FLUID AND PARTICLE OPERATION

UNIT II
Size Reduction Equipments
(A)

Department of Chemical Engineering

National Institute of Technology, Raipur-492010
Size reduction equipments are divided into four principal types : crushers, grinders,
ultra fine grinders, and cutters.

1. Crushers are employed for breaking large pieces of solid material into small
lumps. A primary crusher accepts anything that comes from mine and breaks
into 150 to 250 mm lumps. Secondary crusher is one which reduces these
lumps into particles of size 6 mm approximately.

2. Grinders reduce crushed feed to powder. An intermediate grinder yield product

that may pass a 40 mesh screen. A fine grinder gives a product most of which
will pass a 200 mesh screen.

3. Ultrafine grinders accept feed particles having size less than 6mm and yield
product of size 1 to 50 micron.

4. Cutters give particles of definite size and shape usually 2 to 10 mm in length.

 Crushers

(a) Jaw Crusher

(i) Blake (ii) Dodge

(b) Gyratory Crusher

(i) Primary (ii)Secondary

(c) Roll crushers/Crushing Rolls

(i) Smooth roll crusher
(ii) Serrated or Toothed roll crusher
 Grinders
(a) Hammer Mill

(b) Impactor

(c) Rolling compression machines

(i)Roller mill (ii)Bowl mill

(d) Attrition mill

(e) Revolving mills or Tumbling mills

(i) Ball mill (ii) Compartment mill/Compound Ball Mill
(iii) Pebble Mill (iv)Rod mill
 Ultrafine grinders
(a) Hammer mills with internal classification

(b) Fluid - energy mills

(c) Agitated mills

Cutting machines
(a) Knife cutters

(b) Slitters

(c) Dicers
 WORKING PRINCIPLES OF SIZE REDUCTION
EQUIPMENTS

Size reduction machines perform, their work in distinctively different ways.

• Crushers employ compression while grinders employ impact and

attrition both.

• Ultrafine grinders operates by attrition.

• A cutting machine is characteristic of knife cutters, dicers and slitters.

 CRUSHERS

• Crushers are slow speed machines employed for coarse reduction of large
quantity of solids. Principal types of crushers are

a) Jaw crushers
b) Gyratory crusher
c) Smooth roll crushers
d) Toothed roll crusher

• Crushers (a), (b) and (c) operate by compression and can break large
lumps of very hard materials. They find application in rockery and mining
industry. (d) crushers tear the feed(material) apart as well as crush it. They
handle softer feeds like coal and bone etc.
 JAW CRUSHER
Two distinct types of jaw crushers are
i. Blake jaw crusher/ Stage jaw crusher ii. Dodge jaw crusher

In case of blake jaw crusher,

the movable jaw is pivoted at the top, thus giving maximum

movement at bottom thereby minimizing the chance of
choking. Therefore it is widely used in industries for crushing
of hard rock e.g. in cement and ceramic industries.

In case of dodge jaw crusher,

the movable jaw is pivoted at bottom, thus giving maximum
movement at top resulting in more uniform product . It is less
widely used because of its tendency to choke due to minimum
movement of jaw at bottom.
JAW CRUSHER
BLAKE JAW CRUSHER
1. Fixed Jaw
2. Movable Jaw
3. Shaft
4. Fly Wheel
5. Eccentric
6. Pitman
7. Toggle
8. Tie Rod
9. Spring

• Principle : It works on the principle of compression.

• Construction : It consists of a pair of flywheel, an eccentric (drive to change
circular into to and fro movement), pitman, toggle bars, one stationary jaw,
and one moving jaw.

• Working : In a jaw crusher feed is admitted between two jaws, set to

form a 'V’ open at the top. One jaw is fixed, called as anvil which is
nearly vertical and does not move. The other jaw is called as the swinging
jaw, which reciprocates in the horizontal plane.
• It makes an angle of 20° to 30° with the anvil jaw. This angle is called angle of
nip(maximum permissible angle between convergent faces of the reciprocating
crusher at the point of contact with feed).

• Swinging jaw is driven by eccentric, so that it applies greater compressive

force to the lumps caught between the jaw.

• Jaw faces are flat or slightly bulged and may carry shallow horizontal grooves
or they may be corrugated for concentrating the pressure on relatively on small
areas. Large lumps caught in the upper parts of the jaw are broken and drop
in the narrower space below and are re-crushed when the jaws come closer.

• After sufficient reduction, they drop out of the machine. The jaws are usually
made of manganese steel or some other material that will withstand
abrasion(like chilled cast iron).

• Jaws open and close 100 to 400 times per minutes. In this type of machine,
the eccentric drives the pitman. Due to eccentric, pitman makes a
reciprocating motion in the vertical direction.
• Toggle bars transform this vertical motion of pitman into reciprocating motion
of movable jaw. Toggle bars shear and bolts are broken in case of excessive
strain which are easily replaceable instead of breaking some vital part of
equipment.
• Greatest amount of motion is at the bottom of the 'V' which means that there
is little tendency for the crusher of this type to choke.

• On the backstroke, the material that has been crushed is permitted to drop
freely from the jaws, thereby preventing any cushioning action from the
accumulation of fine material around the coarser feed.

• Speed of operation should not be high otherwise large quantity of fines are
produced because the material can not escape quickly and gets repeatedly
crushed
• As the crushing action is intermittent, the load on the machine is uneven. Hence
there is a provision of flywheels to take care of this.
Feed size: 6 feet in diameter. Product size: 1/4 inch to 10 inch
Capacity : 9 to 900 tons/hour.
Industrial applications : Mining, Cement industry, Fertilizers industry, Animal
(Cattle) Feed plants, Ceramic industry etc.
 GYRATORY CRUSHER

• A gyratory crusher is among the major primary crushers in a mine or ore

processing plant. They can also be utilized for secondary crushing.

• It is developed for both dry and wet crushing of brittle, medium-hard

materials for the mining, cement, coal, metallurgical material,
construction material, road building, and petroleum & chemical
industries.

• Principle : It works on the principle of compression.

• Construction : It consist of a cone shaped crushing head at the

centre in form of a truncated cone or inverted cone called the concave,
an eccentric at the bottom of shaft and a gear box to drive shaft.
 Working :

• Like jaw crusher, gyratory

crusher also has circular jaws
on crushing head. This crushing
head is mounted on a heavy shaft
pivoted at top of machine so that
material is being crushed at some
point and at all times.

• Upper end of shaft is held in

flexible bearing and lower end of
shaft is free to rotate and driven
by an eccentric so as to describe a
circle. This conical crushing head
gyrates inside a funnel shaped
casing, open at top.
• An eccentric drives the bottom end of shaft. At any point
on the periphery of casing, bottom of crushing head moves
towards and then away from the stationary wall.

• Crushing action take place around whole of the cone and as maximum
movement is at bottom, the characteristics of machine are similar to
Blake jaw crusher.

• Material to be crushed is charged from top. Solids caught in V - shaped

opening are crushed and recrushed until they pass out of the
bottom. Crushing head is free to rotate on the shaft and turns
slowly because of friction with material being crushed.

• Speed of crushing head is 125 to 425 gyrations per minute. Since some
part of crushing head is working at all times, therefore, discharge through
gyratory crusher is continuous instead of intermittent as in a blake jaw
crusher.
Capacity of gyratory crusher varies
with jaw setting, impact strength
of feed, and speed of gyration of
machine.

Biggest gyratories handle up to 3500

tonnes/hr.

Crusher will not take large size feed as

a jaw crusher but it will give finer and
more uniform product.

Capacity is 2.5 times that of jaw

crusher with the same gape(maximum
distance between crushing surfaces),
same feed and same product size
range.
• Load on motor is uniform, less maintenance is required than with a jaw
crusher. Power requirement per ton of material crushed is smaller than
Blake jaw crusher.

Jaw crusher Gyratory crusher

It is a reciprocating machine. It is a gyratory machine.
Discharge is not continuous or Discharge is continuous or continuous in
intermittent in action action
It is a primary crusher, accepts feed of It is a secondary crusher, accepts feed
large size of smaller size
Maintenance required is more Maintenance required is less
It has smaller capacity when used to It has a large capacity when used to
produce a small size reduction produce a small size reduction
Capital cost is relatively low Capital cost is high
Power consumption per ton of Power consumption per ton of material
material crushed is more crushed is less
Load on the motor is not uniform. Load on the motor is uniform
• As the capital cost of this crusher is high, it is suitable only where large
quantities of material are to be crushed.
• Choice between jaw crusher and gyratory is usually made on the basis of
capacity. Jaw crusher is preferred for small capacity installation due to its low
initial cost.

• According to Taggart, if T/G2 is less than 0.115, a Jaw crusher is to be used and if
T/G2 is more than 0.115, a Gyratory crusher is to be used. Where T is capacity in
Tonnes per hr; G is Gape in inches.

• Empirical formula for determining capacity of Jaw and Gyratory crusher

T = 93 L S where, T = capacity in Kg/hr
L = length of feed opening in cm
S = maximum width of discharge opening in cm
The equation is valid for gapes of 10 to 60 cm.
For jaw crusher L is to be measured normal to the gape.
For gyratory crusher L is taken to be perimeter of the circle with diameter equal to
the arithmetic average of two cones.
• Gape : maximum distance between crushing
surfaces

• Mouth : feed opening at top

• Throat : discharge opening at bottom Mouth

• Distance between jaws at throat is called‘set’.

• It is called closed set when jaws are closest to L

each other, open set when jaws are maximum
apart

• Length of travel of movable jaw measured at Throat

throat is called ‘throw’ of crusher
S
• L is length of feed opening

• S is maximum width of discharge opening

 CRUSHING ROLLS OR ROLL CRUSHERS
Smooth roll crusher :
• Principle : Size reduction is done by
compression.
• Construction : It consists of two heavy
smooth faced metal rolls, turning on
parallel horizontal axis and a flywheel.
• Working : Particles of feed caught
between rolls are broken by
compression and discharge from the
bottom.
• Rolls run towards each other at same
speed. Clearance between rolls can be
adjusted according to size of feed and
required size of product.

• They have relatively narrow faces and are large in diameter, so that they
can "nip" moderately large lumps.
• They are 600mm in diameter with 300mm face to 2000mm in diameter with
914 mm face.
• Crushing rolls are secondary crusher accepting feed of 12 to 75 mm in size and
yielding a product of 12mm to 20 mesh.
• Roll speeds range from 50 to 300 rev. I min.
• Limiting size Dpmax of particles that can be nipped by rolls depend on
coefficient of friction between particle and roll surface but in most cases it
can be estimated from the relation,
Dpmax = 0.04 R + d
where,
R = radius of the roll
d = half the width of the gap between the rolls

• Maximum size of product is equal to 2d. Particle size of product depends on

spacing between the rolls.
• Smooth roll crushers give few fines and virtually no oversize. They operate
more effectively when set to give a reduction ratio of 3 or 4:1 that is, when
maximum particle diameter of product is 1/3 or 1/4 that of feed.

• Forces exerted by roll is from 5000 to 40,000 lbf/in(8700 to 70,000 N/cm )

of roll width.
• At least one roll must be spring mounted, to allow unbreakable material to
pass through without damaging the machine.
Toothed roll crusher

• Principle : It works mainly on

impact, compression and
shearing.
• Construction : It may consists of
two rolls or only one roll provided
with corrugation or teeth working
against a stationary curved breaker
plate.

• Working : Toothed-roll crusher is

usually called as single roll crusher.
Crushing rolls, driven by a pulley,
rotate at relatively high speed.
• Its action is similar to hammer
mill in that its crushing effect is
produced by the teeth driving
the material against breaker
plate, thus crushing is by impact,
compression and shearing
between the two surfaces.
➢ Disintegraters (breakers) contain two corrugated rolls turning at different
speeds which tear the feed apart or may contain a small high speed roll with
transverse(lying across at right angles) breaker bars on its face turning
towards a large slow speed smooth roll.

• Some crushers for coarse feeds carry heavy pyramidal teeth.

• These roll crushers can reduce much larger particle because there is no
problem of nip as in case of smooth roll crushers.

• That is why these roll crushers are more versatile(capable of many different
uses) than smooth roll crushers within the limitation that they can not handle
very hard solids.

• Some heavy duty toothed double roll crushers are used for primary reduction
of coarse and similar material.
Feed size : Up to 500mm
Product size : 6 to 12 mm
Capacity : 500 T/hr (maximum)
 SELECTION OF CRUSHING ROLLS
• A1 , A2 be center of two rolls of a
pair.
• B be the spherical particle of
material that has just been caught
between the two rolls.
• There is a certain force ‘r’ acting on
particle and this force is making an
angle α with line A1 - A2
• This force ‘r’ may be resolved into
two components ‘m’ and ‘n’.
• There is also a force 't' tending to
draw the particle between rolls.
• This force ‘t’ depends on (i) the force ‘r’ and (ii)co-efficient of friction
between material to be crushed and roll surface.
• This force ‘t’ may be resolved in two components ‘e’ and ‘f’.
• Since line OC is perpendicular to direction of force ‘r’ ; it follows that
angle COD is equal to α .
If µ is co-efficient of friction, then
µ = force tangent to surface(t)/force normal to surface(r)
or t = µr

From the above statements, following equations can be written,

m = r sinα
and e = t cos α = µr cos α
Force e and m are in opposite direction. Force e tends to draw the particle between
rolls, while force m tends to eject the particle from rolls.

In order to draw particle between rolls and crush, ‘e’ must be greater than ‘m’
Or µr cos α > r sinα or µ > tan α or tan α< µ
i.e. tangent of angle α must be less than the coefficient of friction(µ).

Coefficient of friction varies with different materials, but it has been found that an
average value of angle α is taken as about 16°(by practice).
Angle OEF which is twice the angle α is called as angle of nip.
• Angle of nip is angle formed by the tangents to roll faces at the point of contact
with the particle to be crushed.
 Relation between diameter of rolls, feed and product

There is a definite relation between diameter of rolls, feed and product. If

R - radius of feed particle, r - radius of the roll, d - radius of largest
possible particle in the product and angle of nip = 2α

Then in the ΔABC, angle CAB = α

AB = r+d
AC = r+R
Then,
AB r + d
cos  = =
AC r + R
Since for average condition, α =16
Cos α = 0.961
Roll diameter is determined from size of feed
and size of product by equation,
r+d
0.961 =
r+R
If feed particle size and product size are
known, then roll diameter can be calculated
easily.
 THEORETICAL CAPACITY OF ROLLS

It is the weight of ribbon of feed having a width equal to width of rolls;

a thickness equal to distance between rolls, a length equal to peripheral velocity
of rolls in linear units per interval of time.
If T is the capacity,
Then T = L * Dp * v * ρ lb/min
60vLD p 
T= tons / hr
2000

Where T = capacity(tons/hr); L = width of rolls(ft)

Dp = distance between rolls(ft); ρ = density of material(lb/ft3)
v = peripheral velocity (ft/min) = circumference ˣ R.P.M. of roll

For rolls up to 72” in diameter,

v = 300 + (84 * roll dia)
Actual capacity is usually 10 to 30% of theoretical capacity.
 GRINDERS
Grinders are size reduction machines
employed for intermediate duty. They are
often charged with product from crushers
which is reduced to powder.

Hammer Mills
Principle : Size reduction is achieved by
impact and attrition.
Construction : It consists of a high speed
rotor turning inside a cylindrical casing.
Rotor is mounted on a shaft which is
usually horizontal.

• Several rotor disc of 6 to 18”(150 to 450mm) diameter and each carrying 4 to 8

swing hammers are often mounted on the same shaft.
• Swing hammers, pinned to rotor disk, may be straight bars of metal with plane
or enlarged ends or with ends sharpened to a cutting edge.
• In this mill, particles are broken by swing hammers. A particle of feed
entering the grinding zone can not escape from being struck by hammers.
 HAMMER MILL (contd.)
• It shatters into pieces which fly against stationary anvil plate inside casing
and break into still smaller fragments. These in turn are rubbed into
powder by hammers and pushed through a screen which covers the
discharge opening.

• Particle size of product from these mills may be from 25mm to 20 mesh.
Peripheral speed of hammer tip may reach 22000 ft/min for fine
reduction.
• These mills can reduce 0.1 to 15 ton/hr of feed up to a size of 200mesh.
• Hammer mills grind almost anything tough, fibrous solids like bark or leather,
steel turnings, soft wet pastes, sticky clay and hard rock. But for fine reduction
they are limited to softer materials.

• Capacity and power requirement of a hammer mill may vary greatly with
nature of feed.

As per correlation given by Taggart, capacity of hammer mill,

KD 2 LN 2
T=
3.453( RR − 1)

where, K = empirical constant, varies between 4 to 6.2

D = diameter of rotor, m
L = length of rotor, m
N = rotor rpm
RR = reduction ratio
 Impactor
• An impactor resembles a heavy duty hammer mill except that it contain no screen
or [Link] are broken by impact alone without rubbing action(attrition).
• Impactors are often primary reduction machines for rock and ore, processing up to
600 ton/hr.
• Product from these are more cubical(nearly equidimensional) than slab shaped
particles from a jaw crusher or gyratory crusher.

Rolling – Compression Machines

• In this type of mill, solid particles are caught and crushed between a rolling
member and face of the ring or casing.
• Most common types are : Roller mills and Bowl mills
• In Roller mill, vertical cylindrical rollers press outward with great force against
stationary anvil ring. Rollers are driven at moderate speed in a circular path.
• Plows lift the solid lumps from the floor of mill and direct them between ring and
rolls where reduction take place.
• Product is swept out of mill by a stream of air to a classifier separator from which
oversize particles are returned to mill for further reduction.
• In Bowl mill and some roller mills, bowl or ring is driven and rollers rotate on
stationary axis which may be vertical or horizontal.
• Mills of this kind are used for reduction of lime stone, cement clinker and coal.
Capacity may be up to 50 tons/hr.
• When classification is used, the product may be as fine as 99% would pass
through a 200 mesh screen.

Attrition Mills
• In attrition mills, particle of soft solids are rubbed between the grounded flat
face of rotating circular disks.
• Axis of disks is usually horizontal but sometimes it is vertical.
• In a single-runner mill, one disk is stationary and other disk rotates while in
double-runner mill both disks are driven at high speed in opposite directions.
• Feed enters through an opening in the hub of one of the disks; it passes
outward through narrow gap between disks and discharge from periphery into
a stationary casing.
• Width of gap is adjustable. At least one grinding plate is spring mounted so
that disks can separate if unbreakable material gets into mill.
• These mills can be made to perform a variety of operations by changing the
pattern of grooves, corrugations or teeth on the disks. Operation may be
grinding, cracking, granulating and shredding(to break into pieces) etc.

• Single runner mills are used for clay and talc, starch and insecticide powders
etc. for finer products double runner mills are used but in this type of mill, feed
should be soft.
• Air is often drawn through mill to remove product and to prevent choking.
• Disks may be cooled with water or refrigerated brine to take away the heat
generated by reduction operation. Cooling is essential with heat sensitive solids
like rubber, which would otherwise be destroyed.

• Disks of single runner mill are 250 mm to 1370 mm diameter (10 to 54”) turning
at 350 to 700 rpm. Disks in double runner mills turn faster at 1200 to 7000 rpm.
• Capacity of attrition mills is 0.5 to 8 tons/hr of product which will pass through
a 200 mesh screen.
• Energy required depends strongly on nature of feed and degree of reduction. It
may be between 8 to 80 KWH/ton of product.
Tumbling/Revolving
mills :
• These consist of a cylindrical shell
slowly turning about a horizontal
axis and filled to about half its
volume with a solid grinding
medium.

• Shell is usually made of steel and

lined with abrasion resistant
material such as manganese steel,
ceramic or rubber.
• Grinding medium is metal rods in a rod mill, length of chain or balls of
rubber, metal, wood in a ball mill; Flint pebbles(hard steel gray stone) or zircon
spheres in a pebble mill (Pebbles – small roundish stone; irregular surface;
Zircon - mineral used as gem stone also).

• Ball mill differs from tube mill(pebble mill) in that it is short in length, length is
approximately equal to its diameter.
Forged Steel Grinding Balls Rod Mill Grinding Rods

Grinding Cylpebs
 Tumbling or Revolving mills- contd.
• Tube mill is usually long in comparison with its diameter; length being twice
the diameter or more. it employs smaller balls and produces finer product.

• Rod mill deliver more uniform product than any other revolving mills.

• In ball mill and pebble mill much of the reduction is effected by impact
while in rod mills much of reduction is effected by rolling compression and
by attrition.

• Tumbling mills may be operated as autogeneous (AG) mills i.e. without

using any separate grinding media, comminution being achieved exclusively
through inter-particle collisions.

• However, one the challenges with AG mills is that properties, such as

hardness and abrasiveness, of the ore can vary, resulting in inconsistent
grinding behaviour.
 Tumbling or Revolving mills- contd.
• Addition of steel grinding balls rectifies this situation. This approach is
then termed semi-autogenous (SAG) grinding and total amount of balls in
these mills ranges between 5 and 10 % of the volume.

•These can be used/ implied when feed rock to be handled is of high

specific gravity and where contamination with grinding media cannot be
tolerated.

•These mills typically have a large diameter relative to their length, typically
in the ratio or 2 or 2.5 to 1.

•Ball mill and pebble mill are very easy to operate and versatile in use.
These mills can be operated batch or continuous. In a batch
machine, a known quantity of solid to be ground is charged into mill
through an opening of shell, which is closed and mill is run for certain
time and finally product is discharged from mill.
 Tumbling or Revolving mills- contd.

• In a continuous mill, material flows steadily through revolving shell,

from one end of mill and discharged through other end.

• In all tumbling mills, grinding elements are carried up(lift up) on rising
side of shell nearly to the top, from where they fall on particles below.
Energy used in lifting grinding elements is utilized in reducing size of
particles.

• In some tumbling mills as in rod mills much of reduction is done by

rolling compression and by attrition as rods slide downward and roll over
one another.
 BALL MILL
Principle : It works on principle of impact i.e. size reduction is done by impact
as the balls drop from near the top of shell.
Construction :
• It consists of a hollow cylindrical shell rotating about its axis. Axis of shell
may be either horizontal or at a small angle to horizontal.
• It is partially filled with balls as grinding media which is made of steel,
stainless steel or rubber. Balls occupy about 30 to 50% of volume of mill.
• Diameter of balls will vary between 12 mm to 125 mm and optimum
diameter is approximately proportional to square root of size of feed.

• Inner surface of cylindrical shell is usually lined with an abrasion resistant

material such as manganese steel, stoneware or rubber.
• Less wear takes place in rubber-lined mills and the coefficient of friction
between the balls and the cylinder is greater than with steel or stoneware
linings.
• Length of mill is approximately equal to diameter (L/D = 1.0).
• Shell is rotated at a speed of 60 rpm to 100 rpm. The outlet is normally
covered with a coarse screen to prevent the escape of the balls.
 BALL MILL-contd.
• In large mills, shell might be of 3m in diameter and 4. 45m long. Balls
are 1 to 5 inches in diameter.
• Ball mill may be operated in batch or continuous fashion, wet or dry.
• In continuously operated mill as shown in figure, outlet is normally
covered with coarse screen to prevent escape of balls.

Working
• In case of batch operated mills a major quantity of solids to be
grounded is charged in to mill through opening in the shell.
• Opening is then closed and mill is rotated for several hours. It is then
stopped and product is discharged.
• In case of continuously operated ball mill, material to be ground is fed
from the left through 600 cone and product is discharged through a 300
cone to the right.
Conical Ball Mill
• As shell rotates, balls are lifted up on rising side of shell and then they
cascade down(or drop down on to the feed) from near top of shell. In
doing so, solid particles in between balls are ground and reduce in
size by impact.

• Mill contains balls of various sizes. As shell rotates, large balls

segregate near feed and small balls segregate near product end or
discharge end.
• Initial breaking of particles is therefore done by largest ball dropping the
largest distance and latter on, breaking is done by small ball dropping from much
smaller distance.

• If rate of feed is increased, coarser product will be obtained and if speed of

operation is increased (less than critical speed), the fineness for a given capacity
increases.

• During grinding, balls themselves wear and are constantly replaced by new ones
so that mill contains balls of various ages, and, hence of various sizes.

• This is advantageous, since large balls deal effectively with the feed and
small balls are responsible for giving a fine product.

• Ball mills produce 1 to 50 tons/hr of powder of which near about 70 to 90%

would pass a 200mesh screen and energy requirement of ball mill is approx. 16
KWH/ton
• Ball mill may be used wet or dry although wet grinding facilitates the
removal of the product.

➢ Advantages of wet grinding

i. Low power consumption(approximately 20 to 30%).
ii. Increase in capacity and efficiency.
iii. Easy removal of product and ease in solid handling.
iv. Dust formation is less.

➢ Disadvantages of wet grinding

i. It may be necessary to dry the product
ii. High wear on gravity medium(about 20% greater)
 ADVANTAGES OF BALL MILL :
• The costs of installation and power are low as compared to other mills.
• The ball mill may be used with an inert atmosphere and therefore can
be used for the grinding of explosive/toxic materials.
• The grinding medium is cheap.
• The mill is capable of grinding a wide variety of materials of differing
character and of different degrees of hardness.
• It may be used for batch or continuous operation. In case of continuous
operation, a classifier can be used in conjunction with the mill, so that
particles of suitable size are removed while oversize particles are
returned.
• It may be used for open or closed circuit grinding. With open circuit
grinding, a wide range of particle sizes is obtained in the product.
• With closed circuit grinding, the use of an external separator can be
obviated by continuous removal of the product by means of a current of
air or through a screen.
 DISADVANTAGES OF BALL MILL :

• Wear occurs, principally from the balls, but partially from the casing and
this may result in the product being contaminated, with abrasive
materials this may exceed 0.1 percent, but even ordinary substances may
be contaminated with 0.03 percent metal after grinding.

• In some cases, this may not be significant, but in others it may be of great
importance.

• Soft or sticky materials may cause problems by caking on the sides of the
mill or by holding the balls in aggregates.

• The ball mill is very noisy machine, particularly if the casing is of metal,
but much less so if rubber is used.

• Relatively long time of operation.