Experiment 1: Study of the size reduction by ball mill and Sieve Analysis of coarse and fine

aggregate.

1. Objectives:
1. To grind the given sugar material to a smaller size using a ball mill and to obtain the size
distribution of the initial and the final mixture by sieving.
2. To estimate the energy required for the grinding operation.

2. Apparatus and Materials

1. The solids study unit
2. A Scale
3. A Tray
4. A vibratory stack of sieves
5. Mechanical sieve shaker
6. Solids which are going to be studied (Salt, Sugar)

3. Theory
3. 1 Size Reduction
Size reduction is major unit operation in industries handling particulate solid. The industries like mineral
dressing, paint, cement, bauxite, pharmaceutical as well as black powder handles large amount solid
materials, which need to be grinded to fine size. Many solid materials occur in sizes that are too large to
be used and must be reduced. Often these solids are reduced in size so that the separation of various
ingredients can be carried out. The basic motive behind performing the size-reduction is to make too
large to be used solid materials usable. It leads to an increase in surface area per unit volume that
enhances the rate of the reaction by allowing more sites for the reaction to take place. Moreover,
handling of smaller size particles is much easier as compared to that of bigger particles.

The method of application of the force to the particles may affect the breakage pattern. The following
four basic patterns are identified;
1. Impact - particle concussion by a single rigid force
2. Compression - particle disintegration by two rigid forces
3. Shear - produced by a fluid or by particle-particle interaction
4. Attrition - arising from particles scraping against one another or against a rigid surface.
Some of the factors affecting the choice of size reduction Equipment are; Nature of the Material to be
crushed, stressing mechanism, mode of operation, capacity, Size of feed and product, Material
properties, carrier medium, and integration with other unit operation

The principal types of size reduction machines are as follows:

A. Crushers (coarse and fine)

1. Jaw crushers
2. Gyratory crushers
3. Crushing rolls
B. Grinders (intermediate and fine)
1. Hammer mills, Impactors
2. Attrition mills
3. Tumbling mills
a. Rod mills

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 b. Ball mills
C. Ultrafine grinders
1. Fluid-energy mills

D. Cutting machines
1. Knife cutters, slitters

The milling operation is carried out in some phases. The first one consists of breaking into pieces solids
of great size. For this purpose, we use the crushers or primary mills. The more used mills are the
hammer mill, and the jawbones one. The second phase is useful to reduce the size using more control,
operating intermediate and fines sizes. For this phase, the mill more used in the industry is the balls mill.

The balls mill carries out the most part of the reduction by impact. When it revolves round an axis, it
provokes that the balls fall down in cascade from the maximum height of the mill. This action causes a
tapping on the material that is going to be moved. Besides, we obtain the material in good state. Thus,
the mill is uniform. A lab scale solids operation Study Unit has been shown in Fig. 1.

At industrial scale, the balls mill works with a continuous flow, having two rooms inside; the first one
has big balls of two or three inches of diameter, whereas the second one will have balls of 1 to 1 1/2
inches. In a ball mill, finer product is produced by smaller balls, higher ball density and longer residence
time.

Fig.1 A Solids Operation Study Unit

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3.2 Sieve Analysis

Sieve analysis is believed to be the oldest geotechnical engineering laboratory undertaken to classify the
solids based on its particle size. Normalized sieves are used to measure the size and size distribution of
the particles for the interval between 125mm to 0.020mm. The sieves which consist of framework and
mesh are made with wires, which are normalized ISO 3310-1, UNE7050-3, and ASTM E11 95. The
opening may be square or round, and sieve is identified by the size of the holes called hole meshes. The
Particles fraction that go through the sieve is called dust fines and retained fraction is called coarse grits.

Figure. 2. Sieves with different sizes and sieve number.

At present, the electromagnetic sieves are the ones that are used, almost exclusively. They transmit
some vibrations in a vertical direction, which are made by an electromagnet. That will produce a
rotational movement to the solids that are going to be sieved. Afterwards, the sieve time will be
accelerated, and as a result, the usual blockage of the meshes will be avoided.

The below given formulae are used to calculate the weight retained, weight passing through and
percentage passing through;
1. Percentage Retained = Weight Retained/weight of Sample
2. Weight Passing Through= Weight of Sample – Weight Retained
3. Percentage Passing through (Finer) = weight of passing through/weight of sample

Sieve analysis is used to monitor particle size distribution of the materials. Sieve analysis presents
particle size information in the form of an S – curve of cumulative mass retained on each sieve versus
the sieve mesh size. The most commonly used metrics when describing particle size distributions are D-
Values (D10, D50 & D80) which are the intercepts for 10%, 50% and 80% of the cumulative mass.

D-values can be thought of as the diameter of the sphere, which divides the sample's mass into a
specified percentage when the particles are arranged on an ascending mass basis. For example, the D10
is the diameter at which 10% of the sample's mass is comprised of particles with a diameter less than
this value. The D50 is the diameter of the particle that 50% of a sample's mass is smaller than and 50%
of a sample's mass is larger than

The particle size distribution obtained from the sieve analysis is plotted on a graph with particle size on
X-axis (log scale) and percent finer on Y-axix (natural scale) as shown in Fig. 3.

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Size reduction process is an extremely energy intensive. 5 % of all electricity generated is used in size
reduction processes with only 1 % efficiency. The power required to grind a material from a given feed
size to a given product size can be estimated by using Bond’s:

Where,
W= Power required for the grinding operation (kWh)
Wi= = Work index of the feed, the energy required per unit mass in kWh/ton to reduce an
infinitely large particles to D80 = 100 μm (Wi Sugar is 11.11 kWh/T)
m= Mass of feed (Ton)
D80b= Particle size of product such that 80% by weight of the sample is smaller than it (mm)
D80a= Particle size of feed such that 80% by weight of the sample is smaller than it (mm)

Fig. 3. A plot of the The particle size distribution obtained from the sieve analysis.

4. Procedure
1. Weight an amount of solid 250 grams in the scale.
2. Fill up the mill with the weighted sample and 3kg of balls.
3. Before turning on the mill, set the speed regulator to the minimum. Afterwards, increase
the speed until balls falling freely. The mill time can change between 10 and 15 minutes.
4. After milling the sample for the designated time, Collect and weigh the sample to assure
the correct operation of sieve.
5. Nest the sieve in order of decreasing size of opening from the top to bottom. Place the pan
below the bottom sieve. Place the sample on the top sieve. Place lid over top sieve.

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 6. Agitate the sieve by mechanical apparatus for a sufficient period such that not more than
1% by weight of the residual of any individual sieve will pass that sieve during 1 minute of
additional hand sieving. Five minutes of original sieving will usually accomplish these
criteria.
7. Determine the weight of material retained on each sieve. The total retained weights should
closely match the original weight of the sample (within 2%).
8. The experiment results are tabulated by showing Cumulative percentage Retain (%) and %
finer.

6. Results and Data Analysis (2 Marks)

Sieve Weight Percentage Cumulative Percent Weight Percentage Cumulative Percent
No. Retained Retained (%) percentage Finer Retained (g) Retained percentage Finer
(g) Retain (%) (%) (%) Retain (%) (%)

2
1
0.5
0.355
0.212
0.106
0.063
0

7. Make a graphics to represent the particle size distribution with particle size on X-axis (log scale) and
percent finer on Y-axix (natural scale). (2 Marks)

8. Determine D10, D50, D60 and D80 (From Graph Q7, for both feed and product), which are, respectively, the
diameters corresponding to percentage finer of 10%, 50%, 60% and 80%. (1 Mark)

9. Estimate the energy required for the grinding operation of the provided feed sample. (2 Marks)

10. Discussion & Conclusions (3 Marks)

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