OPTIMIZATION OF COMMINUTION CIRCUIT THROUGHPUT AND PRODUCT SIZE DISTRIBUTION BY SIMULATION AND CONTROL

The goal of this project is to improve the energy efficiency of industrial crushing and grinding operations (comminution). Mathematical models of the comminution process are being used to study methods for optimizing the product size distribution, so that the amount of excessively fine material produced can be minimized. This will save energy by reducing the amount of material that is ground to below the target size, and will also reduce the quantity of material wasted as slimes that are too fine to be useful. This will be accomplished by: (1) modeling alternative circuit arrangements to determine methods for minimizing overgrinding, and (2) determining whether new technologies, such as high-pressure roll crushing, can be used to alter particle breakage behavior to minimize fines production. In the first quarter of this project, work was completed on a basic comminution model that will be used to carry out the subsequent project tasks. This phase of the work was supported by the Electric Power Research Institute, as their cost-share contribution to the project. The model has been implemented as an Excel spreadsheet, which has the advantage of being a very portable format that can be made widely available to the industry once the project is completed