Part II: Minerals Processing

Comminution II
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Objectives

 Understand the principles and theories of comminution .

 Understand different crushers and primary comminution equipment, crushing

mechanisms, applications, advantages and disadvantages, and be able to construct
flow-
diagrams for specific applications.
 Understand factors influencing comminution operation and to be able to quantify
the effect of these factors.
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Stages of Comminution
Stages of comminution

•Primary crushing (boulders about 1m)

•Secondary crushing (+100mm to 10mm)
•Tertiary crushing (optional)
•Milling (10mm to microns)

Each stage is important as it will determine the feed to the next stage. The final milling stage
is designed for specified exit size

Breakage occurs because of

•Impact forces
•Compression forces
•Shear Forces
•Abrasion
Crushing and Grinding
 The two mostly commonly used devices for size reduction are crushers and
grinding mills.

 The crushers are normally fed with rocks of about 1m in size, while the grinders
are fed with rocks crushed down to a maximum size of about 50mm.

 Larger rocks produced at the mines are initially separated by grizzlies, broken by
hammers and then fed to the crushers.

 Crushing is generally a dry operation.

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Selection of Crushers

 The selection of a crusher depends on operating conditions, feed size, capacity,

hardness etc.

Primary crushers:

 Gyratory crushers

 Jaw crushers

 Impact crushers
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Gyratory Crusher
 In a gyratory crusher, a round moving crushing surface is located within a round hard shell
which serves as the stationary surface.
 The crushing action is created by closing the gap between the hard crushing surface at-
tached to the spindle and the concave liners (fixed) mounted on the main frame of the
crusher.
 The gap is opened and closed by an eccentric drive on the bottom of the spindle that causes
the central vertical spindle to gyrate.

 A gyratory crusher is a primary crusher with a large capacity

suitable for slabby (wet) feeds

 It has slow compression of crushing head limiting fines generation

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Jaw Crusher
• A Jaw Crusher reduces large rocks by dropping them
•Primary crusher
•Lower capacity than gyratory crusher into a flat “V” shaped space created between a fixed

•Suited for hard, tough and abrasive rocks surface and a movable surface.

•Extremely hard and abrasive

• The compression is created by forcing the rock against
•FeV, FeCr liners
the stationary plate as shown in figure.

• The opening at the bottom of the jaw plates is the crusher

product size gap.

• The rocks remain in the jaws until it is small enough to pass

through this adjustable gap at the bottom of the jaws.
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Impact Crusher
 Most breakage occurs by impact  Impact crushers involve the use of high speed impact rather
than compression to crush material.
 High percentage fines
 They utilize hinged or fixed heavy metal hammers or bars
attached to the edges of horizontal rotating disks.
 High reduction ratio
 The bars repeatedly strike the material to be crushed.
 Feed not hard or abrasive

 Then the material is thrown against a rugged solid surface

which further degrades the particle size.
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Cone Crusher
A cone crusher is very similar to the gyratory but has a much shorter spindle with a larger diameter crushing
surface relative to its the vertical dimension.

•Normally used for secondary and subsequent stages of crushing

•SA Gold industry employs it as a primary crusher

•High capacity

•High reduction ratio (hammer action of crushing head)

•Non-choking characteristics
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Roller Crusher
 Low reduction ratio  Rolls crushers consists of a pair of horizontal cylindrical rollers
through which material is passed.
 Small amount of fines
 The two rollers rotate in opposite directions nipping and crushing
material between them.
 High wear

 These types of crushers are used in secondary or tertiary crushing

applications.
Crusher Selection
 Gyratory crushers are selected for high crushing rates above 900t/h.

 Jaw crashers perform better than gyratory crushers on clayey and plastic material due to
their greater throw.

 Gyratory crushers are particularly suitable for hard and abrasive material and they give
more cubic product material.
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Classical 3-stage crushing prior to milling

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Typical 3-stage pre-grinding prior to ball milling

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Grinding-Introduction
•Size reduction by crushing has a size limitation for the final products.

•Grinding is a powdering or pulverizing process using the rock mechanical forces of im-
paction, compression, shearing and attrition performed in tumbling mills.

Main purposes for a grinding process are:

 To liberate individual minerals trapped in rock crystals (ores).

 To produce fines (or filler) from mineral fractions by increasing the specific surface.
Tumbling Mills

 The mill with a liner is half filled with the crushing bodies

 Ore is fed with one end of the mill along with the required quantity of water

 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)
Tumbling Mills
Tumbling Mill Types

 The kinetic Energy is used for:

1. Collision between particles

2. Impact of falling grinding media
3. Pressure loading ore particles that come under the grinding media, or between the grinding media
and the mill liner
4. Shock waves transmitted when the media tumble
Ball Mill
 They are rotating cylinders with liner and grinding balls inside

 Grinding medium-steel/iron/WC ball

 They are continuous machines (4-20 rpm)

 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

Rod Mill

 It is a tumbling mill having a rotating cylindrical shell

 75-100mm diameter steel rods are the grinding media

 They are laid parallel to one another

 They cover the length of the mill

Rod Mill

 Size reduction of the ore is by line of contact between rods

 The rods are kept apart by coarse particles

 This causes preferential grinding of coarser particles

 The mill is longer than its diameter-avoid jamming of the rods

Rod Mill

 Rod mills produce minimum fines (ball mills produce more fines)

 The ground product is concentrated by gravity or magnetic methods

(Finer ball mill products are concentrated by flotation method)

 Discharge can be- Overflow discharge, End peripheral discharge, or

Center peripheral discharge

 The rods used wear fast and need replacement often

Pebble Mills
 These are cylindrical mill with porcelain/rubber linings

 Grinding medium-porcelain pebbles

 When pebbles of same ore are used to grind-autogenous grinding

 Used for secondary grinding

 It avoids contamination by iron linings

 Liberation is gentle and power consumption is less

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Tumbling Mills-Autogeneous Mill

Autogeneous mill
•Wet or dry

•Primary, coarse grinding (up to 400mm feed size)

•Grinding media is grinding feed

•High capacity (short retention time)

•Sensitive to feed composition (critical size material)

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Tumbling Mills-Autogeneous Mill

Semi-autogeneous mill
•Wet or dry

•High capacity than A-G Mill grinding

•Primary, coarse grinding (up to 400𝑚𝑚 feed size)

•Grinding media is grinding feed plus 4−12% ball charge (balldia.100−125 𝑚𝑚)

•High capacity (short retention time)

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Wet or Dry Grinding

Wet or Dry?

•Crushers are dry comminutors (too much moisture causes aggregation)

•Mills maybe wet or dry and are usually run wet

•Wet milling more control of size distribution (why?) provides

•Wet milling has lower energy cost (why?)

•Wet milling implies 60-80% solids by mass

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Ore Storage
Methods of Storage
•Storage differs for dry ore or pulp

•Storage is accomplished in stockpiles, bins and tanks

•Stock piles are used for coarse ore of low value

Storage Bins
•For continuous feeding of crushed ore to grinding plant

•Feed bins are used for transfer of coarse material from belts, rail and road trucks

•Are made of wood, concrete or steel

•Must be easy to fill and allow for steady fall of ore through the discharge gates–“no hold-up”

•Bins must be designed with a sloping base especially for easily oxidizing ores.