comminution process, as shown in the flow sheet. Crushing is generally performed in a two or three stage process. Stage one generally will crush from 1.5 m down to 10 to 20 cm. Stage two will generally crush down to 0.5 to 2 cm. Crushing is done in open circuit or closed. Both have their applications. When done in open circuit, the product goes to the next stage in comminution (typically a rod mill). Since the product is not screened, the next stage needs to be able to accommodate size fluctuations.
Open Circuit
Crushing is done in closed circuit, when crusher
flexibility is desired. Here, the product is screened with the undersize moving to the next stage, but the oversize being sent back to the crusher.
The presence of a screen allows the crusher to be used on any size
setting at a given time, with the screen (one or multiple) making the final product selection. In open circuit, the crusher can only operate on the size the next stage can accommodate. When the material is Closed Circuit sticky, the crusher can be opened up to avoid choking, without hurting downstream processes.
Based on book by BA Wills. Authors of handout: Rajive Ganguli and Michael Anderson MIN 313
Primary crushers: Reduces Run of Mine ore down to a size that is suitable for transport. Large, heavy duty machines. Two types of primary crushers are available: Jaw Crushers and Gyratory Crushers. Gyratory crushers can produce 600 to 6000tph, depending on size. Whereas, jaw crushers top out around 750 tph.
Jaw Crushers i) Blake Crusher: Fixed feed size, variable product size. Arrested crushing mechanism. ii) Dodge : Fixed product size, variable feed. Chokes easily in real world app. Mostly used in labs. i) Universal: Combo
Double Toggle Blake Crusher
www.penncrusher.com
As a general rule, the largest run of mine ore should be 80% of the width of the crusher’s gape.
F W gape = Eq. 1 0.80
Where (F) is the largest expected feed size.
Based on book by BA Wills. Authors of handout: Rajive Ganguli and Michael Anderson MIN 313 Single Toggle Jaw Crushers (STJC): Movement of swing jaw is elliptical, which helps in pushing the material out. Therefore, these are of higher capacity than double toggle jaw crushers (DTJC). However, the same movement causes more wear and tear on the jaw and on the drive shaft to which the toggle is connected.
DTJC are used on tough, hard and abrasive material
Construction of Jaw Crushers
Hard liners are used on cast steel jaws to minimize wear on the jaws themselves. Liners also reduce energy consumption. Rugged construction overall. www.aubema.de Sometimes, liner surfaces have patterns to improve crushing (for example, ridges reduce fines), though that usually reduces throughput. The jaws can also be slightly curved to minimize choking and wear. In such design, the lower half of the fixed jaw is convex, while the corresponding side of the movable jaw is concave. The throw dimension depends on the material being crushed, with it being high for plastic material and low when the material is brittle. Wide throw also reduces choking, produces more fines and increase wear.
Gyratory Crushers
• Consists of long spindle with a head (the
actual grinder) that is suspended from the top and sits on a eccentric base • Gyratory movement of eccentric. Spindle can turn on its axis. • Effectively, an infinite number of jaw crushers • Arrested choker • Crushes the entire cycle, unlike the jaw crusher. Therefore, higher capacity.
Based on book by BA Wills. Authors of handout: Rajive Ganguli and Michael Anderson MIN 313
The choice between Gyratory crushers and jaw
crushers is dictated by: Largest feed size Production requirements Economics of operation
Features of Gyratory: 1. High capacity per investment dollar. 2. Handles thin, slab-like material better than a jaw crusher. 3. Feeding is simpler. www.metsominerals.com 4. Foundation costs are lower than for jaw crusher 5. 6. Easier installation than JC since more compact design and crushing stresses more even.
Features of Jaw Crusher:
1. Large receiving opening per investment dollar. 2. Shape of opening favors large block shaped feed better than a gyratory. 3. Handles dirty or sticky feed better, without buildup. 4. Maintenance is easier. 5. Can be easily split into sections, which makes it easier to carry it underground.
Secondary Crushing:
Feed size will normally be less than 15 cm.
Secondary crushing is usually conducted with cone crushers. Impact (or Hammer) crushers and roll crushers are still sometimes used.
Cone Crushers
Cone crushers are just a variation of the
gyratory crusher, with some differences: - A major difference between the two is the shape of the head crushing head Gyratory Cone crusher and the outer shell. - Supported at the bottom. - Difference arising from crushing smaller particles. These include higher throw and speed. Therefore, crushing is more hammer like. - Liners on head and shell parallel at discharge end for better size control - Shell can “lift” when hard tramp material enters the crusher. This allows the tramp to pass Shell liner through without hurting the crusher.
Head liner
Based on book by BA Wills. Authors of handout: Rajive Ganguli and Michael Anderson MIN 313 Gyradisc crushers are a variant of cone crushers. For these, the head liners have a very shallow angle (less than the angle of repose of the material being crusher). The head is also considerably shorter. Crushing is by particle-particle interaction. The product size is very fine (<1 cm). Used mostly in gravel industry.
Roll Crusher Roll crushers use two large drums mounted on springs, rotating toward each other to crush material. Their great disadvantage is that in order to get a reasonable reduction ratio, very large drums must be used. For example, rolls of diameter 1.4 m needs to be used for particles only 2.6 cm size, if a 6:1 reduction ratio is desired.
Figure 1 indicates the particle size, which may be
passed through a rolls crusher. The spacing between rolls must be large enough to allow friction between the rolls and the rock to pull the rock through as it is crushed. This is why rolls crushers are somewhat limited by available reduction ratios.
The nip angle should not exceed 25 degrees. Otherwise, the feed will just ride on the top and choke the rolls.
Impact Crushers
The impact crusher crushes feed by impact rather than
by pressure. A rotating drum with large hammers is encased in a large, lined drum. Crushed material falls through perforations at the bottom of the crusher. Those particles that are not small enough to pass will continue to cycle through the crusher until it is small enough.
Large impact crushers will reduce 1.5 m top size to 20
cm at about 1500 tph.
Based on book by BA Wills. Authors of handout: Rajive Ganguli and Michael Anderson MIN 313 Factors affecting secondary crusher selection include:
Capacity Feed size o For a cone crusher, opening should not exceed 3 X feed size. So, if the feed size into the secondary cone crusher is 10 inches, the opening to the crusher should not exceed 30 inches.
Product size o What is your desired reduction ratio?
Optimizing Crushers
Technology has allowed better instrumentation and process control to improve crusher efficiencies. Now a days instruments not only detect equipment health, but also monitor operating conditions such as choking, feed rates and feed particle size distributions.
Based on book by BA Wills. Authors of handout: Rajive Ganguli and Michael Anderson
