Effect of Circulating Load and Test Sieve Size on Bond Work Index for Natural Sand, Limestone and

Bituminous Coal in a Laboratory Ball Mill

(Ms) K Panchal, Non-member Prof M Bulsara, Member
The Bond Work Index can be used not only for determining the grinding power but also to estimate the difference in power consumption while handling material of different hardness. Every material has a characteristic bonding strength at molecular and grain level. The power required to break the bonds is higher for harder material. This study has been carried out with an aim of comparing power consumption for three materials having different hardness. The effect of circulating load (CL) and test sieve size (Pi) on the bond grindablity (Gbg) and Bond Work Index (Wi) based on samples of limestone, natural sand and coal has been investigated. In the experimental studies, the relationships between the Bond Work Index with the circulating load and test sieve size are also examined.
Keywords : Circulating load; Bond grindability; Bond work index; Ball mill

NOTA NOTATION

Fc : powder filling volume, % F80 : sieve opening through which 80 % of the feed passes through the specified sieve, mesh G J P Pi
: net weight of undersized material per mill rotation : ball filling volume fraction, % : power required, kW : test sieve size, mesh

Gbg : bond grindability, g/rev

sand is widely used as a major constituent in glass manufacturing industry. Major application of natural sand is found in ceramic industry, glass industry, etc. The major application of pulverized coal is found for fluidized bed combustion in power generating station. Pulverized coal firing system is used for steam generation. Large quantities of very fine particles of coal, which passes a 200-mesh sieve, must exist to ensure ready ignition because of large surface-to-volume ratio. Greater surface area per unit mass of coal allows faster combustion reactions because more carbon becomes exposed to heat and oxygen. This reduces the excess air needed to complete combustion. In the design of grinding circuits in a mineral processing plant, the bond method is widely used for power needs. Despite having many advantages, this method has some disadvantages too, which are given below. It is tiring and requires long test time. It needs a special mill. EXPERIMENTATION EXPERIMENTATION A Bond Work Index test is a standard test for determining the Ball Mill Work Index of a sample of ore. It was developed by Fred Bond in 1952 and modified in 1961. This test may be required for the design of a new mineral processing plant. For the purpose of the test, 1.4 kg of sample was taken from each material, namely, natural sand, limestone and coal. The bulk density of each sample was measured, the details of which are given in Table 1. The test method elaborated by Deniz1 was followed to extent possible, however, variation in the ball mill specification is given in Table 2. Motor specifications of ball mill are given in Table 3. Tests were carried out on a ball mill. Electronic weighing balance mechanical shaker were used as supporting equipment.

P80 : sieve opening through which 80 % of the product passes through the specified sieve, mesh T U
: throughput required, t/h : interstitial filling, %

W : work input, kWh/t Wi : bond grindability index, kWh/t

INTRODUCTION Three materials, namely, limestone, natural sand and coal were identified for grinding based on their requirement in industry and availability in market. Limestone (or minerals) is one of the widely used supplementary binding materials to enhance the strength and durability of plastic moulded parts. Also, it is used as a main constituent in paint and pigment industry. Natural
Toubro Vadodara, (Ms) K Panchal is with Larsen and Toubro Ltd, Vadodara, Gujarat and Prof M Bulsara is with the Mechnical Engineering Department, G H Patel College of Technology echnology, Engineering and Technology, Gujarat 388 120. This paper (modified) was received on May 30, 2006. Written discussion on the paper will be received until April 30, 2007.

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The material was packed to 700 cc volume using a vibrating table. This is the volumetric weight of the material to be used for grinding tests. For the first grinding cycle, the mill was started with an arbitrarily chosen number of mill revolutions (30 rpm, as variable speeds were not possible in the set-up). At the end of each grinding cycle, the entire product was discharged from the mill and was screened on a test sieve (Pi). The oversize fraction was returned to the mill for the second run together with fresh feed to make up the original weight corresponding to 700 cc. The weight of the product per unit of mill revolution, called Bond Grindability (Gbg) was calculated. It was used to estimate the number of revolutions required for the second run to be equivalent to a circulating load of 150%. The process was continued until a constant value of grindability was achieved1. Work Bond Work Index The samples were taken and standard Bond grindability test was performed. The observations are given in Table 4. Bond Work Index values (Wi) were calculated from equation (1) as2 (1)

Values Table 4 Values of Gbg and W i of the samples

Pi Mesh, BSS 150 150 150 150 100 100 100 100

CL, % 100 150 250 400 100 150 250 400

Coal, Gbg, Wi , g/rev kWh/t 0.050 46.060 0.058 40.911 0.071 34.684 0.085 29.810 0.050 50.562 0.062 42.262 0.085 32.619 0.104 27.698

Natural sand Gbg, Wi, g/rev kWh/t 0.037 59.399 0.040 55.309 0.061 38.956 0.083 30.298 0.037 65.205 0.047 53.505 0.071 38.074 0.093 30.531

Limestone Gbg, Wi, g/rev kWh/t 0.047 48.741 0.053 43.686 0.080 31.329 0.092 28.020 0.040 60.715 0.051 49.659 0.075 36.393 0.083 33.259

and (3) (4)

(5)

(6) The Gbg and W i values for each sample are given in Table 4. RESULTS RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Work Comparison of Bond Work Index for Different Materials From Figure 1, it can be seen that for a given mesh size, the bond work index for natural sand is highest followed by limestone and coal is the least as expected. At 100 % circulating load and Pi =100 mesh, the corresponding values being 65.205 kWh/t, 60.715 kWh/t, 50.562 kWh/t. It is also noticeable that the variation in Bond Work Index reduces at higher circulating load. At 400% CL, the variation being 30.5 kWh/t, 33.259 kWh/t and 27.698 kWh/t. Similar trend was also observed at Pi =150 mesh. Work Effect of Circulating Load on Bond Work Index Figures 1 shows the variation in the Bond Work Index with the circulating load. It has been found that the calculated work index is increased with the lower circulating loads for each test sieve size. Test Work Effect of Test Sieve Size on Bond Work Index Table 4 gives the variation in the Bond Work Index with the test sieve size.The test results indicate that, the Bond Work Index increased as the finer sieve size was used. The earlier results are in line with the results available from the literature. 19

To calculate the work input W for grinding from some feed size to a specific product size1, one may write (2)
Table 1 Actual mill condition Quality Ceramic Assumed porosity, % 40 Ball filling volume fraction (J), % 43.5 Material Material used Limestone, Natural sand, Coal Powder gravity, g/cm3 2.2, 3.1, 3.5 Interstitial filling (U), % 12.07 Powder filling volume (fc), % 2.1 Balls Table 2 Comparison of grinding conditions Standard condition 300 300 21 205.75 75 15 - 38 285 0.0706 20.125 Actual condition 275 580 34 450 30 25.4 1 100 0.0179 19.69

Mill

Mill speed Balls

Dia, mm Length, mm Volume, cm3 Operational (f), % Dia, mm Number of balls Mass of one ball, kg Total mass of ball, kg

Table 3 Motor specification of the ball mill Motor : Model/type rpm Power, kW (hp) 0110 Crompton greaves/1542 J/GDG 0110 1405 1.5 (2)

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Bond Work Index, kWh/t

number decreases. This is because larger diameter of particles and more amount of material will go out for the same time period. The Bond Work Index values increases as circulating load decreases, that is, the Bond's Work Index value is more for 100 % circulating load and less for 400 % circulating load, as given in Table 4. This is because for 400% circulating load, power is already consumed in previous grinding and feed for it is finer as compared to feed for 100 % circulating load. This is because of method of the test selected. REFERENCES
400 500 1. V Deniz, N Sutcu and Y Umucu. 'The Effect of Circulating Load and Test Sieve Size on the Bond Work Index Based on Natural Amorphous Silica'. The Eighteenth International Mining Congress and Exhibition of Turkey-IMCET, 2003. 2. V Deniz, A Gelir and A Demir. 'The Effect of Fraction of Mill Critical Speed on Kinetic Breakage Parameters of Clinker and Limestone in a Laboratory Ball Mill'. The Eighteenth International Mining Congress and Exhibition of Turkey-IMCET, 2003. 3. V Deniz. 'Relationships between Bond's Grindability (Gbg) and Breakage Parameters of Grinding Kinetic on Lime Stone'. The Eighteenth International Mining Congress and Exhibition of Turkey - IMCET, 2003. 4. W L McCabe, J C Smith and P Harriott. 'Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering'. McGraw Hill Inc, New York. 5. Perry's Chemical Engineer's Hand Book. McGraw Hill Inc , New York.

50 40 30 20 10 0 0 100 200 300 Circulating load, % Limestone 150 mesh Natural sand 150 mesh Coal 150 mesh Limestone 100 mesh Natural sand 100 mesh Coal 100 mesh

Figure 1 Comparison of Bond Work Index at different Work circulating load

CONCLUSION The Bond Work Index is minimum for coal, followed by limestone and maximum for natural sand for the same test sieve size, as shown in Figure 1. This means that more amounts of fine particles can be achieved in case of coal, followed by limestone and least by natural sand. The Bond Work Index value increases as test sieve

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