Chandramohan, Bodurov, Kolev, Weerasekara, Lane

Presented at MEI Comminution '21 - April 19 - 22

ABSTRACT

Improving the grinding efficiency in tumbling mills is essential to minimising comminution energy consumption. Over the years, fundamental insights gained from ball mill operation provided energy-efficient routes to increase throughput and reduce product grind size distributions through optimisation strategies. These strategies included controlling the ball charge levels, media size distribution, liner designs, and changing operating parameters such as mill speeds, feed densities and classifier operations. 

One of the less explored strategies is understanding the effect of grinding media shape on grinding efficiency. This paper explores the potential application of RELO media shapes in ball mill application to increase the charge's packing density, resulting in higher grinding efficiency than spherical media. Experimental validations from locked-cycle tests to insights gained from DEM analysis provide a potential application of the RELO media in ball mill application over conventional spherical media shapes.

Preliminary lab tests indicate a potential 10% reduction in the Bond Work Index for an equivalent ball mill operating with a spherical media charge. Detailed DEM assessment comparing a conventional ball mill indicates that mil speed and shell liner design significantly impact the energy transfer for grinding, highlighting a potential combined benefit of using RELO media and optimised liner design for further improvements to the ball mill grinding efficiency.   

Keywords

ball mill grinding efficiency, media shape, liner design, mill speed, optimisation

Authors

Dr Rajiv Chandramohan¹, Dr Petar Bodurov², Nikolay Kolev³, Dr Nirmal Weerasekera⁴, Greg Lane⁵

1. Global Technical Director of Operations, Ausenco, Vancouver (Canada) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
2. Chief Consultant / Inventor, RELO Media, Sofia (Bulgaria) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
3. Project Manager, RELO Media, Sofia (Bulgaria) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
4. Principal Engineer, Weir Minerals, Sydney (Australia) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
5. Chief Technical Officer, Ausenco, Brisbane (Australia) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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