Crushing & Grinding
(Mechanical Operations)
Size reduction of solids (Comminution)
Involves the production of smaller mass units from larger mass
units of same material
Fraction / rupture take place in the larger unit by applying
compression or shear or both forces
Size reduction by
a) Crusher – for big particle
b) Grinder – for small particle
• Objectives:
1. Reduction in sizes to little ones out of big ones
2. Produce a product of the desired size or size range
Stages of reduction – 3 steps
a) Coarse size reduction: feeds from 2 – 96 inch
b) Intermediate size reduction: feeds from 1 – 3 inch
c) Fine size reduction: feeds from 0.25 – 0.5 inch
Operating variables:
1) Moisture content:
a) < 4 % (by wt) – no particular difficulties are encountered.
b) > 4 % - because sticky or pasty with a tendency clog in machines.
2)
a v g d ia .o f f e e d
R e d u c tio n ra ti o =
a v g d ia .o f p ro d u c t
For coarse particle, ratio 3 – 7
fine particle, ratio – as high as 100
• Mohs hardness scale:
Developed by Frederich Mohs in 1822
A measure of relative hardness of various materials
1 (softest) to 10 (hardest) division
Talc (1) ---------------------- diamond (10)
4 soft material (coal, gypsum, ice, clay, limestone)
>4 hard material
Size-Reduction Equipment
The principal types of size-reduction machines are as follows:
A. Crushers (coarse and fine)
Coarse mine material into lumps of 250 to
1. Jaw crushers 150 mm. Again these lumps are broken into
2. Gyratory crushers particle of 6 mm in size.
3. Crushing rolls
B. Grinders (intermediate and fine)
The product from an intermediate
1. Hammer mills, Impactors
grinder might pass a 40-mesh screen
2. Attrition mills and product from fine grinders pass a
3. Tumbling mills 200-mesh screen with a 74 m
a. Rod mills opening.
b. Ball mills
C. Ultrafine grinders Feed < 6 mm
1. Fluid-energy mills Product: 1- 50 m
D. Cutting machines
1. Knife cutters, slitters 2 to 10 mm in length
• Coarse crusher for Hard material:
1. Jaw crusher: consists of two faces or jaw one of which is stationary,
being mounted rigidly in the crusher frame and the other
moving alternatively toward the stationary face and away
from it by a small throw
a) Blake crusher
consists of one fixed jaw & one movable jaw
movable jaw is pivoted at the top & operated by the eccentric, pitman &
toggles
Blake crusher
Pitman
Dodge crusher
Width of discharge opening is practically constant
More size products can be obtained
Jaw is operated through the pitman by eccentric
No toggles are required
Gyratory Crusher
It consists of two vertical , truncated , conical shells
The outer shell is stationary and it’s apex is pointing down the
inner shell having its apex pointing up
inner shell is made to rotate
Gyratory Crusher
Choice of crusher
h o u r ly t o n n a g e t o b e c r u s h e d
If 0 .1 1 5
s q .o f g a p e i n i n c h e s
use jaw crusher
otherwise Gyratory crusher
• Coarse crushers for soft material:
a) Toothed roll crusher:
- Breaking coal, gypsum, ice etc. soft material
- Crushed by press. of the teeth against the larger lumps
of the material
b) Hammer mill:
- used for coal or even fibrous materials
• Intermediate size reductions:
a) Cone crusher:
- similar to gyratory crusher
b) Crushing roll:
consist of two heavy cylinders (roller) revolving toward each other
feed being nipped (press tightly between fingers) & pulled downward
through the rolls by friction
For acting on particle,
FT tangential force on the particle
FN normal force on the particle
FR resultant of FT & FN
Dr dia. of rolls
Df dia. of feed particle
Dp maximum dia. of product
An angle of nip (value 310)
- It indicates whether or not particle will be drawn
between the rolls
FT An
Friction co-efficient = tan
FN 2
Friction co-efficient indicates whether to be crushed or not
For spherical particle,
Dr Dp
Dr D p
An 2 2
cos D Df
2 Dr D f
r
2 2
An
a n g le o f b ite
2
Capacity
• Theoretical capacity:
T capacity (ton/hr)
v peripheral velocity (fpm)
v=300+84D
width of roll (ft)
D distance between rolls (ft)
density of material (lb/ft
Actual capacity is usually from 0.10 to 0.30 of
theoretical capacity.
Problem
A pair of rolls is to take a feed equivalent to spheres of 3 cm in
diameter and crush them to spheres having 1 cm diameter. If the
coefficient of friction is 0.29, what would be the diameter of
rolls? Calculate the angle of nip.
Solution
The following formula relates the coefficient of friction (µ),
radius of rolls (r), radius of product (d), and radius of feed (R):
cos α = (r + d) / (r + R)
where α is related to the coefficient of friction by the relation,
µ = tan α, Angle of nip = 2 α
We have, µ = 0.29
Therefore, α = tan-1(0.29) = 16.17o
And we have, d = 0.5 cm; R = 1.5 cm
Substituting for the known quantities in above equn.,
cos (16.17) = (r + 0.5)/(r + 1.5)
0.9604 = (r + 0.5)/(r + 1.5)
r + 0.5 = 0.9604 (r + 1.5)
r - 0.9604 r = 1.4406 - 0.5
r = 23.753 cm
Radius of rolls = 23.753 cm
Dia of rolls = 2 x 23.753 = 47.5 cm
Fine Size Reduction
1) Raymond roller mill
2) Ball mill
3) Cylindrical mill
4) Grate mill
5) Compound ball mill
6) Rod mill
7) Tube mill
Ball Mill
• Ball mill:
– Most recent device
– Depends more on impact than on shearing forces
– Horizontal rotating cylindrical or conical steel chamber
– Filled with steel/iron ball
– Length of cylinder is usually about equal to the diameter
Critical speed, N =
N rpm
D dia. of mill (ft)
d dia. of ball (ft)
Energy requirement & crushing efficiency
• Energy requirement & crushing efficiency:
surface energy created by crushing
Comminution causes creation of new surface
Energy / work required in crushing is proportional to
new surface created
Energy requirement
Popular comminution laws are:
Rittinger’s Law
It is best applicable to coarse and intermediate size reduction
a) Rittinger’slaw:
- appropriate to fine grinding
P = -2, so
feed rate to crusher
avg.particle dia. after crushing
avg.particle dia. before crushing
crushing strength of material in N/m
Kick’s Law
It is not applicable to communition, but only to plastic deformation of solids
b) Kick’s law:
- more appropriate to coarse crushing
p = -1,
More accurate for reduction ratio
Bond’s Law
Bond suggested an intermediate relationship
Wi = work index
defined on the gross energy required in KWH per ton of feed to reduced a very large feed to
such a size that 80% of the product passes a 100 µm screen.
Problem
• Problem:
what is the power required to crush 100 T/h of limestone if 80%
of the feed pass a 2 inch screen & 80% of the product pass a 1/8
inch screen?
ωi = 12.74 for limestone
Ans:
