Powder Technology 379 (2021) 485–493

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Powder Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/powtec

Effect of feed size on residence time and energy consumption in a

stirred mill: An attainable region method
Wang Guo a,b, Yuexin Han a,b, Peng Gao a,b,⁎, Yanjun Li a,b, Zhidong Tang a,b
a
School of Resources & Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
b
National-local Joint Engineering Research Center of High-efficient exploitation technology for Refractory Iron Ore Resources, Shenyang 110819, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In mineral processing, stirred mills have become a common device due to their high energy efficiency. In this
Received 23 June 2020 work, the kinetics of batch wet grinding studies were studied using six mono-sized fractions of quartz. The pop-
Received in revised form 20 October 2020 ulation balance model (PBM) was used to simulate the evolution behavior of the particle size distribution in a lab-
Accepted 25 October 2020
oratory scale stirred mill. The parameters of PBM were obtained by calculations performed on experimental data.
Available online 30 October 2020
The results showed that the breakage behavior of each class followed a first-order model in the grinding process.
Keywords:
Furthermore, the particle size distribution was back calculated from the determined parameters of the PBM. The
Feed size simulated results were analyzed by the attainable region (AR) method to maximize the volume fraction of the
Attainable region method desired size (−45 + 10 μm) in grinding products. The results obtained indicated that the turning point and
Population balance model switch point were largely dependent on the feed size. These results suggest that a finer feed size is a better choice
Energy consumption if the objective is to maximize the volume fraction of the desired size in the shortest residence time possible in a
grinding circuit with a classifier. In addition, at the initial stage of grinding, the influence of the specific energy
input on the yield of the desired size and overgrinding size for different feed sizes was significant.
© 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V.

1. Introduction be highly successful not only in designing better comminution circuits

The methods of powder preparation include crushing, grinding,
chemical synthesis etc., which are applied in different industries [1–4].
Especially in mineral processing, minerals need to be liberated from
each other by comminution and grinding, which is the premise of effec-
tive separation. Furthermore, each of separation equipment has its own
suitable feed size. If a mineral is overground, it is difficult to recover by
separation equipment and increases the grinding cost. Therefore, the
ideal result of the grinding process is to obtain the most desired size
and reduce overgrinding.
In the process of chemical production, in addition to the production
of the target product, many complicated reactions in the reactor gener-
ate undesirable byproducts at the same time. Thus, the attainable region
(AR) method based on some condition experiments and objective func-
tions was originally introduced to solve the problems of optimizing the
process flow and choosing the appropriate equipment in chemical reac-
tion engineering [5–7]. Extensive research was carried out to investigate
the grinding process, which indicated that the AR method could provide
efficient paths to better achieve the desired size. N. Khumalo [8–10]
et al. systematically reported that the AR method has been proven to
⁎ Corresponding author at: School of Resources & Civil Engineering, Northeastern
University, Shenyang 110819, China.
E-mail address: gaopeng@mail.neu.edu.cn (P. Gao).
but also in optimizing the parameters of the grinding process and equip-
ment selection. Their reports showed that the required specific energy
was the most significant parameter for equipment selection and operat-
ing conditions. Additionally, there was an advantage in saving specific
energy by the AR method, which provides the convenience of finding
the point where the maximum concentration of the desired size is pro-
duced in the grinding process. A typical study of grinding was con-
ducted by Mulenga and Chimwani [11] under different process
conditions. The results indicated that the throughput was insensitive
to all grinding conditions and that the residence time could be short-
ened by adjusting the ball size appropriately. Essentially, mill speed
plays a key role in the optimization of the grinding process. Danha
et al. [12,13] revealed that the breakage behavior of the UG2 ore was
more accurately predicted by the two component model than by the ho-
mogeneous or first order model. The study indicated that the effective-
ness of the model included two components in describing the nature of
the UG2 ore, termed the ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ components. Chimwani et al.
[14] researched the scaling up the breakage rate from laboratory tests
to an industrial mill by empirical and AR models. Meanwhile, the
study showed that a finer product was achieved by using smaller balls.
With the rapid depletion of mineral resources that can be readily
mined [15], the liberation of minerals from complex refractory ores re-
quires efficient fine particle production equipment, such as stirred mills.
In recent years, stirred mills have been preferred in fine grinding and

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2020.10.078
0032-5910/© 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V.
W. Guo, Y. Han, P. Gao et al.
Fig. 1. Construction of the attainable region (AR) for the eight products [7].
ultrafine grinding units, with high grinding efficiency and energy sav-
ings. For this reason, more attention has been paid to the effects of
stirred mill types, tip speed, solid concentrations, and media size on spe-
cific energy input, particle size distributions, and specific surface area
[16–18]. Some researchers [19–21] analyzed the particle size reduction
mechanism and considered that there are three modes of breakage, a
abrasion, a cleavage, and fracture. In the practical grinding process,
one main breakage mechanism is always accompanied by the other
two breakage mechanisms, which means that the mode of breakage
does not occur independently. Furthermore, they noted that particles
were mainly broken by abrasion during the grinding process in the
stirred mill. Due to the special breakage mechanisms, stirred mills im-
proved mineral liberation in the grinding process. Xiao et al. [22] inves-
tigated the breakage mechanisms and mineral liberation of magnetite
coarser concentrate fine-ground by a stirred mill and a ball mill. They
found that the liberation degree of magnetite selectively was improved
by a stirred mill, which led to an increase in the iron grade of the
concentrate.
The AR method has been used extensively for optimizing the opera-
tion parameters of the ball mill, see Mulenga et al., [11] Hlabangana et al.
[23] and Chimwani et al. [24] for details and examples of optimizing
comminution processes. Meanwhile, little attention has been given to
stirred mills regarding the effects of the feed sizes on the yield of the de-
sired size in the grinding products. In this study, the PBM was used to
simulate the breakage behavior of the material. In addition, the
Fig. 2. Schematic representation of each class in the feed and grinding product.
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Powder Technology 379 (2021) 485–493
simulated data were analyzed by the attainable region (AR) method
to produce the maximum volume fraction of the desired size
(−45 + 10 μm).
2. Theoretical background
2.1. The grinding process analysis
The entire size range of the material is divided into three particle size
classes. These are grouped as follows: coarse size (class 1, +45 μm), de-
sired size or intermediate size (class 2, −45 + 10 μm), and overgrinding
size (class 3, −10 μm). The desired size means that the valuable min-
erals are basically liberated and do not exceed the upper and lower
limits of particle size required by the separation equipment. The objec-
tive, in the grinding circuit with classification, is to maximize the frac-
tion of class 2 within the grinding products for the following
separation operation.
As mentioned in the introduction, optimization purposes from the
AR plot have been reported in the literature, and it is illustrated sche-
matically in Fig. 1. The curve starts at the feed point (0 min) and tracks
the profiles to the left, towards the optimum point A. The curve is the
boundary of the attainable region to optimize the process and provide
the best pathway to achieve the objective function. In addition, maxi-
mizing the concentration of class 2 at an optimum point with the
same feed became significant, i.e., the optimum point was dependent
on the properties of the feed, the operating conditions of the mill and
the type of mill.
Fig. 2 shows in the schematic diagram that the coarse particle was
broken into fine particles during the grinding process. x1 and x2 are
the fractions of daughter particles that were broken from class 1 into
class 2 and class 3, respectively. x3 is the fraction of daughter particles
that were broken from class 2 into class 3. By combining Fig. 2 and the
PBM, the formula for the fraction of generated and reduced material in
each class can be deduced as follows:
After a certain grinding time t, the reduced concentration of the
coarse size is:
x1 þ x2 ¼ R1 ð0Þ−R1 ðt Þ ð1Þ
The change in the concentration of the desired size is:
x1 −x3 ¼ R2 ðt Þ−R2 ð0Þ ð2Þ
Due to mass/volume conservation, the newly produced concentra-
tion of overgrinding size is:
x2 þ x3 ¼ 100−R1 ðt Þ−R2 ðt Þ−R3 ð0Þ ð3Þ
where Ri(t) is the mass/volume fraction of the particles in class i after
grinding time t.
W. Guo, Y. Han, P. Gao et al.
2.2. The population balance model
To simplify the simulation and prediction of the evolution behavior
of the particle size distribution in the ball mill and the stirred mill, Ep-
stein [25] introduced the concept of PBM in the grinding process. Fur-
thermore, Austin et al. [26] developed the discrete-size continuous-
time based PBM, in which the concept of rate-mass balance of each par-
ticle size was presented as [27,28]:
dRi ðt Þ i−1
¼ −Si ðt ÞRi ðt Þ þ ∑ j¼1 bij Sj ðt ÞRj ðt Þ
dt
where Ri(t) is the mass/volume fraction of the particles in class i after
grinding time t, t is the grinding time, Si is the selection function of
size-class i and bij is the breakage distribution function which is the frac-
tion arriving in size interval i from breakage size j.
The breakage rate of the coarse size is constant with the change of
grinding time, indicating that the coarse size follows the first-order as-
sumption. For the coarse size, Eq. (4) can be simplified as:
dR1 ðt Þ
¼ −S1 R1 ðt Þ
dt
or
R1 ðt Þ ¼ R1 ð0Þ exp ð−S1 t Þ
where R1(0) is the initial mass/volume fraction of the coarse size, R1(t) is
the fraction of the coarse size after grinding time t, and S1 is the breakage
rate of the coarse size.
Furthermore, to evaluate the mass/volume fraction of class 2, the
first-order breakage model was also employed in the grinding process.
For class 2, Eq. (4) can be simplified as:
dR2 ðt Þ
¼ −S2  R2 ðt Þ þ b21 S1 R1 ðt Þ
dt
where R2(t) is the mass/volume fraction of the desired size after grind-
ing time t, S2 is the breakage rate of the desired size, and b21 is the frac-
tion of material broken from the coarse size into the desired size. Thus,
the integro-differential Eq. (7) can be solved analytically; Eq. (7) yields
Eq. (8):
b21 S1 R1 ð0Þ
R2 ðt Þ ¼ ½ exp ð−S1 t Þ− exp ð−S2 t Þ þ R2 ð0Þ exp ð−S2 t Þ
S2 −S1
3. Materials and experimental method
3.1. Materials
The quartz used in this study was supplied by Lingshou County,
Hebei Province China. The density and bulk density of the quartz mea-
sured by helium replacement method and measuring cylinder were
2784 kg/m3 and 1590 kg/m3, respectively. Large quartz rocks were
crushed by a laboratory jaw crusher, followed by a laboratory roll
crusher in the second stage. Subsequently, the feed was classified
using a sieve shaker. Table. 1 shows the particle size range of feeds for
the experiments. The particle size distribution of the feeds and grinding
products were measured by a Malvern Laser Particle Size Analyzer.
3.2. Test equipment and batch wet grinding tests
Fig. 3 shows the laboratory scale stirred mill with a special stirrer.
The central stirrer consisted of five rings distributed along a central
shaft. The stirred mill was controlled by the control system, mainly in-
cluding a communication module, power meter, and frequency con-
verter. The frequency converter was used to control and record the
Powder Technology 379 (2021) 485–493
Table 1
Particle size range of the feeds.
Feed Particle size range (mm)
Feed 1 −0.50 + 0.25
Feed 2 −0.25 + 0.20
Feed 3 −0.20 + 0.154
Feed 4 −0.154 + 0.10
Feed 5 −0.10 + 0.074
Feed 6 −0.074 + 0.045
ð4Þ
number of stirrer rotations. The run data of the motor were monitored
by a power meter and output by SIMATIC WinCC, including voltage, cur-
rent, instantaneous wattage (recorded twice per second during grind-
ing), mean power, and cumulative power consumption. These signals
were transmitted to the computer through the communication module,
saving continual data acquisition of the motor. The net mean power of
each feed size was used to calculate energy consumption. The no-load
mean power (without grinding media, material and water) was
41.72 W. The net specific energy input of the stirred mill (Em, kW h/t)
was calculated by subtracting the no-load power of the mill (P0,
ð5Þ
W) from the mean active power (Pt, W). In such a model type, the net
specific energy input on any batch test over the grinding time interval
is mathematically expressed in the form [29,30]:
ð6Þ
R
ðP t −P 0 Þdt
Em ¼ ð9Þ
m
where t (h) is the grinding time and m (t) is the mass of each batch test.
The conditions employed in the test runs and the dimensions of the
laboratory stirred mill are specified in Table 2. 4 mm diameter ceramic
balls were used as the grinding media in the tests, and these balls cov-
ered the topmost ring of the stirrer. The total mass of the ceramic balls
ð7Þ
was measured as 3.25 kg. Grinding test work in the mill was carried
out by varying feed sizes and grinding time. A total mass of 430 g quartz
was used for each batch of tests. To obtain the breakage parameters of
each feed, the samples were ground dry for 2, 5, 9, 14, 20, and 30 min.
After each grinding test, quartz and media were cleaned by water
from the grinding chamber, and then the ore pulp was separated from
the grinding media. To prevent loss, a sample was ground only once
and was not returned to the mill again. The particle size distribution of
ð8Þ the grinding products was measured by the Malvern 2000. The grinding
results of different feed sizes are shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 3. Laboratory batch scaled stirred mill.
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Table 2
Laboratory stirred mill dimensions and the operating conditions.

Stirred mill
Chamber diameter (mm) 100
Chamber height (mm) 235
Number of rings 5
Rings outer diameter (mm) 50
Rings inner diameter (mm) 30
Clearance between stirrer and mill floor (mm) 15
Ball media
Density (kg/m3) 3680
Weight (kg) 3.250
Grinding media size (mm) 4.00
Feed
Solids percent in mass (%) 55
Stirrer speed (rpm) 562
The feed filling rate 0.5

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Effect of feed size on breakage behavior

Fig. 5 shows the temporal variation of class 1 under different grind-

ing times for different feed sizes. As the grinding time increased, the vol-
ume fraction of class 1 in the material decreased, indicating that a
fraction of particles (x1 and x2, see Fig. 2) were broken into finer classes.
In addition, it is also clear from the figure that class 1 disappeared faster
with increasing grinding time for the finer feed. The experimental par-
ticle size data were fitted by Eq. (6). Table 3 summarizes the fitting re-
sults of Eq. (6). The values of the Adj. R2 exceed 0.99, indicating that
the success of fitting results. For each feed size, the value of the breakage
rate S1 was constant with respect to grinding time, which indicates that
the grinding process follows a first-order model. The values of the
breakage rate S1 increase with decreasing the feed size. The disappear-
ance kinetics of class 1 showed a maximum breakage rate for feed 6,
which was 0.1108 min−1. The concept of active grinding volume
based on the geometrical model was introduced by Schönert [31]. The
active grinding volume is postulated to be proportional to the square
of the diameter of the media and the mass of material. Therefore, it
could be postulated that the coarse feed was too large for the active
grinding volume to be properly nipped and abrased by the media in
the stirred mill, resulting in a decrease in the breakage rate decreased.
Furthermore, the active grinding volume was constant for grinding
media with a fixed diameter. It could be believed that fewer particles
were broken when the particle size of the feed became larger, which
was in agreement with the reports of other investigators [32–34].
Fig. 6 presents the temporal variation of class 2 in the experiments
under different grinding times. The volume fraction of class 2 passed
through a maximum point, and then decreased. This phenomenon
means that there was an optimal grinding time where the volume frac-
tion of class 2 could be maximized. It could be postulated that a portion
of class 1 (x1) could be ground into class 2, leading to an increase in the
total volume fraction of class 2; meanwhile, a portion of class 2 (x3)
could be broken into class 3 during the grinding process, leading to a de-
crease in the total of the volume fraction of class 2. Therefore, the results
indicated that the volume fraction of class 2 showed a dynamic evolu-
tion among the grinding times.
The variation of class 2 with grinding time is simulated by Eq. (8),
and the values of parameters b21 and S2 can be obtained. The parameter
values are presented in Table 3 for all feed sizes. The values of the break-
age rate S2 also increased with decreasing feed size. After obtaining the
parameters b21 and S2, the turning point and the volume fraction of each
class at the turning point were calculated from Eq. (8). Table 4 gives the Fig. 4. The particle size distribution of grinding products for different feed sizes ((a) to
volume fraction of each class, grinding time, and specific energy input at (f) correspond to feeds 1 to 6).

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Fig. 5. Breakage behavior of class 1 for various feed sizes (lines: regression, markers:
experimental data).

the turning point for feed 1 and feed 6. Class 2 yielded by feed 6 was
14.30% higher than that of feed 1, whereas class 3 yielded by feed 6
was 8.77% lower than that of feed 1. It was demonstrated that finer
feeds not only improve the yield of class 2 but also reduce the genera-
tion of class 3. The results indicated that, to provide a higher volume
fraction of class 2 with less residence time and energy, a finer feed is
preferred.
The turning point as a function of the feed size is plotted in Fig. 7. It is
apparent that the turning point for feed 4–6 increased with decreasing
feed size. However, for the coarse feed, the differences in the turning
points for feed 1–3 are insignificant. It was believed that the turning
point is largely dependent on feed size when the feed size is fine. As
shown in Fig. 7, to obtain the maximum volume fraction of class 2 for
the batch grinding test, the grinding time of the material in the mill
should be extended when the feed size is relatively coarse.
The effect of feed size on the yield of class 3 versus grinding time is
plotted in Fig. 8.The curves for class 3, exhibited as a function of grinding
time, almost overlap. This result demonstrated that, according to dy-
namic theory, the different feed sizes have no significant influence on
the yield of class 3.

4.2. Analysis and discussion of each class by the AR method

Fig. 9 shows the relationship between the net specific energy input
and the grinding time obtained from the batch grinding test. Obviously,
the energy consumption slightly increased with increasing feed size.

Table 3
The parameter values of Eqs. (6, 8) for all feed sizes.

Feed Eq. (6) Eq. (8)

S1 (min−1) Adj.R2 S2 (min−1) b21 Adj.R2

Feed 1 0.06138 0.9948 0.02440 0.6412 0.9934

Feed 2 0.06866 0.9953 0.02295 0.6678 0.9918
Feed 3 0.07153 0.9951 0.02018 0.6615 0.9914
Feed 4 0.08165 0.9972 0.02261 0.7049 0.9917
Feed 5 0.09170 0.9959 0.02152 0.7116 0.9879
Fig. 4 (continued). Feed 6 0.11080 0.9984 0.02758 0.7854 0.9988

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Fig. 6. Temporal variation of class 2 in the experiments, and the fitting results for Eq. (5)
Fig. 8. The volume fraction of class 3 versus grinding time for different feed sizes.
(lines: regression, markers: experimental data).

Table 4
The volume fraction of each class, grinding time and specific energy input at turning point for feed 1 and feed 6.

Feed Grinding time, min Class 1, % Class 2, % Class 3, % Specific energy input, kW·h/t

Feed 1 24.53 21.23 35.24 43.53 47.00

Feed 6 16.71 15.70 49.54 34.76 20.88

This is probably because the decrease in feed size promoted the motion
of the grinding media and improved the flowability of the pulp. The size
of feed 6 was the finest, which caused a lower resistance to stirrers and
thus gave a lower draw power of the motor. This assumption is sup-
ported by the measured draw power of the motor, which is the lowest
in the case of feed 6.
Fig. 10 was obtained from Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, showing the volume frac-
tion of class 2 versus the mass fraction of class 1 for different feed sizes.
The plot shows that feed 6 would give a greater volume fraction of class
2 compared to other feed sizes. It was apparent that the finer feed was
more easily broken into class 2 than the coarse feed. The four dotted
lines represent the volume fraction of class 1 and class 2 for different
feed sizes under a given net specific energy input Em (10, 20, 30,
40 kW·h/t). More class 2 could be produced with the same specific en-
ergy inputs at the initial stages. The yield of class 2 for the fine feed size
was higher than that of the coarse feed when the stirred mill consumed
the same net specific energy on the left of the turning point. However,

Fig. 7. Effect of feed size on the turning point. Fig. 9. The net specific energy input as a function of grinding time for different feed sizes.

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Fig. 10. The volume fraction of class 2 versus the volume fraction of class 1 for the different
feed sizes.
but at point D, 39.82% of class 1 was broken into class 3, and the grinding
time of point D was 24.59 min more than that of point B. Therefore, if the
region left of the turning point on the curve was selected to produce
class 2, a longer grinding time and more energy were needed, and a
higher volume fraction of class 3 was produced. Therefore, to obtain
more class 2, in the actual grinding processing, class 2 and class 3 should
be separated from the grinding products by a hydrocyclone or the spiral
classifier before the grinding time reaches the turning point, and then
class 1 should be returned to the mill for further grinding.
Fig. 12 shows the volume fraction of class 3 versus the volume frac-
tion of class 1 for various feed sizes, based on data from Fig. 6 and Fig. 9.
Despite the fact that the curves of grinding kinetics overlapped, the AR
paths indicated in Fig. 12 display something different. It shows that a
finer feed size produced less class 3 than the coarse ones when the
same fraction of class 1 was broken. Similarly, the specific energy inputs
of the contours are dotted lines. The yield of class 3 for the fine feed size
was also higher than the coarse feed when the stirred mill consumed
the same net specific energy. Fig. 12 corroborates the results in Fig. 10,
showing that, at the initial stage of grinding, the specific energy input
was important for the yields of class 2 and class 3. This is an important
characteristic that can be explored to improve the utilization of energy
input to obtain more class 2 and less class 3 at the initial stage of
grinding.

4.3. Impact of feed size on the change rates of class 2 and class 3

The AR method provides a convenient way to locate the turning

point for obtaining the maximum yield of class 2. However, the AR
method is not always sufficient for simulating the evolution behavior
of the particle size distribution in the mill. Therefore, the change rate
of each class was analyzed based on the mass/volume balance. First,
the volume fraction of class 1 decreased with grinding time, indicating
that its change rate was always negative. Second, the volume fraction
of class 2 increased first and then decreased, indicating that its change
rate decreased from positive to negative. Third, due to mass conserva-
tion, the change rate of class 3 must be positive. To investigate this,
the change rates of class 2 and class 3 as a function of grinding time
were studied. The change rates of class 2 and class 3 are presented as fol-
lows:

dðx1 −x3 Þ d½R2 ðt Þ−R2 ð0Þ

v2 ¼ ¼ ð10Þ
dt dt

dðx2 þ x3 Þ d½R3 ðt Þ−R3 ð0Þ

v3 ¼ ¼ ð11Þ
Fig. 11. The volume fraction of class 2 versus the volume fraction of class 1 for feed 6. dt dt

The differences in the change rates of class 2 and class 3 as a function

of their respective grinding times are plotted in Fig. 13. First, it was as-
Table 5
The volume fraction of each class, grinding time and specific energy input at point B, D and sumed that the change rates of class 2 and class 3 would be equal at a
switch point for feed 6. certain residence time in milling. It was demonstrated that the straight
line y = 0 intersects the curve v2-v3, and the intersection was termed
Point Grinding time, Class Class Class Specific energy input,
min 1, % 2, % 3, % kW·h/t the switch point [24], indicating that the change rates of class 2 and
class 3 were equal. This result means that the change rate of class 2
Point B 7.70 42.62 40.00 17.38 9.62
Point D 32.29 2.80 40.00 57.20 40.34
was faster than that of class 3 before the grinding time exceeded the
Switch point 8.90 37.28 42.80 19.92 11.12 point of intersection. In contrast, when the grinding time exceeded
the point of intersection, the change rate of class 2 was lower than
that of class 3. It was clearly shown that, especially at the initial of the
process, there was the largest difference in the change rate of class 2
with the increase in class 2, for a given specific energy input, energy and class 3 for different feed sizes. This indicates that shortening the res-
consumption has a smaller effect on class 2 for different feed sizes. idence time of materials in the mill as much as possible was beneficial
Taking the results of feed 6 as an example, Fig. 11 was obtained from for class 1 to be broken into class 2. However, shortening the residence
Fig. 10. On the left and right sides of the turning point (point C) on the time of materials would increase the load of the classifier in a milling cir-
curve, there were two points (points B and D) that have the same vol- cuit. Therefore, the grinding time should not exceed the switch point at
ume fraction of class 2. Table 5 shows the volume fraction of each least. In addition, the difference in the change rates of class 2 and class 3
class, grinding time, and specific energy input at points B and D for increased with decreasing feed size at the initial of the grinding process.
feed 6. Points B and D have the same volume fraction of class 2 at 40%, This phenomenon corroborates the results in Fig. 6 that a higher volume

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Fig. 12. The volume fraction of class 3 versus the volume fraction of class 1 for the different
feed sizes.
Fig. 13. The difference change rate between class 2 and class 3 versus grinding time.
fraction of class 2 was achieved for finer feed size at the same grinding
time. Furthermore, the curves overlap when the grinding time exceeds
the switching point, indicating that the difference in the change rate be-
tween class 2 and class 3 was independent of the feed size.
Similarly, using the feed 6 data as an example, Table 5 summarizes
the volume fraction of each class, grinding time, and specific energy
input at the switch point for feed 6. Class 2 within the product increased
from 45.30% to 51.26% when the grinding time was prolonged from the
switch point to the turning point. Class 3 within the product dramati-
cally increased from 16.33% to 30.20% at the same grinding time (for
the results of the turning point, see Table 4). Thus, the increase in
class 3 within the product is much higher than that of class 2. Producing
a higher volume fraction of class 3 resulted in unnecessary energy con-
sumption, which should be avoided in the grinding process. Therefore,
in the grinding circuit with classification, the switch point could be an
indicator of the residence time of the feed in the mill, which could
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Powder Technology 379 (2021) 485–493
Fig. 14. Effect of feed size on the switch point.
further improve the proportion of class 1 to be broken into class 2 and
avoid the generation of class 3.
The switch point as a function of feed size is plotted in Fig. 14. As can
be seen, the switch point for different feed sizes increased with decreas-
ing feed size up to feed 5 and decreased the feed size further. An oppo-
site phenomenon was clearly observed for the turning point versus the
feed size. Therefore, it is suggested that if the goal is to maximize the
volume fraction of class 2 in the grinding circuit with classification,
then it is necessary to shorten the residence time of coarse feed in the
mill. This is contrary to the general assumption generally believed that
coarse feed needs a longer residence time in the mill to obtain a higher
fraction of class 2.
5. Conclusions
Laboratory batch wet grinding tests of quartz were carried out for six
feed sizes in a stirred mill. The PBM was proven to be highly successful
in predicting and simulating the evolution behavior of class 1, class 2,
and class 3. It was observed that the first kinetic process with class 1
decayed exponentially with grinding time in the feed size range. In ad-
dition, the breakage rates S1 and S2 increased with decreasing feed size.
The maximum breakage rate S1 of the tests, obtained from feed 6, was
0.1108 min−1.
The simulated results of the PBM were analyzed by the AR method to
optimize the grinding process. The turning point was the optimum op-
erating point where the volume fraction of class 2 was maximal. The re-
sults indicated that the turning point increased with decreasing feed
size. This suggested that if the goal is to maximize the volume fraction
of class 2 for different feed sizes, the residence time of coarse feed
should be extended in the mill. However, it was found that at the initial
of the process there was a larger difference in the change rate of class 2
and class 3 for different feed sizes. This indicates that shortening the res-
idence time of materials in the mill as much as possible is beneficial for
breaking class1 into class 2. In addition, the grinding time should not ex-
ceed the switch point at least. Therefore, the results suggested that ac-
curately determining when the products were discharged from the
mill and sent to the classifier to obtain class 2 is significant. Furthermore,
it was also found that the yield of class 2 for a fine feed size was higher
than that for coarse feed when the stirred mill consumed the same net
specific energy to the left of the turning point. These results provide fur-
ther confirmation that feed size is an important factor in the
W. Guo, Y. Han, P. Gao et al.
optimization of the residence time of the material in the mill and spe-
cific energy input to maximize the concentration of class 2.
Declaration of Competing Interest
None.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from Na-
tional Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51674065 and No.
51734005).
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