GRINDING

Grinding Mills (from Metso, Basics in Mineral processing-2013)

1
 Autogenous (AG) Mill

• High aspect ratio mills D/L = 1.5 – 3.0 with tapered conical ends or square ends
• Square mills D/L = 1.0
• Low aspect ratio mills D/L = 0.33 – 0.66
• The last two are the dominant types in single stage.
• Primary AG is no-more efficient power-wise than conventional crushing, rod
milling, and ball milling, but offers savings in steel ball and liner costs at the
expense of increased power consumption and capital cost.
Critical Size Material
A problem associated with AG and SAG is the production of critical size material. These are the particles that are too small to efficiently grind other particles, but too
large to be ground themselves.
Critical size particles tend to accumulate in the mill, which reduces capacity and increases the required specific power draw causing mill capacity increases in the
order of 12% to 25%. For best mill performance, this material should be taken out of the circulating load and processed separately by communition means.
The critical size particles for each milling circuit are different, depending on the viscosity of the pulp, configuration of the plant, seasonal variations and a whole
2 host
of raw feed and plant considerations.
Semi-Autogenous (SAG) Mill

• Wet or dry
• Higher capacity than AG mill grinding; power-wise more efficient than AG mills
• Grinding media is grinding feed plus 120-125 mm steel balls occupying 5-12% v/v of
the inner mill volume (including the void volume between the balls). Mill total
charge is about 30% v/v.
• The steel balls help prevent accumulation of the critical-size (12-50 mm) particles in
the ore hold-up in the mill.
• SAG mills generate a bi-modal size distribution.

3
Rod Mill

• Ideal feed size: -20 mm (80% -13 mm)

• Overflow discharge is most common to grind a crushing plant product wet to a size
suitable for ball mill feed, with 60-75% solids and 50-75% critical speed.
• 10-12.5 cm top diameter of rods; discard if less than 2.5 cm diameter.

4
Ball Mill

• Ideal feed size: average material -12.5 mm, hard ores 80% -6 mm, cement clinker
and soft ores 80% -25 mm.
• Typical design R.R.: 60, max. 70
• Trunnion overflow discharge is most common, which operates wet typically with
35-40% ball loading, 65-75% critical speed (60-90% is also acceptable).

5
Pebble Mill

• Similar to grate-discharge ball mills in nearly all aspects of design, but are
considerably larger than ball mill for the same horsepower.
• Operates at 75-85% critical speed.
• Power drawn is proportional to the bulk density of the charge.
• Pebble size: 40-75 mm

6
7
8
9
10
If (the Bond crushing work index)< (Wi)RM>(Wi)BM, critical-size pebble crushing is
included in the circuit.

11
12
13
14
15
16
 Rod and Ball Mill Sizing
• The size of a grinding mill is based principally on the power it is required to pull at the feed
rate for which it is to be designed and the grinding conditions under which it is expected to
operate:

power input to mill pinion (kW) = feed rate (t/h) x specific grinding energy (kWh/t)
• Ways to determine the specific grinding energy:

1) Using operating data from existing mill circuit and the general power equation

Power (kW) = ρ.K.L.D2.5

K = mill constant, ρ = grinding media density, L = mill length (m), D = mill diameter (m)

2) Using the laboratory-determined Bond Work Index and the Bond Specific Power
(kWh/t) equations, with the application of scale-up efficiency factors.

• L/D ratios

Rod mills: 1.4 to 1.6 to prevent rod charge tangling.

Ball mills: 1 to 2

17
Example – Rod and Ball Mill Sizing

Select rod mill(s) and ball mill(s) for a rod mill - ball mill wet grinding circuit with the
following specifed conditions:

(Wi)RM = 14.5 kWh/tonne

(Wi)BM = 12.9 kWh/tonne

Rod mill feed: 80% -18 mm (top size 25 mm)

Rod mill product: 80% -1.2 mm (top size 2 mm)

Ball mill product: 80% -175 µm

Steady-state feed rate to the circuit: 500 t/h

*(Remember that mill sizing is based on the circuit feed rate and excludes circulating loads to
mills in the circuit)

18
 (Wi)RM = 14.5 kWh/tonne
Example – Rod and Ball Mill Sizing (Wi)BM = 12.9 kWh/tonne
Rod mill feed: 80% - 18 mm (top size 25 mm)
Rod mill sizing Rod mill product: 80% -1.2 mm (top size 2 mm)
Ball mill product: 80% -175 µm
Steady-state feed rate to the circuit: 500 t/h
1 1
Rod mill specific power; W = 10 x 14.5 − = 3.12 kWh/tonne
1200 18000

Rod mill power = 3.12 x 500 x 1.1 (as SF)* = 1716 kW (or 2300 HP)**

Referring to manufacturer’s table 2 rod mills will be required.

The preliminary selection: 3.66 m x 4.88 m (D x L) rod mill drawing 972 HP/mill @ 40% rod charge by vol.
2300/2 = 1150 HP is required for each mill

Therefore, increase mill length by a factor 1150/972 = 1.18 and 1.18 x 4.88 = 5.77m
Rod Mill Power (HP)
Use two 3.66m x 5.77m overflow rod mill with 40% (by vol.) rod charge at Mill Pinion Shaft

5.77
L/D ratio = = 1.57 OK!
3.66

The selection made is just one

of the possible/applicable
options!

*SF= Safety Factor

**HP = 1.341 x kW
19
 (Wi)RM = 14.5 kWh/tonne
(Wi)BM = 12.9 kWh/tonne
Rod mill feed: 80% - 18 mm (top size 25 mm)
Ball mill sizing Rod mill product: 80% -1.2 mm (top size 2 mm)
Ball mill product: 80% -175 µm
Steady-state feed rate to the circuit: 500 t/h
1 1
Ball mill sp. power; W = 10 x 12.9 − = 6.03 kWh/tonne
175 1200

Ball mill power = 6.03 x 500 x 1.1 (as SF) = 3316 kW (or 4447 HP ≈ 4450 HP)

Since two rod mills are required, having two ball mills makes sense.
4450/2 = 2225 HP/mill

A 4.27m x 4.27 m grate discharge wet ball mill draws 1699 HP at 40% ball loading by vol.

Therefore, increase mill length by a factor 2225/1699 = 1.31. Ball Mill Power (HP)
Two ball mills with the dimensions 4.27m x 5.59 m seems to be adequate. at Mill Pinion Shaft

5.59
L/D ratio = 4.27 = 1.31 OK!

Final selection:
Refer to manufacturer’s data to
select the nearest standard size rod
and ball mills available.
20
 AG/SAG Mill Sizing:
• There must be continuous availability of large pieces of hard rock to serve as grinding media.
Approximately one-quarter or more of the ore to be ground must enter the mill as grinding
media pieces above 15-20 cm (6-8 in.) and they must be sufficiently durable, but not too
strong (the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the ore should be < 180 MPa).

• In the finer sizes the ore should not be harder to break than in the coarse and preferrably
the fines should break easily (i.e. grinding should become easier as particle size gets finer).

• The selection of an AG/SAG mill for a project is by no means a certainty and pilot plant
testing is normally required to develop design criteria, especially for AG and pebble milling.

• SAG mill comminution tests and pilot plant testwork may not be required at preliminary
evaluation stage and the SAG mill selection may be made using bench-scale testwork
provided that:
- Mineralization is not from a very competent uniform zone or a fully oxidized clayey zone
- UCS of the ore < 180 MPa
- The Bond Crushing Work Index < 20 kWh/t
- The Bond (Wi)RM is not significantly higher than the Bond (Wi)BM and both are not
significantly higher than 15 kWh/t

21
Predicting Wet SAG Mill Specific Power from Bench-Scale Testwork:

• For most ores which are ground in single stage (AG or SAG) from a size of about 80% passing 100 mm,
it has been found that the required total power draft is adequately modelled by applying a multiplier
factor of 1.2 to the Bond (Wi)BM.

• In two stage milling such as SAG/Ball mill, the single stage rule of (Wi)BMx1.2 is still found to apply for
typical feeds of 80% -100 mm.

• A method is then obtained for sizing the SAG mill by partitioning the total power between that
available in the ball mill and that required for the SAG mill.

• P80 of AG or SAG mill product is normally 1600 – 600 µm.

Example:
SAG/BM circuit, (Wi)BM = 16 kWh/t, F80 = 100 mm, Ball mill Feed F80 = 0.8mm, P80 = 75 µm,
Throughput requirement: 450 t/h

1 1
Wtotal = 10 x 16 − x 1.2 = 22.2 kWh/t
75 100000
1 1
WSAG = Wtotal – WBM = 22.2 – [10 x 16 − ]= 22.2 – 12.8 = 9.4 kWh/t
75 800
SAG mill power = 450 t/h x 9.4 kWh/t = 4200 kW

It is then necessary to relate mill size to mill power draw for the range of operating conditions.
22
Power - Mill Size:

kW (net) = PN.ρc.L.D2.5
PN: power number
ρc: bulk density of the total mill charge (3.8-3.9 t/m3 for SAG mill)
L, D: effective mill length and diameter, m

1. Based on an PN selected from the PN vs. mill charge plot and an appropriate D/L
ratio calculate a trial diameter (typically 3:1 for competent ores, although currently
used ratio is 2:1) from the above equation.
2. Adjust the calculated trial diameter to the closest standard nominal diameter and
re-calculate L and select a standard length.
3. Based on std. Diameter and std. Length and operating conditions re-calculate the
power. Make sure that this is higher than the required grinding power.

• Nominal diameters of AG/SAG mills: 12 through 42 ft with 2 ft differences.

• Selection of a motor with the required torque output over the desired mill speed is
important. Motor efficiency should also be taken into consideration.
• Pebble mills are sized using the same procedure as above. Secondary ball mills are
sized using Bond formulae.
23
Mill rpm range = 7 – 11
C.S. = Critical Speed

24
Homework:
Size a SAG mill for a SAG/BM circuit in accordance with the given data (make, show and
define assumptions where necessary):

(Wi)BM = 14 kWh/t,
F80 = 100 mm,
Ball mill Feed F80 = 1mm,
P80 = 50 µm,
Throughput requirement: 1000 t/h

25