UNIT II

SIZE REDUCTION
Size Reduction:
Size reduction refers to the operation where the large particles of solids are
cut or broken into smaller pieces.
Need for size reduction:
Size reduction is carried out
1. To increase the surface area, because in most reactions involving solid
particles, the rate is directly proportional to the area of contact with a
second phase.
2. To separate two constituents, when one is dispersed in small isolated
pockets.
3. To meet specifications regarding size of commercial products.
4. To achieve complete mixing of solid-solid operation as mixing is more
complete if the particle is small.
Size reduction machines more commonly reduce the size of the solids by
1. Compression
2. Impact
3. Attrition or Rubbing
4. Cutting
Comminution:
•The Comminution is the other name for size reduction, where the
large particles of solids are cut or broken into smaller pieces.
•Size reduction deals with breaking up of larger coarse particles to
small particles which thereby increase the surface area.
•Ex., Grinding of synthetic chemicals into fine powders.
Crushing Efficiency:
The ratio of the surface energy created by crushing to the energy
absorbed by the solid is the crushing efficiency and is denoted by. C
Let, eS  The surface energy per unit area
Awb , Awa _ The area per unit mass of product and feed respectively
eS ( Awb  Awa )
Then Wn 
C
Where, W n is energy absorbed by a unit mass of the material
• Most of the applied energy converted into heat and therefore
the crushing efficiencies are low, range between and 1 percent.
• The mechanical Efficiency  m is the ratio of the energy
absorbed to the energy input .
• The total energy input W is used to overcome friction in the
bearings and other moving parts, and the rest is available for
crushing.
W
Now, The Energy input , W  n  S wb
e ( A  Awa )
m C  m


If m is the feed rate, the power required by the machine is


 m e S ( Awb  Awa )
PWm
C  m
We know that the volume surface mean diameter is given as
6
DS 
 P  S AW
Substitute in the power equation we get,

6 m eS  1 1 
PWm  
 C  m  P   b D sb  a D sa 

Where,
D sa , D sb  volume surface mean diameter of the feed and product respectively.
 a ,  b  Sphericity of the feed and product respectively.
 P  Density of the particle.

Ideal Crusher:
Ideal crushers or grinders would,
• Have a large capacity.
• Require a small power input per unit of product.
• Yield a product of the single size or the size distribution desired.
LAWS OF SIZE REDUCTION:
Rittinger’s Law:
It states that the work required for reduction of particle size is directly
proportional to the new surface area created.

P  1 1 
Mathematically, the law can be written as,   K R  
m D
 Sb D Sa 

Where, 
P Power required by machine.
mFeed rate to machine
KRConstant of Rittinger’s law.

DSa , DSb
Volume surface mean diameter of feed and product
respectively.

This law has been shown to apply reasonably in cases where the energy
input per unit mass of solid is not too high.
Kick’s Law:
It states that the work required for crushing a given material is directly
proportional to the logarithm of the ratio between the initial and final
particle diameters.
P D
 K ln  d 
Mathematically, the law can be written as,  K
m
Where,  P Power required by machine.
m Feed rate to machine
KK Constant of Kick’s Law.
D, d Initial and Final sizes of particles respectively.

• As the energy required is directly related to the reduction ratio D/d

• The energy required to crush a given quantity of material from a 50mm size
to 25mm is the same as that required to reduce the size from 12 mm size to
6 mm.
• Kick’s law is more accurate than Rittinger’s law for coarse crushing where
the amount of surface produced is considerably less.
Bond’s Law:
• Bond has suggested a law intermediate between Rittinger’s and Kick’s law
for estimating the power required for crushing and grinding operations.

• This law states that the work required to form a particles of size D P from a
very large feed is proportional to the square root of the surface to volume
ratio of the product (SP / VP)
SP 6

We know that VP DP  S
P KB
Then, 
m DP

Where, DP  Particle size

KB  Bond’s constant

Bond’s law is somewhat more realistic in estimating power requirements of

commercial size reduction machines.
Work Index:
• Work Index Wi is defined as the amount of gross energy in kWhr/ ton of
feed material required to reduce a very large feed to such a size that 80%
of the product passes through a 100µm screen.
• If DP is in mm, P in Kilowatts and m in tons/hr then the relation between
KB and Wi based on definitions of work index is ,

K B  ( 100 x10 3 )Wi  0.3162Wi

P  1 1 
 0.3162 Wi   
m  
 DPb DPa 
Problem: 1
Calculate the power required in hP to crush 150 ton/hr of limestone if 85% of the
feed passes in a 2 inch screen and 85% of the product in a 1/8 inch screen? Let
Wi for limestone is 12.74.
Given Data:
D Pa  2  25.4  50.8mm
D Pb  0.125  25.4  3.175mm
m = 150 ton/hr
Wi for limestone = 12.74
The power required is
P  1 1 
 0.3162 Wi   
m  D DPa 
 Pb 

 1 1 
P  150  0.3162  12.74  
 3.175 50.8 

 254.4 kW 341 hP 
Problem: 2
A certain crusher accepts a feed material having a volume surface mean
diameter of 19 mm and gives a product of volume surface mean diameter of 5
mm. The power required to crush 15 tonnes per hour is 7.5 kW. What will be the
power consumption if the capacity is reduced to 12 tonnes per hour?
Given Data:
Volume surface mean diameter of feed material. Dsa =19mm
Volume surface mean diameter of Product Dsb = 5mm

Mass flow rate m =15 ton /h
Power P = 7.5 kW
Case (i)
P  1 1 
By using Rittinger’s law 
 K R  
m D
 sb D sa 

7.5 1 1 
 KR    K R  3.392
15  5 19 

P 1 1  P  5.98 kW
 3.392  
Case (ii) 12  5 19 
Problem: 3
A certain crusher accepts a feed of rock having a volume surface mean
diameter of 0.75 inches and discharges a product of volume surface mean
diameter 0.2 inches. The power required to crush 15 tonnes per hour is 12
hp. What would be the power consumption if the capacity is reduced to 10
tonnes per hour and volume surface mean diameter is 0.15 inches Using
Rittinger’s law?
Case (i)

Volume surface mean diameter of feed D  0.75inch  0.75  25.4  19.05mm

sa

Volume surface mean diameter of product D sb  0.2inch  0.2  25.4mm  5.08mm


m  15ton / hr
Power ( P )  12hP  12  0.746kW  8.952kW

P  1 1 

 KR   
According to Rittinger’s law m D
 Sb D Sa 

8.952  1 1 
 KR  
15  5.08 19.05  K R  4.135
Case (ii)
Mass flow rate 
m 10 ton/hr

D sb  0.15inch  0.15  25.4mm  3.81mm

P  1 1 
 4.135   P  8.682 kW
10  3.81 19.05 

Power required = 11.64 hP

 SIZE-REDUCTION EQUIPMENTS
Size reduction equipments are divided into four principal types
1. Crushers 2. Grinders 3. Ultrafine grinders 4.Cutters
1. Crushers are employed for breaking large pieces of solid material into
small lumps.
2. A primary crusher is the one which crushes the feed to yield a product
150 to 250 mm in size.
3. A secondary crusher is the one which takes the product of a primary
crusher and reduces it to a particles perhaps 6mm in size.
4. Grinders are the machines which reduce crushed feed to powder.
5. An intermediate grinder yield product that might pass a 40 mesh screen.
6. A fine grinder gives a product most of which would pass a 200 mesh
screen.
7. Ultrafine grinders are the machines which accept feed particles having
less than 6mm and yield product of size 1 to 50µm.
8. Cutters are the size-reduction machines which give particles of definite
size and shape, usually 2 to 10mm in length.
CLASSIFICATION OF SIZE REDUCTION EQUIPMENTS:
• Crushers (coarse and fine)
a) Jaw crusher b) Gyratory crusher c) Crushing rolls
• Grinders (intermediate and fine)
1. Hammer mills; impactors
2. Rolling compression mills
a) Bowl mills b) Rolling mills
3. Attrition mills
4. Revolving mills
a) Rod mills b) Ball mills c) pebble mills d) Tube mills
• Ultra fine Grinders
i. Hammer mills with internal classification
ii. Fluid-energy mills
iii. Agitated mills
• Cutting machines
Knife cutters, dicers, slitters.
1. Crusher employ compression

2. Grinders employ impact and attrition.

3. Ultrafine grinders operate by attrition.

4. A cutting is the action of the characteristic of knife cutters, dicers

and slitters.
CRUSHERS
• Crushers are slow-speed machines employed for coarse reduction of
large solids.
• The jaw crushers, gyratory crushers and smooth-roll crushers are the
main types of crushers.
• They operate by compression.
• They can break large lumps of hard materials.
• They find application in rockery and mining industry.
JAW CRUSHERS
The two distinct types of jaw crushers are:
1. The blake jaw crusher. 2.The dodge jaw crusher.
1. In the case of the blake jaw crusher, the movable jaw is pivoted at
top, thus giving greatest movement at the bottom.
2. In case of the dodge crusher, the movable jaw is pivoted at the
bottom, thus giving maximum movement at top.
3. The dodge crusher is less widely used because of its tendency to
choke due to minimum movement of jaw at bottom.
THE BLAKE JAW CRUSHER:
Principle: It works on the principle of compression.
Construction:
1. It has fixed jaw and movable jaw which is pivoted at the top.
2. The jaws are set to form a V open at the top.
3. The swinging jaw which reciprocates in horizontal plane usually
makes an angle of 20 to 30° with the fixed jaw (nearly vertical).
4. The jaws are usually made of manganese steel or some other material
that will withstand abrasion.
5. The faces of the crushing jaws are usually corrugated for concentrating
the pressure on relatively small areas.
6. In addition to the jaws, crusher consists of pitman, toggles, flywheel,
eccentric shaft, drawback rod and springs and the frame.
7. In this machine, eccentric causes the pitman to oscillate in a vertical
direction, and this vertical movement is communicated horizontally
(reciprocating motion) to the movable jaw by toggles.
8. The speed of operation should not be high or otherwise a large
quantity of fines is produced as the material cannot escape quickly and
gets repeatedly crushed.
9. As the crushing action intermittent, the loading on the machine is
uneven. Hence, crusher incorporates a heavy flywheel.
Working:
1. The material to be crushed is admitted between the two jaws from the
top.
2. The material caught between the upper parts of the jaws is crushed to
smaller size during forward motion by compression.
3. The crushed material then drop into the narrower space below during
backward motion and is re crushed as the jaws close next time.
4. After sufficient reduction the material drops out the bottom of the
machine.
5. The jaws open and close 250 to 400 times per minute.
GYRATORY CRUSHER:
Principle: It works on the principle of compression.
Construction:
1. It consists of a funnel shaped casing, open at top.
2. A conical crushing head, in the form of a truncated cone, gyrates inside
a casing.
3. The crushing head is mounted on a heavy shaft pivoted at the top of the
machine.
4. The upper end of the shaft is driven by an eccentric so as to describe a
circle.
5. At any point on the periphery of the casing, therefore, the bottom end of
the crushing move towards, and then away from, the stationary wall.
6. The crushing action takes place around the whole of the cone and as the
maximum movement is at the bottom,.
7. The characteristics of the machine are similar to those of the Blake
crusher.
Working:
1. The material to be crushed is charged from the top.
2. The solids caught in V-shaped space between the head and casing they are
broken and rebroken until they are discharged from the bottom.
3. The speed of the crushing head is usually 125 to 425 gyrations per minute.
4. As the some part of the crushing head is working at all times, the discharge
from this crusher is continuous instead of intermittent as in a Blake crusher.
Features:
1. As the crusher is continuous in action, the fluctuations in the stresses are
smaller and load on the motor is nearly uniform and power consumption
per ton of material crushed is lower.
2. It requires less maintenance than a jaw crusher. It will not take large size
feed as do a jaw crusher, but it will give rather finer and more uniform
product.
3. To produce a small size reduction, it has large capacity cost of this crusher
is high, it is suitable only where large quantities of materials are to be
handled.
 Jaw crusher Gyratory crusher
•It is reciprocating machine. •It is a gyratory machine.
•Intermittent in action i.e., •Continuous in action i.e.,
discharge is discontinuous. discharge is continuous.
•It is a secondary crusher. it
•It is a primary crusher. It takes a
takes feed of smaller size.
feed of large size.
•The load on motor is not uniform. •The load on the motor is nearly
uniform.
•More maintenance is required. •Less maintenance is required.
•Power consumption per ton of •Power consumption per ton of
material crushed is more. material is lower.
•Capital cost is high.
•Capital cost is relatively low.
•It has large capacity when used
•It has smaller capacity when used to produce a small size
to produce a small size reduction. reduction.
GRINDERS:
1. Grinding means sub - dividing the solids to a finer product than
crushing.
2. The size reduction machines employed for intermediate duty are
referred to as grinders.
3. Grinders are often charged with the product from crusher which it
reduces to powder.
4. Some of the examples are hammer mills and revolving mills.
BALL MILL:
Principle:
• It works on the principle of impact as the balls drop from near the top
of the shell.
Construction:
1. The ball mill consists of a hollow cylindrical shell rotating about its
axis.
2. The axis of the shell may be either horizontal or at a small angle to the
horizontal.
3. It is partially filled with balls. The grinding media is the balls which
may be made of steel, stainless steel or rubber.
4. The inner surface of the cylindrical shell is usually lined with an
abrasion-resistant material, such as manganese steel or rubber.
5. Less wear takes place in rubber lined mills. The length of the mill is
approximately equal to its diameter.
6. The ball occupy about 30 to50 percent of the volume of the mill.
7. The diameter of the ball used will vary between 12mm and 125mm
and the optimum diameter is approximately proportional to the square
root of the size of the feed.
8. The shell is rotated at low speed through drive gear(60-100rpm) and in
large ball mills, the shell might be 3m in diameter and 4.25m in length.
9. The ball mill may be operated in batch or continuous fashion, wet or
dry.
10. The outlet is normally covered with coarse screen to prevent the
escape of the balls.
Working:
1. In a continuous ball mill, the material to be ground is fed from the left
through 60° cone and the product is discharged through a 30° at right.
2. As the shell rotates, the balls are lifted up on the rising side of the shell
and then they drop down on to the feed, from near the top and thus of
the shell.
3. In doing so, the solid particles in between the balls are ground and
reduced in size by impact.
4. The mill contain balls of various sizes. As the shell rotates, the large
balls segregate near the feed end and small balls segregate near the
product end/ discharge.
5. The initial breaking of the feed particles, therefore, is done by the
largest ball dropping the largest distance and small particles are ground
by small balls dropping from much smaller distance.
6. If rate of feed is increased, coarser product will be obtained and if speed
of rotation is increased (less than critical speed), the fineness for a given
capacity increases.
7. During grinding, the balls themselves wear and are constantly replaced
by new ones so that mill contains balls of various ages and thus of
various sizes.
8. The ball mills produce 1 to 50 t/h of powder of which near about 70 to
90% would pass a 200-mesh screen and energy requirement of ball mill
is about 16kWh/t.
9. In case of batch operated mill, a measured quantity of a solid to be
ground is charged into the mill through opening in the shell.
10.The opening is then closed and the mill is rotated for several hours.
11. It is then stopped and the product is discharged.
Applications:
The ball mill is used for grinding materials such as coal, pigments, and
feldspar for pottery
Grinding can be carried out either wet or dry but former is carried at low
speeds.
Ball mill can be used for grinding explosive ore, since the mill can be
operated under wet conditions as well as under inert conditions.
Advantages of wet grinding:
1. Low power consumptions (20 to 30%) .
2. Increase in capacity.
3. Facilitate removal of product.
4. Ease in solid handling.
5. Reduction in dust formation.
Disadvantages:
1. It may be necessary to dry product.
2. High wear on grinding medium (about 20 percent greater).
Advantages of the ball mill:
1. Low cost of installation and of power.
2. Cheap grinding medium. Used for batch or continuous operation.
3. Grinding of certain explosive materials can be carried out as it can be used with
inert atmosphere.
4. Mill can be operated wet or dry grinding facilitates the removal of product.
5. Suitable for materials of all degrees of hardness.
6. It can be used for open or closed circuit grinding.
OPEN-CIRCUIT AND CLOSED-CIRCUIT GRINDING:
1. 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.
2. If the partially ground material from machine is sent to the size
separation unit, from where undersize is withdrawn as product and
oversize material is returned to the machine for reground, the process is
known as Closed-circuit grinding.
3. In case of course particles , the size separation unit is a screen or
grizzly while it is some form of classifiers in case of fine powders.
4. Closed circuit grinding is employed for machines yielding a fine
product. The size separation unit is incorporated inside or outside the
size reduction equipment.
5. The product from the crusher is screened into three fractions, oversize,
intermediate and fines.
6. The oversize is returned back to the crusher.
7. The intermediate particles are fed to rod mill where they are reduced in
size and are then fed to ball mill along with fines from size separation
unit.
8. Closed circuit grinding requires less energy as compared to open circuit
grinding and is of most value in reduction to fine and ultrafine sizes.
Action in revolving / tumbling mills:
1. During operation, the balls are picked up by the mill wall and are carried
near the top of the mill.
2. The ball then breaks contact with the wall and drop to the bottom.
3. During the upward movement of the balls, centrifugal force keeps the
balls in contact with the wall and with each other.
4. Grinding takes place by slipping and rolling over each other, but the most
of the grinding takes place as free falling balls strikes the bottom of the
mill (impact).
5. The balls are projected across the mill depending upon the speed of
rotation.
6. At low speeds of operation, the balls simply roll over each other resulting
into little crushing action.
7. If the mill is operated at higher speeds, the balls will be carried up further
inside the mill and greater will be the power consumption.
8. But at the same time, as the balls fall down from higher distances,
greater will be the impact at the bottom, and larger will be the capacity
of the mill.
9. If the mill is operated at very high speed, the balls are carried right
round in contact with the sides of mill and the mill is said to be
centrifuging.
10. 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 weight of ball.
11. A little or no grinding takes place when a mill is centrifuging.
12. If the mill is to operate practically, the operating speed must be less than
the critical speed.
13. The speed at which the outermost balls break contact with the wall
depends on the balance between the centrifugal and gravitational forces.
14. Consider the ball at point B on the periphery of the mill.
15. Let R and r be the radii of the mill and ball
respectively.
(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 the
vertical.
16. The forces acting on ball are
• The force of gravity, mg ,
where m is the mass of the ball
• The centrifugal force, mv2/ (R-r) , Where ‘v’ is the peripheral speed.
17. The component of gravity opposing the centrifugal force ( centripetal
component) is mg cos α.
18. As long as the centrifugal force exceeds the centripetal component of
force of gravity, the particle will not lose the contact with the wall.
19. As the angle α decreases, the centripetal force increases,
20. When the opposing forces are equal and the ball is ready to fall away.
21. The angle at which the said phenomenon occurs is found out by
equating the opposing forces,
mv 2
cos  
2
mv
mg cos   mg ( R  r )
Rr
22. The relation between peripheral speed and speed of the rotation is
given by the equation v  2 N ( R  r )
23. Putting value of v from above equation into the previous one, We get
cos  
2N ( R  r )
2
4 2 N 2 ( R  r )
g (R  r) cos  
g
24. At critical speed, α=0, Cos α =1 and N becomes the critical speed N C
4 2 N C ( R  r )
2
2 g 1 g
cos   1  NC  NC 
g 4 2 ( R  r ) 2 (R  r)

25. The operating speed or optimum speed of ball mill is between 50

to 75 percent of the critical speed.
Problem: 4
What rotational speed, in revolutions per minute, would you recommend
for a ball mill 1200mm in diameter charged with 75mm balls?
Solution:
1 g
N 
The critical speed of ball mill is given by C 2 ( R  r )
Where g = 9.81m/s2
R= Radius of the ball mill

Given Data:
Diameter of ball mill = 1200mm
R  1200  600mm  0.60m
2

Diameter of the ball=75mm

r  75  37.5mm  0.0375m
r = Radius of the ball 2
 1 g
1 9.81 NC 
NC   0.66 r. p.s 2 (R  r)
2 0.60  0.0375

 39.6r. p.m  40r. p.m

Operating speed of the ball mill is 50 to 75% of the critical speed.

Operating speed = 50 to 75% of 40 r.p.m
= 20 to 30 r.p.m
The rotational speed that can be recommended is between 20 to 30 r.p.m

The operating speed or optimum speed of ball mill is between 50 to 75

percent of the critical speed.
Problem : 5
A certain crusher takes a feed of rock whose average particle diameter Is 0.025m
and crushes it to a product whose average particle diameter is 0.018m at the rate
of 20 tonnes /hour. At this rate the mill takes 9 HP of power and 0.46 HP power
is required to run it empty.
i.What would be the power consumption for the same capacity if the average
particle diameter in the product is 0.008 meter?
ii.How much power would be required under Kick’s law condition?

Given Data:
Average particle diameter of feed = 0.025m= 25mm
Average particle diameter of product = 0.018m = 18mm
Rate of crushing 
m  20 ton / hr
Let, P  Power consumption for crushing only = P1 - P0
Where, P1  Power consumption by the mill during crushing.
P0  Power consumption by the mill to run it empty.

P  9  0.46  8.54 HP  6.371 KW

So,
By Rittinger’s law, P  1 1 

 K R  
m D
 Sb D Sa 

6.371 1 1
 KR    K R  20.5516
20 18 25 
Case (i)
The average particle diameter in the product = 0.008 m = 8mm
P 1 1 
 20.5516   P  34.9377 KW
20  8 25 
Case (ii) P DSa

 K K ln
According to Kick’s law` m DSb
6.371
 K K ln
25 K  0.9697
K

20 18
If the average particle diameter in the product = 0.008 m = 8mm
The power required is given as,
P 25 P  22.098 KW  29.62 HP
 0.9697 ln
20 8
K
Fluid Energy Mill
Principle:
• In fluid energy mill the size reduction occurs when the particles strike or rub
against the walls of the confining chamber.
• But most of the reduction is caused by interparticle attrition.
Construction:
1. This consist of an injector, a reduction chamber, a
classifying chamber, energizing nozzles and a provision for feed inlet.
2. In fluid energy mill the grinding chamber is an oval loop of pipe 25 to 200 mm
in diameter and 1.2 to 2.4 m high .
3. Feed enters near the bottom of the loop through a venture injector.
4. At the bottom of the loop there are number of jets are arranged through which
compressed air or super heated steam.
5. A discharge opening in the upper part of the inner wall leads to a cyclone
separator and a bag collector for the product.
Working:
1. In this mill, the particles are suspended in a high – velocity gas stream.
2. Some reduction occurs when the particles strike or rub against the walls of
the continuing chamber.
3. Larger particles will be inside the mill until they are reduced to the desired
size.
4. Feed enters near the bottom of the loop through a venturi injector.
5. Reduction occurs at the lower end of the chamber where as classification
occurs at the upper bend of the chamber.
6. Classification of the grinding particles takes place at the upper bend of the
loop.
7. As the gas stream flows around this bend at high speed, the courser particles
are thrown outward against the outer wall when as the fines concentrate at
the inner wall.\
8. The classification is aided by the complex pattern of swirl generated in the
gas stream at the bend in the loop of pipe.
9. A discharge opening at the inner wall leads to a cyclone separator and the
bag collector to collect the product.
10. Fluid energy mills accept a feed of size greater than 12mm and
produces 0.5 to in µm size particles.
11. It requires 1 to 4 kg of steam or 6 to 9 kg of air per kg of product.
12. Loop mills can process up to 6000 kg/hr.
13. This mill is suitable for non sticky materials.