Lesson 2

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Department of Chemical, Metallurgical & Materials Engineering

• Sieving is a process by which fine particles
are separated from bigger particles by using a
sieve.

• Screening generally applies to industrial

scale size separations while sieving refers to
laboratory scale operations
 OBJECTIVE!!!

To effectively determine a
required particle size
distribution (PSD) for a
specific industrial
application!
 A sieve separates a specific
sample material into two fractions,
one is retained by
the sieving media (rejected
material/oversize), the other passes
through the openings (fines).
Sieve analysis refers to particle size distribution
expressed as WIEGHT (%) retained on each sieve or
series of sieves of DECREASING aperture size and %
passed by the sieve of FINEST size!
Equipment used - Set of sieves

Industrial scale
Equipment
Laboratory scale https://
equipment www.youtube.com/watch?v=3
Xqq1cxhD-s
• https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM-NrQoRIY
Y

• https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH-B4eqsqj8
• What are REAL LIFE examples of
DRY sieving?
1. Construction site: separating fine gravel from
coarse gravel for building purpose.

2. Used in flour mills to remove impurities like

husks and stones are removed from wheat.
Pebbles and stones are removed from sand
by sieving.
What are REAL LIFE examples
of WET sieving
• At home: draining the water from a pot of
noodles.
• laboratory: using filter paper to separate a
liquid and precipitate.
• A tea strainer, which is used to separate
tea leaves from the water. The sieve
prevents the large particles which cannot
pass through the holes in the sieve and
retains them on the sieve.
1.3. Description of population of particles
– A population of particles is described as a particle size
distribution.

– Particle size distribution may be expressed as:

• Frequency distribution curves (differential form), or
• Cumulative plots (integral).

– Cumulative frequency distribution is a

plot of the number of observations falling
in or below an integral within a given
interval.
Frequency distributions can be represented
in two ways / formats:
• 1. GRAPHICALLY or
• 2. TABULATED

• They are typically used within a

STATISTICAL context.
For a given material, there are four
types of
particle size distributions that are
possible:
• By number
• By mass
• By length
• By surface
Objectives of this lesson:
– Calculate cumulative
frequency/frequency distribution
curves of the oversize and the
undersize.
– Cumulative frequency plots.
– Find the median and the mode.
• Differential frequency distribution
– Characteristics of the curve:

• Bell shaped
• If midpoints of size grades are used, plot as a
histogram.
• Starts at 0 through to maximum then back to 0.

• Can be plotted as smooth curve

• Useful for comparison purposes, and
• Modelling particle processes.

• Distribution normalised to take into account the micron

range. i.e. Area under the curve is unity (A = 1).
• It is the differential of the cumulative.
• Cumulative frequency curve
 – Characteristics of the curve:
• S-shaped
• Starts from 0 to 1
• Can be plotted from a frequency curve. e.g. for a given particle size, the
number fraction of particles below that size are simply added together.
• It is the integral of the distribution curve.

• Average measures
– Mode: most common diameter
– Median: diameter corresponding to 0.5F
– Mean: “average” diameter. Can be
weighed depending on purpose
– g(x) is a weighing function
– Different means can produce very different
results, it is important to use the right one.
1.6. Equivalence of means
– Many means are equivalent to other means.
• e.g. Saunter diameter: the arithmetic mean of the surface distribution is the
equivalent of the harmonic mean of the volume distribution. This allow
different means to be calculated from single measurements.

– Mean length diameter (numbers)


xL 
 n( x )
n

– Mean surface diameter (numbers)


xS 
 nx 2
p

n
– Mean volume diameter (numbers)


xV  3
 p
nx 3

n

– Mean length diameter

w (mass)

x 2
p
xL 
w
 x 3p

w

x
p
xS diameter (mass)
– Mean surface w
 x3
p
– Mean volume diameter (mass)

 1
xV 
w
3
 x3
p
• Activity:

• Find the range of size fraction (mm) for the

following:
• -Gravel?
• Sand?
• Silt?

What is the largest to smallest – put the

in order of decreasing size!
Example 1

Draw an oversize frequency distribution curve for the following data:

Marks Frequency
0 - 10 2
10 - 20 8
20 - 30 12
30 - 40 18
40 - 50 28
50 - 60 22
60 - 70 6
70 - 80 4
Solution
Marks Frequency Cumulative frequency oversize

0 2 2
10 8 10
20 12 22
30 18 40
40 28 68
50 22 90
60 6 96
70 4 100

To plot a distribution curve:

• We plot the points with coordinates having abscissa as actual limits and ordinates as
the cumulative frequencies, (10,2),(20.10),(30,22),………(80,100) are the coordinates
of the points.
• Join the points plotted by a smooth curve.
• The distribution curve is connected to a point on the X-axis representing the actual
lower limits of the first class.
Ogives are graphs that are used to estimate how
many numbers lie below or above a particular

variable or value in data .

Class Exercise

Using the data given, construct a undersize cumulative frequency

table and draw the curve:
Solution
Marks Frequency Cumulative frequency
undersize
1 3 60
11 8 57
21 12 49
31 14 37
41 10 23
51 6 13
61 5 7
71 2 2

To plot the curve:

• (71, 2), (61, 7), (51, 13), (41, 23), (31, 37), (21, 49), (11, 57), (1, 60) are the
coordinates of the points.
• Join the points by a smooth curve. .
F

Size Fraction X (mm)

Example 2

Plot the cumulative distribution curves, i.e. cumulative % undersize

and oversize, and find the size which splits the distributions in to
two equal parts, (median).

Sieve size (µm) Sieve fractional weight (g)

250 - 180 0.02
180 - 125 1.32
125 - 90 4.23
90 - 63 9.44
63 - 45 13.1
45 - 0 11.56
-45 4.87
Solution Col. B / Total x 100%

Sieve Fractional %fractional Nominal %Cumulative % Cumulative

size(µm) weight (g) weight (%wt) aperture size undersize
oversize
(µm)

A B C D E F

250 - 180 0.02 0.04 250 0.04 100

180 - 125 1.32 2.96 180 3 99,96

125 - 90 4.23 9.50 125 12.5 97,00

90 - 63 9.44 21.19 90 33.69 87,50

63 - 45 13.1 29.41 63 63.64 66.31

45 - 0 11.56 25.95 45 89.59 36.90

-45 4.87 10.93 0 100 10.95
Total 44.54 100
1.4. Conversion between distributions
– The conversion of distributions is done by relating the size
distribution by number (N), fN(x), by surface (S), fS(x) etc for
population having the same geometric shape but different size.
• e.g. spherical particles of the size range x to x +dx will have , if the
population of particles is given by (N), the distribution by number (N), the
distribution by surface area(S), the distribution by mass (M) as well as the
distribution by volume (V).

• Distribution for a single particle

a. Distribution by number (N), the fraction of particles in the size
range is given by:
x  x  dx  f N ( x)dx (1)

b. Distribution by surface area, the fraction of particles in the size

range is given by:
x  x  dx  f S ( x)dx (2)
c. For volume distribution, the fraction of particles in the size
range is given by:
x  x  dx  fV ( x)dx (3)

− For N, the total number of particles in the population, the

number of particles in the same size range is given by:
x  x  dx  Nf ( x)dx
N
(4)

Area  Nx 2
RECALL: 
Volume from
Nxdefinition
3

Mass    v  Nx 3
• Distribution for a population of particles
d. Distribution by surface area, the fraction of particles in the size
range is given by:

x  x  dx  Nx 2 S f N ( x)dx (5)

e. For volume distribution, the fraction of particles in the size

range is given by:
x  x  dx  Nx3V f N ( x)dx (6)

With αs,αv being the factors relating the linear dimension of the
particle to its surface area and volume respectively.
Class Exercise: Derive the Mass Distribution

x  x  dx  N p x 3V f N ( x)dx (7)

• Calculating the fractions of the distribution
– Calculating the fractions of the distribution, we divide the
population distribution by the total distribution.

• For the fraction of the surface area:

Population distributi on of surface area
The fraction of the surface area 
Total surface area (S)

( N S ) x 2 f N ( x)dx
f S ( x)dx 
S
( N S ) 2
f S ( x)dx  x f N ( x)dx
S
 FS ( x)  k S x f N ( x) 2
(8)
• For the fraction of the volume:

Population distributi on of volume

The fraction of the surface area 
Total volume (V)

( NV ) x 3 f N ( x)dx
fV ( x)dx 
V
( N V ) 3
fV ( x)dx  x f N ( x)dx
V
 FV ( x)  kV x 3 f N ( x) (9)
Class Exercise: Derive an equation describing the
fraction of mass distribution

x  x  dx  k m  p x 3 f m ( x) (10)
– The constants ks, kv and km may be found by using the fact that:

0
f ( s )dx  1

• The volume-surface ratio (fractional) distribution

FV ( x) kV x 3 f N ( x)

FS ( x) k S x 2 f N ( x)
FV ( x ) kV
 x
FS ( x ) k S
kV
 FV ( x)  x  FS ( x)
kS
Example

Convert the surface distribution described by the following equation to a

cumulative volume distribution:
2
 x
FS    for x  35m
 35 
FS  1 for x  35m
Solution
kV (1)
FV ( x)  x  FS ( x)
kS
Integrating between sizes 0 and x:
x
kV
FV ( x)   x  f S ( x)dx (2)
0
kS

Noting that: dFS

f s ( x) 
dx
2
dF d  x  2x (3)
f S ( x)  S    
dx dx  35  (35) 2
Solution cont…
Substituting equation (3) into equation (2):
x
kV  2 x  (4)
FV ( x)   x dx
0
k S  352 

x
k 2x2
FV ( x)  V
kS 0 (35) 2 dx
kV 2  x 3  x 2  kV  3
FV ( x)       x (5)
k S 3  (35) 2  3(35) 2  k S
0


Constants kv/ks may be found by noting that Fv(35)=1:

2  kV  3
FV (35)    x  1
3(35) 2  kS 
kV
 3  0.043
kS 70
Solution cont…
Formula for volume distribution:

FV  ( 2.34 10 5 ) x 3 for x  35m

FV  1 for x  35m
Class Exercise

Convert the surface distribution described by the following equation to a

cumulative volume distribution:

Fs  2 x 3 for x  25m
Fs  10 for x  25m
Homework

1. For the function, for x ≤ 45µm, find the mathematical expression

for surface distribution given ks=5.

2. Convert the surface distribution described by the following equation

to a cumulative volume distribution:

1
FS  for x  45m
x2
FS  2 for x  45m