Abstract
A laboratory ball mill consisting of vertical cylinder, equipped with a rotating shaft with arms, and filled with steel balls as a grinding medium has been used in the experiments. The aim of the study was to examine the effect of agitator shaft speed and amount of grinding media (steel balls) on power requirements and energy consumption of a ball mill. With constant mass of the steel balls (20 kg, 30 kg and 40 kg), the agitator shaft speed was increased from 10% to 100% of the maximum speed which corresponds to a speed of 50 rpm. The power consumption (W) was recorded upon which milling energy consumption (J/kg) has been calculated. The results were statistically analyzed using ANOVA. The increase of the agitator shaft speed, in steps of 10% to the maximum speed of 50 rpm, led to a statistically significant increase in milling energy consumption. At low agitator shaft speed (10%), increase in the mass of the steel balls had no influence on the power requirements. Power requirements for the grinding runs using 30 kg and 40 kg are similar and higher compared to power requirement in trial with 20 kg, as agitator shaft speed increases from 20% to 70%. At high agitator shaft speeds (?80%), increase in steel balls mass led to the significant increase in power requirements of the ball mill.
Highlights
A laboratory ball mill consisting of a vertical cylinder, equipped with a rotating shaft with arms, and filled with steel balls as a grinding medium has been used in the experiments
Size reduction of cocoa solids is an important unit operation in the production of chocolate. During this operation, called refining, cocoa solids and sugar crystals are reduced to a size that makes them small enough that they cannot be detected on the tongue [1]. It is followed by the phase of conching in which chocolate aroma is fully developed, and the newly created surface during the size reduction of cocoa solids is covered with fat, improving the flow properties [2]
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of agitator shaft speed and amount of grinding media on energy consumption of a laboratory ball mill
Summary
A laboratory ball mill consisting of a vertical cylinder, equipped with a rotating shaft with arms, and filled with steel balls as a grinding medium has been used in the experiments. The aim of the study was to examine the effect of agitator shaft speed and amount of grinding media (steel balls) on power requirements and energy consumption of a ball mill. The factors affecting particle size reduction can be classified into those arising from the physicochemical properties of the material and those related to the design and operation of the milling equipment [4]. Ball mills are vertical or horizontal cylinders (stationary tank), equipped with a rotating shaft with arms, filled to as much as 70% of the available volume with grinding media (usually steel balls) [8]. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of agitator shaft speed and amount of grinding media (steel balls) on energy consumption of a laboratory ball mill
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