BALL MILL

Introduction:
Reduction of particle size is an important operation in many chemical and other industries. The
important reasons for size reduction are:
 Easy handling
 Increase in surface area per unit volume
 Separation of entrapped components

The operation is highly energy intensive; hence a variety of specialized equipment is available
for specific applications. The equipment may utilize one or more of the following physical
mechanisms for size reduction: (i) Compression, (ii) Impact, (iii) Attrition, (iv) Cutting.
Estimation of energy for the operation is important and is usually done by empirical equations.
Enormous quantities of energy are consumed in size reduction operations. Size reduction is the
most inefficient unit operations in terms of energy, as 99% of the energy supplied goes to
operating the equipment and producing undesirable heat and noise, while less than 1% goes in
creating new interfacial area. Reduction to very fine sizes is much more costly in terms of
energy as compared to relatively coarse products.
Sieving refers to the separation of a mixture of particles of different sizes using sieves each with
a uniform sized opening. Standard sieves of specified opening sizes are used. Sieves are stacked
with the sieve with the largest opening on the top and the material is separated into fractions
by shaking. The material between two sieves is smaller than the upper sieve opening but larger
than the smaller sieve opening.
Objectives:
1. To grind the given material to a smaller size using a ball mill and to obtain the size
distribution of the initial and final mixture by sieving.
2. To estimate the energy required for the grinding operation.
3. To analyze the results using available theories.
Theory and Analysis:
The minimum energy required for crushing is the energy required for creating fresh surface. In
addition, energy is absorbed by the particulate material due to deformation, friction, etc.,
which results in an increase of the material temperature. Defining the crushing efficiency as

𝑆𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 (𝐴𝑤𝑏 −𝐴𝑤𝑎 )

ɳ𝐶 = = 𝑒𝑠 (1)
𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑏𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑊𝑛

Where 𝑒𝑠 is the surface energy per unit area and 𝑊𝑛 is the energy absorbed. We can
experimentally fin𝑑 ɳ𝐶 . The range of ɳ𝐶 is between 0.06 – 1.00%. If ɳ𝑚 is the mechanical
efficiency, the energy input is

(𝐴𝑤𝑏 −𝐴𝑤𝑎 )
𝑊 = 𝑒𝑠 (𝑆𝐼𝑁𝐶𝐸 𝑊𝑛 = ɳ𝑚 𝑤) (2)
ɳ𝐶 ɳ𝑚

Finally, the grinding energy used per unit mass is

𝑾 𝟔𝒆𝒔 𝟏 𝟏
= ( ̅ 𝒔𝒃
− ̅ 𝒔𝒂
) (𝟑)
𝒎 𝜼𝒄 𝜼𝒎 𝝆𝒑 𝝓𝒃 𝑫 𝝓𝒂 𝑫

where m is mass of material being ground. In the above equation φ is the sphericity, ̅𝒔
𝑫 is the

surface volume diameter and the subscripts a and b refer to the initial and final states,
respectively.

Experiments show that the first term in Eq. (3) is not independent of ̅ 𝒔 , and as a result the
𝑫
above equation is difficult to use for analysis. Instead a number of empirical laws have been
proposed for calculation the energy requirements for crushing. The laws can be unified in a
differential form as follows:
 𝑊 𝑑𝐷𝑠
𝑑 ( ) = −𝑘 ̅𝑠𝑛
(4)
𝑚 𝐷

The different laws for the different values of the exponent are

𝑊 ̅
𝐷
𝑛=1 ∶ = 𝐾𝐾 𝑙𝑛 ( ̅𝑠𝑎 ) (𝐾𝑖𝑐𝑘 ′ 𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑤) (5)
𝑚 𝐷𝑠𝑏

𝑊 1 1
𝑛=2 ∶ = 𝐾𝑅 ( ̅ − ̅𝑠𝑎
) (𝑅𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 ′ 𝑠 𝐿𝑎𝑤) (6)
𝑚 𝐷𝑠𝑏 𝐷

3 𝑊 1 1
𝑛= ∶ = 𝐾𝐵 ( − ) (𝐵𝑜𝑛𝑑′ 𝑠 𝐿𝑎𝑤) (7)
2 𝑚 √𝐷80𝑏 √𝐷80𝑎

Note that the definition of particle size in Bonds law is different: 80D= Particle size such that
80% by weight of the sample is smaller than it.

Bonds law is often written in terms of the work index (Wi) as,

𝑊 1 1
= 10𝑊𝑖 ( ̅80𝑏
− ̅80𝑎
) (8)
𝑚 √𝐷 √𝐷

Where the work index is defined as the energy required per unit mass in kWh/ton to reduce an
̅80 = 100 𝜇𝑚. In the above equation, unit of 𝐷
infinitely large particles to 𝐷 ̅80 is μm, of W is kWh

and of m is ton. Values of the work index: obtained from experiments for different materials
are given in the table below.
 Material Wi (kWh/ton)

Basalt 20.41
Coke 73.8
Limestone 11.6
Mica 134.5
Glass 3.08
Calcined clay 1.43

Procedure:
1. Weigh the given sample and obtain the initial size distribution by sieving.
2. Grind the sample in the ball mill for 30 minutes noting the energy consumed during
grinding.
3. Measure the size distribution by sieving.
4. Note the RPM of ball mill.
5. Note readings and draw size distribution curves for
a. Cumulative size distribution.
b. Frequency size distribution.
c. Initial distribution and distributions obtained after sieving.
d. Calculate the surface volume diameter in each case.
̅80 for all three distributions.
e. Obtain the diameter 𝐷

f. Obtain the coefficients of kk kR and the work index Wi for all runs.

g. Assuming reasonable values of ɳc and ɳc estimate es.