jaw. It is driven by an eccentric so that it applies
great compressive force. The jaw faces are flat. The jaws are made
of cast steel lined with tough abrasion resistant metal such as
manganese steel. Large lumps caught between the upper parts of
the jaw are broken, drop into the narrower space below and are
recrushed the next time the jaw close. After sufficient reduction
they drop out from the bottom of the machine. The jaws open and
close 250 to 400 times per minute. The speed of operation should
not be so high that a large quantity of fine is produced as a result of
material being repeatedly crushed because it cannot escape
sufficiently quickly.

 In Blake crusher the movable jaw is pivoted at the top.

 In Dodge crusher movable jaw is pivoted at the bottom & the
width of discharge opening remains practically constant,
yielding more closely sized product.
  In Dodge crusher movable jaw is pivoted at the bottom & the
width of discharge opening remains practically constant,
yielding more closely sized product.

It is used only for laboratory purpose and not for heavy duty operations.

Blake jaw crusher

Gyratory crusher - employs a crushing head in the form of a truncated
cone, mounted on a shaft, the upper end of which is held in a flexible
bearing, whilst the lower end is driven eccentrically so as to describe a
circle. In other words a conical crushing head gyrates inside a funnel
shaped casing. Solids caught in the V shaped space between the head and
the casing are broken and rebroken until they pass out the bottom. Because
some part of the crushing head is working at all times, the discharge from
a gyratory crusher is continuous instead of intermittent as in jaw crusher.
The speed of the crushing head is typically 125 to 425 gyrations
per minute.

Advantages
 In gyratory crusher power consumption is lower than jaw crusher
 Less maintenance is required than the jaw crusher.
 Gyratory crushers have larger capacity
 Useful in case of small size reduction
Because of large capital cost, the crusher is suitable only where large quantities of
material are to be handled.
Jaw crusher and gyratory crusher all employ a predominantly compressive force.
Variations in roll crusher:
No of rolls
Surface of rolls
Roll crushers are mainly used for crushing easily fractured materials such as soft
limestone , chalk , clay to between 1/3 to 1/5 of its original size.
Single Roll Crusher: single roll against a fixed breaker plate
THE MODE OF OPERATION
The single roll crusher reduces the feeding material in a wedge-shaped crushing area by means of
pressure and shearing stress. The crushing body is formed by a rotating roll and an adjustable and
spring-mounted crushing plate located on the opposite side. The distance between the base of the
crushing plate and the tips of the roll crushers teeth forms the adjustable gap width, which can be
varied depending on the required final grain size. Any wear and tear which may occur can be ad-
justed via the crushing plate. Depending on the feeding material and the required final grain, the
roll crusher is equipped with either teeth or ledges.

Application
Single Roll crushers are used for the crushing of soft, medium hard and friable materials, like
R.O.M. Coal, Rock Phosphate, Soft limestone, Salt Shales, Slag etc.

Fields of application

 Cement, gypsum, and limestone

 Coal and Patash Mining
Q) If crushing rolls, 1m in diameter are set so that the crushing surfaces are 12.5
mm apart and the angle of nip is 31o (a) What is the maximum size of particle which
should be fed to the rolls. (b) If the actual capacity of the machine is 12% of the
theoretical, calculate the throughput in kg/s when running at 2.0 Hz if the working
face of the rolls is o.4m long and the bulk density of the feed is 2500kg/m3.
 Ball mill
Ball mill, a type of grinder, is a cylindrical device used in grinding (or mixing)
materials like ores, chemicals, ceramic raw materials and paints. Ball mills rotate
around a horizontal axis, partially filled with the material to be ground plus the
grinding medium. Different materials are used as media, including ceramic balls,
flint pebbles and stainless steel balls. An internal cascading effect reduces the
material to a fine powder. Industrial ball mills can operate continuously, fed at one
end and discharged at the other end. Large to medium-sized ball mills are
mechanically rotated on their axis, but small ones normally consist of a cylindrical
capped container that sits on two drive shafts (pulleys and belts are used to transmit
rotary motion). A rock tumbler functions on the same principle. Ball mills are also
used in pyrotechnics and the manufacture of black powder, but cannot be used in
the preparation of some pyrotechnic mixtures such as flash powder because of their
sensitivity to impact. High-quality ball mills are potentially expensive and can grind
mixture particles to as small as 5 nm, enormously increasing surface area and
reaction rates. The grinding works on principle of critical speed. The critical speed
can be understood as that speed after which the steel balls (which are responsible
for the grinding of particles) start rotating along the direction of the cylindrical
device; thus causing no further grinding.

The compound mill, the cylinder is divided into a number of compartments by vertical
perforated plates.
•The material flows axially along the mill and can pass from one compartment to the next
only when its size has been reduced to less than that of the perforations in the plate.
•Each compartment is supplied with balls of a different size. The large balls are at the
entry end and thus operate on the feed material, whilst the small balls come into contact with the
material immediately before it is discharged. This results in economical operation and the formation of
a uniform product. It also gives an improved residence
time distribution for the material

There are many types of grinding media suitable for use in a ball mill, each material
having its own specific properties and advantages. Common in some applications
are stainless steel balls. While usually very effective due to their high density and
low contamination of the material being processed, stainless steel balls are
unsuitable for some applications, including:
  Black powder and other flammable materials require non-sparking lead,
antimony, brass, or bronze grinding media
 Contamination by iron of sensitive substances such as ceramic raw materials.
In this application ceramic or flint grinding media is used. Ceramic media are
also very resistant to corrosive materials.

High density alumina media (90–95% alumina) is widely used in the ceramic
industry to grind clay bodies, frits, glazes and other ingredients. It is more
expensive than silica / silex media but is more efficient

The following general rules should be carefully adhered to regardless of the

type media used.

1. There should be enough material in the batch to cover the grinding media.
2. Grinding time must be watched carefully to avoid excessive grinding.
3. Excessive buildup of heat should be avoided. In paint grinding, this may lower
the operating viscosity beyond the critical point. A reduction in Mill speed
may help to avoid overheating, but it is more desirable to circulate a cooling
medium around the cylinder. If the Mill is not jacketed, a water spray can be
used with satisfaction.
4. The smallest grinding media should be employed. These not only reduce the
danger of overheating but, as is well known, the smaller grinding media
provide faster and better results.
5. When using extenders, their abrasive nature may cause excessive wear. To
avoid this, some operators are able to hold out the extenders until the grinding
is almost completed and then add them for the final operation.
Extenders (extender pigments)

Extenders are solid components of paint. They are finely ground natural materials, most commonly earth, and
they have no effect on the colour of the paint, but they do alter some properties.

They have many varied functions:

 Provide easier application of the paint.

 Provides greater adhesive properties.
 Provides roughness in the film (i.e. undercoats).
 Gives body to the paint, increases bulk in the coating.
 Prevents heavy pigments from settling out.
 Provides a greater water resistance.
 Flatten bases.
 Reduces the cost of paints.
 Increases the hardness of the paint film.
SIZE OF GRINDING MEDIA

Probably the most common cause for faulty operation and complaints has been due
to the size of grinding media. It is strongly recommended that the smallest feasible
grinding media be used in all cases. The optimum size of media should not change
with Mill size. If the laboratory Pebble or small Ball successfully grinds a sample
batch in a lab Mill, the same size grinding media will do the best job in a production
Mill whether the Mill is one foot or eight feet in diameter.

Small grinding media are recommended because:

1. They provide many more grinding contacts per revolution than larger media.
This results in much quicker grinding action.
2. They provide smaller voids, limiting the size of particles or agglomerates
which can exist there.
3. They do not create excessive energy which cannot be utilized. Oversized
grinding media frequently develop more grinding energy than is needed for
the job. This excess merely builds up heat and wears down the media and
lining, introducing contamination in the batch.
4. The chief disadvantage of the smallest size grinding media is that discharging
takes somewhat longer due to increased surface tension in the smaller voids.
Almost invariably, however, the reduced grinding time realized by smaller
media more that offsets this disadvantage. Slight air pressure may be used to
assist in more rapid discharge.

When steel balls are used, the optimum sizes we have usually been
recommending have been ½ and 5/8”. However, many operators are now
using media as small as ¼” in production mills and find these extremely
advantageous where exceptionally fine grinds are required. Generally, the
viscosities must be slightly lower for the small size balls than we would
recommend for the more popular ½ and 5/8” sizes.

In a ball mill or pebble mill most of the reduction is done by

impact as the balls or pebbles drop from near the top of the shell.
In a large ball mill the shell might be 3 m (10 ft) in diameter and
14 ft long. The inner surface of the cylinder is usually lined with an
abrasion-resistant material such as manganese steel, stone wear or
rubber. Less wear takes place in rubber lined mills.

The balls are usually made of flint or steel and occupy 30 to 50

% of the volume of the mill. The diameter of balls used will vary
between 25 to 125 mm, and the optimum dia is approximately
proportional to the square root of the size of the feed, with the
proportionality constant being a function of the nature of the
material.

Speed of rotation of the mill –At low speeds of rotation the

balls simply roll over one another and little crushing action is
obtained. At very high speeds, the balls are carried right around
in contact with the sides of the mill and little grinding takes
place. The minimum speed at which the balls are carried round
in this manner is called critical speed of the mill. Under these
conditions the centrifugal force will exactly equal the weight of
the ball.

mg = mc2 (D-d)/2

or (R – r)c2 = g

g
c = √ R−r

Where R is the radius of the mill, r is the radius of the balls.

 c is the critical angular velocity

The corresponding critical rotational speed, nc in

revolutions per unit time is given by

1ωC g
=
Critical speed nc= 2 π 2 π R−r √
The operating speed n must be less than nc. Tumbling
mills run at 65 to 80 % of the critical speed.

Q) What rotational speed in revolutions per minute would you recommend

for a ball mill 1200 mm in diameter charged with 75mm balls?
Factors influencing the size of the product
(a) The rate of feed: With high rates of feed, less size reduction is effected since the material is
in the mill for a shorter time.

(b) The properties of the feed material: The larger the feed the larger is the product under given
operating conditions.

(c) Weight of balls: A heavy charge of balls produces a fine product. Since optimum grinding
conditions are usually obtained when the bulk volume of the balls is equal to 50 per cent of the
volume of the mill.

(d) The diameter of the balls. Small balls facilitate the production of fine material although they
do not deal so effectively with the larger particles in the feed. The limiting size reduction
obtained with a given size of balls is known as the free grinding limit. For most economical
operation, the smallest possible balls should be used.

(e) The slope of the mill: An increase in the slope of the mill increases the capacity of the plant
because the retention time is reduced, although a coarser product is obtained.

(f) Discharge freedom: Increasing the freedom of discharge of the product has the same effect
as increasing the slope.

(g) The speed of rotation of the mill: At low speeds of rotation, the balls simply roll over one
another and little crushing action is obtained. At slightly higher speeds, the balls are projected
short distances across the mill, and at still higher speeds they are thrown greater distances. At
very high speeds, the balls are carried right round in contact with the sides of the mill and little
relative movement or grinding takes place again