PARTICLE SIZE

REDUCTION
Zenamarkos B. (PhD)
Process Engineering Program
Faculty of Chemical and Food Engineering
Bahir Dar Institute of Technology (BiT)
Bahir Dar University
Nov, 2019
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 Particle Size Reduction
Introduction

 Necessary to:
o create particles of desired (small) size
o increase the available surface area
o liberate valuable ingredients held within particles!

 Size reduction is one of the most energy intensive and most inefficient
processes (~ 5% of all electricity generated is used for particle
reduction worldwide).

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 Particle Size Reduction
Particle Fracture Mechanisms

 At very small deformations, every solid behaves elastic since the system
tries to move the distorted particles (atoms) back into their energetic
minimum position.
 Above a certain stress level the system will show a yielding behaviour
(that strongly depends on the nature of the solid) since the interparticle
forces decrease eventually above a certain separation distance.

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 Particle Size Reduction
Particle Fracture Mechanisms
 The stress in a body under tension is not evenly distributed, but
concentrated around holes, corners and cracks. The stress that a body can
sustain before yielding is therefore lower than the ideal stress on an
atomistic level.

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 Particle Size Reduction
Particle Fracture Mechanisms

The force for crack extension depends on:

 the stress-strain behaviour
 crack structure/geometry
 boundary conditions

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 Particle Size Reduction
Particle Fracture Mechanisms

 The stress concentration factor K for a crack in a material can be

obtained from the length L of the crack and the radius of the crack tip R.

 For any material there is a critical value of K (or better, a critical crack
length) for a given mean stress acting on the material above which the
crack will propagate and the material will fracture.

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 Particle Size Reduction
Particle Fracture Mechanisms

 As the crack grows, the elastically stored energy is released and

dissipated at the speed of sound and will therefore reach other (smaller)
cracks and can force them to also start to propagate, leading to multiple
fracture in brittle materials.

 In tough materials, the crack propagation is less pronounced since the

released energy is dissipated via a deformation of the material.

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 Particle Size Reduction
Particle Fracture Mechanisms

 Small particles are harder to break:

o in small particles, the stress cannot distribute as unevenly as in

large particles and the maximum stress concentrations at the crack
tips are therefore decreased.

o the small dimensions limit also the maximum initial crack length
and reduce therefore K.

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 Particle Size Reduction
Particle Fracture Mechanisms

 The specific energy required to break a particle should therefore depend on the
particle size.
 There are generally three size regimes identified for which different scalings are
observed.

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 Particle Size Reduction
Energy Requirement

 The slope of the curves can generally be described for the three regimes via

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 Rittinger Approach
 Rittinger proposed that the energy required to break a particle is directly
proportional to the new surface created.

 However, experiments have shown that the required energy to fracture is 200-
300 times higher than the surface energy. Still, the scaling that the Rittinger
approach predicts is actually observed for very small particles and justifies to
derive this equation.

For initial and final particle size of x1 and x2, we have:

Shape dependent volume

conversion factor
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 Rittinger Approach
 Assuming that each particle of size x1 will give rise to (x1/x2) particles of
size x2, we get for the new surface created from a single particle x1:

 The new surface created (and therefore according to Rittinger the

required energy E to break) per unit mass is

 The differential form of this energy shows

then the Rittinger scaling:
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 Kick Approach
 Kick postulated that the energy required is directly proportional to the
ratio of volume of initial particle to the volume of the final particle:

 We then get from the particle size ratio for the Energy required:

 In differential form we see the Kick scaling

 Kicks law works only for large particles

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 Bond Approach
 Bond suggested another empiric formula that gives quite reasonable
results at intermediate particle dimensions (initial particle > 100 μm):

 In differential form we obtain the Bond scaling

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 Stressing Mechanisms
1. Crushing plus attrition
 Stress applied between two surfaces (either surface-particle or particle-
particle) at low velocity, 0.01-10 m/s.

2. Impact fracture plus attrition

 Stress applied at a single solid surface (surface-particle or particle-particle)
at high velocity, 10-200 m/s.

3. Stress applied by carrier medium-usually in wet grinding to bring about

disagglomeration.
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 Machines Using Mechanism 1
The jaw crusher behaves like a pair of giant nutcrackers. One jaw is fixed and
the other, which is hinged at its upper end, is moved towards and away from the
fixed jaw by means of toggles driven by an eccentric.
The lumps of material are
crushed between the jaws
and leave the crusher when
they are able to pass through
a grid at the bottom

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 Machines Using Mechanism 1
The gyratory crusher has
a fixed jaw in the form of
a truncated cone.
The other jaw is a cone
which rotates inside
the fixed jaw on an
eccentric mounting.
Material is discharged
when it is small enough
to pass through the gap
between the jaws.

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 Machines Using Mechanism 1
In the crushing roll machine, two cylindrical rolls rotate in opposite
directions, horizontally and side by side with an adjustable gap between
them. As the rolls rotate, they drag in material which is choke-fed by
gravity so that particle fracture occurs as the material passes through the
gap between the rolls.

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 Machines Using Mechanism 1
In the horizontal
table mill, the feed
material falls on to
the centre of a
circular rotating
table and is thrown
out by centrifugal
force. In moving
outwards, the
material passes
under a roller and
is crushed.

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 Machines Using Mechanism 2
The hammer mill consists
of a rotating shaft to which
are attached fixed or
pivoted hammers. This
device rotates inside a
cylinder. The particles are
fed into the cylinder either
by gravity or by gas
stream. In the gravity-fed
version, the particles leave
the chamber when they
are small enough to pass
through a grid at the
bottom.

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 Machines Using Mechanism 2
A pin mill consists of two parallel circular discs each carrying a set of
projecting pins. One disc is fixed and the other rotates at high speed so
that its pins pass close to those on the fixed disc. Particles are carried in
air into the centre and as they move radially outwards are fractured by
impact or by attrition.

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 Machines Using Mechanism 2
The fluid energy mill relies on the turbulence created in high velocity
jets of air or steam in order to produce conditions for interparticle collisions
which bring about particle fracture.
Material is conveyed from the grinding
area near the jets at the base
of the loop to the classifier
and exit situated at the top of
the loop. These mills have a
very high specific energy
consumption and are subject
to extreme wear when
handling abrasive materials.

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 Machines Using Mechanism 1+2
The sand mill is a vertical cylinder containing a stirred bed of sand, glass
beads or shot. The feed, in the form of a slurry, is pumped into the
bottom of the bed
and the product
passes out at the
top through a
screen which
retains the bed
material.

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 Machines Using Mechanism 1+2
In the colloid mill, the feed in the form of a slurry passes through the gap
between a male, ribbed cone rotating at high speed and a female static
cone

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 Machines Using Mechanism 1+2
The ball mill is a rotating cylindrical or cylindrical-conical shell about half filled with
balls of steel or ceramic. The speed of rotation of the cylinder is such that the balls are
caused to tumble over one another without causing cascading. This speed is usually less
than 80% of the critical speed which would just cause the charge of balls and feed material
to be centrifuged.
A conical
section of the
mill causes
the smaller
balls to move
towards the
discharge end
and
accomplish
the fine
grinding.

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Which Machine for Which Size?

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Types of Milling Circuit

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Dry Milling

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Wet Milling

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