Unit 2

Laws of size reduction and applicability; Energy relationship in size

reduction; Power requirement; Work index; Method of size reduction;
Types, classification and selection of size reduction equipment.
Types of Size-Reduction Equipments
• The size reduction machines perform their work in distinctly different
ways.
• Crushers employ compression while grinders employ impact and attrition.
Ultrafine grinders employ attrition.
• A cutting action is the characteristic of knife cutters, dicers and slitters.
• The factors to be considered while selecting the equipment for size
reduction are :
• (i) Properties of the feed to be handled such as hardness, crushing strength,
etc.
• (ii) Nature of the product required.
• (iii) Quantity of the material to be handled.
• (iv) Size of the material to be handled.
• (v) Speed of the size reduction equipment.
CRUSHERS
• Crushers are slow-speed machines employed for the coarse reduction of large quantities
of solids.
• Jaw crushers, gyratory crushers and smooth-roll crushers are different types of crushers.
• They operate by compression and can break large lumps of hard materials. They find
application in rockery and mining industries.
• Jaw Crushers
• Jaw crushers compress the feed between a stationary jaw and a movable jaw.
• Types of jaw crushers :
• 1. Blake jaw crusher.
• 2. Dodge jaw crusher.
• In the Blake jaw crusher, the movable jaw is pivoted at the top, thus giving greatest
movement at the bottom.
• In the Dodge jaw crusher, the movable jaw is pivoted at the bottom, thus giving
greatest/maximum movement at the top.
• The Dodge crusher is less widely used because of its tendency to choke due to the
minimum movement of the jaw at the bottom.
The Blake Jaw Crusher

• Principle :
• It works on the principle of compression. It reduces size by compressive force.
• fixed jaw and a movable jaw.
• The movable jaw is pivoted at the top.
• The jaws are set to form a V open at the top. The swinging jaw (movable jaw) which reciprocates in a
horizontal plane usually makes an angle of 20 to 30o with the fixed jaw (which isnearly vertical).
• jaws are usually made of manganese steel – withstand abrasion
• an eccentric causes the pitman to oscillate in a vertical direction, and this vertical movement is
communicated horizontally (reciprocating motion) to the movable jaw by the toggles
• The speed of operation should not be high- avoid fine formation
• The material to be crushed is admitted between two jaws from the top
• The jaws usually open and close 250 to 400 times per minute.
Gyratory Crusher
• Principle :
• It works on the principle of compression.
• It consists of a funnel shaped casing, open at the top. A
conical crushing head, in the form of a truncated cone,
gyrates inside a casing. The crushing head is mounted on a
heavy shaft pivoted at the top of the machine.
• The upper end of the shaft is held in a flexible bearing and the
lower end of the shaft is driven by an eccentric so as to trace a
circle.
• Thus, at any point on the periphery of the casing the bottom
of the crushing head moves towards, and then away from the
stationary wall. The crushing action takes place around the
whole of the cone.
Difference between jaw and gyratory crusher
Crushing Rolls / Roll Crushers
• Smooth Roll Crusher :
• Principle : Size reduction is achieved by compression (i.e., it
employs compressive force for size reduction).
• two heavy metal rolls of the same diameter placed side by
side each other in the horizontal position
• The rolls, mounted on shafts, are rotated towards each
other at the same speed. One of the shafts moves in the
fixed bearings while other moves in the movable bearings.
• The clearance between the rolls can be adjusted according
to the size of feed and the size of product required. One of the
rolls is driven directly and the other by friction with the solids
being crushed. The rolls have relatively narrow faces and are
large in diameter, therefore they can nip moderately large
lumps. The material fed to the machine is reduced in size by
compression and discharged from the bottom.
• The machine is protected by spring loading (i.e., by
mounting the bearings of one of the roll shafts against coiled
springs) against damage due to tramp and very hard material.
• The speed of rolls varies from 50 to 300 rev/min. Crushing
rolls are secondary crushers accepting feed 12 to 75 mm in
size and yielding products-12 mm to about 20 mesh.
Derivation of the angle of nip
• the spherical particle B of a material is just being caught
between the rolls.
• A and A' are the centres of two crushing rolls of radius r
• The line AB passes through the centre of the left-hand
roll, through the centre of particle, and through point C
where the particle is in contact with the roll.
• Let the angle between line AB and the horizontal i.e.
line joining two centres of rolls be 'ᾀ'.
• The line OD is tangent to the roll at point 'C'. As the line
OD is perpendicular to line AB, it makes the same angle
a with the vertical.
• Neglecting the gravity force, the two forces acting at
point C are : the tangential frictional force T having a
vertical component T cos ᾀ, and the radial force 'N',
having a vertical component N sin ᾀ.
• The force T is related to the force N through the
coefficient of friction μ, so T = μN.
• The vertical components of the forces T and N are opposed. Force N sin α (a
resolved component of the force N) tends to expel the particle from the rolls,
while force T cos α tends to draw the particle between the rolls. If the particle
is to be drawn between the rolls and crushed,

• the value of the angle α is usually taken about 16o. The angle DOE, which is
twice the angle a, is called the angle of nip.
• Angle of nip is the angle formed by the tangents to the roll faces at a point of
contact with a particle to be crushed.
• Let R be the radius of the feed particle, r be the radius of the roll and
2d be the distance/gap between the rolls (the diameter of the largest
particle in the product).
• Then, in the triangle ABG, the angle BAG is 'α' (half the angle of nip),
AG is r + d, and AB is r + R. Then, from the simple geometry of the
figure, the angle of nip is given by

• the relationship between the size of the feed, radius of rolls, gap
between the rolls, and the angle of nip. With this equation, the roll
diameter can be determined by knowing values of the size of feed,
size of product and angle of nip.
• Crushing rolls are widely used for crushing of oil seeds and in the gun
powder industry.
GRINDERS
• Grinding means sub-dividing the solids to a finer product than crushing. The size
reduction machines employed for an intermediate duty are referred to as grinders.
• A grinder is often charged with the product from a crusher which it reduces to
powder.
• The commercial grinders described in this section are hammer mills and revolving
mills.
• Hammer mills:
• Principle :
• Size reduction is achieved by impact and attrition.
• The hammer mill consists essentially of a high speed rotor turning inside a cylindrical
casing. The rotor is mounted on a shaft which is usually horizontal.
• The swing hammers are pinned to a rotor disk.
• The hammers are rectangular bars of metal with plain or enlarged ends. In this mill,
the particles are broken by the sets of swing hammers. The product falls through a
grate or screen which forms the lower portion of the casing.
• • Several rotor disks each carrying four to eight swing hammers are often mounted on
a single shaft. The rotor disk diameter ranges from 150 mm to 250 mm. As the
hammers are hinged, the presence of any hard material does not cause damage to
the equipment. The hammers can be readily replaced when they worn out.
Revolving Mills / Tumbling Mills
• A revolving/tumbling mill is a cylindrical shell slowly rotating on a horizontal axis and
charged with a grinding medium to about half its volume
• The shell is usually made of steel and lined with abrasion resistant materials such as
manganese steel, ceramic or rubber.
• The grinding medium is usually made of flint, ceramic or metal.
• Ball, pebble, tube and rod mills are the various types of revolving mills. The ball mill differs
from the tube mill in that it is short in length; the length is approximately equal to its
diameter.
• The grinding medium more commonly used in the ball mill is steel balls.
• • The tube mill is usually long in comparison with its diameter; the length being twice the
diameter or more. It employs smaller balls, and produces a finer product. The pebble mill
is a tube mill employing flint or ceramic pebble as a grinding medium.
• The rod mill employs metal rods (steel rods) as a grinding medium and delivers more
uniform product than any other revolving mills. In a ball mill, or pebble mill, much of the
reduction is effected by impact, while in a rod mill, much of the reduction is effected by
rolling, compression and attrition. The ball mill and pebble mill are very easy to operate
and versatile in use.
Ball Mill
• Principle :
• • It works on the principle of impact, i.e., size reduction is done by impact
as the balls drop from near the top of the shell.
Construction :
• hollow cylindrical shell rotating about its axis, partially filled with balls. The
grinding medium is the balls which may be made of steel, stainless steel or
rubber.
• inner surface of the cylindrical shell is usually lined with an abrasion-
resistant material such as manganese steel or rubber. The length of the mill
is approximately equal to its diameter.
• The balls occupy about 30 to 50 percent of the volume of the mill. The
diameter of ball used is/lies in between 12 mm and 125 mm. The optimum
diameter is approximately proportional to the square root of the size of the
feed. The shell is rotated at low speed through a drive gear (60-100 rpm)
and in a large ball mill, the shell might be 3 m in diameter and 4.25 m in
length.
• The ball mill may be operated in a batch or continuous fashion, wet or dry.
In a continuously operated mill, the outlet is normally covered with a
coarse screen to prevent the escape of the balls.
Working :
• the material to be ground is fed from the left through a 60o cone and the product is
discharged through a 30o cone to the right
• The mill contains balls of various ages and sizes since the balls continually wear by
attrition and are replaced by new ones. As the shell rotates, the large balls segregate
near the feed end and small balls segregate near the product end/discharge. The initial
breaking of the feed particles is done by the largest balls dropping from the largest
distance and small particles are ground by small balls dropping from a much smaller
distance. If the rate of feed is increased, a coarser product will be obtained and if the
speed of rotation is increased (less than critical speed), the fineness for a given capacity
increases.
• During grinding, balls themselves wear and are constantly replaced by new ones so that
mill contains balls of various ages and thus of various sizes.
• In case of batch operated mill, a known quantity of material to be ground is charged into
the mill through the opening in the shell. The opening is then closed and the mill is
rotated for a predecided time. It is then stopped and the product is discharged.
• Applications : The ball mill is used for grinding materials such as coal,
pigments, and felspar for pottery. Grinding can be carried out either
wet or dry but the former is carried at low speeds.
• The advantages of wet grinding include lower power consumption
(20-30% less than it for dry grinding), increased capacity, reduction in
the formation of fines/dust, facilitates the removal of the product and
no dust formation.
• The disadvantages of wet grinding include necessity to dry the
product and high wear on the grinding medium (about 20% higher as
compared to dry grinding).
Factors influencing the size of the product :
• Feed rate : With a high feed rate, less size reduction is resulted since in this case the material is in
the mill for a shorter time.
• Properties of the feed material : With a hard material, a smaller size reduction is achieved.
• Weight of balls : With a heavy charge of balls, we get a fine product. We can increase the weight
of the charge by increasing the number of balls or by using a ball material of higher density.
Optimum grinding conditions are obtained when the volume of the balls is equal to 50% that of
the mill. So the variation in the weight of balls is done by using materials of different densities.
• Speed of rotation of the mill : At low speeds, the balls simply roll over one another and little
grinding is obtained, while at very high speeds, the balls are simply carried along the walls of the
shell and little or no grinding takes place. So for an effective grinding, the ball mill should be
operated at a speed (optimum speed) equal to 50 to 75 percent of the critical speed.
• Level of the material in the mill : A low level of material in the mill results into a reduction in the
power consumption. If the level of material is increased, the cushioning action increases and
power is wasted by the production of undersize material in an excessive quantity.
• Advantages of the Ball Mill : (i) The cost of installation is low.
• (ii) The cost of power required is low.
• (iii) It is suitable for materials of all degrees of hardness.
• (iv) It is suitable for batch as well as continuous operation.
• (v) It can be used for grinding of certain explosive materials since it
can be used with an inert atmosphere.
• (vi) It is suitable for open as well as closed circuit grinding.
• (vii) The grinding medium is cheap.
Action in tumbling mill
• If the mill is operated at very high speeds, the balls are carried right
round in contact with the sides of the mill and the mill is said to be
centrifuging.
• The minimum speed at which centrifuging occurs is called the critical
speed of the mill, and under these conditions, centrifugal force will be
exactly balanced by the weight of the ball. Little or no grinding takes
place when the mill is centrifuging.
• If the mill is to operate practically, the operating speed must be less
than the critical speed.
 Derivation of the critical speed of a ball mill
• the ball at point B on the periphery of
the ball mill.
• Let R be the radius of the mill and r be
the radius of the ball. R–r represents
the distance between the centre of
the ball and the axis of the mill.
• Let 'α' be the angle between OB and
vertical through the point O.
• The forces acting on the ball are :
• 1. The force of gravity, mg where 'm' is
the mass of the ball and
• 2. The centrifugal force, mv2/(R – r),
where 'v' is the peripheral speed.
• The component of gravity opposing the centrifugal force (centripetal
component) is (mg) cosα.
• As long as the centrifugal force exceeds the centripetal component of
the force of gravity, the particle will not lose contact with the wall.
• As the angle a decreases, the centripetal force increases. Unless the
speed crosses the critical value, a stage is reached where the above
opposing forces are equal and the ball is ready to fall away from the
wall.
• The angle at which the said phenomenon occurs is found out by
equating the two opposing forces
• The relationship between the peripheral speed and the speed of rotation is
given by

• Substituting the value of v

• At the critical speed : α = 0, and thus cos α= 1 and N becomes the critical
speed Nc.

• The operating speed/optimum speed of the ball mill is between 50 and

75 percent of the critical speed.
 Ultrafine Grinders
• Many commercial powders must contain particles averaging 1 to 20 μm in
size. Mills which reduce solids to such fine particles are called as ultrafine
grinders.
• Fluid Energy Mill
• Grinding takes place by attrition.
• A fluid energy mill is a size reduction unit in which size reduction results from attrition
between rapidly moving particles of the material being ground.
• A source of compressed air or gas or high pressure superheated steam that enters the
grinding chamber through nozzles in the periphery at high speed provides energy to
the particles to achieve high velocities.
• In fluid energy mill there is no moving parts and no grinding media.
• The fluid energy mill can handle powders having an initial size ranging from 150
microns and can grind materials upto one micron.
• Usually powders from pulverizers are handled in it.
• The materials that can be processed include food products, antibiotics, pigments,
dyes, cosmetics, etc.
Open-Circuit and Closed-Circuit Grinding
• If the material is passed only once through the machine (crushing or grinding), and no
attempt is made to return the oversize material to it for further reduction, the process is
known as open-circuit grinding.
• • If the partially ground material from the machine is sent to a size separation unit, from
where the undersize is withdrawn as the product and the oversize material is returned to
the machine for reground, the process is known as closed-circuit grinding.
• In case of coarse particles, the size separation unit is a screen or grizzly while it is some
form of classifier in case of fine powders. Closed-circuit grinding though useful for any
crusher, it is commonly employed to machines yielding a fine product.
• Some conditions that favour open circuit grinding are : (i) Small
reduction ratios and (ii) Coarse reduction of particles.
• Advantages of open circuit grinding are : (i) Simplicity of operation, (ii)
Minimum equipment requirements.
• Some conditions that favour closed circuit grinding are : (i) larger
reduction ratios and (ii) fine reduction of particles.
• Some advantages of closed circuit grinding are : (i) higher capacity, (ii)
lower power consumption per ton of product, (iii) suitable for
reduction to fine and ultrafine sizes, (iv) avoids coarse material in the
final ground product by returning it to the mill, (v) eliminate
overgrinding by removing fines early.
Definition and Derivation of the Effectiveness
of a Screen
• Consider that the feed to a screen consists of materials A and B, where A is
the oversize and B is the undersize material.
• Let F be the mass flow rate of feed, (kg/h)
• D be the mass flow rate of overflow, (kg/h)
• B be the mass flow rate of underflow, (kg/h)
• xF be the mass fraction of material A in feed.
• xD be the mass fraction of material A in overflow.
• xB be the mass fraction of material A in underflow.
• The mass fractions of material B in feed, overflow and underflow are 1 – xF,
1 – xD, and 1 – xB respectively.
Substituting the value of D elimination of B
• The effectiveness of a screen (screen efficiency) is a measure of the
success of the screen in closely separating undersize and oversize
materials. In the case of a perfectly functioned screen, all the oversize
material 'A' would be in the overflow and all the undersize material
would be in the underflow.
• The screen effectiveness based on the oversize material is the ratio
of the amount of oversize material A that is actually in the overflow to
the amount of oversize material A in the feed.
• Substituting the values of EA and EB

Substituting the values of D/F and B/F