Advanced Powder Technology 24 (2013) 441445

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Advanced Powder Technology

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Original Research Paper

Rapid determination of Bond rod-mill work index by modeling the grinding kinetics
R. Ahmadi a, M. Hashemzadehni a,, M. Amiri Parian b
a b

Iran Mineral Processing Research Centre (IMPRC), Karaj 36155, Iran Division of Sustainable Process Engineering, Lule University of Technology, Lule, Sweden

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Generally, Bond work index is a common method for selecting comminution equipment as well as estimation of grinding efciency and calculating required power. In the current research, a simple, fast and accurate procedure is introduced to nd the rod-mill work index based on the conventional Bond work index. The grinding experiments were carried out on four typical samples of iron, copper, manganese and leadzinc ore with three test-sieves in specied time periods and aimed to shortening the procedure. Furthermore, the grinding kinetics and mass balance equations were applied to model the standard Bond rod-mill work index. For comparing the standard Bond rod-mill work index and the new modeled method, work index (Wi) and produced ne particles in a cycle (Gi) for the four samples determined. The performed paired Students t-test results indicated that the Standard Deviation for Gi and Wi obtained by the shortened method are respectively 0.50 and 0.58 in respect of traditional Bond method. 2012 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 9 June 2012 Received in revised form 1 October 2012 Accepted 3 October 2012 Available online 7 November 2012 Keywords: Bond work index Rod-mill Grinding kinetics Shortened method

1. Introduction The Bond rod-mill work index is used in conjunction with Bonds third theory of comminution to merely calculate net energy requirements for sizing rod-mills. This test was originally developed in the mid 1930s by F.C. Bond. Though, it was altered in succeeding years, it has essentially remained unchanged since 1961 [1]. To calculate the Bond work index (Wi) in a standard laboratory scale rod-mill, Bond derived the following equation:

Wi

:23 0:625 P0 Gi i

62 h

10 p P

10 p F

kw h sh t

where F is 80% passing size of original feed, P is 80% passing size of circuit product and Pi is the test-sieve size in lm [1]. The standard procedure to determine all Bond work indices is time consuming and needs an available skilled staff and specially prepared feed samples [2]. It is also complicated and susceptible to procedural errors. This is why much work [37] has been done to abbreviate and simplify Bonds test procedure. Smith and Lee [8] compared Bond grindability with straight batch-type grindability. Their results showed that both ways are empirically related to each other; hence, it is possible to estimate
Corresponding author. Address: Iran Mineral Processing Research Centre (IMPRC), P.O. Box 31995-135, Kamalshahr, Karaj, Iran. Tel.: +98 2692108361x70; fax: +98 2692108360. E-mail addresses: hashemzadehmohsen@gmail.com, mohsenhashemzadeh@ yahoo.com (M. Hashemzadehni).

Bond grindability from batch tests. Magdalinovic and Cumpujerovic [9] showed the fact that an approximate value of the ball-mill work index can be determined by doing just two grinding tests. Chongbo and Bingchen [10] studied away to simulate the calculation method of the Bond rod-mill work index. On the basis of their research, a new method was developed to calculate the Bond rodmill work index. Mucsi [11] introduced two relatively fast alternative ways for the determination of specic grinding work and Bond work index of brittle materials. He developed a grindability determination method, mainly for ne materials, by improving Hardgrove and using Bond measuring methods and devices. Hardgrove and Bond mills were, therefore, equipped with torque and power input measuring instruments (torque-meter, electric energy meter). Standard and modied Bond and Hardgrove tests were carried out systematically with different kind of brittle materials in the standard particle size range. Ahmadi and Shahsavari [12] studied how to use an alternative rapid procedure in their attempts to determine the Bond ball-mill work index for Copper and Iron ores. Simulating the Bond rod-mill grindability test was also conducted by Tavares et al. [13]. Their proposed model against the traditional Bond rod-mill work index had a standard deviation below 10%. The objective of this study was to conduct a rapid determination of Bond work index by considering grinding kinetics of the particles in standard Bond rod-mill as well as size-mass balance equations in the mill. For this, series of experiments were conducted on different ore types to simulate grinding kinetic in a rod-mill. Subsequently, paired t-test statistical method was applied to evaluate the results.

0921-8831/$ - see front matter 2012 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apt.2012.10.003

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2. Theory 2.1. Grinding kinetics in the Bond rod-mill Eq. (2) shows the grinding function of a test-sieve oversize at the time (t) obeys the law of rst order kinetics:

where tc (min) is the grinding time in a standard grinding cycle when the oversize (R) on the test-sieve will become equal to M 2 which corresponds to the 100% circulating load. By knowing tc value, the number of grinding cycle (Nc) to reach 100% circulating load can be calculated.

Nc tc n

12

Rt R0 ekt

where Rt (g) is the fraction over the test-sieve after the grinding time; R0 (g) is the test-sieve oversize at the beginning of the grinding (t = 0); k (min1) and t (min) are the rate constant and periods of time when grinding takes place, respectively. The k value is determined from only one grinding cycle by using the following equation:

where n is the number of mill revolutions per minute. The total number of revolutions that provides a 100% circulating load (Nc) is calculated by substituting the expressions of the tc from Eq. (11) into Eq. (12).

Nc

n ln1 r 0 k

13

ln R0 ln Rt t

It is possible to reduce the standard Bond rod-mill test to only two grinding tests by using the derived Eqs. (3), (8), and (13). 3. Experimental 3.1. Materials Four different ore samples were acquired for the grindability experiments according to Table 1. The jaw crusher (JC2000, 200 130 mm jaw crusher, Labtech Essa Pty Ltd., Australia), the standard Bond rod-mill (Labtech Essa Pty Ltd, Australia) and ASTM sieves (ASTM Laboratory Sieves) were used in the process to determine all Bond rod-mill work indices. The laboratory rod-mill used here is 305 mm diameter 610 mm long (volume: 44.5 L), with a wave type liner and a revolution counter that runs at 46 rpm. It can also run horizontally and can be tilted at any angle and rotate at that angle freely. The grinding charge consists of eight steel rods that are 533.4 mm long, and weighing 33.380 g total, the six of which are 31.75 mm and two of which are 44.45 mm diameter. 3.2. Methods

To calculate the grinding rate constant (k), the Eq. (2) was linearized by taking logarithm of both sides and using linear regression. The value of k is presumed to be a constant since the size distribution of the feed always remain steady during a test. 2.2. Modeling of the standard Bond rod-mill test The test of determining the standard Bond rod-mill work index includes a closed grinding cycle with a screen (Fig. 1). The oversize fraction in each cycle (except the rst cycle) consists of the oversize fraction in the fresh feed and in the previous grinding stage. In the standard Bond test at 100% circulating load:

RU M R 100 100% U R 1 U RU M 2

4 5 6 7

where R is an oversize fraction weight (g), U is a fresh feed weight (g) and M is a mill feed weight (the weight of the initial crushed feed equivalent to the 1250 cm3 bulk volume). The amount of an oversize fraction of mill feed (R0) in one grinding cycle at 100% circulating load and at the beginning of grinding is calculated by the following equation:

R0

M 1 r0 2

where r0 (g) is the proportion of test-sieve oversize in the new feed (expressed in parts of unity). Considering Eq. (1), the following expressions can be derived for a 100% circulating load:

M M 1 r 0 ekt 2 2 ln1 r 0 kt tc ln1 r 0 k

R

9 10 11

The four typical ore samples were rst blended and divided by rife. Having prepared the representative subsets, each of them was crushed in the jaw crusher to 12.7 mm. Afterwards, they were milled dry in the standard Bond rod-mill for the specied time periods and the product size distribution was determined to nd test-sieve oversize. The cumulative oversize versus grinding time plot was used to calculate the order of test-sieve oversize grindability kinetics. To validate the results, the procedure was repeated for each sample with three test-sieves. After determining the order of oversize grindability kinetics, the standard Bond rodmill work index was modeled by applying mass balance equations. Based on the grinding model calculations, Tc (the grinding time in a standard grinding cycle that provides a 100% circulating load), Nc (the total number of revolutions that provides a 100% circulating load) and Gi (the weight of the nes produced in one revolution grinding) parameters and also rod-mill work index obtained. Both the standard Bond process and the shortened method were used to nd work indices for the samples in order to compare the results. To evaluate the results, the paired Students t-test was

Table 1 Four different ore samples and their properties. Material Origin Khanabad Mine, Khomein Tarom Mine, Tarom Gole-gohar Mine, Kerman Venarg Mine, Qom Density (g/cm3) 4.1 2.6 3.6 4.2 F80 (lm)a 8292.2 8055.4 9501.2 7612.0

Leadzinc ore Copper ore Iron ore Manganese ore

a

Fig. 1. The cycle of grinding test.

The F80 value in the table is determined after crushing.

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100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 100

Cumulative passing percent

Table 2 Statistical evaluation of Gi obtained by the shortened method in respect of the Gi of standard Bond test based on paired Students t-test. Material df t-Value p-Value Standard 95% CL deviation Lower 0.4930 0.6708 0.4801 2.0582 0.1758 0.1234 1.5877 0.2533 0.7418 1.1856 0.3576 0.3214 1.5122 0.1587 0.5097 99% CL Upper Lower Upper

Lead-Zinc Ore Copper Ore Iron Ore Manganese Ore

1000

10000

100000

LeadZinc 2 ore Copper ore 2 Iron ore 2 Manganese 2 ore All 11

1.3294 1.0561 2.8879 2.6146 0.1599 0.4533 0.5606 0.8539 2.5228 1.1628 4.9307 3.5707 1.0184 0.5784 2.0617 1.6217 0.5463 0.1013 0.6795 0.2345

Particle Size (micron)

Fig. 2. Particle size distribution of the four samples. Table 3 Statistical evaluation of Wi obtained by the Chongbo and Bingchen method in respect of the Wi of standard Bond test based on paired Students t-test. Material df tValue pStandard 95% CL Value deviation Lower 99% CL Upper Lower 8.1074 Upper 8.0740

100

Cumulative oversize (%)

Leadzinc 2 ore Copper ore 2 Iron ore 2 Manganese 2 ore All 11

0.0204 0.9855 1.4120 0.8005 0.5074 2.7624 0.7322 0.5402 0.2050 2.3271 0.1454 0.8336 1.4217 0.1829 1.5026

3.5242 3.4908

5.5856 8.1389 14.5523 17.1056 0.4226 0.5960 1.0881 1.2615 0.9508 3.1908 3.6567 5.8967 0.3380 1.5714 0.7305 1.9639

Pb, 1180 m cu, 1180 m

0 1 2 3

pb, 3350 m cu, 2360 m

4 5

Pb, 425 m cu, 600 m

6 7
Table 4 Statistical evaluation of Wi obtained by the shortened method in respect of the Wi of standard Bond test based on paired Students t-test. Material df tValue pValue Standard 95% CL deviation Lower 99% CL Upper Lower Upper

10

Grinding time (minutes)

Fig. 3. Grinding kinetics of Pb and Cu ores in the Bond rod-mill in different testsieves.

100.00

Cumulative oversize (%)

Leadzinc ore Copper ore Iron ore Manganese ore All

2 0.6487 0.5831 0.9968 2 1.7335 0.2252 0.5962 2 3.8348 0.0618 0.1686 2 0.2462 0.8285 0.5160 11 2.1146 0.0581 0.5802

2.1029 2.8496 5.3385 6.0852 0.8843 2.0777 2.8195 4.0129 0.0455 0.7922 0.5929 1.3396 1.2084 1.3551 2.8833 3.0299 0.0145 0.7228 0.1660 0.8743

Fe, 1180 m Mn, 3350 m

0 1 2

Fe, 600 m Mn, 600 m

3 4

Fe, 2000 m Mn, 1180 m

5 6

10.00

Grinding time (minutes)

Fig. 4. Grinding kinetics of Fe and Mn ores in the Bond rod-mill in different testsieves.

applied on Gi and Wi values. The shortened method statistical results also compared with those of achieved by the Chongbo and Bingchen method. 3.3. The procedure for the shortened method The procedure for determining the Bond rod-mill work index based on the shortened method is as follows: - A crushed feed of 100% passing 12.7 mm is prepared and sieved to nd the size distribution and d80. To nd the M value, equivalent to 1250 cm3 represents crushed feed is weighed. Additionally, the original feed is sieved by the test-sieve to obtain two

oversized samples with a weight of R = M . Other than those, 2 two samples with a weight of U = M from the original feed and 2 two others with a weight of M by mixing the U and R for two grinding tests are collected. Furthermore, the oversize fractions of test-sieve (R0) of all the two mixed samples are determined. - One of the two mixed samples with a weight of M is fed to the Bond rod-mill and ground in a random selected number of mill revolutions (N = 30, 50, 100. . .). Afterwards, the milled sample is sieved and the oversize (R) is determined. The grinding rate constant (k) now can be calculated by using Eq. (3). - To nd the total number of revolutions (Nc) for the second grinding test, Eq. (13) is employed. The second mixed sample is fed into the Bond rod-mill and ground by Nc revolutions. - After grinding the second mixed sample, the milled sample is sieved and the oversize and undersize are weighed. Due to the fact that shortening grinding cycles causes negligible relative error, the weight of oversize and undersize samples will be approximately equal to m M (contrasting with standard 2 Bond work index method in which the weight of oversize and undersize samples is exactly equal to R = U = M ). The size distri2 bution and d80 value of the undersize sample (the second sample) are determined and Eq. (14) is applied to calculate the weight of the nes produced in one revolution grinding (Gi) for the second sample:

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Table 5 The results of the work index tests by two methods, standard Bond work index test and shortened method. Material Test-sieve Pc or Pi (lm) 3350 1180 425 2360 1180 600 2000 1180 600 3350 1180 600 Grindability (g/rev.) Standard Bond test 12.20 6.58 3.89 8.20 5.19 3.94 20.06 14.11 9.64 11.04 7.04 4.33 Shortened method 12.89 6.41 3.78 8.02 4.94 3.93 20.80 15.50 9.55 11.63 7.10 4.34 Work index (kW h/t) Standard Bond test 22.14 21.08 14.87 29.10 22.95 18.57 12.00 11.19 10.41 26.68 20.51 18.52 Shortened method 21.08 20.25 15.64 27.93 22.97 17.93 11.51 10.74 10.23 26.99 19.84 18.65

Gi

mM 1 r 0 2 Nc

14

- Finally, by nding all the necessary parameters, the Bond rodmill work index is calculated from Bond equation (Eq. (1)). 3.4. Statistical evaluation for assessing agreement between standard Bond and the shortened method A popular statistical method to compare two methods or measurements is the paired Students t-test which estimates a p-value representing the probability that the mean of the differences observed occurred randomly. The shortened and standard Bond methods which are performed on the same samples can be statistically veried by the test whether their differences are signicant. Furthermore, the calculated t-test value can be used to nd condence intervals for each paired set of data to show how reliable the results are in certain condence level. The t-test is performed on the differences between the mean of the indices obtained for the four material types and also all indices together.

Leadzinc ore Copper ore

Iron ore

Manganese ore

Table 6 The value of k, n, r0, Nc and P80 of different tests. Material Testsieve Pc or Pi (lm) 3350 1180 425 2360 1180 600 2000 1180 600 3350 1180 600 k n r0 (g) (mn1) (rpm) Nc P80 (lm) (rpm) Shortened method 52 126 301 77 145 189 40 59 108 66 144 262 2245.78 995.09 295.17 2014.57 938.33 429.00 1509.74 931.25 441.00 2527.25 1020.45 493.56

4. Results and discussion

Bond Standard 2276.85 1069.70 280.00 2127.13 975.79 454.00 1544.71 909.32 457.10 2433.75 1056.00 487.00

Leadzinc ore Copper ore

Iron ore

Manganese ore

0.509 0.229 0.105 0.341 0.198 0.161 0.652 0.466 0.268 0.358 0.195 0.113

46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46

76.90 87.30 98.33 76.51 86.50 93.60 76.10 81.00 87.70 66.80 84.10 90.40

To calculate Bond rod-mill work indices, the four samples were screened and the particle size distributions plotted in Fig. 2. The plot was used to nd F80 of the samples for calculations. Figs. 3 and 4 show the grinding kinetics of Pb, Cu, Fe, and Mn ores in the Bond rod-mill in different test-sieves. The slopes of all lines in the gures are equal to the k value of Eq. (2). The t-test results on the paired data sets of Gi values are shown in Table 2. In all cases, the value 0 for the differences is situated within the condence intervals which agree with the null hypothesis of having no signicant difference between the Gi results by two methods (shortened method and standard Bond method). Moreover, for all Gi indices, in 95% condence level, there are 95% chance that the mean difference of population is between

Fig. 5. The Bond rod-mill work indices of different samples with various test-sieves by standard Bond, Chongbo and Bingchen, and shortened method.

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0.5463 and 0.1013 and same conclusion applies for the 99% condence level with the related values. To compare the shortened method with Chongbo and Bingchen method, the t-test is performed on work index values by the two methods in respect of the standard Bond method. Tables 3 and 4 show the paired t-test results for work indices obtained by Chongbo and Bingchen method and shortened method, respectively. Comparatively, the paired t-test results show that in all instances, the shortened method has much narrower condence intervals than Chongbo and Bingchen method indicating that for example in 95% condence level, there is 95% possibility that a new work index obtained by the shortened method would be 0.0145 less or 0.7228 higher than one that is obtained by the traditional Bond method. However, these intervals for the Chongbo and Bingchen method are wider and in copper ore case is worst. It should be considered that degree of freedom affects the t-value and consequently the condence intervals. Table 5 shows the Bond rod-mill work index and Gi parameter obtained by both shortened and standard Bond methods. The Gi calculated by the shortened method is dependent on values of k, n, r0. These values were also illustrated in Table 6. The work index determination is an important routine procedure in mineral processing, powder technology and cement plants. Additionally, the work index shows the ore hardness and resistance against the grinding process which also can show the required energy for grinding the material. Therefore, to investigate changes in the grinding process of the feed in a mineral processing plant and subsequently applying appropriate controls to adjust these variations, determining the work index in certain time intervals is crucial. Given the multiplicity of these measurements, the shortened method is desirable. In comparison with a standard Bond test which is time consuming, the condence intervals obtained by the paired t-test shows how reliable the shortened method is. This method is appropriate for industries and factories to determine the Bond work index as rapidly as possible. In order to ascertain the accuracy and validity of the simulated method as mentioned above, the results were compared with those extracted from Chongbo and Bingchen and standard Bond method, as shown in Fig. 5. 5. Conclusions The grindability experiments was carried out on the four typical samples of copper, leadzinc, manganese and iron ore in specied time periods in order to model the standard Bond rod-mill test. The

plot of cumulative oversize versus grinding time for various testsieves revealed that the grinding of test-sieve oversize fraction in the Bond rod-mill follows the law of rst order kinetics. The experiment results conrm that the introduced method is a rapid and accurate method to determine the Bond rod-mill work index. The Bond rod-mill work indices obtained by this method were compared to those of standard Bond work indices with having different test-sieves. The comparison of two methods based on paired t-test showed that differences of mean values for Wi and Gi are not significant in 95% condence level. Moreover, comparing the condence intervals for the shortened method and Chongbo and Bingchen method implies that it is more likely to achieve a Wi which is closer to the standard Bond work index by the shortened method. This method can be used in mineral processing and ne powder grinding plants due to its simplicity and applicability. Acknowledgment This work was supported by Iran Mineral Processing Research Center (IMPRC). The authors acknowledge nancial support from IMPRC. References
[1] N.L. Weiss, SME Mineral Processing Handbook, Society of Mining Engineers AIME, New York, 1985. [2] B. Aksaniand, B. Snmez, Simulation of bond grindability test by using cumulative based kinetics model, Min. Eng. 13 (2000) 673677. [3] L. Fuxing, A simple algorithm of simulating and grindability test, Metal Min. China 3 (1982) 4448. [4] P.C. Kapur, Analysis of the Bond grindability test, Transt. Inst. Mining Metall. 79 (1970) 103108. [5] V.K. Karra, Simulation of Bond grindability test, CIM Bull. 74 (1981) 195 199. [6] X. Weiping, A method of computer simulation for determining the Bond work index, in: 2nd Proceedings of Comminution and Grinding, Beijing, 1983, pp. 3 10. [7] Z. Lingjia, C. Bingchen, A study of simulating calculation method of the Bond ball mill work index, in: China, Japan and America Particuology, 1988. [8] R.W. Smith, K.H. Lee, A comparison of data from Bond type simulated closedcircuit and batch type grindability tests, Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng. 241 (1998) 9199. [9] N. Magdalinovic, R. Cumpujerovic, Shortened procedure for determination of Bond work index, Collection of works 9, in: Yugoslav Symposium on Mineral Processing, Ljubljana, 1983, pp. 521541. [10] Z. Chongbo, B. Bingchen, A study of simulating the calculation method of the Bond rod-mill work index, Adv. Powder Technol. 3 (1992) 145151. [11] G. Mucsi, Fast test method for the determination of the grindability of ne materials, Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 86 (2008) 395400. [12] R. Ahmadi, Sh. Shahsavari, Procedure for determination of Bond ball work index in the commercial operations, Min. Eng. 22 (2009) 104106. [13] L. Tavares, R. Carvalho, J. Guerrero, Simulating the Bond rod-mill grindability test, Min. Eng. 26 (2012) 99101.