Material Reduction and

Separation
FME5122 – Industrial Processes
Size Reduction

Size refers to the physical

dimension of an object
Reduction refers to decrement
or the process of decreasing
the size
Size reduction is the operation carried out
for reducing the size of bigger particles into
smaller one of desired size and shape with
the help of external forces
Comminution is another term used for size
reduction
Objective of Size Reduction

 In the materials processing industry, size reduction or comminution is usually carried out in
order to:
 Increase the surface are because, in most reactions involving solid particles, the rate of reactions
is directly proportional to the are of contact with a second phase
 Break a material into very small particles in order to separate the valuable amongst the two
constituents
 Achieve intimate mixing
 To dispose solid wastes easily
 To improve the handling characteristics
 To mix solid particle more intimately
Advantages of size reduction

 Content uniformity
 Uniform flow
 Effective drying
 Increases surface are or viscosity
 Uniform mixing and drying
 Improve rate of absorption. Smaller the particles the greater the absorption
 Improve dissolution rate
Disadvantages of Size Reduction

Drug degradation
Contamination
Mechanism of size reduction

Impact – particle concussion by a single rigid force

(hammer)
Compression – particle disintegration by two rigid forces
(nutcracker)
Shear – produced when the particle is compressed
between the edges of two hard surfaces moving
tangentially
Attrition – arising from particles scraping against one
another or against a rigid surface (a file)
Factors affecting size reduction

Hardness
It is a surface property of the material
It is frequently confused with a property
named strength
Thus, it is possible for a material to be very
hard, but if it is brittle also then size reduction
may present no special problems.
Material Structure
Some substances are homogeneous in character
Mineral substances may have lines of weakness
along which the materials split to form flake-like
particles
Vegetable drugs have a cellular structure often
leading to long fibrous particles.
Abrasiveness:
Abrasiveness is a property of hard materials (particularly
those of mineral origin)
It may limit the type of machinery that can be used.
During the grinding of some very abrasive substances
the final powder may be contaminated with more than
0.1 percent of metal worn from the grinding mill
Softening Temperature
During size reduction process sometimes heat is generated which
may cause some substance to soften, and the temperature at
which this occurs can be important.
Waxy substances, such as stearic acid, or drugs containing oils or
fats are examples that may be affected
Some methods can be used to overcome this like cooling the
mill, either by a water jacket or by passing a stream of air
through the equipment
Crushing Strength:
The power required for crushing is almost directly proportional to
the crushing strength of the material.
Moisture content:
It is found that material do not flow well if they contain between
about 5 and 50 per cent of moisture. Under these conditions the
material tends to cake together in the form of balls. In general,
grinding can be carried out satisfactorily outside these limits.
 Soapiness
 In general, this is a measure of the coefficient of friction of the surface of the material. If the
coefficient of friction is low, the crushing may be more difficult.
 Stickiness
 A sticky material will tend to clog the grinding equipment and it should therefore be ground in a
plant that can be cleaned easily
 Friability
 The friability of the material is its tendency to fracture during normal handling. In general, a
crystalline material will break along well-defined planes and the power required for crushing will
increase as the particle size is reduced
Explosive
Such materials must be ground wet or in the
presence of an inert atmosphere
Materials yielding dusts that are harmful to the
health
Such material must be ground under conditions
where the dust is not allowed to escape
Size Reduction Theories

The energy requirement for particle size reduction is a

function of input and output of particle size, hardness,
strength and other properties of solids.
Various theories for energy requirement are:
Rittinger’s Theory
Kick’s Theory
Bond’s Theory
Energy Utilization

 One of the first important investigations into the distribution of the energy fed into a
crusher was carried out by Owens who concluded that energy was utilized as follows:
 In producing elastic deformation of the particles before fracture occurs.
 In producing inelastic deformation which results in size reduction.
 In causing elastic distortion of the equipment.
 In friction between particles, and between particles and the machine
 In noise, heat, and vibration in the plant
 In friction losses in the plant itself
 Owens estimated that only about 10 percent of the total power is usefully employed
Gyrator Crusher
Hammer Mill
Edge Runner Mill
Ball Mill
Roller Mill
Separation

Techniques used to separate one material from

the other are called separation
Separations are extremely in chemical
manufacture.
In fact, much processing equipment is devoted
to separate one phase or one material from the
other
Types of Separation

Diffusional Separation
Mechanical Separation
Diffusional Separation

 Diffusional separation is a technique used for the separations of homogeneous mixtures.

 This separation involves the transfer of the material between the phases.
 Following are the well adopted methods for the diffusional separations.
 Distillation
 Crystallization
 Absorption
Fractional Distillation
Crystallization
Mechanical Separation

 The techniques used for the separation of the heterogeneous mixtures

 These are based on the physical differences between the particles such as size, shape or
density.
 It can be applied for separating solids from solids, solids from liquids and also solids from
the gases.
 There are further two types of mechanical separations:
 Classification
 Screening
Classification is applied for the
separation of solids from the
gases and solids from liquids
Screening is used for the
separation of solids from solids
Separation

Separation of mixture of particles of

various sizes into two or more
fractions by a screening surface is
called screening
This method is only based on the size
of particles.
General Terminologies

 Over size material

 Material that retain on the screening surface is called over size material.
 Under size material
 Material that passes through the screening surface is called under size
material
 Intermediate material
 When two screens are used for screening, the material that retain on the
second screen is called the intermediate material
Unsized function
A single screen can make a single separation into
two functions i.e. under size and over size. Such type
of functions is called the unsized function
Sized function
When the material is passed through the series of
screens then it is divided into many fractions. Such
type of function is known as sized function
Mesh
Hole of the screen is called the mesh
Mesh number
It is defined as the number of holes per linear inch
Aperture of screen
Aperture is the maximum clear space between the edges of
the screen opening. It is usually given in inches of mm
Clear and actual opening
Actual opening of the screen is always
smaller than corresponding mesh number
because wire diameter is also included. There
is a formula for expressing the mesh number
and clear opening
1/mesh# = clear opening + wire diameter
Screens

Construction of screens
Woven Wires
Metal bars
Perforated or slotted metal plates
Silk or plastic clothes
Wire Mesh
Standard Screens

 U.S. Tyler
 These are the U.S standard sieves and are available in mesh number 4 - 325
 U.S. ASTM
 It is “American Society of Testing Materials” standard sieves series and are
available in mesh number 4- 325
 B.S.S
 British standard sieve as available in mesh number 5 -300
I.M.M.S
“Institute of Mining and Metallurgy” standard
sieves are available in mesh number 5 - 200
F.S.S
“French standard sieves” are available in mesh
number 17 - 38
 Screen Effectiveness
 Factors Affecting the Effectiveness
 Mesh size and wire diameter
 Capacity
 Blinding
 Moisture
 Direction of approach of particle to screen surface
 Cohesion
 Adhesion