Comminution reduction

The raw ROM (run of mine) ore is reduced in size from boulders of up to 100 cm in diameter to about 0.5 cm using jaw cmshers as weU as cone, gyratory, or roU-type equipment. The cmshed product is further pulverized using rod mills and ball mills, bringing particle sizes to finer than about 65 mesh (230 p.m). These size reduction (qv) procedures are collectively known as comminution processes. Their primary objective is to generate mineral grains that are discrete and Hberated from one another (11). Liberation is essential for the exploitation of individual mineral properties in the separation process. At the same time, particles at such fine sizes can be more readily buoyed to the top of the flotation ceU by air bubbles that adhere to them. 

In atomization, a stream of molten metal is stmck with air or water jets. The particles formed are collected, sieved, and aimealed. This is the most common commercial method in use for all powders. Reduction of iron oxides or other compounds in soHd or gaseous media gives sponge iron or hydrogen-reduced mill scale. Decomposition of Hquid or gaseous metal carbonyls (qv) (iron or nickel) yields a fine powder (see Nickel and nickel alloys). Electrolytic deposition from molten salts or solutions either gives powder direcdy, or an adherent mass that has to be mechanically comminuted. 

Flow Sheets. AH minerals processing operations function on the basis of a flow sheet depicting the flow of soHds and Hquids in the entire plant (6,13,14). The complexity of a flow sheet depends on the nature of the ore treated and the specifications for the final product. The basic operations in a flow sheet are size reduction (qv) (comminution) and/or size separation (see Separation, size), minerals separation, soHd—Hquid separation, and materials handling. The overaH flow sheet depends on whether the specification for the final mineral product is size, chemical composition, ie, grade, or both. Products from a quarry, for example, may have a size specification only, whereas metal concentrates have a grade specification. 

Size reduction (qv) or comminution is the first and very important step in the processing of most minerals (2,6,10,20—24). It also involves large expenditures for heavy equipment, energy, operation, and maintenance. Size reduction is necessary because the value minerals are intimately associated with gangue and need to be Hberated, and/or because most minerals processing/separation methods require the ore mass to be of certain size and/or shape. Size reduction is also required in the case of quarry products to produce material of controlled particle size (see Size measurement of particles). In some instances, hberation of valuables or impurities from the ore matrix is achieved without any apparent size reduction. Scmbbers and attritors used in the industrial minerals plants, eg, phosphate, mtile, glass sands, or clay, ate examples. 

Many crystalline products, including fine chemicals, foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals, require a final particle size that is significantly smaller than that produced during the crystallization or precipitation step. One way of achieving the required particle size is to employ a subsequent size-reduction step using some form of comminution device, frequently a mill. 

Institution of Chemical Engineers, 1975. In Comminution, Institution of Chemical Engineers Working Party concerned with the theory and practice of the size reduction of solid materials. Ed. V.C. Marshall, Institution of Chemical Engineers, Rugby, 83pp. 

The major purposes of comminution or size reduction operations can be summarized in four categories as shown in Table 2.2. Comminution is almost invariably performed in two or more stages. It starts with the crude mined or quarried product this is progressively taken to the desired final size by a step-by-step process. As the process of fracture is involved throughout this procedure, a brief discussion on the fracture of materials is appropriate at this point. 

Separation processes, as could be seen from Figure 2.1, position themselves at the back end of the sequence in operations in the mineral processing flowsheet. The front-end operations has been found virtually to terminate with the liberation or the size-reduction processes involving crushing and grinding. It is important to limit the amount of size reduction to that at which adequate liberation is accomplished. The term adequacy is related to the cost involved in comminution and to performance of the concentration methods that follows. The concentration is obtained by separation processes which rely on differences in the properties of the particles, the physical and physico-chemical characteristics of minerals. In this context, it will only be relevant to refer to Table 2.5 which presents a summary of the processes along with the properties of the minerals that are exploited. 

Attrition of particulate materials occurs wherever solids are handled and processed. In contrast to the term comminution, which describes the intentional particle degradation, the term attrition condenses all phenomena of unwanted particle degradation which may lead to a lot of different problems. The present chapter focuses on two particular process types where attrition is of special relevance, namely fluidized beds and pneumatic conveying lines. The problems caused by attrition can be divided into two broad categories. On the one hand, there is the generation of fines. In the case of fluidized bed catalytic reactors, this will lead to a loss of valuable catalyst material. Moreover, attrition may cause dust problems like explosion hazards or additional burden on the filtration systems. On the other hand, attrition causes changes in physical properties of the material such as particle size distribution or surface area. This can result in a reduction of product quality or in difficulties with operation of the plant. 

Modeling ofBubble-Induced Attrition. Merrick and Highley (1974) have modeled bubble-induced attrition as a comminution process. According to Rittinger s law of size reduction by abrasion (cfi, Perry, 1973), the rate of creation of new surface area AS Al is proportional to the rate of energy input Ah. At... 

See also Minerals recovery/processing Minerals recovery/processing, 16 595-668. See also Minerals concentration Minerals processing classification in, 16 618-622 economic aspects of, 16 606-609 environmental aspects of, 16 609—610 flow sheets in, 16 603-605 materials handling in, 16 660-663 from ocean waters, 17 695—697 ores, 16 598-603 process control in, 16 663-665 size reduction (comminution) in, 16 610-615... 

In the materials processing industry, size reduction or comminution is usually carried out in order to increase the surface area because, in most reactions involving solid particles, the rate of reactions is directly proportional to the area of contact with a second phase. Thus the rate of combustion of solid particles is proportional to the area presented to the gas, though a number of secondary factors may also be involved. For example, the free flow of gas may be impeded because of the higher resistance to flow of a bed of small particles. In leaching, not only is the rate of extraction increased by virtue of the increased area of contact between the solvent and the solid, but the distance the solvent has to penetrate into the particles in order to gain access to the more remote pockets of solute is also reduced. This factor is also important in the drying of porous solids, where reduction in size causes both an increase in area and a reduction in the distance... 

Comminution, or particle size reduction of solids, is considerably different from that of the breakup of one liquid by dispersal as small droplets in another. Particle size reduction is generally achieved by one of four mechanisms (1) compression, (2) impact, (3) attrition and (4) cutting or shear. Equipment for particle size reduction or milling includes crushers (which operate by compression, e.g., crushing rolls), grinders (which operate principally by impact and attrition, although some compression may be involved, e.g.,... 

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