Pulverizer

B Boulet (French word for balls).

For the G.I. Joe vehicle, see Pulverizer (G.I. Joe).

D Direct ring.

A pulverizer or grinder is a mechanical device for the

grinding of many dierent types of materials. For example, a pulverizer mill is used to pulverize coal for
combustion in the steam-generating furnaces of fossil fuel
power plants.

47 Diameter of shell (in decimeters) i.e. 4.7 m

diameter.
72 Length of shell (in decimeters) i.e. 7.2 m
length.

Types of coal pulverizers

The grinding in the ball and tube mill is produced by the

rotating quantity of steel balls by their fall and lift due
to tube rotation. The ball charge may occupy one third
to half of the total internal volume of the shell. The signicant feature incorporated in the BBD mills is its double end operation, each end catering to one elevation of a
boiler. The system facilitated entry of raw coal and exit
of pulverized fuel from same end simultaneously. This
helps in reducing the number of installations per unit.

Coal pulverizers may be classied by speed, as follows:[1]

Low Speed
Medium Speed
High Speed

1.1
1.1.1

1.1.2 Mill construction details

Low Speed

A ball tube mill may be described as a cylinder made of

steel plates having separate heads or trunions attached to
the ends with each trunion resting on suitable bearings for
supporting the machine. The trunions are hollow to allow
for the introduction of discharge of the materials undergoing reduction in size. The mill shell is lined with chilled
iron, carbon steel, manganese steel, or high chrome liners
attached to shell body with counter sunk bolts. These liners are made in dierent shapes so that the counter inside
surface of the mill is suited for requirement of a particular
application.

Ball and tube mills

A ball mill is a pulverizer that consists of a horizontal rotating cylinder, up to three diameters in length, containing
a charge of tumbling or cascading steel balls, pebbles, or
rods.
A tube mill is a revolving cylinder of up to ve diameters
in length used for ne pulverization of ore, rock, and other
such materials; the material, mixed with water, is fed into
the chamber from one end, and passes out the other end
as a slurry.

The shells are of three pieces. The intermediate shell connects to the end shells by ange joints and the total length
of shell is 7.2 m. The liners are fastened to the inner side
of mill shell (cylindrical part) to protect the shell from
the impact of the steel balls. There are 600 liners of ten
variants in each shell weighing 60.26 tonnes. The original lift value of the liners is 55 mm. and the minimum
The ball and tube mills are low-speed machines that grind lift allowed is 20 mm.
the coal with steel balls in a rotating horizontal cylinder.
Due to its shape, it is called a tube mill and due to use of
grinding balls for crushing, it is called a ball mill, or both 1.1.3 Operation
terms as a ball tube mill..
The primary air input to a ball tube mill performs a dual
These mills are also designated as an example size, BBD- function. It is used for drying and as the fuel transport
4772,
medium, and by regulating it the mill output is regulated.
Governed by the pulverized fuel outlet temperature re B Broyer (Name of inventor).
quirement, the cold air and hot air dampers are regulated
Both types of mill include liners that protect the cylindrical structure of the mill from wear. Thus the main wear
parts in these mills are the balls themselves, and the liners. The balls are simply consumed by the wear process
and must be re-stocked, whereas the liners must be periodically replaced.

1 TYPES OF COAL PULVERIZERS

to achieve the correct primary air temperature. In addition to raising the coal temperature inside the mill for drying and better grinding, the same air works as the transport medium to move the pulverized coal out of the mill:
it travels through the annular space between the xed
trunnion tubes and the rotating hot air tube onwards to
the classier. Coal-laden air passes through double cone
static classiers, with adjustable classier vanes, for segregation into pulverized fuel of the desired neness, and
coarse particles. The pulverised fuel continues its journey towards the coal burners for combustion. The coarse
particles rejected in the classier are returned to the mill
for another cycle of grinding.

design). As the lower ring rotates, the balls to orbit between the upper and lower rings, and balls roll over the
bed of coal on the lower ring. The pulverized material is
carried out of the mill by the ow of air moving through
it. The size of the pulverized particles released from the
grinding section of the mill is determined by a classier
separator. If the coal is ne enough to be picked up by the
air, it is carried through the classier. Coarser particles
return to be further pulverized.

In order to avoid excess sweeping of coal from the mill,

only part of the primary air, directly proportional to the
boiler load demand, is passed through the mill. Furthermore, to ensure sucient velocity of pulverized fuel to
avoid settling in the pipes, an additional quantity of primary air is fed into a mixing box on the raw coal circuit. This by-pass air tapped from the primary air duct
going into the mill makes an appreciable contribution to
the drying of raw coal, by a ash drying eect, in addition to picking up the pulverized fuel from the mill outlet
for its transportation towards the classiers.

Similar to the ring and ball mill, the vertical spindle roller
mill uses large tires to crush the coal. These mills are
usually found in utility plants.

The mill is pressurized and the air-tightness is ensured by

plenum chambers around the rotating trunnion lled with
pressurized seal air. Bleeding seal air from plenum chamber to the mill maintains separation between pulverized
fuel in the Mill and the outside atmosphere. Inadequacy
or absence of seal air will allow escape of pulverized fuel
into atmosphere. On the other hand, an excess of seal
air leaking into mill will aect the mill outlet temperature. As such the seal air is controlled by a local control
damper maintaining just sucient dierential pressure
for sealing.

blies in the mill grinding section, which are mounted on

a loading frame via pivot point. The xed-axis roller in
each roller wheel assembly rotates on a segmentally-lined
grinding table that is supported and driven by a planetary gear reducer direct-coupled to a motor. The grinding
force for coal pulverization is applied by a loading frame.
This frame is connected by vertical tension rods to three
hydraulic cylinders secured to the mill foundation. All
forces used in the pulverizing process are transmitted to
the foundation via the gear reducer and loading elements.
The pendulum movement of the roller wheels provides a
freedom for wheels to move in a radial direction, which
results in no radial loading against the mill housing during
the pulverizing process.

1.3 Vertical spindle roller mill

Raw coal is gravity-fed through a central feed pipe to the

grinding table where it ows outwardly by centrifugal action and is ground between the rollers and table. Hot primary air for drying and coal transport enters the windbox
plenum underneath the grinding table and ows upward
through a swirl ring having multiple sloped nozzles surrounding the grinding table. The air mixes with and dries
coal in the grinding zone and carries pulverized coal parThe tube mill output (responding to boiler load demand) ticles upward into a classier.
is controlled by regulating the primary air-ow. This reg- Fine pulverized coal exits the outlet section through mululation, by sweeping pulverized fuel from the mill, is very tiple discharge coal pipes leading to the burners, while
fast; comparable with oil ring response, but needs the oversized coal particles are rejected and returned to the
coal level to be maintained in the mill. A control circuit grinding zone for further grinding. Pyrites and extranemonitors the coal level in the mill, and controls the speed ous dense impurity material fall through the nozzle ring
of the raw coal feeder to maintain it. Maintaining the coal and are plowed, by scraper blades attached to the grinding
level in the mill oers a built-in capacity cushion of pul- table, into the pyrites chamber to be removed. Mechanverized fuel to take care of short interruptions the in raw ically, the vertical roller mill is categorized as an applied
coal circuit.
force mill. There are three grinding roller wheel assem-

1.2

Medium Speed

1.2.1

Ring and ball mill

This type of mill consists of two types of rings separated

by a series of large balls, like a thrust bearing. The lower
ring rotates, while the upper ring presses down on the
balls via a set of spring and adjuster assemblies, or pressurised rams. The material to be pulverized is introduced
into the center or side of the pulverizer (depending on the

Depending on the required coal neness, there are two

types of classier that may be selected for a vertical
roller mill. The dynamic classier, which consists of a
stationary angled inlet vane assembly surrounding a rotating vane assembly or cage, is capable of producing
micrometer-ne pulverized coal with a narrow particle
size distribution. In addition, adjusting the speed of the
rotating cage can easily change the intensity of the centrifugal force eld in the classication zone to achieve

3
coal neness control real-time to make immediate accommodation for a change in fuel or boiler load conditions. For the applications where a micrometer-ne pulverized coal is not necessary, the static classier, which
consists of a cone equipped with adjustable vanes, is
an option at a lower cost since it contains no moving
parts. With adequate mill grinding capacity, a vertical
mill equipped with a static classier is capable of producing a coal neness up to 99.5% or higher <50 mesh
and 80% or higher <200 mesh, while one equipped with a
dynamic classier produces coal neness levels of 100%
<100 mesh and 95% <200 mesh, or better.
In 1954 a Jet Pulverizer was developed in which operates like a Vertical Pulverizer only the item is pulverized
by the high speed air action. For example forcing coal
against coal.[2]

1.4

Bowl mill

Similar to the vertical roller mill, it also uses tires to crush

coal. There are two types, a deep bowl mill, and a shallow
bowl mill.

1.5

High Speed

1.5.1

Attrition Mill

Beater Wheel Mill

Hammer Mill

A hammer mill is used on farms for grinding grain and

cha for animal feed.

Demolition pulverizer

An attachment tted to an excavator. Commonly used in

demolition work to break up large pieces of concrete.
Power plant Klingenberg, Berlin
Power plant Reuter-West, Berlin
Power plant Reuter-West, Berlin
Schwarze Pumpe power station

See also
Grinding mill
Burr mill
Cement mill

Power station
Fossil fuel power plant
Thermal power plant
Roller Coal Mills

6 References
[1] Coal Pulverising Mill Types, by Glenn Schumacher, 2010
[2] Jet Pulverizer. Popular Mechanics, April 1954, p. 156.

7 Bibliography
Schumacher, Glenn (201). Coal Pulverising Mill
Types. ISBN 978-0-646-53759-7.

8 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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