Tracer study of mass transport and grinding in a rod mill

Abstract Residence-Time-Distribution (RTD) experiments using radioactive tracers have shown a very strong particle-size-dependence of material transport in a continuous, wet, overflow rod mill. A new method for the determination of the size-dependent velocities and dispersion coefficients of the material from RTD experiments has been developed. Earlier studies have shown non-linear grinding kinetics prevails in rod milling operations and a mathematical method to handle it has been previously suggested. By using these two methods, a non-linear distributed parameter model has been solved analytically and in turn, has been successfully fitted to experimental size-distribution data. In addition, the predictive capability of this model has been demonstrated.