L G. AUSTIN, P. T.

LUCKIE
The Pennsylrunia State Univemity. Mineml Processing Section. Univwsity Park PA I6802 (USA-1

and K SHOJI
Kennedy Van Saun Corpomtion, DanviRe. PA 17821 (IISA.)

(Received October X3,1981)

SUMMARY

The scale-up of breakage parameters

measured in the Hardmve mill to large mill
diameters, using a simulation model for
continuous milling, is discussed_ Mill capa-
city for race diameter D in meters is

Q = (1.33 X 104)Dz5Qi

where QH is mill capacity determined by the Fig_ 1. Illustration of the characteristic dimensions
model for the Hardgrove mill. The total mill of the baIkace mill_
power at normal grinding conditions for coal
is
for the El-7 mill, providing the mill model
m, = (l/lbn)29_5Dz5, kW incorporated internal and extamal clessifica-
tion actions, and providing the variation of
where qm is motor efficiency_ The rvlriations specific breakage rates with mass throughput
in fineness of grind with mill capacity, Hard- was incorporated into the computations_
grove Grindability Index, classifier setting, In this final paper, the simulation model
and ai~oal ratio are described_ Results from is used to predict product size distributions
an El. 7 mill agree with model predictions_ for a range of coals, and the scale-up of mill
capacity to larger mill diameters is discussed.

‘INTRODUCTION
THEORY OF THE SCALE-UP OF BREAJSAGE
In the first paper
in this series [l] , results RATES
were given on the breakage parameters of
coals, and on mill power, as a function of It is assumed that the geometry of the
mill conditions for the laboratory Hard- mills is constant, so that all dimensions
grove mill In part II of the series [Z] , results increase in equal ratio_ In this case, the mean
from a 430 mm (17 in_) dia pilot-scale ball- race diameter D is an index to the size of
and-race mill (Babcock El.7 mill) were used the mill. Figure I shows an idealized picture
to obtain scale-up factors from the Hardgrove of the mill geometry_ Although the coal
results, using a simulation model for the accelerates as it moves from the center of the
mill. It was concluded that the simulation rotating table radially to the race, it can be
ba&d on Hardgrove breakage data gave assumed that the radial velocity through the
approximately the correct size distributions actual race, vo, is approximately constant,

0 Ekevier Sequoia/Priited in the Netherlands

128
with a mean bed depth of coal in the race of
6. Let the number of balls be n and let the
width of the race be L. Let the coal take a
mean time of At to pass through the race,
At = L/v,_ The fraction of the race area cov-
ered by rolling balls per unit time is nw,
where w is the rotational speed, in rotations
per unit time.
At low w, material on a rotating disc will
not move to the periphery because the centri-
fugal force does not exceed the force of fric-
tion between the material and the surface of
the disc, or the internal friction of powder on
powder_ As speed is increased, the material
will start to slip toward tbe periphery-
Because the centrifugal force increases rapidly
with r (force per unit mass = w?r), a rotation
speed which moves material slowly at the
central feed can cause high velocities at the
periphery by acceleration as the material
moves along the radius. Consider particles
at the feed region moving along a radius with
velocity u(r). The accekration along r is
o,+ = -=--
du(r) dW) dr
dt dr dt
and since u(r) = dr/dt , w*r = v(r)dv/dr.
Separating and integrating, assuming u(r)
is small at small values of r, gives
UD=wR=wD/2 (1)
The length of time spent in the crushing
region is L/v,, so the number of times the
material is rolled over is 2nL/D_ For the
assumption of geometric similarity L = D,
so it is concluded that the number of crushing
actions as the material passes through the race
is constant irrespective of w.
The severity of tbe crushing actions on
each particle as the line contact L of ball-on-
race rolls over the particles is propor%onal to
MhLG, where M is the total crushing load on
R balls and LS is the material acted upon
under the line contact_ The rate of mate&l
passing is ?rD&,, which equals 7rD26w/2
when + is substituted from eqn_ (I)_. Then,
multiplying the material acted upon per unit
time by the- severity of. action times the
number of actions per pass gives the total rate
-of breakage as proportional to (M/~LG)(TD *-
6w)(2nL/D), that is, proportional to MDw; It
is also known [l] -that tie rat&s of -breakage
undo- identical conditions are different for
different sizes. If the material being acted
upon were all of a given size (defined as at/2
size interval, see previous papers [l, 23)
the rate of breakage is known as the abso-
lute rate of breakage of this size. Thus,
absolute rate of breakage of size i, Ai 0~MDw
(2)
The application of these concepts to batch
grinding of a fixed mass in the race gives Ai =
(M/nLG)(nw)(lrDLG), that is,
Ai m MUD- @a)
The results for the tests in the Hardgrove mill
[l] did, indeed, show that Ai m M and Ai 0~
w, with considerable accuracy.
The total effect of the individual rates of
breakage of each size interval are contained
within the simulation model [2] _ The
methods of solution using Hardgro~e Ai
values have been given [Z] , and the result
is a Qn which is related to the real mill capa-
city Q by
Q=KQa (3)
where the scale-up factor K is proportional
to Ai_ Comb;king with eqn. (2) gives
K = MDwl(MD~)ardzrove (4)
where MDw for the Hardgrove mill under
standard test conditions = 434 N m (320 ftlbf-
per min).
The determination of R is not quite as
simple as eqn. (4) indicates, because the tests
on the pilot-scale mill [2] showed that the
power draw by the mill and the effectiveness
of the crushing action in the race depend on
the make-up feed rate to the mill, since they
depend on the amount of larger sizes in the
race. not on M and ti alone. It is, of course,
not possible to use feed sizes in the small
Hardgrove mill comparable with the largest
feed sizes to a production mill. Therefore,
eqn. (4) was modified to
K = %MDw/434 (5)
for M in newtons, D in meters, o in r.p.m.,
k, being ti empirical factor to allow for the
difference _in tbe action of the Hardgrove
mill from that of larger mills at maximum
Fig_ 2. The crushing load, rotatiunal speed and mill
shaft power of the Babcock E-type series of ball-race
mills (3).
Fig_ 3_ The capacities of the Babcock E-type mills
for a coal of 50 HGI and a grind of 70% < 200 mesh
c31-

power draw_ The feed sizes to a large mill are

chosen to give good crushing action in the w = SO/;/O, r.p.m. (3)
race_ For coal they are normally a natural
crushed size distribution with a top size of Thus, for this series of mills,
about 30 nm. Thus it can be assumed that
k, is constant in scaling from the Hardgrove Q = (1.14 X 104)koDt5QH_ (9)
mill to all larger mills.
The second paper in this series [2] showed Figure 3 shows the suppliers relation of
how the value of Qn can be calculated for a capacity to mill diameters_ The Dz5 rela-
desired fineness of grind (with all other tion of eqn. (9) is validated.
factors held constant)_ Combining eqns_ (3) By comparing the result of Fig. 3 with the
and (5) gives Qn predicted by the mill simulation using
Ai values for a coal of 50 Hardgrove index,
Q = k,MDwQH/434. (6) and a product specification of 70% minus
200 mesh (75 pm), it was found that k. was
Figure 2 shows the variation of crushing 1.17. Thus, finally,
load M and rotational speed w for a series of
large ball-and-race mills [3] as reported by Q = (1.33 X 104)Dt5Qn (10)
the supplier. The maximum centrifugal force
per unit mass at the race rim, proportional to for this type of mill, D in meters.
&D/2, is held constant. In addition, the
specific crushing load, M/nLD, is held cons-
tant. For geometrically similar mills L = D, THEORY OF THE SCALE-UP OF POWER
so
.. The power required to drive the mill action
M=8W2,1cN (7) is

and m, = (60 X 10-3)@Z~Do, kW (11)

130

for o in r-pm. The coefficient cris an effec-

tive coefficient of friction (dimensionless)
between the balls and the bed, defined by:
force to rotate the bed = m = 2TD, where
‘X’ is the torque_ Because the effectiveness of
the crushing action depends on the make-
up feed entering the race, it is expected that
p will depend on the depth, size distribution,
and type of material in the bed, and this was
Air flow \\;!
demonstrated in tests on the Hardgrove mill ACFM
1500
Cl1 -
Figure 2 shows the shaft power for the 54 \T N
standard grind in the series of large mills 133,
which fits the relation 35a
---
250 .

rn#otal) = 29.50=, kW_ (12) a2

The no-load shaft mill power given by the --- Air/coal = 1.73 Wlb
0
manufacturers for the E-type mill series larger J 20 40 60 80 1
than D = l-5 m (5 ft) increases as Dz5, that %<ZOOM&

is, Fig_ 4. The simulated effect of air flc.w rate on the

capacity and grind of the El.7 pilot mill; Western
m&no-load) = 5_5Dz5, kW Kex:tucky coal, HGI = 55 (ACFM t actual cubic
(12a)
feet per minute); i?is overall circulation ratio.

actual mill power = 24Dz5, kW. U2b)

Combining eqns. (7), (8) and (ll), and

comparing with eqn. (12b) gives a constant
value of P = O-093. Defining a specific energy
of grinding by E = Q/m, eqns. (9) and (11)
show that the specific energy is constant with
mill diameter, for a given value of p, for a
given grind. The power to drive the Hardgrove
mill under the standard conditions for which
Ai values were measured was 2-O W [l] _
Since MDw for the standard Hardgrove mill
on coal is 434 N m/m& this gives a value of
p = 0.088. The close correspondence between
these two values of P is largely coincidental,
because the feed conditions and bed depths
in the two types of .mills are clearly not
comparable_ However, this coincidence does 10 50 100
mean that the specific energy of grinding is size.Sun
approximately the same for the Hardgrove Fig. 5. Variation of size distributions with air flow
miB as for an industrial mill [4] _ rate (see Fig_ 4).
The maximum power for the pilot-plant
E-type mill was9 kW minus a no_load correc-
tion of 2.5 kW_ At conditions corresponding efficient in transferring power to breakage
to the standard grind, with a standard air- action as the larger mills. The total mill power
coal ratio-of I.73 kg/kg, the mill power is is
somewhat less; 8.5 kW. Since MDo = 1.61 >c
-10’: N m/mm, for this-mill, p = 0.071. The. m, = (l/q,)(29.5Dz5), kW (13)
value of k, for this mill was O-46. Thus, the
small El.7 miXdoes not appear to b& as ~ where 71, is the motor efficiency_
 as -
0.6 -
Fig.. 6_ Partition curves for a twin-cone classifier:
q1000 ACFM. A, 500 ACFM_
THE SFFECT OF MILL CONDITIONS
ln the second paper in this series 121, the
simulation model was used to show the effect
of varying air flow rate. A typical result is
shown in Figs. 4 and 5, where these computa-
tions were performed by assuming that the
variation of classification action with air flow
rate [Z] could be extrapolated to lower and
higher air flow rates: cis the overall circula-
tion ratio [2] _ The capacity is higher for
example 3 than for 1 or 2 (allbeing 70%
minus 200 mesh) because the low feed air/
coal ratio, in principle, gives higher circulat-
ing loads and a steeper size distribution,
as shown in Fig. 5. However, in practice, it
is only possible to operate with the feed air-
coal ratio varied over narrow limits, since
the pressure drop becomes excessive at low
ratios d=le to the large maSS of circulating coal
suspended in the mill. ln addition, the race
may choke at high coal flow rates, giving
unstable mill operation. Figure 4 shows the
locus of operating conditions for a feed air-
coal ratio of 1.73 kg/kg, which corresponds
to normal practice_ Turn down of the mill to
50% capacity would give a finer grind and
higher circulating load if the air-coal ratio
were kept constant, so the ratio is increased
to comperzate. If the air is reduced to 70%
air flow in actual cubic feet per minute (ACF) is: I 1500 ACFM,
of the normal value, the air-coal ratio is 2.42
kg/kg.
Mill control via pressure drop through the
mill works on the principle that the pressure
drop is dominated by the weight of the
column of coal+ above the annulus. Hold-
ing pressure drop constant for varying coal
feed rate ensures that the concentration (kg/
m3) of coal in the air above the race is approx-
imately constant_ However, the change in
classification action caused by lower through-
put will produce a somewhat finer size distri-
bution, as shown in Fig. 4. Reducing the coal
feed rate and holding the air flow rate cons-
tant produces a finer grind (defined by %
minus 200 mesh), but if the rate is reduced
below the broken horizontal line in Fig. 4,
the grind becomes coarser again because the
decrease in mill power and breakage rate over-
weighs the increase in residence time [ 21.
The adjustment of product fineness is
better accomplished by variation of the classi-
fier setting. Figure 6 shows the variation of the
action of an external separator (which domi-
nates over the internal classification action)
as the vane setting is changed_ At 100% open,
the separator acts somewhat like a simple
expansion separator, with changes in air flow
rate giving relatively minor changes in dsO_
Reducing the vane opening from 100% gives
132
12 r-
1.0
as
B
g 0.6
B
Iif
0.4
02
0 I 1 I 1 1
0 20 40 60 80
Fig. 7_ Simulated capadty us. fineness of grin-d for
fiied air-coal ratio (1.73 kg/kg), El-7 mill, Westim
Kentucky coaI HGI = 55_
more swirl to the air and, hence, the separator
tends to catch lkger sizes more efficiently
and the dSo of the classification action is
reduced. However, this also increases the
apparent by-pass of fine material back to the
mill contents_ At 50% vane setting, increased
air flow rate sweeps out larger particIes. dsO
increases, and the better sweeping action
reduces the fraction of trapped fines returned
to the mill_ Thus the effect of air flow on
dsO andon theappzuentby-passfractionact
to compensate oneanotherto somedegree.
At25%vanesetting,thedifferenceinair velo-
city from 5OOto1500 ACFMgivesavery
pronouncedeffectandthesteepness ofthe
classifiercurveisreduced,showingpoor
classification action_ Figure 7 shows the
effectofvanesetting onthecapacity-tie
distributioncurves. It is clearthatthere is
an optimum vanesettingfor ma2dmurn mill
capacity, which corresponds to the
production ofthesteepestproductsizedis-
tributionforadesired%minus200mesh.
Theeffectofvariationinfeedsizedistri-
bution can bestudiedusingthesimulation
model, buttheresultsare possibly notcor-
rect because the-efficiencyof the Franz-
fer of crushing action to the race contents
willchangev+ithchangeinmake-up feed
size_
I
100
Fig. 8. Variation of standard mill capacity (dry coal
basis) with coal type and product fiiemssr 50% vane
setting; air-coal ratio = 1-73 by weight_
THE EFFECT OF COAL TYPE
In the previous reports [l, 23 it was shown
that the characteristic breakage parameters
intheHardgrovemillforanumberofcoals
varied in a consistent manner with the
standard Hardgrovegrindabilityindex(HGI),
althoughtherewassubstantialscatterinthe
data_ It was also shown that the primary
daughterfragmentdistributions denoted by
qi werenormalized(thatis, Bki =Bij) and
these values werethe sameinthe E1.7 type
millforananthracite.
Thevalues oftheabsoluterates ofbreak-
agevariedwithsizeintheform
Ai = aW~Qi (14)
where Qi was 1 for the smaller sizes, but fell
to less than 1 for sizes too large to be
nipped by the balls. In the simulations report-
ed here it was assumed that the results are
to be used for scaling to large mills with large
balls, with a natural crushed coal feed having
a.topsizeofabout30mm.Thusthevalues
ofQiweretakenaslforallsises,since the
large ballsin industrial mills will nip all the
coal sizes. It was also assumed that E&j
values for all coals remain_the same for dif-
ferent sizes of mill and that (Y remains the
same_
 HGI 6mczoDm%<2oo
s 40 Q5D a26
60 a91 Q56

t so 1.29 cs3
- SIMULATED
--_ ?AX.C.;K AND

50 I I I
40 50 60 70 80 90 100

HiSI

Fig. 9. Size distributions as a function of coal type Fig_ 10. Comparison of simulation sodel and sup-
(Hardgrove Index) corresponding to conditions of pliers recommended capacity m_ HGI and fineness
Fig_ 8. scaled to the El_7 mill_ of grind. l , 4 I, measured El.7 results.

The values of breakage parameters [2]

were estimated from the relations with HGL
It was assumed that the transfer of crushing
action in huge mihs as a function of mill
capacity follows the same relation as that
measured in the El.7 pilot miII and that the
air-sweeping prevents any cushioning action
due to accumulation of fines [l] . Finally,
it was assumed that the vahres of cIas.sifier
selectivity s would be the same for all clas-
sifier-mill sizes (providing the air-coal ratios C.?pan’ty.
rph

are the same) as those measured for a twin- HGI W%C200 8O%CZCXJ
40 0.51 0.36
cone classifier. With these assumptions, the 60 1.00 0.86
simulation model was used to produce Qn 80 1.40 1.28
values, which can then be scaled to larger
miIi diameters using eqn_ (lo)_
The variation of mili capacity (dry coal
50 ma 5m 1000
basis) with product size and coal HGI is
*i*e pm
shown in Fig. 8, for 50% vane setting and a
Fig. 11. Ideal limiting size distributions.
fixed air-coal ratio. The corresponding size
distributions are shown in Fig. 9. These
results were put in a relative capacity form
for comparison with the suppiiers r&zom- appear to be based on early work by Hard-
mendations [S], as shown in Fig_ 10 where grove as reported by Frisch and Foster [5].
coal of 50 HGI and 70% minus 200 mesh is Figure 11 shows the limiting size distribu-
taken as 100. It is clear that the simulation tions [2], which are the size distributions
model predicts higher capacities for softer predicted if ail material less than a desired
coals than that recommended_ However, the top (cut) size were removed from the crush-
pilot-mill data (El.7 mih) fit the simuIation ing action without further breakage. Compa-
modd, not the recommended vaIues, which rison with the r-fits of Fig. 9 shows that the
134
ideal curves contain substantially less fines
for. a given top size than the real mill condi-
tions. However, the El.7 pilot mill uses 8.5
kW of grindirig power at standard‘grinding
conditions and the fan power for the air
sweeping action is about 1.5 kW, so the air-
sweeping is already co nsuming a significant
fraction of the totsl power requirement_
Increasing the rate of removal of fines by
bigher air-sweeping rates would increase
mill capacity at the expense of higher fan
power.
CONCLUSIONS
The simulation model is based on breakage
data measured in the Hardgrove mill, measure-
ments of the variation of scale-up factor (effi-
ciency of transfer of the crushing actionj
with make-up feed rate in the El.7 mill for a
natural crushed coal feed, and internal classifi-
cation actions measured on the El.7 mill_
The model gives valuable insight into the
mode of operation of this type of mill and
enables predictions to be made of the effect
of operating variables_ However, work remains
to be done to refine and validate these predic-
tions_ It is known that the moisture content
of the coal affects mill capacity, but the
variation of breakage parameters with
moisture content in the Hardgrove mill has
not been investigated in this study. The
quantitative description of the classification
actions of the classifier on large mills is not
available. The classification actions have been
assumed to be dependent on air flow rate
alone, whereas the coal* concentration into
the classifier may also affect the action. Espe-
cially, the variation of breakage rates (of all
sixes) with the mixture of feed size (being
acted upon) requires investigation to deduce
quantitative corrections for this effect.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by research con-
tract No. EX-76-C-01-2475 from the US-
Department of Energy, contract monitor Mr.
T. K. Lau. Grateful acknowledgement is
made to A. Birks, Babcock Product Engineer-
ing, Ltd_ for very helpful discussions.
REFERENCES
I, G_ Austin, J_ Shah, J. Wang, E_ Gallagher and
P. T_ Luck%, Powder TechnoL, 2-9 (1981) 263 -
275.
I._ G_ Austin, K Shoji and P_ T_ Luckie. Powder
TechnoL, 33 (1982) 113 - 125.
Babcock Product Engineering, Ltd-, Crawley, U-K
1976.
H. M. van Seebach, Zem-RaZfz-Gips, 25 (1972).
71_
M. Frisch and A. C. Foster, Am. Sot. Test_ Mater..
PIWC.. 37 (1937) 441- 466.