Crushers – An Essential Part of Energy Efficient Comminution Circuits

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Below is the abstract of a paper on crushers that we co-authored with Dr. Ted Bearman of Bear Rock Solutions. The paper was presented at the The AusIMM’s MetPlant conference in 2011, and has also been included in the CEEC’s publication database at their request.

Thanks to Dr Bearman’s input, the paper is a fantastic primer on the operation of cone crushers, covering many of the mechanical machine variables and how they impact process performance.

We also briefly discuss our Kinematic Crusher Model, a software solution that we joint-developed with Bear Rock to address the shortcomings of existing crusher models (see our Gyratory and Cone Crushers page for more).

We’ve used this model extensively for our clients – we hope to discuss more about this in coming blog articles.

Links to download the full paper from The AusIMM are provided at the bottom.

Crushers – An Essential Part of Energy Efficient Comminution Circuits

Published in: 2011
Author: R Bearman, S Munro and C M Evertsson
Volume Title: MetPlant 2011

The importance of crushers in the mining industry declined with the introduction and resultant dominance of AG and SAG based circuits, but the recent move to consider more energy efficient circuits has caused the industry to re-consider the role of crushers.

Different types of comminution equipment have different efficiency in the way the energy is applied in the size reduction process. Because of the general trend towards more sustainable production processes and emission of carbon dioxide, energy use has become more important. To fully understand how crushers can contribute to optimising the energy application in comminution circuits, detailed models of process performance are required. Such models need to take into account the mechanical design factors and how the crusher performance changes in response to feed conditions, the control strategy utilised and the wear of the crusher liners.

It is also critical to analyse the total circuit, not just the individual crushers. To fully understand the performance of the entire circuit, dynamic simulation should be applied. Without the holistic understanding of the total circuit and the incorporation of transient effects, the full circuit performance cannot be adequately determined and the true energy picture will not be quantified.

Based on detailed mechanistic modelling of crushers by the authors and the application of dynamic simulation, the opportunities to optimise the use of crushers for energy efficiency are examined.

FORMAL CITATION:
Bearman, R, Munro, S and Evertsson, C M, 2011. Crushers – an essential part of energy efficient comminution circuits, in Proceedings MetPlant 2011, pp 66-87 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Download the paper from The AusIMM

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About the Author:

Scott Munro is the Director of Met Dynamics and a professional engineer with wide experience in mineral processing. Specialising in process simulation, Scott is constantly looking for ways to apply innovative modelling tools to real world problems. His goal is to provide clients with solutions that are flexible and resilient to changing business conditions in the mining industry.
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