INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE

NPTEL
NPTEL ONLINE CERTIFICATION COURSE
Mechanical Operations

Lecture-11
Laws of comminution

With
Dr. Shabina Khanam
Department of Chemical Engineering
India institute of technology, Roorkee

Welcome to the third week of mechanical operations course, today we will start lecture 1 of
week 3 which is on laws of comminution, if you remember the fifth lecture of week 2 there we
have discussed the size reduction, its definition, objective, and breakage pattern, mechanism, and
mode of operation. Now here we will discuss the laws of comminution to calculate energy
consumption in size reduction.

So it is all most impossible to find out the accurate amount of energy requirement in order to
affect size reduction of a given material.

(Refer Slide Time: 01:09)

And this is because there is wide variation in size and shape of particles both in feed as well as
product, and second point is some energy is wasted as heat and sound which cannot be
determined exactly, therefore in very accurate way we cannot calculate the energy requirement
for size reduction. The laws of comminution proposed by different.

(Refer Slide Time: 01:37)

Authors help us to determine energy consumed in comminution that is the creation of new
surface. Now what is basically is a comminution or size reduction, if you remember the last
lecture that is lecture 5 of week 2 there we have discussed the purpose of comminution is to
increase the surface area there and therefore we call it the creation of new surface. So the laws of
comminution proposed by different authors, by using those law we can calculate energy
consumption.

When the new surface of material is created.

(Refer Slide Time: 02:18)

Many of them do not take care of mechanical losses in the crusher, they only consider the
creation of new surface but the losses occur in crusher they do not consider, the method do not
consider this.
(Refer Slide Time: 02:35)

Most popular comminution laws are first, is proposed by Kick, second is Rittinger and third is
Bond, so we are having three laws of comminution and we call it Kicks law, Rittingers law, and
Bonds law. In subsequent slide we will discuss details about these laws.
(Refer Slide Time: 02:54)

Let us start with the Kicks law, the Kicks law says, the Kicks law can be applied to crushing and
it says that the work required for crushing a given quantity of material is constant for given
reduction ratio irrespective of original size, so what is the meaning of this statement? That if I am
having the feed and if we reduce the size of this feed whatever energy is required for this,
whatever work is required for this will depend on size of feed as well as size of product.
But and that size of feed and product ratio we have defined as the reduction ratio, so therefore
work required is proportional to the reduction ratio, it does not vary with the original size of the
feed. If we define the Kicks law mathematically.

(Refer Slide Time: 03:53)

We can write the expression has E/M, that is energy required for crushing M kg of material equal
to Kk that is the Kicks constant ln(DF/DP), that is the DF is the feed size and DP is the product size, so
ratio of these two we have defined as the reduction ratio, so ratio of these two we have defined as the
reduction ration therefore energy consumption is proportional to the reduction ratio, and here the
proportionality is equated with the constant that is the Kicks constant.
So therefore comminution energy depends only on the reduction ratio and is independent of the original
size of the feed, what is the meaning of this? For example.

(Refer Slide Time: 04:48)

If I say that the particle of 200 mm size is reduced to 50 mm size, for example if particle of 200mm size is
reduced to 50 size what is the reduction ratio of this, 200/50 we have 4 so reduction ratio is 4. Now if I
consider the particle of 2mm size and we reduce it to the 0.5mm size so 2/0.5 again the reduction ratio is
4. So if we consider the Kicks law the energy consumption while crushing 200 mm material to 50 mm as
well as 2 mm material to 0.5 mm will be same because reduction ratio is same.
Now what is wrong with this? If you remember the last lecture that is lecture 5 of week 2 there we have
discussed that when particle size are smaller and when we have to convert this to further smaller size it
requires more collusion for reduction purpose, so if reduction ratio is same to crush 200 mm particle to 50
mm will require less energy in comparison to if we reduce 2 mm particle to 0.5 mm product. So though
reduction ratio is same but obviously energy consumption will we significantly high because when we
consider the smaller particle the more collusions are required and many of these collusion will be wasted
and they are not participated in size reduction.

So when the statement of Kicks law is concerned that it totally depends on the reduction ratio this
statement is not correct when we deal with the fine particles. In fact higher amount of energy is required
for reducing fine particles to still finer size than for breaking down large pieces of rock, so Kicks law
can be applied to coarse crushing where the.

(Refer Slide Time: 07:08)

Feed size is quite large and reduction ratio is low, so that is the limitation of Kicks law that when
we deal with this smaller particle though it will have same reduction ratio energy consumption
cannot be seen in two cases, therefore Kicks law is applicable only for coarse crushing were
reduction ratio is small.
(Refer Slide Time: 07:31)

Second law we have is the Rittingers law which is more accurate as far as size reduction or
comminution is concerned. Now what it says according to this law.
(Refer Slide Time: 07:42)

The work required for size reduction is directly proportional to new surface created. How we
show it mathematically? This is the expression where we have.
(Refer Slide Time: 07:54)

E/M that is energy consumption to handle M kg of material, it is equal to KR (SP - SF). Now what
is SP and what is SF? These are the specific surfaces of product and feed, when we crush the
feed obviously feed will have a large size in comparison to the product so surface area for
product is larger than that of the feed, so SP – SF will give the new surface created and.
(Refer Slide Time: 08:27)

KR we call as the Rittingers constant, the reciprocal of KR is called as Rittingers number therefore
the above expression is represented as (E/M) = (SP – SF) / Rittingers number. Now what is
Rittingers number?
(Refer Slide Time: 08:48)

If you see this table for different material the Rittingers number is shown which is the as far as
unit is concerned it is (m2/J) so depending upon the material the Rittingers number vary, but how
we find this Rittingers number? Rittingers number can be obtained by drop weight test, now
what is this drop bit test? For example if I am having this feed and we put the feed over here.
(Refer Slide Time: 09:18)

And we take the weight of known quantity let us say M kg and we drop this weight up to a given
height, so from this height if M amount of weight is dropped over here so in one drop it will
consume MGH energy, so when we keep on dropping this, this from the same height the energy
consumption would be MGH into number of drops. So when we carry out this experiment, so if
you consider the Rittingers expression that is.
(Refer Slide Time: 09:58)

(E/M) = (SP – SF) Rittingers/ Rittingers number so using this expression we can calculate the
Rittingers number because when we have the continuous drop of a known weight from a given
height we already know the energy consumption and we know the surface which is available for
feed as well as surface, for surface acquired by the product so that we can calculate by a screen
analysis. First we carry out a screen analysis for feed and then we carry out screen analysis for
product.

So using these screen analysis data of feed and product we can calculate SP – SF, that is the new
surface created and energy consumption we can calculate as.

(Refer Slide Time: 10:48)

MGH x number of drops so division of these two will give the Rittingers number, therefore the
unit is the meter square that is new surface created.
(Refer Slide Time: 10:59)

Divided by energy consumed in Jul. So Rittingers number designates the new surface created per
unit mechanical energy absorbed by material being crushed. Large value of Rittingers number of
material indicates that it is easier to grind. Now why it is so, because Rittingers number speaks
about the new surface created divided by energy consumption so if Rittingers number is more it
will consume lesser energy, therefore the grind ability would be easier for that material.

(Refer Slide Time: 11:36)

So if I am having dVSP and dVSF as Sauter diameters of product and feed then we can write the
Rittingers expression as E/M = 6KR/ƿ 1/dVSP – 1/ dVSF, now how we can write this because.
(Refer Slide Time: 11:58)

6 over dVs is the specific surface, specific surface means surface area per unit volume because
dVS is the Sauter diameter which is defined as volume surface mean diameter, so 6 over dVS is
nothing but the SP and this SP is the surface area per unit volume. Now if we consider the
Rittingers law then specific surface is defined as surface area per unit mass, therefore this SP we
have divided by this row so that is the 6 dVS in two row. 6 and row is constant so we have taken
it out and 1ƿ dVSP - 1ƿ dVSF will speak about the new surface created.

So when we consider dVSP and dVSF we can write this expression finally where we have replaced
6 KR/ƿ as KR – and these are the Sauter diameter of product as well as feed, so in terms of Sauter
diameter we can calculate the energy consumption using Rittingers law. Now if you consider the
Rittingers law what is the limitation of this law, that the mechanical losses.

(Refer Slide Time: 13:25)

Due to friction and inertia in grinding equipment are not accounted in Rittingers law. Why it is
so, because if you consider the Rittingers law it only speaks about new surface created however
some of the energy is also required.
(Refer Slide Time: 13:42)

To run the crusher without any material so this we call the mechanical losses, so Rittingers law
does not account the mechanical losses and that is the limitation of this law. And here we can
define the overall energy efficiency of the crusher and this can be defined as energy required to
create new surface divided by total energy supplied. Now what is this total energy supplied, is
the energy consumption to run the machine empty plus energy consumption to create new
surface, so that is the total energy supplied.

(Refer Slide Time: 14:24)

Considering this we can calculate overall efficiency of the crusher, apart from this we have
another efficiency and we call it theoretical effectiveness.
(Refer Slide Time: 14:34)

Or theoretical efficiency of crusher, and this we can define as energy required to create new
surface divided by total energy supplied minus that required for running the empty mill. So here
you see total energy supplied minus that required for running empty mill, it means we have
considered only that part of energy.

(Refer Slide Time: 14:59)

Which is utilized for crushing only, so this is the theoretical efficiency as well as overall
efficiency.
(Refer Slide Time: 15:06)

Now Rittingers law is applicable mainly to that part of process where new surface is being
created and holds most accurately for fine grinding where the increase in surface per unit mass of
the material is predominant. Thus, it gives better result for fine grinding where there is much
greater change in surface area. Therefore, Rittingers law is applicable when we deal with the fine
material because it has more chances to create new surfaces.

So Rittingers law can calculate energy in that region more accurately. So this law is applicable
for feed size of less than 0.05 mm. Now both Kicks as well as Rittingers law have been shown to
apply.

(Refer Slide Time: 16:01)

Over limited ranges of particle size, like if I consider Kick’s law it can be applicable accurately
for coarse crushing where reduction ratio is small, and if we consider the Rittingers law it
handles the fine particles to be converted into more fine particles.

(Refer Slide Time: 16:24)

So for this Kick’s as well as Rittingers law KK that is the Kicks constant, and KR that is Rittingers
constant are determined experimentally.

(Refer Slide Time: 16:34)

By tests in a machine of the type to be used and with the material to be crushed, they thus have
limited utility. An intermediate and more realistic method for predicting power consumption in
crushing as well as grinding was proposed by Bond in 1952 and we call it Bonds law.

(Refer Slide Time: 16:58)

And what is the Bonds law, it says that work required to form particles of size dp from very large
particle size is proportional to square root of surface to volume ratio of the product. So here you
see we have surface as well as volume ratio and work required for crushing the feed of large size
to the product of size dp will proportional to square root of surface, that is sp to volume that is vp
ratio of the product. Now how we can define this, how we can show this mathematically it is, if
we consider sp over vp.

(Refer Slide Time: 17:42)

That would be 6/dp, now this surface area over volume ratio how we can convert this into 6/d p,
here if we consider surface as well as volume then we can consider as Sauter diameters so if dp
we consider as Sauter diameter so that here we can have the ratio of surface area to volume and
that we can equate with the 6/dp. And Bonds law mathematically we can represent that E/M total
energy consumption for crushing M unit of material is equal to K and √sp/vp of product. So E/M
is proportional to √sp/vp and what is this K, that we will see later on, further if we resolve this
expression that.

(Refer Slide Time: 18:44)

If we write the expression of sp/vp that is K and √6/dp and this 6 we will take out from the square
root so we have Kb/√dp. So this is basically the Bonds law where Kb we call as Bonds constant,
more precisely we can write the equation as E/M=Kb [1/√dp – 1/√df ].

(Refer Slide Time: 19:21)

Now how we can include this df, if you read the definition carefully it says that feed of very large
size, it means when we consider very large size feed 1/√df is negligible and thus the equation
satisfies the Bonds law. So when we deal with very large size of feed we can write the equation
of Bonds law in this form considering size of product as well as of feed.

(Refer Slide Time: 19:58)

So Kb depends on type of machine used and material to be crushed, it is defined using work
index, we represent the work index by Wi and it is defined as, the work index is basically the
gross energy requirement to reduce very large feed to such a size that 80% of product will pass
through 100 μm or 0.1mm screen. And this gross energy we can define in terms of kilowatt hour
per tonne of feed. So what is this gross energy, when we have very large feed size we have to
crush the feed size in such a way so that 80% of product will pass through 0.1 mm screen, it
means from large to very fine size we can.

(Refer Slide Time: 20:51)

Fine in grinder or in crusher and accordingly we can compute energy consumption using Bonds
law. So if I am having very large feed size.

(Refer Slide Time: 21:03)

We can consider df = ∞ and dp = 0.1mm because 80% product should pass through 0.1mm
screen. In while doing so whatever energy consumption we are having that would be wi which
we call as work index. If this is the expression here instead of dp we can right 0.1, however this
expression or this factor will become negligible so wi =kb /√0.1, if we resolve it further then kb
would be 0.3162 wi. So putting the value of kb in the expression, the final expression of Bonds
law is E/M =0.3162 wi √/1/dpb- 1/dfb. Now what is this dpb and dfb, this we have defined
considering 80% feed particle pass through dfb mm screen and 80% of product pass through dpb
mm screen.

So you see in this particular law we have to use diameter in mm only, not in μm or centimeter
(Refer Slide Time: 22:29)

Therefore here I am having some of the values of work index which depend on the material only
(Refer Slide Time: 22:40)

For limestone it is 12.74, for coal it is 13.00 and many other work indexes of material is shown
in this table. So these data do not vary greatly among different machines and apply to wet
crushing, if we have to handle the dry crushing or if we have to handle the dry material then
these value would be multiplied by 4/3. So what happens when we have considered work index
work index has been defined with respect to gross energy, gross energy means total energy
which is consumed while crushing the process.

So obviously it will include the mechanical energy, therefore Bonds law predicts the gross power
consumption in size reduction or comminution

(Refer Slide Time: 23:33)

Its applicability has been found for feed size 0.05 – 50 mm. Now here we can represent all laws
of comminution using a single equation, if I am having this equation in differential form that is
DE = c dd/dn
(Refer Slide Time: 23:53)

Now this is, this the first d is basically representing the differentiation and the first d is
representing the differentiation however second d is the diameter, and here we have this diameter
over n where C is the constant. Now when we consider n=1 and integrate the above equation
from dF to dP we can write the equation in terms of dE or instated of dE I should write over E
that is the mistake in this, here I should write E only equal to C log(dF/dP) so when we consider
n=1 and integrate it from dF to dP.

We can have the Kicks law expression if value of n is greater than 1 and we integrate this
particular expression we can have E=C/(n-1) [1/dPn-1 – 1/dFn-1]. If I use n=2 in this particular
expression then finally we have equal to C[1/ dp n-1 -1/ df which is nothing but the Rittingers law
and when we consider n=3/ 2 in this expression then we can get the Bonds law, so you see using
the single differential equation we can represent all three laws of comminution. It appears that
Kicks law results apply better to coarse particle, Rittingers to fine particle and Bonds to
intermediate, so we have three different law to calculate energy consumption in three different
region. As clearly shown by this graph.

(Refer Slide Time: 25:52)

Here we have the energy consumption kwh/t and here we have the size so if you see the coarser
size like gravels etcetera we can calculate energy consumption in this by Kicks law. If we deal
with the cement or raw meal we can use Bonds law because it is applicable at intermediate size
and if we are dealing with pigments or very fine particle we can use Rittingers laws, so these are
the zones of applicability of three laws of comminution.
(Refer Slide Time: 26:26)

And here we have the summary of this lecture and in this particular lecture we have discussed
three laws of comminution or size reduction along with its objective in industrial processes.
Second, secondly we have discussed the applicability in terms of feed size for three laws of
comminution, that is Kicks laws is applicable for coarse crushing, Rittingers law is applicable for
fine grinding and Bonds law is applicable for intermediate feed size, and finally we have
described all these three laws using a single differential equation while changing the parameter
while changing the n value of this differential equation we can get all three laws.
(Refer Slide Time: 27:20)

So these are the references for this particular lecture and that is all for now, thank you.

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Acknowledgment
Prof. Pradipta Banerji
Director, IIT Roorkee
Subject Expert & Script
Dr. Shabina Khanam
Dept. of Chemical Engineering
IIT Roorkee

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