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Open and closed circuit dry grinding of cement mill rejects in a pilot scale
vertical stirred mill
C.C. Pilevneli *, S. Kızgut, İ. Toroğlu, D. Cßuhadaroğlu, E. Yiğit
Mining Engineering Department, Zonguldak Karaelmas University, Maden Muhendisligi Bolumu, 67100 Zonguldak, Turkey
Received 20 July 2003; received in revised form 15 November 2003; accepted 1 December 2003
Abstract
In this study, separator rejects of a closed circuit cement tube milling were dry ground in a 10-l pilot scale vertical stirred mill. Tests were
done as open and closed circuit. The results were evaluated by size distributions, Blaine surface area of the products and the specific energy
consumed during the tests. Mill capacity and the stirring speeds were the investigated parameters for the open circuit tests, whereas closed
circuit tests were carried out at a constant stirring speed but variable discharge rate. Five speed levels used in the open circuit grinding tests
are 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 rpm. The capacities were determined to obtain product Blaine surface areas in the limits between 2000 and
5000 cm2/g. Closed circuit tests have resulted in 87%, 182% and 452% circulating loads.
D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Cement; Clinker; Dry grinding; Open circuit; Closed circuit; Vertical stirred mill
0032-5910/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.powtec.2003.12.002
166 C.C. Pilevneli et al. / Powder Technology 139 (2004) 165–174
the beads up to 90% to comminute the material which it Industrial applications of the stirred mills were recorded
surrounds. The media can be made up of different materials up to 20 t/h capacity with 6 Am median product size with
such as steel, glass, zirconium, ceramics, alumina, etc. 60% less energy consumption [1]. Recently, the installation
Among different media sizes from a couple of millimetres of the biggest stirred mill has been achieved in Australia
to hundreds of micrometers, an appropriate size is selected under the Mount Isa Mines and Netzsch-Feinmahltechnik
according to the feed size of the material. partnership. This stirred mill constitutes 3000 l net volume
The application sizes of stirred mills range from a few and 240 l/min capacity at 50% solids rate [8,9]. This large-
millimetres down to 1 Am. The product size is in the sub capacity installation encourages the mining industry to
micrometer range. Stirred mills are very effective in the replace the regrinding ball mill circuits with stirred mills
production of micronised material due to their easy pro- technology in the future. Increase in the stirring disk
cessing, simple construction, high size reduction ratio, low number and mill volume results in inputted power increase
energy consumption and less wear contamination. There- and reduction in wear loss over the beads [8] and thus
fore it has been started extensively to be used in the recent enhances the savings in energy.
decade in many industries especially such as mineral, coal,
ceramic, metallurgy, electronics, paint, chemical, food,
animal nourishment, biotechnology, rubber, agriculture, 3. Materials and method
medicine, photography and energy [1– 4,6].
The forces utilised in stirred mills are different from the The separator reject sample from a nearby cement
rod and ball mills. Stirred mills utilise mostly abrasive and factory (Oyak Bolu Cement Industry) was collected for
shear forces, whereas tumbling mills predominantly com- the experimental part of this study. The sampling point for
minute by impact and compression [6]. The stirrers of the the clinker grinding circuit was depicted in Fig. 2. The
stirred mills transfer their very high kinetic energy to the capacity of the cement mill during the sampling time was
surrounding beads in the radial direction, where their 130 t/h and the specific energy consumption was 32 kW
consolidated structure enhances abrasive and shear forces h/t. The amount of separator reject circulated back to the
rather than impact and compression. High speed of the mill was 480 t/h with a circulating load of 370%.
stirrers increases both the number or frequency and the The size analysis results were carried out with a
intensity of the comminuting events. Shear and abrasive Malvern Mastersizer-S Laser Analyser. The size distribu-
forces are the main reasons for grinding in the sub tion of the feed material is given in Fig. 3. As can be seen
micrometer range [7]. from Fig. 3, the size distribution of the separator reject is
Fig. 3. Size analysis results of the separator reject samples used in the experiments.
below 600 Am with a median and 80% passing sizes of 75 description of the method for surface area measurement
and 150 Am, respectively. This size is more convenient to with a Blaine manometer is detailed in Turkish Standards
stirred mill grinding rather than ball mill grinding [5]. No. 24 [10]. Besides size measurements, energy measure-
The separator reject sample was brought to the ‘‘Yakup ments were also taken by a kW h meter.
KESKİN’’ Mineral Processing Laboratories of the ZEDEM The experimental setup is constituted by a magnetic
Industrial Support Centre of the Mining Engineering De- resonance feeder, a stirred mill, a helical transporter, a
partment of the Zonguldak Karaelmas University. Then the mechanical classifier, a vacuum fan, a dust collecting
milling studies were carried out with a pilot scale stirred filtering mechanism and the necessary drivers for adjusting
mill. The grinding tests were carried out both as open and the revolutions of the motors attached to the system units.
closed circuit basis. The study was financed by the Fig. 4 sketches the experimental setup.
University Research Fund and the experimental set was The magnetic feeder was produced by Eriez Magnetics
designed and prepared at local sites. The product fineness and has an hopper with a 100 kg of separator reject
was assessed by Blaine surface area manometer. The capacity. The hopper has a magnetically vibrating chute.
Fig. 6. The effect of stirring speed to the flowrate increase for a 1000 unit change in Blaine.
C.C. Pilevneli et al. / Powder Technology 139 (2004) 165–174 169
Fig. 9. The specific energy consumption against capacity for different stirring speeds.
last decrement at 1000 rpm is illusive due to scattered flowrate vs. Blaine line was achieved, which means that
points, especially at low Blaine values. If the uppermost required Blaine fineness is obtained at a higher flowrate
points were assumed in curve fitting, the c constant would than the expected. However, the condition is reversed at
be the same for the 1000 rpm stirring speed, too. It can be 1000 rpm leading to a decrease in slope increase rate. This
concluded from these results that the maximum attainable may happen due to ineffective mixing conditions caused
Blaine surface area is 6200 cm2/g for the experimental set by fluidised beads to fly around the empty places of the
of stirred mill used in our experiments at the open circuit upper portion of the mill body. This condition was also
tests at high speeds. This limit is lowered for the slower proved by eye inspection through an opening on the top of
speeds down to 4500 cm2/g. This may be caused due to the mill. Thus the bead-material impacts cannot reach the
inefficient transfer of the energy to effectively break down correct number due to loosened matrix, which in turn led
the increased consolidation of the powder-bead matrix at to an increase in the residence time or decrease in capacity
continued grinding times. than expected.
If the change of slopes of the linear fitting equations by In the cement industry, the product is almost at certain
stirring speed is examined, Fig. 7 delineates the type of the Blaine surface area levels such as 3000, 3500 or 4000 cm2/g.
relationship. This figure is similar to Fig. 6 because the y So, it is worth mentioning in our experiments to demonstrate
axis is reciprocated. The slope of the flowrate –Blaine line how the flowrate changes with stirring speed for certain
shows the same trend by following a linear path at the
speed range between 400 and 800 rpm, whereas it switches
from the linearity for the speeds of 200 and 1000 rpm. The
solid and dashed lines are the respective change of the
slope for the 1000 rpm due to the points regarded for
fitting a linear line as mentioned above. The dashed line is
the possible slope after discarding the points with low
Blaine values at 1000 rpm. This case better emphasises the
deviation from the linearity for the uppermost speed as
was noticed for the lowest speed, i.e. 200 rpm.
The meaning of the linear trend between the speed vs.
slope relationship for the speed range 400– 800 rpm is that
the Blaine fineness change with capacity is directly pro-
portional to the change in stirring speed. The increase of
speed proportionally reflects itself to the rate of change of
Blaine with capacity. However, deflection from this line-
arity occurs at 200 and 1000 rpm. The deflection at 200
rpm shows an increase in capacity since a less steep Fig. 10. Change of the parameter a’s value with stirring speed.
C.C. Pilevneli et al. / Powder Technology 139 (2004) 165–174 171
Table 2 Table 3
Specific energies required at certain Blaine levels Average flowrates around the separator and circulating loads
Stirring speed, rpm Specific energy, kW h/t Experiment no. Flowrates, g/min Circulating load, %
2 2 2 2
3000 cm /g 3500 cm /g 4000 cm /g 4500 cm /g Feed Coarse Fine
200 26.9 38.0 61.6 370.9 1 842 387 455 87
400 35.3 46.5 67.1 101.7 2 1688 1080 608 182
600 40.5 47.5 58.8 79.2 3 2761 2198 563 452
800 35.2 43.7 52.2 68.1
1000 30.8 42.4 56.9 71.9
(having a slope 1) to the capacity, because the tonnage is
divided to the kW h consumed at the same duration. The
Blaine fineness. Fig. 8 sketches the effect of stirring speed inverse proportionated linear lines (m = 1) on a log – log
over the flowrate to obtain 3000 –4500 cm2/g Blaine range scale can be fitted to a power relation of type y = ax 1
at 500 cm2/g increments. The shape of the Blaine lines can where a is the shifting constant along the x axis. The a
be approximated by a polynomial line. The flowrates would parameters are given in Fig. 9, too. The change of the
be overestimated if the 1000 rpm polynomials were used. parameter a with the stirring speed is shown in Fig. 10. As
This was previously noticed as higher slope in the stirring written within the figure, change of the parameter a can be
speed –slope relationship (see Fig. 7) for the 1000 rpm. The represented by a second order polynomial.
four curves were dispersed apart at regular intervals for the In order to obtain certain Blaine values, the required
range 200– 600 rpm, beyond which their scattering increas- specific energy values are given in Table 2 and plotted in
ingly expands. For example, 200 g/min flowrate change is Fig. 11 below. This table shows that certain Blaine values
required to obtain a 500 cm2/g change in the 200 –600 rpm such as 3000, 3500, 4000 and 4500 cm2/g can be obtained at
range. But, it develops up to 400– 500 g/min at 800 rpm 30, 40, 55 and 70 kW h/t specific energy levels, respective-
and 500 – 1200 g/min for 1000 rpm (lower flowrate for 4500 ly. 600 rpm gives comparatively higher specific energies to
cm2/g and higher flowrate for 3000 cm2/g). If the change in reach the Blaine values of 3000 and 3500 cm2/g. At low
amounts of the flowrates by the stirring speeds at limiting stirring speeds specific energies excessively gets higher to
Blaine values (i.e. 3000 and 4500 cm2/g) were assessed: achieve Blaine levels above 4500 cm2/g. This shows that,
The capacities change from the 500 to 4500 g/min and 32 to speeds greater than 600 rpm are required to obtain further
1930 g/min for the 3000 and 4500 cm2/g Blaine lines, grinding above Blaine values of 4500 cm2/g.
respectively.
4.1. Specific energy consumption at open circuit grinding 5. Closed circuit grinding tests
experiments
Closed circuit experiments were carried out at a constant
The open circuit experiments were energetically assessed mill stirring speed of 600 rpm. The product from the mill
by the electricity input divided by the tonnage for 1 h. The was conveyed to an air separator via a spiral conveyor. As
electricity consumption was measured via a kW h-meter. an adjustable parameter the spiral’s conveying capacity was
Different speeds gave different power input; so, the capac- used at three levels, namely 800, 1700 and 2800 g/min. The
ity-specific energy relationship plotted on a log – log axis oversize from the separator was carried back to the stirred
has separate lines for each speed shifting along the capacity
(x) axis as shown in Fig. 9. In this figure, the relationship
lines show that the specific energy is inversely proportional
Fig. 12. Change of amounts of separator products and the circulating load
Fig. 11. Specific energy vs. stirring speed for certain Blaine levels. rates with the separator’s feeding rate.
172 C.C. Pilevneli et al. / Powder Technology 139 (2004) 165–174
Table 4 Table 5
Blaine surface area values of the finish products at different circulating loads The specific energies of the finish products for closed circuit stirred milling
Experiment no. Circulating load, % Blaine, cm2/g Experiment no. Capacity, g/min Specific energy, kW h/t
1 87 4850 1 485 113
2 182 4060 2 537 102
3 452 4300 3 475 115
Average 500 110
Fig. 14. Size analysis results of the finish cement, ball mill and stirred mill
Fig. 13. Size distribution of the fine products from the closed circuit tests. products.
C.C. Pilevneli et al. / Powder Technology 139 (2004) 165–174 173
Table 6
The total amounts hold within two adjacent sizes at which Cement-StirredMill and Cement-BallMill frequency difference curves intersect the size axis
Cement-stirred mill Cement-ball mill
Areas of intersecting points Peaking points Areas of intersecting points Peaking points
Intersecting Amount in Size, Amount, Intersecting Amount in Size, Am Amount, %
sizes, Am between, % Am % sizes, Am between, %
0.05 – 0.25 0.1 0.2 0.03 0.05 – 0.25 0.5 0.17 0.09
0.25 – 6.14 7.5 3.1 0.66 0.25 – 38 30.6 16.6 3.18
6.14 – 21 2.7 12.2 0.57 38 – 879 30.1 76.3 4.67
21 – 38 0.9 26.2 0.42 Sum of equal signs 30.6
38 – 879 5.6 76.3 0.6
Sum of equal signs 8.4
174 C.C. Pilevneli et al. / Powder Technology 139 (2004) 165–174
the cement and the mill products. The difference of the the production of fines at the sizes suitable for finish
stirred mill and ball mills are 8.4% and 30.6%, respectively. cement compared to ball milling. However, the stirred mill
This figure outlines that stirred mill produces a product with consumed twice the specific energy that the ball mill uses.
more fines than that of a ball mill product has. This would This is expected to happen because of motor power ratings
mean value if they also had the same specific energies. But, and too low capacities compared to commercial mills.
laboratory ball mill (20 cm in diameter) consumes 20 kW Usage of additives may enhance the grinding process,
h/t, whereas stirred mill expenses 40 kW h/t. Their differ- thereby reducing the specific energy consumption.
ence in energy consumption seems to offset the gain
obtained from the fine size range improvement by stirred
milling. It is worth mentioning here another experimental Acknowledgements
result obtained by Bond’s mill and batch stirred mill (1.75 l)
that they gave 28 kW h/t and 60 kW h/t specific energy Authors would like to appreciate very much the
consumption at the same Blaine fineness, respectively. This contributions made by the following authorities during this
shows that their motor rating and capacity has an important research: Zonguldak Karaelmas University’s Research Fund
effect on power draw. Further experiments are necessary (Project No. 97-115-001-07) and Mining Engineering
to clarify the economy of stirred milling over ball milling. Department (Turkey), A.J. Lynch (Australia), Julius
Strength measurements should support the results and form Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (Australia), Universiti
basis on evaluation. Sains Malaysia School of Materials and Mineral Resources
Engineering (Malaysia), Mining Engineering Department of
Hacettepe University (Turkey), Oyak Bolu Cement Industry
7. Conclusions (Turkey).
Pilot scale open and closed circuit stirred milling tests led
to further conclusions on the grinding of separator rejects
from a cement tube mill. References
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