Modelling the performance of industrial ball mills using single particle breakage data

Abstract Ball milling is an energy-intensive unit operation and usually consumes a major proportion of the power drawn by a typical mineral processing plant. Hence, substantial economic benefits can be achieved by optimal design and by operating ball milling circuits under optimum process conditions. This requires an accurate ball mill modelling technique. In the multi-segment ball mill model, the size-dependent material transport within the mill varies systematically with the amount of coarse particles present in each segment. The ore-specific breakage distribution function can be determined from single particle breakage tests conducted using a computer-monitored twin pendulum apparatus. When the ore-specific breakage distribution function is used in the multi-segment, a constant relationship between the breakage rate parameters and mill diameter is observed. Thus, the performance of an industrial ball mill can be adequately described using the ore-specific breakage distribution function together with the systematic variation of the material transport and the breakage rate functions with process conditions and mill diameter, respectively. This ball mill modelling technique is illustrated using a case study on the design of a ball milling circuit for a particular grinding requirement and another case study on modelling the performance of an industrial ball milling circuit.