Title

A SCALE UP MODEL FOR HPGR HARD ROCK GRINDING

A SCALE UP MODEL FOR HPGR HARD ROCK GRINDING

Authorship

Schneider, Claudio L.; Marques, Michelle; Alves, Vladmir K.

Schneider, Claudio L.

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Marques, Michelle

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Alves, Vladmir K.

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DOI

10.5151/2594-357x-0038

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Abstract

Vale, one of the largest mining companies in the world, has prioritized the development of HPGR technology for practical application in its current projects. An existing population balance model for the HPGR has been evaluated under distinct grinding conditions for one feed material. The effect of grinding pressure, feed size distribution and the presence of water was investigated. The population balance model response showed a clear dependency of product size distribution with specific grinding pressure. As a result, specific grinding pressure was incorporated into the PBM, allowing for predicting product size distribution at practical values of this important parameter. Based on this result, a characterization procedure was envisaged so as to produce PBM and scale-up parameters for the model. The procedure does not require slow compression tests, and all of the testing can be carried out in an expedited form in an instrumented bench scale HPGR, using small samples of about 10 kg. The only analyses required are size distributions. The PBM model was implemented in the ModsimTM plant wide simulator, with facilities for scaling-up HPGR operations.

Vale, one of the largest mining companies in the world, has prioritized the development of HPGR technology for practical application in its current projects. An existing population balance model for the HPGR has been evaluated under distinct grinding conditions for one feed material. The effect of grinding pressure, feed size distribution and the presence of water was investigated. The population balance model response showed a clear dependency of product size distribution with specific grinding pressure. As a result, specific grinding pressure was incorporated into the PBM, allowing for predicting product size distribution at practical values of this important parameter. Based on this result, a characterization procedure was envisaged so as to produce PBM and scale-up parameters for the model. The procedure does not require slow compression tests, and all of the testing can be carried out in an expedited form in an instrumented bench scale HPGR, using small samples of about 10 kg. The only analyses required are size distributions. The PBM model was implemented in the ModsimTM plant wide simulator, with facilities for scaling-up HPGR operations.

Keywords

Simulation; Modeling; Comminution; Iron ores; HPGR.

Simulation; Modeling; Comminution; Iron ores; HPGR.