SIZE REDUCTION

Dr. Akmal Hadi Ma Radzi

School of Bioprocess Engineering
SIZE REDUCTION
Particles of solids are cut or broken into
smaller pieces
In process industries, solids are reduced by
different methods for different purposes
Examples:
-Chunks of crude ore are crushed to workable
size
-Synthetic chemicals are ground into powder
- Sheets of plastic are cut into tiny cubes or
diamonds
Commercial products must often meet
stringent specifications regarding the size and
sometimes the shape of the particles they
contain
The importance of reducing the particle size ;
(a) Increases the reactivity of solids
(b) Permits separation of unwanted
ingredients by mechanical methods
(c) Reduces the bulk of fibrous materials for
easier handling and for waste disposal
Size of solids may be reduced in many different
ways, but only 4 are commonly used in size-
reduction machines:

(1) Compression -is used for coarse reduction of

hard solids, to give relatively few fines
(2) Impact (crash) - gives coarse, medium or fine
products
(3) Attrition (wear)
/rubbing - yields very fine products from soft,
nonabrasive materials
(4) Cutting -gives a definite particle size and
sometimes a definite shape, with few or
no fines
Characteristics of Comminuted
Products
Objective of crushing & grinding-to produce
small particles from larger ones
Smaller particles are desired because of:
-their large surface
-their shape, size and number
One measure of the efficiency of the
operation is based on the energy required to
create new surface, since the surface area of
a unit mass of particles increases greatly as
the particle size is reduced
Unlike an ideal crusher or grinder-an actual
unit does not yield a uniform product, whether
the feed is uniformly sized or not
The product always consists of a mixture of
particles (from maximum size-very small
particles)
Some machines especially in the grinder
class, are designed to control the magnitude
of the largest particles in their products, but
the fine sizes are not under control
In some types of grinders, fines are
minimized, but they are not eliminated
If the feed is homogenous, both in the shapes
of the particles and in chemical and physical
structure, then the shapes of the individual
units in the product may be quite uniform;
otherwise, the grains in the various sizes of a
single product may differ considerably in
shape
crusher

Grinder
The ratio of the diameters of the largest and
smallest particles in a comminuted product is on the
order of 104
Because of this extreme variation in the sizes of the
individual particles, relationships adequate for
uniform sizes must be modified when applied to
such mixture
Unless they are smoothed by abrasion after
crushing, comminuted particles resemble
polyhedrons with nearly plane faces and sharp
edges corners
The particles may be compact with length, breadth
and thickness nearly equal; or they may be plate
like or needlelike
Energy And Power Requirement

The cost of power is a major expense in crushing and

grinding
During size reduction, the particles of feed material
are first distorted and strained
The work necessary to strain them is stored
temporarily in the solid as mechanical energy of
stress, just as mechanical energy can be stored in a
coiled spring
As additional force is applied to the stressed particles,
they are distorted beyond their ultimate strength and
suddenly rupture into fragments
New surface is generated
Since a unit area of solid has a definite
amount of surface energy, the creation of
new surface requires work, which is supplied
by the release of energy of stress when the
particle breaks
By conservation of energy, all energy of stress
in excess of the new surface energy created
must appear as heat
Crushing Laws And Work
Index
Rittingers and Kicks Law:
The work required in crushing is proportional to the new
surface created. This is equivalent to the statement that the
crushing efficiency is constant and, for a giving machine and
material, is independent of the sizes of feed and product.
The relationship between the diameter of the particles and
the energy required for grinding is expressed from the
equation below:

where K and n are constant.

For n = 2 and if the sphericitiesa(before size reduction)

andb(after size reduction) are equal and the machine
efficiency is constant,wherePis
theRittingers lawcan
the power be written as
required,
m is the feed rate to crusher,
D1 is the average particle diameter before crush
D2 is the average particle diameter after crushin
2 1 andKris Rittingers coefficient
Kicks law: for n =1, the work required for
crushing a given mass of material is constant
for the same reduction ratio, that is the ratio
of the initial particle size to the finial particle
size
1

whereKkis Kicks coefficient.

Bonds Law: for n= 1.5

Kb a constant that depends on the type of

machine and on the material being crushed

Work Index, Wi - defined as the gross energy

requirement in kilowatthours per ton (kWh/ton)of
feed needed to reduce a very large feed to such a
size that 80% of the product passes a 100m
screen
If Dp in mm, P in kW, in ton/hr

If 80% of feed passes a mesh size of Dpa mm and

80% of the product a mesh of Dpb mm,

or

(English unit)

The work index includes the friction in the crusher

and the power given by the above equation is gross
power
 Equipment for Size
Reduction
Size reduction equipment is divided into:

Crusher
Grinder
Ultrafine grinder
Cutting machine
 Crusher
Do the heavy work of breaking large pieces of
solid material into small pieces
A slow speed machines for coarse reduction of
large quantities of solids
Primary crusher- breaking solids into 150-
250mm size
Secondary crusher- reduced the particle from
primary crusher to 6mm in size
Reduce the solid size by compression
Type of crusher- jaw crusher, gyratory crusher,
smooth-roll crusher and toothed-roll crusher
 Grinder
Reduce crushed feed to powder
Product from a crusher is often fed to a grinder
for further reduction.
The product from an intermediate grinder might
pass a 40-mesh screen.
Most product from a fine grinder would pass a
200- mesh screen with 74 m opening.
Reduce the solid size by impact and attrition,
sometimes combine with compression
Types of commercial grinder hammer mills
and impactors, rolling compression machine,
attrition mills and tumbling mills.
 Ultrafine Grinder
Reduce solids to fine particles
Accepts feed particles not larger than 6 mm.
The product size is typically 1 to 50 m.
Reduce the solid size by attrition
Types: Classifying hammer mills, fluid energy
mills, agitated mills and colloid mills.
 Cutting machine
Give particles of definite size and shape 2-
10mm in length
Reduce the size by cutting, dicing and slitting
Type:
-Granulators- yield more or less irregular
pieces
-Cutters produce cube, thin squares or
diamonds.
Exercise 1
What is the power required to crush 100 ton/h
of limestone if 80% of the feed passes a 2-in.
screen and 80% of the product a 1/8-in.
screen?
Solution 1
From Table 28.2,the work index for limestone is
12.74.Other quantities for substitution into

are:

The power required is:

Exercise 2
It is desired to crush 10 ton/h of iron ore hematite.
The size of the feed is such that 80% passes a 3-in
(76.2 mm) screen and 80% of the product is pass to
1/8-in (3.175-mm) screen. Calculate the gross power
required in English unit. Use a work index Wi for iron
hematite is 12.68
Solution 2
Exercise 3
Calculate the power ratio to crush the coffee
extract from 38 mm to 17 mm and from 10
mm to 6 mm. Use Rittingers law.
Solution 3
From Rittingers Law:

2 1

-)
-)
= 0.4875 or = 2.051
Thank You