Grinding

Grinding
• Grinding is defined as breaking down of relatively
coarse material to ultimate fineness.
• The fineness of the ground product depends on
the subsequent mineral beneficiation operations .
• Theoretically, particles should be broken down till
every particle is fully mineral (valuable) or
gangue.
• For this, fracture should be along boundaries
(detachment) between valuables and gangue.
• It is not possible in practice.
• Hence, grinding should produce finer particles for
satisfactory concentration.
 Grinding
• LIBERATION of the mineral is to reduce the
size of the particle till individual particles are
rich, the size obtained responds to subsequent
concentration process.
• Objectives of grinding
- Produces new surfaces
- Provides specified sizes.
 Grinding
• Different concentration methods need different sizes of
feed.
• Concentration methods need any of the following
grinding preparations.
• For gravity/magnetic/electrostatic concentration – the
feed should be coarse, overgrinding and slime should be
avoided.
• For froth flotation- upper limit of particles 200-300 μs,
lower limit – 5-10 μs .
• For chemical treatment- (leaching) – overgrinding
improves the recovery (constituent to be dissolved
should be exposed to the surface of the particles), cost
will be high.
 Types Of Grinding
• Types of grinding depends upon the
- Ore.
- Quantity of ore to be ground.
- Use of the ground product.
• Types of grinding Methods
- Batch or continuous grinding.
- Differential grinding.
- Dry and wet grinding.
- Open circuit or closed circuit grinding.
- Primary and secondary grinding (stage grinding).
 Batch and Continuous Grinding.
Batch Grinding:
• A definite quantity of the feed is ground for a pre-
determined time.
• The ground material is removed from the mill.
• The grinding media will remain in the mill.
• Second batch is loaded for grinding and the
operation continues.
• Tumbling mills are used.
• Any shape of particle can be used in the feed.
• Inefficient, more product is over ground.
• Used mainly for laboratory testing of ores, making
paint mixtures, medicines etc.
Batch and Continuous Grinding
Continuous Grinding:
• Ore is fed into the mill continuously at a fixed
rate.
• Product is discharged after a suitable dwelling
time.
• Meanwhile new feed is charged.
• Continuous grinding is preferred in Mineral
Dressing operations.
 Differential Grinding.
Differential Grinding:
• Ores and minerals vary in their relative
grindabilities.
• Softer material may be ground finer and harder
material coarser, if they co – exist.
• This action in grinding is known as differential
grinding
• This differential action is increased in closed
circuit grinding.
 Dry and Wet Grinding
Dry and Wet Grinding:
• Material is ground either in totally dry or wet
(slurry) condition.
• Grinding in moist / sticky state consumes lot of
energy – grinding should not be done in this
state.
• Dry grinding is practiced when subsequent
concentration process is dry (concentrating ores
of Cr, Au, Pb, Mn, Mo, coal, etc.)
• Wet grinding is practiced normally when the
subsequent concentration processes are
flotation, leaching etc..
 Dry and Wet Grinding
Dry Grinding.
• Feed material should have low (<1%) moisture
content.
• The feed should be in less contact with air (it may
absorb moisture during grinding).
• The grinding media and the liner inside the mill
should not wear off.
• Costly filtering equipment are not needed.
• Dust control during grinding is needed.
 Dry and Wet Grinding
Wet Grinding:
• Needs less power.
• Needs less space.
• Minimum dust control only needed.
• Needs large quantities of water and good ,
continuous pumping system.
• Generally cheaper than a dry grinding
installation.
 Primary and Secondary Grinding
Primary and Secondary Grinding:
• Grinding can be done in stages
- Primary grinding
- Secondary grinding
• In primary grinding the milling speeds, types of liner,
and size and shape of crushing bodies are chosen to
develop shattering or impact milling.
• Primary grinding mills work vigorously on a fast
passing stream of ore
• Secondary mills work gently and uniformly finer
products are formed.
• Secondary mills work with longer retention time of
pulp.
 Open and Closed Circuit Grinding
Open Circuit Grinding:
• The mill grinds the feed to desired size in one
pass and removes the product to receive the next
feed.
• It needs more power.
• Needs skilled operator.
• Used normally for coarse grinding, when closed
circuit grinding becomes very costly.
 Open and Closed Circuit Grinding

Closed Circuit Grinding:

• Mostly used in Mineral Dressing.
• The mill discharge is sized and oversize particles
are reground.
• This cycle repeats till all particles are of same size.
• During regrinding of oversize, new material is also
fed to the grinder.
• Need of less skilled operators - reduced cost.
Closed Circuit Grinding
 Tumbling Mills
• The mill with a liner is half filled with the crushing
bodies.
• Ore is fed at one end of the mill along with
required quantity of water.
• Now the mill contains the feed +water + grinding
media (Crop feed/mill charge).
• The ground product is discharged at the other
end. The water flushes the feed through the mill.
• When the mill is rotated, the feed, water and the
grinding media is CHURNED with FLYING
(TUMBLE).
• Grinding of the feed occurs
 Tumbling Mills
• The Kinetic Energy of the tumbling load is us as
used for grinding of feed, wearing the mill lining
and the media, heat and noise.
The KE is usefully used for
• Collision between particles,
• Impact of falling grinding media,
• Pressure loading ore particles that come under
the grinding media or between the grinding
media and the mill liner
TUMBLING MILLS
 TUMBLING MILL LINERS
• Lined with replaceable Plates made of alloy
steel, rubber or ceramic materials.
• They may be smooth, ship-slap , wave or
wedge bar type.
• Liners help in lifting the load as the mill
revolves , to minimise the slip between layers
of the grinding media and to minimise wear of
the mill shell.
 Tumbling Mills
Capacity:
• Factors influencing capacity are
- Specifications of the pulp
- Size of the ground particles.
Grinding Media:
• Grinding occurs during tumbling action of the mill.
• The media used
- Steel balls of varying sizes – 25 – 125 mm dia.
- They are made of Hadfield (Mn) steel, Cr steels,
Cr-Mo steels.
- WC (Tungsten Carbide)/ceramic balls are also used
– Costly but long life.
- Large pieces of ore are used as grinding medium in
Autogenous grinding.
 Tumbling mills
• Various types of Tumbling mills:
- Ball mill
- Pebble mill
- Rod mill
- Autogenous mills
- Tube mill
 Ball Mills
• They are rotating cylinders with liner and grinding
balls inside.
• Grinding medium - steel/iron/WC balls.
• They are continuous machines.
• Crushed ore is fed in one end through a feeder.
• The balls fall back onto the feed during rotation of the
shell.
• Ground ore is discharged at the other end or through
the periphery .
• They are used in closed system for maximum
efficiency.
• The mills have a shell and lining inside. They are fitted
to a frame at the ends using trunnions.
 Ball Mills
Ball Mills are classified according to
• Shape (cylindrical, cylindro-conical)
• Method of discharging ground material (overflow
discharge, grate/diaphragm discharge)
• Method of grinding (wet or dry)
Balls Inside A Ball Mill
• Balls range in size from 1-6“.
• They are made of cast iron, forged steel or alloy
steel.
 Theory of Ball Milling
• The path of the balls – circular section (when balls are
lifted) + parabolic/near parabolic section (when the
balls are dropped).
• Consider a ball at a distance ‘r’ from the center of the
mill revolving at ‘n’ rpm.
• The ball leaves the circular path for a parabolic path
when the centripetal component of gravity exceeds
the centrifugal component of angular acceleration.
mv2
= mgcosα
r
• Where m - mass of the ball
v - its linear velocity
r - radius of the mill
g - acceleration due to gravity.
Theory of Ball Milling
 Types of Ball Mills
Ball Mills are classified according to
• Based on the shape
- Cylindrical ball mill
- Cylindro-conical ball mill
• Based on the Method of discharging ground
material
- Peripheral discharge
- Overflow discharge
- Grate discharge
 Cylindroconical Ball Mill
• These mills are also known as Hardinge ball mills
• The shell of this mill consists of a flat cone (obtuse) followed
by a short cylindrical section and a steep cone (acute) at the
discharge end.
• The two ends carry hollow trunnion bearings which permit
feed and discharge.
• Feed may be introduced directly or with the help of a feed
scoop into the feed end trunnion at the end of the flat cone.
• After grinding, a continuous stream of thick pulp comes out
from a discharge lip located axially beyond the trunnion at
the end of the steep cone.
• The discharge end may be provided with a retaining grid
having punched holes to avoid the risk of discharging balls.
• The interior of the shell is lined with cast iron or steel plates
which may be backed by shock absorbing material such as
rubber sheet or old belting.
Cylindroconical Ball Mill
 Cylindrical Ball Mill
• These are characterized by the cylindrical shape of
the shell having uniform diameter throughout.
• The cylindrical mills can principally be classified
into following categories depending on the mode
of discharge of the ground product.
- Peripheral discharge
- Overflow discharge
- Grate discharge
 Peripheral Discharge Ball Mills
Peripheral discharge ball mill:
• The ground material is discharged through screens along the
cylindrical shell.
• Though this type of mills is less common due to the expensive
screen wear, these mills can be employed for grinding non-
abrasive materials either wet or dry.
 Cylindrical Ball Mill
Overflow discharge ball mill:
• In these mills, the ground material is discharged as
overflow from the exit of the mill through the
trunnion and this is the most common discharge
arrangement.
• This type of mill operates only wet.
• Its major advantages are simplicity of design and
construction, easy access for inspection, and easy
replacement of liners.
• This type of mill provides relatively fixed or constant
pulp level and thus the effectiveness of the mill can
be controlled only by the size and quantity of balls or
the rate of feed.
Overflow Discharge Ball Mill
 Cylindrical Ball Mill
Grate (diaphragm) discharge ball mills:
• These ball mills have the provision to discharge
ground material through the end fitted with vertical
grates.
• Between the grate and the discharge end of the mill,
there are discharge lifters (pans which raise the
ground material and direct it to a center cone and
into the discharge trunnion.
• These mills can be used as dry or wet.
• This type o mills generally works with high circulating
load, producing very little fines
• These mills has the advantages of less power
consumption than overflow mill, an higher capacity
per unit volume
Grate Discharge Ball Mill
 Multiple Compartment Ball Mill
• This consists of one very long cylindrical mill (rather
than multiple units) divided into two or more
compartments.
• Each successive compartment is of smaller width and
contains sized balls for most efficient grinding.
• Such a mill is essentially an equivalent of a series of
mills operating continuously.
• These mills are used when high reduction ratios are
to be achieved
• This mill is also referred as tube ball mill owing to its
higher length to diameter ratio
Multiple Compartment Ball Mill
 Rod Mills
• These may be defined as rotating cylindrical shells
using rods (75—100 mm in diameter) as grinding
media, which are laid parallel with the axis.
• The rod mills are made of length greater than their
diameter (length/diameter ratio should be at least
1.4) in order to prevent jamming of the rods in the
mill.
• The rods should span over the whole length of the
mill.
• The rod mills are more difficult to operate than a ball
mill, since rods wear thin and break and the broken
pieces interfere with the performance of the mill
(the rods shorter than the mill diameter m y become
wedged against the lining).
• This calls for removal of the thin rod .
 Rod Mills
• The basic principle of grinding in rod mills differs from
ball mill and this case the reduction is by line contact
between rods extending the full length of the mill.
• In grinding action, the rods are kept apart by the
coarsest particles and as a result selective grinding is
carried out on the largest particle sizes at all stages.
• Thus the rod mills produce minimum of extreme fines
or slimes and the grinding work is more effective as
compared with ball mill.
• The selective grinding is also aided by means of water
along the spaces between the rods which carries the
undersize particles ward the discharge end.
 Rod Mills
• This mill minimises attrition of fines, overgrinding and heavy
oxidation of exposed minerals.
• Rods wear down in use and this affects the nipping of
particles.
• The preferred material for rods is high-carbon steel.
• Highest efficiency of the mill can be obtained by periodic
removal of worn out rods and charging the fresh rods.
• The rod mills may be classified according to the discharge
arrangement and they are as follows
- Overflow discharge
- End peripheral discharge
- Centre peripheral discharge.
Rod Mills
 Pebble and Autogenous Grinding Mills
• These are cylindrical shells provided with porcelain or
rubber linings, and filled with porcelain or suitable flint
pebbles.
• When the pebbles of the same ore are used as grinding
media, the mill is known as autogenous grinding mill.
• Pebble mills or autogenous mills are mainly used for
secondary grinding, where low media costs and linear
wear are of prime consideration, or iron contamination
with charge is to be avoided
• The autogenous grinding possesses many advantages,
such as gentle liberation action, less power consumption,
less wear and for elimination of preliminary crushing.
• These mills are mainly of two types, they are
- Tube mill
- Cascade or aerofall mill
 Tube mills
• These mills are characterized by their more length
and less diameter (narrower than ball mills).
• These mills are made narrow to prevent breakage
of pebbles and are made longer to compensate for
the reduced diameter of the mill and lower
density of the pebbles.
• These are usually run at speeds between 75 and
85 per cent of critical speed.
• These mills are mainly used in the ceramic
industry and grinding of gold ores.
 Cascade or Aerofall Mills
• These mills are large in diameter and less in width
(with D/L ratio of more than three) and are
comparatively a recent addition to tumbling mills.
• This is quite different in shape from other bling mills.
The mill is referred as aerofall mill when used for dry
grinding in conjuction with air sweeping.
• The liners used are concave to give maximum
diameter at the centre of the drum and thus to
direct the crop load away from the vertical sides.
• In these mills, lumps are allowed to fall through a
large distance to make-up for their low density.
• The mills may be operated dry or wet.
• The feed and discharge are made through two
support trunnions.
 Grinding Mill
Factors affecting operation of a grinding
mill:
• Speed of the mill
• Load of grinding media and material
• Pulp level
• Size distribution of grinding media.
• Solid liquid ratio.
 Speed of The Mill.
• Speed of the mill affects grinding efficiency and
capacity.
• If the peripheral speed of the mill is very high i.e.,
> critical speed, it begins to act like a centrifuge and
the balls do not fall back, but stay on the perimeter of
the mill then No work is done by the mill.
• If speed is very low- the grinding media will roll and
slide over one another in a mass near the bottom of
the mill (Cascading action).
• At intermediate speeds, grinding media is carried up
to a certain extent.
• They fall on the material and grinding action takes
place (Cataracting action).
• Ball mills operate at 55-85 % of critical speed.
Load of Grinding Media and Material:
• Ball mills should be slightly more than half full.
• The volume contributed by water and material is
less compared to that contributed by the balls.
PULP LEVEL:
• Higher pulp level in a mill needs more power.
• Lower pulp level gives more degree of freedom of
movement of the grinding media - more effective
grinding.
• In an overflow discharge mill, the grinding media
looses their kinetic energy when they fall back into
the material to be ground.
• Grinding is less effective.
Size Distribution of Grinding Media
• Should be near to close packing.
• The ratio between the balls of various sizes used
should be proportional to the feed and discharge
products.
• The proportion can be maintained with
- By determining the wear rate of the grinding
media
- By sizing analysis.
• The grinding media size is proportional to the feed
size.
• If the size of grinding media is small, they may get
abraded and no grinding occurs.
 Solid Liquid Ratio
• Pulp dilution affects grinding efficiency and power
input.
• Energy input is maximum for a pulp having 60-75 %
solids.
• Fine powder in the mill is like a fluid and It is easily
transportable in the mill.
• When 8-15% moisture is added, they form a stiff mud.
• Above 15% moisture content – it again becomes a
fluid.
• 20-40% moisture- the material moves very efficiently.
• 40% moisture – pulp becomes watery and starts
coating the grinding medium.