SIZE REDUCTION AND

SCREENING OF SOLIDS

[Link]. Şebnem TAVMAN

Doç.Dr. Seher KUMCUOĞLU

23.11.2020 UNIT OPERATIONS 1 2020-2021 GÜZ 1

 SIZE REDUCTION
The breakdown of solid material through the application of mechanical
forces, is a frequent requirement in many food processing operations.
The reasons for size reduction:

I. A decrease in particle size of a material increases specific

surface area of the solid. Increase in surface causes
increase of rate in many mass transfer processes:

a) The drying time is reduced by increasing the surface area of the solid
b) The rate of extraction of a desired solute is increased by increasing
the contact area between solid and solvent
c) Process time required for certain operations can be reduced by
cutting, shredding or dicing of the process material

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AIMS OF SIZE REDUCTION
II. Size reduction may help the extraction of a desired
component from a composite material, e.g. flour from
wheat grains or juice from sugar cane

III. Reduction to a certain size range may be specific

product requirement, e.g. as in the manufacture of
powdered sugar, in the preparation of spices and in
chocolate refining

IV. Mixing or blending is usually easier with smaller sized

particles, e.g. cake mixes, packaged dry soups, etc.

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Nature of forces used in size reduction
The types of force predominating in some of the mills in common use
in the food industry:

Force Principle Machine

Compressive Compression Crushing rolls

Impact Impact (hammer) Hammer mill

Shear (attrition) Attrition (grindstone) Disc attrition mill

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Nature of forces used in size reduction
Compressive forces are used for the coarse
crushing of hard materials

Impact forces are used for coarse, medium

and fine grinding of a variety of food products

Shear forces are extensively used in machines

for fine grinding of softer, non-abrasive
materials

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Reduction Ratio(R.R)

Average size of feed

R.R. 
Average size of product

Reduction ratio can be used in predicting the performance of a particular

machine

coarse crushing size reduction ratio < 8:1

For fine grinding size reduction ratio > 100:1

Intermediate
8:1 < size reduction ratio < 100:1
crushing

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 CONSIDERATIONS GOVERNING
EQUIPMENT SELECTION
The aim of an economic size reduction process is:

To achieve the desired reduction at minimum cost

In general, a knowledge of the characteristics of the feed material,
possible machines and of the product material will be
necessary.

Characteristics of feed material include:

1. Hardness and abrasiveness of feed
2. Mechanical structure of feed
3. Moisture
4. Temperature sensitivity of feed

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 SIZE REDUCTION EQUIPMENT
1. CRUSHING ROLLS
In this machine, two or more heavy
steel cylinders rotate towards each
other. Particles of feed are nipped and
pulled through the rolls, applying a
compressive force which crushes
them.
In some machines a differential speed
is maintained between the rolls and
shearing forces also applied.

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CRUSHING ROLLS
Crushing rolls are used for
intermediate crushing and
applied mostly in the milling of
wheat and in the refining of
chocolate.

The capacity is effected by

roller length and diameter and
by the speed of rotation. With
larger diameters, speeds of
50-300 rpm are usual.

Size reduction ratios of crushing rolls are low -usually below 5

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 CRUSHING ROLLS
The diameter of the rolls
can be varied to fit the feed size
Differential speed of the rolls and the rate required
The nip (the spacing between the rolls)

Capacity of crushing rolls:

The theoretical of these units is the volume of the continuous
rectangular prism (ribbon) of product discharged from the rolls.
N
Q=volumetric capacity (m3/s)
Dr NDP l Dr= roll diameter (m) Dr
Q
60 DP=nip (m)
l=length of face (m)
N= the roll speed (rpm)
Dp
l
In practice the actual capacity is found to lie between 0.1 and 0.3 of the
theoretical capacity.

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 ANGLE OF NIP
Definition
The largest angle that will just grip a lump between
the rolls.

In mechanical operation:
In a crushing machine, the
maximum angle subtended by its
approaching roll surfaces at
which a specified piece of
C, D: Rolls
sample can be gripped. N: Angle of nip
E: Sample

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Angle of nip:
The angle formed by tangents to the roll faces at the point of contact
between a particle and the rolls. The angle of nip is important in
specifying the size of a pair of crushing rolls for a given duty.

Compressive force
L
R
cos   2
d
R
2

For Rolls equal radius and length, tangents drawn at the point of contact of
the particle and the two rolls meet to for the nip angle (2ϴ).

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 Example:
If crushing rolls, 1m in diameter, are set so that the crushing
surfaces 12.5 mm apart and the angle of nip is 31. What is
the maximum size of material that should be fed to the rolls?

Solution:
2ϴ=31°; ϴ=15.5° ;
R=0.5 m; L=0.0125 m

L 0.0125
R 0.5 
cos   2  cos 15.5  2  0.964 d=0.025 m
d d
R 0.5 
2 2

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 2. Hammer mill
The hammer mill may be
regarded as a general purpose
mill, handling crystaline solids,
fibrous materials, vegetable
matter, sticky materials etc.
In the food industry it is
extensively used for grinding
peppers and spices, dried milk
sugars etc. Impact mills are not
recommended for the fine
grinding of very hard materials.
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Hammer mill:
A high speed rotor carries a collar bearing
a number of hammers around its
periphery. When the rotor turns, the
hammer heads swing through a circular
path inside a close fitting casing
containing a toughened breaker plate.
Feed passes into the action zone where
the hammers drive the material against
the breaker plate.
Reduction is mainly due to impact forces,
although under choke feeding conditions
attrition forces can also play a part in the
size reduction.
The hammers are often replaced by
cutters or by bars in the beater bar mill.

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3. Disc attrition mills
Mills utilising attrition or shear forces
for size reduction play a major part in
fine grinding. There are three types of
disc mill:

Single disc mill:

The feed stock passes into a narrow
gap between a high speed, rotating
grooved disc and the stationary
casing of the mill. Intense shearing
action results in grinding of the feed.
The gap is adjustable, depending on
feed size and product requirements.

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 Double disc mill:
This device contains two rotating discs. The discs rotate in opposite directions
giving a greater degree of shear than the single disc mill. This type of disc
attrition mill is widely used in cereal preparation, corn and rice milling.

Discs

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 Buhr mill:
This is an older type of disc attrition mill, originally used in flour milling.
Two circular stones are mounted on a vertical axis. The upper stone, which is
often fixed has a feed entry port. The lower stone rotates.
Feed material passes through the gap between the upper and lower stones.
The material, after subjecting to the shearing force developed between the
stones, is discharged over the lower stone.
In some models, both stones rotate in opposite directions.

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 4. Tumbling mills
A mill genereally used in many process industries for fine grinding is the
tumbling mill. Two basic types:

Ball mill
In the ball mill both shearing and impact forces are utilised in the size
[Link] ball mill consists of a horizontal slow speed rotating
cylinder containing a charge of the cylinder and drop on to the material
comminuted, which fills the void spaces between the balls. The balls
also tumble over each other, exerting a shearing action on the feed
material. This combination of impact and shearing forces brings about a
very effective size reduction. Ball sizes are usually in the range 25-150
mm. Small balls more point contacts but larger balls give greater
impact.

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Ball mill

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 Ball mill
In the ball mill, attrition (shear) and impact forces play a part in size
reduction.
At low speed of rotation the balls are not lifted very far up the walls of the
cylinder. The balls tumble each other and shear force predominate.
At faster speeds the balls are lifted further and the impact forces increase.
At high speeds the balls can be carried round at the wall of the mill under
the influence of centrifugal force. Under these conditions grinding ceases.
For efficient milling the critical speed should not be exceeded.
Critical speed is the defined as the speed at which a small sphere inside
the mill just begins to centrifuge. It can be shown that the critical speed Nc,
in rpm, is given by:
42.3 where D is the diameter of the mill, in metres
NC 
D  1 2 in practice the optimum operating speed is 75% of the critical
speed

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Ball mill

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Rod mills
The balls are replaced by high
carbon steel rods. Impact and
attrition forces still play a part
but the effect of impact forces
is less.
Rod mills are recommended
for use with sticky charges
where balls can be trapped in
the mass of the charge and
become ineffective. The rods
run the full length of the mill ,
as with the ball charge, occupy
about 50%of the mill volume.

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Rod mills

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 ENERGY REQUIREMENTS FOR SIZE
REDUCTION OF SOLIDS
The important factors in the size reduction process are the amount of
energy or power used and the particle size and new surface formed.
It is generally accepted that little of the input energy to a comminution
plant is usefully utilised in the breakdown operation. Much of this input
energy is lost in deforming the particles within their elastic limits and
through friction between particles. This wasted energy appears as heat
which can lead to heat damage.
Theoretical considerations suggest that the energy required to produce a
small change, dE in the size of unit mass of material, dX can be
expressed as a power function of the material:

dE K where, X is size or diameter of particle, mm and K and n

 n are constants depending upon type and size of material
dX X and type of machine

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RITTINGER’S LAW

For the grinding of solids, the energy required should be proportional to the new
surface produced and put n=2

dE K
 2  1 1 
dX X E  K  
 X 2 X1 

average initial
Energy per unit average final feed size
mass product size

Rittinger’s law has been found to hold better for fine grinding where a large
increase in surface results.

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KICK’S LAW

The energy required for a given size reduction process was proportional to the
size reduction ratio, which requires that n=1.

dE K X1
 E  K ln
dX X X2

Kick’s law has been found to hold more accurately for coarser crushing.
For many crushing operations the energy requirement suggested by
Kick’s law appears to be too low, whereas that required by Rittinger’s
equation appears to be excessive.

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 BOND’S LAW

In the Bond’s work, n takes the value 3/2 giving:

dE K  1
 3 1 
dX X 2 E  2K   
  X 2  2  X 1  2 
1 1

K=5Ei where Ei is the Bond Work Index

Bond Work Index: the energy required to reduce unit mass of material
from an infinite particle size to a size such that 80%passes a 100
micrometre sieve.
This theory is reasonably well for a variety of materials undergoing
coarse, intermediate and fine grinding.

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Problem:
Sugar is ground from crystals of which it is acceptable that 80% pass a 500 m sieve (US
standard sieve No:35), down to a size in which it is acceptable that 80% passes 88 m sieve
(No:170 sieve) and a 5- horsepower motor is found just sufficient for the required throughput
(capacity). If the requirements are changed such that the grinding is only down to 80%
through a 125 m (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.

P  1 1 
E  2K    Bond’s equation
  X 2  2  X 1  2 
1 1
m

5  1 1 
 2K   
m   1

 88 x10 2 500 x10 2 
 6  6
1
 P2=5.4 horsepower
P2  1 1 
 2K   
1.5m 
 125 x10 
1
6 2

500 x10
1
6 2
  5 horsepower motor is
not sufficient

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