Minerals Engineering 43–44 (2013) 105–111

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Minerals Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mineng

The effect of feed moisture on the comminution efficiency of HPGR circuits

Daniel Saramak a,⇑, Rolf Arne Kleiv b
a
AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Mining and Geoengineering, Department of Environmental Engineering and Mineral Processing, Poland
b
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Geology and Mineral Resources Engineering, Norway

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The comminution efficiency of high-pressure-grinding-rolls (HPGRs) is a well described function of a
Available online 6 November 2012 number of feed parameters including grindability, abrasion index, granulometric composition, top size
and particle size distribution. Far less studied is the effect of feed moisture. This paper investigates both
Keywords: the overall and the specific comminution efficiency of a circuit consisting of a pilot HPGR unit followed by
Comminution a batch ball mill as a function of the moisture level in the HPGR feed. Forsterite olivine sand (7 mm)
Industrial minerals supplied by Sibelco Nordic was used as feed material. The results showed that the relationship between
HPGR
moisture and crushing efficiency for both the HPGR and the circuit can be described successfully by
means of a parabolic function. Dry material, as well as that with the highest moisture content, showed
the lowest particle size reduction ratios irrespective of the specific grinding force level. The paper also
analyses the phenomenon of flake generation and shows that the feed moisture influences the flake con-
tent in the coarser size fractions of the HPGR product.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction a relatively small number of studies deal with the subject of feed
moisture. Here, the work of Fuerstenau and Abouzeid (2007) is
Mineral processing comminution circuits constitute a crucial worth mentioning. Their article presents several aspects regarding
stage in the entire process of concentration as they in practice the influence of feed moisture on process efficiency, as well as a
determine the potential effectiveness of the downstream pro- modeling approach to determine the relationship between mois-
cesses. Research pertaining to comminution technology is under ture and comminution effectiveness.
constant review. Increasing focus is being given to the study of
high-pressure grinding rolls (HPGRs) technology, which often
2. Research methodology
proves to be one of the most energy-efficient methods of crushing
even when applied to hard ores. Compared to single particle break-
The main goal of this study was to investigate the effects of the
age, the confined-bed comminution that takes place in a HPGR unit
feed moisture content on comminution efficiency within high-
is more efficient with respect to energy consumption. This is due to
pressure grinding circuits. Due to the physico-mechanical proper-
the fact that the energy is transferred directly to the material,
ties of granular materials, an excessive moisture content will result
causing breakage of particles under a very high stress volume
in lower throughput rates due to the increased possibility of mate-
(Fuerstenau et al., 1991). However, extensive investigation is still
rial slip on the rollers. On the other hand, material that is too dry
required in order to increase efficiency and overall performance.
will prevent the formation of a competent material bed in the
The effectiveness of HPGR performance is determined by tech-
crushing zone. This may lead to a decrease in operating gap. As a
nological factors as well as the specific properties of the feed mate-
result, it is reasonable to expect that the comminution effect will
rial (Schoenert and Lubjuhn, 1990; Saramak et al., 2010). The
decrease when the feed moisture deviates from its optimal value.
pressure applied on the rolls, their speed and their surface wear
Hence, if we let the comminution effect be represented by the
constitute the major technological factors, as shown in several
reduction ratio of the HPGR stage (see Eq. (1) for definition) its
studies (Norgate and Weller, 1994; Lim et al., 1997; Schoenert
dependency on feed moisture could be described by the curve
and Lubjuhn, 1990). The feed specific factors include mineralogical
shown in Fig. 1.
composition, mineralogical texture, granulometric composition,
At this stage, the exact shape of the curve presented in Fig. 1 is
top size, moisture content, abrasion index, grindability, etc. Only
not known. Again, it is reasonable to expect that the comminution
effect observed for entirely dry feed material would be signifi-
⇑ Corresponding author. cantly, but not dramatically, lower than the maximum value. An
E-mail addresses: dsaramak@agh.edu.pl (D. Saramak), rolf.kleiv@ntnu.no excessive moisture level on the other hand could cause a rapid
(R.A. Kleiv). decrease in comminution effect. The shape of the curve would

0892-6875/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2012.09.014
106 D. Saramak, R.A. Kleiv / Minerals Engineering 43–44 (2013) 105–111
Comminution
effect Range of acceptable
moisture
Feed moisture
Fig. 1. Assumed relationship between HPGR comminution effect and feed material
moisture.
depend on the characteristics of the feed material as well as the
operating settings of the HPGR unit. Based on experimental data,
simple relationships could be found describing reduction ratio as
a function of feed moisture for a defined feed material under de-
fined operating conditions.
The feed material moisture also significantly influences the
generation of flakes (Saramak, 2011). The phenomenon of flake for-
mation is a problem in itself, and is a characteristic feature of the
high-pressure comminution process. A part of the HPGR product
leaves the roller crusher in the form of high-density flakes with a
bulk density reaching up to 90% of the specific gravity of the solid
itself. A major part of the flakes, especially those formed from mate-
rial with a lower tendency to agglomeration, usually breaks on the
HPGR screen surface or even in transfer chutes, bins and conveyors
before reaching the screen. However, for certain types of hard ores,
flakes might be too competent to de-agglomerate on the screen and,
as a result, they are recycled to the HPGR press with the screen
oversize product. This is an unfavorable phenomenon, as the fine
material contained in the flakes still stays in the grinding circuit in-
stead of reporting to the downstream beneficiation processes. This
increases the HPGR circuit load, increasing the energy consumption
and decreasing the throughput rates. In addition, some manufac-
tures believe that a substantial degree of flakes recycling may cause
extensive wear of HPGR linings and even increase the risk of roller
breakage. However, these statements have been difficult to verify as
they so far have not been supported by relevant and conclusive
data. Various investigations show (van der Meer and Dicke, 2008)
that the flakes’ competency is, apart from other feed properties, a
function of the material moisture content.
The reduction ratio Sx is a useful parameter when evaluating the
results from the HPGR experiments. The reduction ratio can be de-
fined as:
Fx
Sx ¼ ; ð1Þ
Px
where Fx and Px are the particle sizes corresponding to x% passing in
the cumulative particle size distributions of the feed and the prod-
uct respectively (e.g. S50 = F50/P50). The pressure in the crushing
zone between the rollers is usually presented as the so-called spe-
cific press force Fsp which is defined as:
F abs
F sp ¼ ; ð2Þ
lD
Here, Fabs is the absolute press force applied on the rollers, whereas l
and D are the respective width and diameter of the rolls. The spe-
cific press force values are usually given as N/mm2.
Fig. 2. Example of relationship between the reduction ratios and Fsp for hard ore
processing (after Saramak, 2010).
The reduction ratio is generally thought to be proportional to
the specific press force, but recent investigations (Saramak, 2010)
show that the linear relationship fails once higher values of press
force is applied (Fig. 2). Here, the additional gain in the reduction
ratio value is progressively reduced.
Hence, increasing the specific press force well above the region
of linearity is rather inefficient with respect to size reduction,
whereas a considerably increase in the specific energy consump-
tion (Esp) can be expected. In general, it is possible and useful to ex-
press the HPGR reduction ratio as a function of two independent
variables: feed moisture and specific press force. These simple
models are presented in Section 4.
3. Experimental
3.1. Feed material
Olivine sand from Sibelco Nordic’s production plant at Åheim in
Western Norway was used as feed material for the HPGR experi-
ments. The sand consisted of the 7 mm fraction, with
F80 = 5.1 mm and F50 = 4.2 mm. Energy efficient size reduction of
this particular olivine product is highly interesting as it has been
considered as an alternative industrial source of magnesium, as a
heavy metal adsorbent and as a carbon dioxide sequestration agent
(Kleiv and Thornhill, 2006; Sandvik et al., 2011). The olivine sand is
a very hard and mechanically competent material with a Bond’s
work index of 19.6 kW h/tonne. Approximately 12 kg of charge
was used for each batch experiment. Different levels of the feed
moisture were achieved by adding the required amount of water
to carefully weighed batches of olivine sand. The moisture level
of the original sand was found by drying and weighing, and proved
to be close to 0.2%. In addition to the original moisture level, feed
batches containing 2%, 4%, 6% and 8% were prepared.
3.2. Grinding experiments
The HPGR experiments were conducted at the Norwegian Uni-
versity of Science and Technology (NTNU) using a HPGR unit with
smooth surface rolls measuring 200 mm in diameter and 100 mm
in width. In order to isolate the centre product from the less repre-
sentative edge product the unit was equipped with a discharge
splitter arrangement. The products were collected manually, disre-
garding the part of product stream originating from the very begin-
ning and very end of the batch. The edge product was collected in
order to determine the throughput of the press, but only the centre
product was used in further testing and analysis. Experiments with
different feed moisture were conducted at three separate levels of
specific grinding force, i.e. 2.25, 3.75 and 5.75 N/mm2. The three
 D. Saramak, R.A. Kleiv / Minerals Engineering 43–44 (2013) 105–111 107

lowest moisture levels were tested at all three levels of pressure.

The batches containing 6% moisture were only tested at the two
highest pressure levels, whereas the batch containing 8% moisture
was reserved for the highest grinding pressure.
Following the HPGR batch tests, representative samples of the
centre product from each batch were subjected to further size
reduction using a £250 mm laboratory ball mill operated at 80%
of critical speed. A 1 kg sample was mixed with 1 dm3 of water
and approximately 4 kg of steel balls. Each milling test was run
for 15 min. Particle size distribution analyses were conducted for
both the HPGR and ball mill products.

4. Results and discussion

Fig. 4. Relationship between feed moisture and throughput for different levels of
Fsp.
The results of the study are presented and discussed in three
separate, but interrelated sections. The first section deals with
the influence of feed material moisture on variables such as oper-
ating gap and specific energy consumption, whereas the second
addresses the effect of feed moisture and specific press force on
the HPGR size reduction ratio. The third section is devoted to the
relationship between the feed moisture and flake generation.

4.1. Operating gap and specific energy consumption

The main HPGR operating parameters, such as specific press

force, roll speed, operating gap, throughput and specific energy
consumption, were registered in each batch test. Fig. 3 presents
the measured operating gap between the rolls as a function of
the feed moisture for all three levels of specific press force.
Fig. 5. Specific energy consumption as a function of feed moisture and Fsp.
Typically, when increasing the applied load, the operating gap
decreases. However, at higher feed moisture levels, the resulting
increase in operating gap is very limited, and the variable can for
practical purposes be regarded as a constant. A moisture content
above 4% has no significant influence on the operating gap.
The decrease in operating gap is accompanied with a decrease
in throughput, as is evident when comparing Figs. 3 and 4. Even
though the gap remains practically constant once a moisture level
of 4% is reached, the throughput still decreases with a further in-
crease in feed moisture, at least when the highest press force set-
ting is being used. This can be explained by the phenomenon of
material slip on the rolls, caused by the enhanced lubrication effect
of excessive water. It is difficult to explain the slight increase in
throughput observed when the feed moisture is increase from 6%
to 8%. However, this increase is very low (from 1.35 Mg/h to
1.38 Mg/h) and can most likely be attributed to statistical error.
Specific energy consumption as a function of feed moisture is
presented in Fig. 5. The relationship between these two parameters
appears roughly linear. As expected, the specific energy consump-
tion also increases with an increasing specific press force. When
considering the specific energy consumption alone, it would be

Fig. 6. S80 as a function of feed moisture and Fsp.

counterproductive to increase the feed moisture. This is true

regardless of the specific press force level. The steepest gradient
seems to be found for Fsp = 3.75 N/mm2 where the increase in feed
moisture from 0.2% to 6% produces a 60% increase in specific en-
ergy consumption.

4.2. Modelling the HPGR reduction ratios

Based on the particle size distributions of the feed and the prod-
Fig. 3. Operating gap as a function of feed moisture at different levels of Fsp. ucts, both the S80 and S50 reduction ratios were calculated for each
108 D. Saramak, R.A. Kleiv / Minerals Engineering 43–44 (2013) 105–111

Fig. 7. HPGR (left) and total (right) reduction ratios for tests at Fsp = 5.75 N/mm2.

Fig. 8. HPGR (left) and total (right) reduction ratios for tests at Fsp = 3.75 N/mm2.

Fig. 9. HPGR (left) and total (right) reduction ratios for tests at Fsp = 2.25 N/mm2.

Table 1 Table 2
Empirical models of S50 = f(Fsp) at different levels of feed Empirical models of S80 = f(Fsp) at different levels of feed
moisture. moisture.

Feed moisture (%) S50 = f(Fsp)
0 S50 = 1.27Fsp + 9.50
2 S50 = 1.72Fsp + 9.80
4 S50 = 0.87Fsp + 11.70
6 S50 = 0.74Fsp + 7.05
Feed moisture (%) S80 = f(Fsp)
0 S80 = 0.60Fsp + 1.90
2 S80 = 1.16Fsp + 1.30
4 S80 = 0.91Fsp + 2.00
6 S80 = 0.27Fsp + 1.90

single HPGR batch. The results are presented in Figs. 7–9. As illus-
trated in Fig. 2, the relationship between reduction ratios and spe-
cific press force can be assumed to be linear within a limited range
of Fsp values. Accepting the above, respective models determining
the S50 or S80 value as a function of Fsp for given level of feed mate-
rial moisture, were calculated (Tables 1 and 2).
The empirical models presented in Tables 1 and 2 enable esti-
mation of theoretical comminution results for a given combination
of feed moisture and specific press force. A practical implementa-
tion of the above models can be utilized to calculate how to main-
tain the reduction ratio when the feed moisture changes.
Combining the linear equations in each of the two tables will yield
 D. Saramak, R.A. Kleiv / Minerals Engineering 43–44 (2013) 105–111 109

100
HPGR 0% BM 0%
90 HPGR 2% BM 2%
HPGR 4% BM 4%
80
HPGR 6% BM 6%

Cumulative passing [%]

70 HPGR 8% BM 8%
Feed
60

50

40

30

20

10

0
10 100 1000 10000
Particle size [µm]

Fig. 10. Particle size distributions of the feed and HPGR and ball mill products for tests at Fsp = 5.75 N/mm2.

Fig. 11. Content of flakes in the four coarsest size fractions for Fsp = 3.75 N/mm2 (left) and 5.75 N/mm2 (right) at different levels of feed moisture.

the following respective models for the reduction ratios S50 and S80
as a function of the specific press force given in N/mm2 and the
feed moisture (M) given in %.
S50 ¼ 11:57 þ 0:15F sp þ 1:11M þ 0:16ðF sp Þ2  0:15F sp M
 0:16ðMÞ2 :
S80 ¼ 2:88 þ 0:15F sp þ 1:31M þ 0:12ðF sp Þ2  0:14F sp M
 0:27ðMÞ2 :
Fig. 6 presents a graphical illustration of the S80 size reduction
model. The calculated models confirm the assumption presented
in the methodology section, which means that it is possible to
maximize the size reduction ratio by controlling the feed moisture
and specific press force.
Further testing is required in order to verify the validity of these
models when scaling up from the pilot unit to a full scale process.
The coefficients presented in Eqs. (3) and (4) should be regarded as
specific to the particulate feed material and HPGR unit used in this
study.
4.3. HPGR reduction ratios and total reduction ratios
and products from the tests performed at Fsp = 5.75 N/mm2 are
shown in Fig. 10.
A parabolic relationship between reduction ratios and feed
moisture is especially noticeable at higher levels of specific press
force. It can also be seen that, for the material with the highest
ð3Þ moisture content (6% and 8%), all reduction ratios are minimal
regardless of the load force. Dry material (0.2%) also gives less
favorable reduction ratios. This may indicate that the addition of
water to the feed can provide lubrication between particles in
ð4Þ the feed and crushing zones between the rolls, thus facilitating a
more efficient packing of the particle bed. A better distribution of
fines results in a reduction in the air-filled pore volumes and pro-
duces a more compact layer of feed. When the more compacted
feed layer passes through the nip zone more breakage and mi-
cro-cracking occurs. At higher moisture levels, on the other hand,
excessive lubrication reduces the friction and may cause the grains
to slip on the rollers, thus allowing the material to wash out of the
crushing zone. A rapid decrease in the reduction ratios can be ob-
served once the feed moisture exceeds 4%. This suggests that the
phenomena of material slip and wash out become progressively
more pronounced. The results indicate that the optimal moisture
level would be somewhere around 2% for the particular feed mate-
rial used in this study.

Figs. 7–9 present the S50 and S80 reduction ratios for the HPGR 4.4. Flake generation
step as well as the corresponding values for the total reduction ra-
tios (i.e. after ball milling of the HPGR product). In addition, as an The relative amount of flakes in the HPGR product, i.e. the flakes
example and illustration, the particle size distributions of the feed content, was also considered. Flakes generated by high-pressure
110 D. Saramak, R.A. Kleiv / Minerals Engineering 43–44 (2013) 105–111
Comminution effect
Accepted level of cominution effect
Range of accepted moisture level
M low
Fig. 12. A model of HPGR comminution effects as a function of moisture.
crushing are of various hardness and competency. Some flakes eas-
ily de-agglomerate during the downstream screening operation,
while the harder ones are recycled as feed to the HPGR unit pro-
vided that their size is greater than the screen cut-point. The aim
of the following analysis was to determine the relative amount of
flakes that were recycled together with the oversize product. The
HPGR product was screened for several seconds in a laboratory
sieve shaker (analysis A) in order to expose the material to condi-
tions analogous to those observed on the HPGR screen at pilot
scale. Next, the recoveries were determined for the four coarsest
particle fractions, namely: 4–3.15 mm, 3.15–2 mm, 2–1.6 mm
and 1.6–1 mm. After the analysis, all flakes in the sample were
de-agglomerated by hand and the regular granulometric analysis
(analysis B) was performed. The difference in the recoveries be-
tween analyses A and B were taken as the relative amount of flakes
(i.e. the flakes content) in each respective size fraction. The results
are presented in Fig. 11.
When analyzing Fig. 10 it becomes clear that the overall flakes
generation is roughly two times higher at Fsp = 5.75 N/mm2 than at
Fsp = 3.75 N/mm2. This result in a higher load on the HPGR circuit
and the following unfavourable effects can be observed:
– lower screening efficiency of the HPGR product screening
process,
– increased specific energy consumption ratio (Esp),
– lower net throughput.
A drop in the flakes content can be observed for samples with
8% feed moisture. This may indicate that this material is too wet
to allow competent flakes to form during the crushing process.
However, it needs to be pointed out that in plant scale the HPGR
product is usually classified in wet screening operation, which
has an additional impact on flakes integrity.
5. Summary and conclusions
The results of these experiments enabled the determination of
some significant relationships between feed moisture and the per-
formance of the HPGR crushing process. Moisture has an unfavour-
able influence on the specific energy consumption by decreasing
the operating gap and, as a result, the throughput. However, this
negative influence can be reduced by increasing the speed of the
rolls.
However, the results also show that a limited amount of mois-
ture in the feed is necessary to maximise the reduction ratio of the
comminution circuit. The existence of an optimal value is shown,
since excessive moisture clearly produces a rapid decrease in the
Moisture [%] M high
reduction ratios. The analysis of the size reduction obtained for
the entire circuit suggests the existence of a parabolic relationship
between feed moisture (M) and total reduction ratios (Sx), irrespec-
tive of variations in specific press force. In general terms, this rela-
tionship can be expressed the following equation:
Sx ¼ ax M2 þ bx M þ cx ; ð5Þ
where ax, bx and cx are coefficients that can be calculated from lab-
oratory tests for each single level of specific press force.
The application of the parabolic model described by Eq. (5) can
be useful for the determination of optimal moisture content for a
given feed material and HPGR-based comminution circuit. It can
also assist during the operation of the circuit. Once a lower limit
for the reduction ratio has been defined Eq. (5) can be solved to
produce the two corresponding moisture limits (i.e. Mlow and
Mhigh). Hence, since the relationship is described by a parabola with
a defined maxima (i.e. ax < 0), the reduction ratio should always
stay higher than the accepted lower limit as long as the feed mois-
ture is in the range defined by Mlow and Mhigh (Fig. 12).
This simple procedure for feed moisture control and optimisa-
tion would be very easy to implement and could improve the per-
formance of HPGR-based comminution circuits and, by extension,
the performance of the downstream grinding and beneficiation
processes.
Acknowledgment
The article is a result of The Polish Ministry of Science and High-
er Education grant NN 524 466139.
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