s&lMhRY

1u prwicm studies, a model far dmkk=wO

far: FItabarutory
scnte wrriher having retis of 890 mm d&n+
eter, The present study investigates the
appliW?iiity
of the model far?m induntrial
scale owsher hwing rolls of 0.78 m d&meter,
orushers WCIBdernonstmted

Results of the study show thnt the model is

voiid for the Iwge scale crusher over Q wide
mnge of opemting conditions including varia:
tions in feed material sise, crusher roll speeds,
gap settings and roil surface configumtions.

An important finding was that modelparametera determined from testing of a laboratory

scale crusher couId be used for the large scale
crusher, indicating that the model parameters
are not dependent on crusher size or operating conditions.

INTRODUCTION

In some recent papers, Austin et al. [ 1, 21

introduced a model for calculating product
size distributions of double-roll crushers.
They demonstrated the model for a 200
mm X 360 mm (roll diameter X roll length)
smooth double-roll crusher with data given
for a dozen or so feed materials and for
various feed sizes and crusher gap settings.
However, the validity of the model for large
scale crushers fitted with non-smooth rolls
and operated at various roll speeds remained
to be determined.
The present paper examines the applicability of this model for a large scale crusher. The
approach taken is to determine model parameters for a selected feed material using a
laboratory scale crusher fitted with smooth
rolls and operated at a set roll speed ratio_
These parameters are then used to sim+ate
product size distributions for comparison

with wtnal hit puaducts d3tained fc?r:

an
indrrafrial w+k wwher npera@d at wmpwz
rakle oandi?isne: This approach is adaptsd as
a aheok of the imprtant
model aswmptian
fha6 if the rails me large in diameter corn:

pared with the feed sizes and W sap, then

ttie model parameters for a given material are

dependent only on the ratio of the feed size

to the gap setting, and not on the crusher size,
The validity of the model is also checked for
the large &ale crusher fitted with non-smooth
rolls and operated at various roll speed ratios,
THE

DOUBLE-ROLL

CRUSHER

MODEL

The model proposed by Austin et al. [1, 21

for breakage in an open circuit double-roll
crusher is based on the assumption that if the
particle size range is split into geometric size
intervals (i.e. thefl
sieve series) the breakage
of each size interval occurs independently of
other sizes. That is, if fi and pi give the weight
fraction of material in size interval i in the
crusher feed and product respectively, the
relationship between the pi and fi can be
written as

(1)
where size 1 is the largest size, size 2 the
second size, etc_ In this equation, the d, give
the weight fraction of sizej feed which when
passed through the rolls appears in size i and
are formulated from an analysis of the breakage process which can be described as follows_
When material of size j is passed through
the rolls, a fraction dij is left within the starting size j. Defining breakage as leading to
material smaller than the starting size range,
djj cm be considered as material which has
bypassed through the rolls. Thus, a fraction
@ Elsevier Sequoia/Printed

in The Netherlands

124

dii = (1 -

ui) bypasses without breakage and a

fraction ai is broken_ The fraction ai for a
given size i is referred to as the primary bypass parameter for size i_ It is also assumed
that the first fracture leads to a set of primary
daughter fragments. These primary daughter
fragments are given as the primary breakage
distribution parameter set b,_ The b, give the
weight fraction of size i material which is
broken to size i as a result of primary breakage_ Daughter fragment material which is still
larger than the gap setting can in turn bypass
through the rolls or be selected for another
fracture, with a fraction ai broken. The fraction oi for a given size i is referred to as the
secondary bypass parameter for size i. These
values are a function of the ratio of particle
size to gap setting.
The equations given by Austin et al. [1,2]
for this repeated breakage process were
i-l

pf

b,(piai

+ hai), n > i > 1

i-1

Pl =o
pj =fi(l

-Ui)

++pi(l

This formulation
Rogers [3] with

-Uaf)

was put as eqn. (1) by

[l-Q

For cases such as these, it is convenient and

computationally
efficient to replace the
In
matrix of b, values with the vector b i -]_
this way, bk--I = bi_j for k -- I= i -j.

EQUIPMENT

AND

FEED MATERIAL

The laboratory scale crusher used in this

study has smooth rolls of 200 mm diameter
operated at fixed speeds of 360 and 180 rpm,
giving a roll speed ratio of 211, The gap
setting of the crusher was adjustable_ The
industrial scale crusher was a KVS 3020
double-roll crusher located in the Kennedy
Van Saun Research and Test Facilities, Danville, Pennsylvania. The rolls of this crusher
are 0.51 m long and have a nominal diameter
of O-76 m. During the study, the crusher was
fitted with double smooth rolls, corrugatedsmooth rolls, and double corrugated rolls, as
illustrated in Fig_ l_ The gap setting and roll
speeds for this crusher are adjustable.
A Pittsburgh No_ 8 coal was selected as the
feed material for this study. This coal was
mined in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, by
the Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal Company
and had the characteristics listed in Table 1.

.i=i

(2)
,i>i

>i+2

The cumulative crusher product weight size

distribution is given by
P(zi)

i Pk
k=n

(3)

where n is the smallest or sink size interval

and P(Xi) is the weight fraction of crusher
product smaller than size xi, where xi is the
upper size of size interval i in millimetres.
It is noted that this model for open circuit
roll crushers has-been applied to a variety of
materials including various hard rocks and a
number of coals [l, 2]_ In all cases, the
assumption that the b, parameters were
normalized gave good results, Le.,
bkl = b,-,

k-_l=i-_i

(4)

SMOOTH

-CORRUWlTED

CORRUGATED-

CORRUGATED

Fig. l_ Schematic illustration of nonsmooth

douhleroll crusher contiguratkns
(actual dimensions:
D.
0.76 m; h, 0.5 cm; r, 2.54 cm; xp, Yariable).

125
TABLE

Analyses of Pittsburgh No. 8 sample (air drying loss: 2_05%)

Characteristic
Hz0
Ash
Volatile matter
Fixed carbon
Stotal
Sso.
S
S pyritic
organic
Hardgrove Index
ASTM

Rank: Medium

PARAMETER

( WL.%)

As received
(wt.%)

Dry
(wt_%)

Dry-MM
(x&S;,)

1.20
21.8

3.23
21.3

22-l

29-O
48.0
l-73
0.09
l-25
0.39
65.0

28.4
47.0
1.69
0.09
1-22
0.38
-

29.4
-lS_6
l-7.5
0.09
1.3-i
0.39
-

25.5
71-5
-

Air dry

Volatile

Bituminous

Coal

ESTIMATION

The dcuble-roll
crusher model parameters
for the Pittsburgh No. 8 coal were determined
using the laboratory
procedure suggested by
Austin et al. This work involved first preparing approximately
250 g of the coal in each of
the J% sieve size intervals given by 9-52
mm X 6-73 mm, 4 X 6 mesh and 8 X 12 mesh,
using standard sieving techniques_ Each of
these samples were resieved without crushing
to determine the sieving error es for the
sample_ (Resieving a sample without crushing
gives some material smaller thzn the starting
size interval; the fraction less than the starting
size interval is ES_)
The 200 mm laboratory
roll crusher gap
was set at 1.68 mm (12 mesh) to give a roll
diameter to-gap setting ratio of 118. The
prepared ,/2
feed fractions were fed separately through a central region of the 200 mm
crusher rolls in a manner that avoided choking
of the crushing zone_ The product from each
test sample was collected, with care being
taken to assure a minimum loss of material.
Finally, the product samples were separately
sieved to give the product size distribution for
the sample down to 400 mesh. These data
were then used to estimate the model parameters for the coal, as follows.
The primary bypass parameter for each&
feed size fed through the rolls was determined
from
aI =1-L

1 -

ES

free

(5)

where p, is the weight fraction of product

which appears within the feed size interval
and eS is the sieving error for the test sample_
Thus, three esperimental
values for primary
bypass versus particle size were obtained.
It
has been found 123 that ai values can be interpolated and extrapolated
according to

ai

l-

(61

1 + [XilX,\~

? ?J

where X and g are adjustable

param eters and
xg is the gap setting in millimeters.
The ai for

the Pittsburgh coal was fitted to this espression_ As with the materials tested by Austin
et aZ_ 121, the value of X could be taken as
6-6; ~1 had a value of l-6_
Austin ef al [2] found that the secondary
bypass param eters are related to the ai by the
empirical espression

c ai-,

af =

i-C&-l

{ (ai,-

aig-

.I/2

i=i,-1

(7)

lai

where is is the size interval number corresponding to xg_ Therefore,

this relationship
was assumed in the present study.
The b, were estimated by assuming that, as
with other materials [2], bii = bi -i_ In this
way, the roll crusher model could be arranged
to give

126

Pi
bi_*

A_
a1

1~;

fidij

j=2
f~ (1

-ai)

ipa;;,

i>Z

1
1

From this kpression, it is seen that bi _ 1 is a

function of fi, pi, ai, a,- for i > j and bi -J
for i > j > 1. Thus, the bf _ 1 values could be
calcula*%xl using the ai and ai* determined
above and the actual fi and pi measured
during a roll crusher test. In this case, the fi
and pi used for estimating the bf _ , were the
values obtained from the crushing test of the
8 X12 mesh fraction of feed. For convenience, the bi _ 1 were put in the cumulative
form, i.e.,

and the Bi _ i fitted by the expression [ 21

P
Y
lzji_j

(xi--I 1+

(l-t&)

(xc )

(10)

*j
Xi
where @, yand j3 are descriptive parameters_
For the Pittsburgh No. 8 coal, the a, 7 and P
were found to have the values O-32,0-81
and
3.6 respectively.

RESULTS

The accuracy of the double crusher model

was checked by using the model to simulate
the parameter estimation test product data.
The experimental product size distributions
obtained from these tests and those simulated
with the model are plotted for comparison in
Fig. 2. As seen, the agreement between experimental and simulated data is reasonable in all
cases, and is typical of the data presented by
Austin et al.
To test the applicability of the model for a
large-scale crusher, the KVS 3020 double-roll
crusher was used to generate product size data
for the Pittsburgh No. 8 coal over a wide
range of conditions including variations in
feed size, gap setting, roll speeds and roll surface configurations. The general procedures for
performing these tests are described as follows_

0.0 1

0.1

0.0 I
RELATIVE

SIZE.

t,,,,

1.0
X#X,

Fig_ 2. Experimental and computed size distributions

for Pittsburgh S coal crushed in the 200 mm x 380
mm double smooth roll crusher with _Q(. l-68 mm; A,
feed size 9.52 mm x 6.73 mm; 0- feed size 6.73 mm x
4-76 mm; D, feed size 2.37 mm x 1.68 mm; Q, gap;
, predicted_

The mass of.feed estimated to be sufficient

to be representative but small enough for easy
prepamtion was calculated by assuming that a
sample would be fed to the crusher for a
period of 1 to 2 min at a rate of 5 to 10% of
t.he theoretical crusher capacity, computed
after Gaudin [ 41, for the operating conditions
of interest_ In order to reduce material
preparation and handling requirements, a
crusher feed chute was constructed so that
feed material would be introduced into a
O-15 m central region of the rolls. Thus, the
mass of feed samples could be kept within 9
to 90 kg, depending upon the operating
conditions of the crusher In all testing, the
feed material was fed to the crusher in a
manner that avoided chocking of the crushing
zone. By careful collection of test products,
the material loss during a given test was kept
to within 0.3% and could be neglectedWith this general procedure, test products
were fit
generated with the KVS 3020
double-roll crusher fitted with double smooth
rolls and operated at a roll speed ratio of 211,
that is, operating conditions comparable to
those of the 200 mm crusher- This testing was
performed using both nominal single size fractions of feed size and distributed feeds, and as
a function of gap setting.
In the next series of tests, the double
smooth rolls were again used and, at a fixed

127

gap setting, the roll speed ratio was varied.

Finally, testing was performed using the KVS
3020 double-roll crusher fitted with smoothcorrugated and then double-corrugated
rolls.
As with the double smooth rolls, the test
variables were feed size, gap setting and roll
speed ratio.
The products from the 40 or so tests that
were parformed were size analyzed down to
400 mesh_ The double-roll crusher model was
then used to predict the crusher product size
distributions from these tests. This was done
using model input data that included
measured feed size distributions. the crusher
gap settings, and Qi, ai and &_i values
computed using the descriptive parameters (a, y,
6, g and X) determined for the Pittsburgh
No. 8 coal from the 200 mm roll crusher test
results. Some typical results comparing experimental data with mode1 predictions are seen
in Figs. 3 through 9_ As illustrated in these
figures, the best agreement between model
values and test data was obtained for small
gap settings where small feed samples are
expected to give reproducible results, and for
size distributed feeds where it was easy to
prepare and test larger feed samples. For
results from breaking nominal single feed
sizes, it should be noted that the feeds
contained some fractions of finer material,

which lead to the flat lower end of the size

distribution seen in Fig_ 6 for the 6.73 X
4.76 mm nominal feed, for example- Thus, it
was concluded that the model gave reasonable
predictions of the experimental product size
distributions, within the limits of exper-imental reproducibility of tests using small
quantities of test material_

f
*

00

*,_.!

FEE0

-;
i
1

.iZ.,

0.1

RELATIVE

SIZE.

I
1.0

i;,q

Fig_ 4_ Actual and predicted product from the KVS

3020 double smooth roll crusher with gap setting of
4.76-mm and roll speeds of 150 and 56 rpm respectively distributed feed size; . esperimental;
, predicted.

100

RELATIVE

Fig. 3_ Actual and predicted pmducts from the KVS

3020 double smooth roll crusher with gap setting of
4.76 mm and roll speeds of 170 and 85 rpm respectiv&ly; 0, feed size 19-l mm x 13.5 mm; A, feed size
13-5 mm x 9.52 mm; n* feed size 9.52 mm x 6.73
mm; w, feed size 6.73 mm X 4.76 mm; -=I, gap;-,
predicted.

0.1

001

SIZE.

,zx.:,

1.0
=.i Ix1

Fig. 6_ Actual and predicted products from the KVS

3020 double smooth roll crusher with gap setting of
9.52 mm and roll speeds of 170 and 85 rpm respectively;,
feed size 38-2 mm X 27-O mm; 0. feed size
27-O mm x 19-l mm; n- feed size 19-l mm x 13-5
mm; v. feed size 13.5 mm x 9-52 mni;e, gap;-.
predicted_

RELATIVE

SIZE.

x11x,

RELATIVE

Fig. 6. Actual and predicted products from the KVS

3020 double smooth roll crusher with gap setting of
.4_76 mm and roll speeds of 85 and 85 rpm respectively; 0, feed size 13.5 mm X 9.52 mm; 0, feed size
9.52 mm x6.73 mm; v, feed size 6.73 mm X4.76
predicted.
mm;4, B~P,- -,

b.0,

I,,,,

QI
RELATIVE

SIZE.

AND

tx,

1,111

1.0
I, 11,

Fig. 7. Actual and predicted products from the KVS

3020 double smooth roll crusher with gap setting of
4.76 mm and roll speeds of 255 and 85 rpm respectively; 0, feed size 13.5 mm X 9.52 mm; 0, feed size
9.52 mm x 6.75 mm; 9, feed size 6.73 mm X 4.76
predicted.
mm;-=, gap, * -.

CONCLUSIONS

SIZE.

Fig. 8. Actual and predicted products from the KVS

3020 corrugated-smooth
double-roll crusher with gap
setting of 9.52 mm and roll speeds of 85 and 170 rpm
respectively;a,
feed size 38.2 mm X 27.0 mm;o, feed
size 27-O mm x 19.1 mm: 0, feed size 19.1 mm X
13.5 mm; v. feed size 13.5 mm X 9.52 mm; =a. gap;
-,
predicted_

0.5

1.0

0
SIZE.

10

50

x mnl

Fig. 9. Actual and predicted product from the KVS

3020 double corrugated roll crusher with gap setting
of 13.5 mm and roll speeds of 170 and 85 rpm
respectively; l, feed; 0, product; , predicted.

RECOMMENDATXONS

The results of this study indicate that the

double-roll
crusher model offers great prdmise
for the prediction
of size dis+ributions
of
double-roll
crushers, for incorporation
into
process design calculations.
hpvious
work

Il.21
has shown that the model was valid for
a wide variety of inaterials; the present work
shows the model to be capable of predicting
large-scale crusher products over a wide range
of feed sizes and crusher operating conditions.
Furthermore,
the model is readily extended

129

to treat double-roll crushers in closed circuit

c2,31.
An important feature of this model is that
parameters of the model can be developed
through laboratory testing of a small-scale
crusher, thus avoiding the need for expensive
and time-consuming full-scale trials. However,
it is perceived that although this laboratory
effort is minimal, its necessity might still
present a disadvantage to those who must
design crushing circuits for many materials.
Therefore, further work in this area should
include a systematic study of feed material
type and characteristics on model parameters_
The objective of this work would be to see
whether such information would permit the
a priori prediction of roll crusher model

pa&meters
specified.

when the feed material

is

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This
study was partially Fanded by the
Electric Power Research Institute under
Contract No. RP-1338-3, and McNally Pittsburg Inc., Pittsburg, Kansas_

REFERENCES
1 L. G. Austin.
D. R. van Orden and J_ W_ Perez.
J_ Miner. Process., 6 (1980) 321.

Int

2 L. G. Austin, D. van Orden, B. McWilliams. J_ W.

Perez and K. Shoji, Powder TechnoL, 28 (1981)
245.
3 R. S. C. Rogers. Powder TechnoL. 32 (1982) 125.
4 A. hl. Gaudin, Principles of Mineml Dressing.
McGraw-Hill,
New York, 1939. pp_ 41 - 43.