Minerals Engineering 17 (2004) 12591268

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Comparison of grinding mediaCylpebs versus balls

F. Shi

Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre, The University of Queensland, Isles Road, Indooroopilly, Brisbane 4068, Australia
Received 31 March 2004; accepted 5 May 2004

Abstract
Cylpebs are slightly tapered cylindrical grinding media with a ratio of length to diameter of unity. The manufactures have made
conflicting claims regarding the milling performance of Cylpebs in comparison with balls. One major point of interest is which one
grinds finer at the same operating conditions. The difficulty in comparison is due to the shape difference. The two grinding media
have different surface area, bulk density and contact mechanisms in grinding action.
Comparative tests were conducted using the two types of grinding media in a laboratory Bond ball mill at various conditions of
equality such as media mass, size distribution, surface area and input specific energy. The laboratory results indicate that at the same
specific energy input level the Cylpebs produce a product with slightly less oversize due to their greater surface area, but essentially
the same sizing at the fine end as that produced with the balls. The reason may be that the advantage of greater surface area is balanced by the line contact and area contact grinding actions with the Cylpebs.
A new ball mill scale-up procedure [Man, Y.T., 2001. Model-based procedure for scale-up of wet, overflow ball mills, Part I:
outline of the methodology. Minerals Engineering 14 (10), 12371246] was employed to predict grinding performance of an industrial mill from the laboratory test results. The predicted full scale operation was compared with the plant survey data. Some problems in the original scale-up procedures were identified. The scale-up procedure was therefore modified to allow the predicted ball
mill performance to match the observed one. The calibrated scale-up procedure was used to predict the Cylpebs performance in the
full scale industrial mill using the laboratory tests results.
2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Comminution; Grinding

1. Introduction
Grinding media exert a significant influence on milling performance in terms of product size, energy consumption and grinding costs due to media wear.
Grinding balls and rods are traditionally used as grinding media in the mineral industry. In the recent years
other grinding media with different shapes have appeared in the market, such as Cylpebs developed by
the Doering International, Powerpebs by the Donhad
and Millpebs by the Wheelabrator Allevard Enterprise.

Tel.: +61 7 3365 5878; fax: +61 7 3365 5999.

E-mail address: f.shi@uq.edu.au.

0892-6875/$ - see front matter 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2004.05.019

For example, the Doering Minipebs were used in a /

4.6 6.3 m tower mill with a charge of 183 tonnes
operated at the Aberfoyle Hellyer lead/zinc mine in
Tasmania, Australia, to replace the previously used
high-chrome balls. It was reported that these allowed
free flowing media to take advantage of a greater surface
area and eliminate large pockets of locked charge that
occurred using balls (World Mining Equipment,
September 2003).
Discrepancies were found in the literature regarding
grinding efficiency using Cylpebs. It was claimed by
the manufacture (Doering International) that for a given
charge volume, Cylpebs provide 25% more grinding
media surface area for size reduction. The grinding performance of the Cylpebs should then be correspondingly

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F. Shi / Minerals Engineering 17 (2004) 12591268

higher compared with the steel balls (Doering website:

www.doering-sinn.de). However, the Donhad conducted
a grinding test using its own product Powerpebs (with
length being 1.5 times diameter) to compare with balls
and Cylpebs on the same ore type. The Donhad claimed
that the product size distribution using Cylpebs at the
identical energy input levels was significantly coarser
than that produced with balls or the Powerpebs, indicating a 21% greater energy consumption using Cylpebs
than that using balls or the Powerpebs to achieve the
equivalent product grind size (Technical BulletinDonhad website: www.donhad.com.au).
These conflicting conclusions are confusing to mill
operators regarding whether the Cylpebs would produce
a coarser or a finer product in a grinding mill. Several
questions may be asked regarding the manufactures
claims. The comparative tests conducted by Donhad
were made at an equal specific energy input level, which
implied an identical media mass when the grinding time
and feed were kept constant. As the shapes of the three
grinding media are different, in order to keep the same
mass different media sizes must be used. Thus the results
may only reflect the media size effect. Unfortunately the
actual media sizes used for the comparison were not
mentioned. While the Donhad result reflected the media
size effect, Doerings claim emphasized the surface area
effect, but the increased surface area is at a cost of increased power and wear consumption. It is also noticed
that the Donhad tests were undertaken in a stirred mill
using single size media. In a real milling operation, the
grinding media are seasoned. This is particularly true
in ball milling. Therefore it is open to question whether
the indications from the laboratory result using single
media size are valid for the full-scale operation.
In a research project conducted by the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC) in association with the WMC Fertilizers it was proposed to
investigate grinding media options for fines minimisa-

tion in milling circuit at the Phosphate Hill Operation.

Realising the complexity of the interrelationship of
grinding media mass, size distribution and surface area
due to their shape, detailed laboratory tests with Cylpebs and balls were carefully designed to distinguish
the individual effects of the type of media. The experiment was carried out at the JKMRC Pilot Plant. One
major challenge in this study was to predict the full-scale
operation from the laboratory results. This has been
achieved using a modified ball mill scale-up procedure
published by Man (1999, 2001).
2. Physical properties of Cylpebs
Cylpebs are slightly tapered cylindrical grinding media with length equalling diameter, and all the edges being
radiused (Fig. 1). Samples of Cylpebs used for the experiment were manufactured in Brazil, provided by Doering International.
Doering Cylpebs are made from low-alloy chilled cast
iron. The molten metal leaves the furnace at approximately 1500 C and is transferred to a continuous casting machine where the selected size Cylpebs are
created; by changing the moulds the full range of cylindrical media can be manufactured via one simple process. The Cylpebs are demoulded while still red hot and
placed in a cooling section for several hours to relieve
internal stress. Solidification takes place in seconds
and is formed from the external surface inward to the

Fig. 1. Doering Cylpebs used for the comparative tests.

Table 1
Comparative data of physical properties for Cylpebs and balls
Cylpebs (c = 7.65 kg/l)

Balls (c = 7.85 kg/l)

Dimension (mm)

Mass (g)

Surface
area (cm2)

Specific
surface (cm2/g)

Bulk
density (t/m3)

Dimension
(mm)

Mass
(g)

Surface
area (cm2)

Specific
surface (cm2/g)

Bulk
density (t/m3)

/54 54
/45 45
/40 40
/35 35
/32 32
/28 28
/24 24
/22 22
/20 20
/16 16
/12 12
/10 10
/8 8

880.0
560.0
379.0
245.0
190.0
128.0
82.5
62.0
48.0
23.5
11.1
6.3
3.0

137.4
95.4
75.4
57.7
48.3
37.0
27.0
22.8
19.0
12.0
6.8
4.7
3.0

0.15
0.17
0.20
0.24
0.25
0.28
0.33
0.37
0.40
0.51
0.55
0.75
1.00

4.9
4.9
4.9
4.9
4.9
4.9
4.9
4.9
4.9
4.9
4.9
4.9
4.9

/50
/45
/40
/35
/30
/25
/20
/15
/10

510.0
372.0
264.0
175.0
112.0
65.0
33.0
13.0
4.5

79.0
63.6
50.0
38.5
28.0
20.0
12.5
7.0
3.1

0.15
0.17
0.19
0.22
0.25
0.31
0.38
0.54
0.69

4.5
4.5
4.5
4.5
4.5
4.5
4.5
4.5
4.5

F. Shi / Minerals Engineering 17 (2004) 12591268

centre of the media. It has been claimed that this manufacturing process contributes to the cost effectiveness of
the Doering media, by being more efficient and requiring
less energy than the conventional forging method.
Because of their cylindrical geometry, Cylpebs have
greater surface area and higher bulk density compared
with balls of similar mass and size. Table 1 shows the
comparative physical properties for Cylpebs and balls,
given by Doering International. Cylpebs of equal diameter and length have 14.5% greater surface area than
balls of the same mass, and 9% higher bulk density than
steel balls, or 12% higher than cast balls. As a result, for
a given charge volume, about 25% more grinding media
surface area is available for size reduction when charged
with Cylpebs, but the mill would also draw more power.

3. Laboratory tests
As the objective of this study was to predict the grinding performance of Cylpebs in a full-scale ball mill, a
model-based procedure for scale-up of ball mill was
adopted, which involved laboratory tests using the Bond
ball mill, and a set of model parameter scale-up criteria
to simulate the steady state performance of full-scale
mill circuit from the laboratory results (Man, 1999,
2001). Accordingly all the laboratory tests were conducted in a standard Bond ball mill loaded with various
grinding media to treat the same feed ore.
Ore samples used for the laboratory tests were collected from the ball mill feed conveyor in the Phosphate
Hill Beneficiation Plant during a grinding circuit survey.
The ore is locally known as soft ore, with a Bond ball
mill Work Index of 14.3 kWh/t, and the breakage characteristic parameter A = 63.9 and b = 0.93 determined
with a drop weight tester (Napier-Munn et al., 1996).
The ore sample was prepared using a jaw crusher and
a rotary divider to obtain the identical sub-samples for
each test.
3.1. Media charge conditions
Three media conditions were considered as the major
factors affecting size reduction performance, viz.
media mass
media surface area, and
media size distribution.
For the comparative tests the standard Bond ball
charge was set as the base case. The Cylpebs charge
was controlled to match two of the three media conditions of the balls, with the third one being different, in
order to distinguish one effect in each test. Table 2 (Panels AD) present the details of the media charge
conditions.

1261

Charge 1 is the standard Bond ball mill charge condition which was used as the base case for the comparison.
For some ball size fractions, however, no equivalent size
of Cylpebs was available. Cylpebs of the nearest two
sizes were therefore combined in various ratios (as indicated in the first columns) and their weighted average
size was taken as the equivalent size to the balls. The
combined ratio was calculated to match the two required ball conditions. Charge 2 (Table 2, Panel B) is
the Cylpebs charge with similar mean size and mass in
each size fraction (hence the total mass), but more than
500 cm2 surface area than that of balls due to their
shape. Charge 3 (Table 2, Panel C) was to ensure that
the Cylpebs have equal surface area and similar size,
but significantly smaller mass. Table 2D presents Charge
4 in which fine Cylpebs were omitted and only two top
size fractions were used to make equal mass and surface
area to the balls.
3.2. Experimental program
Two types of comparative tests were conducted:
Locked-cycle (multi-stage) grinding tests, and
Open circuit single-stage batch grinding tests.
The locked-cycle (multi-stage) grinding test was
developed by Man (1999) as one major component in
the new ball mill scale-up procedure. The test procedure
is the same as the well-known Bond ball mill grindability
test (Bond, 1961). In the Bond ball milling test, the fresh
feed to the test is crushed down to 100% passing
3.35 mm. The mill grinds a constant 700 ml of ore. After
each grind the mill contents are screened to remove
undersize which is replenished with an equal mass of
new feed. The length of grinding time for each run is adjusted until the mass of the oversize fraction is consistently 2.5 times greater than the undersize. Under these
conditions, the test approximates the steady-state performance of a closed circuit continuous mill with a circulating load of 250%.
There are two major differences between the lockedcycle test and the standard Bond test. The first is the
selection of circulating load. In the Bond ball mill test,
250% circulating load is used. In the locked-cycle tests,
the circulating load is selected according to the feed condition. The plant used DSM screens in a closed-circuit
ball milling operation. This resulted in a very low circulating load to minimise fines generation (Nott et al.,
2003). Therefore a 1.18 mm-aperture screen was used
in the locked-cycle laboratory tests to mimic the DSM
screen in the full-scale operation, and a 20% circulating
load was selected to simulate the closed-circuit operation. The second difference is that at the end of the
locked-cycle test, the size distribution of the final screen
oversize is also obtained, while only the underscreen

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F. Shi / Minerals Engineering 17 (2004) 12591268

Table 2
Charge 1: standard Bond balls charge conditions (Panel A); Charge 2: Cylpebs with equal mass and equivalent size (Panel B); Charge 3: Cylpebs with
equal surface area and equivalent size (Panel C); Charge 4: Fine Cylpebs truncated charge with equal mass and surface area (Panel D)
Size (mm)

Number of balls

Panel A
36.8
29.7
25.4
19.1
15.5

Mass (kg)

Surface area (cm2)

43
67
10
71
94

8.81
7.21
0.67
2.01
1.43

1829
1857
203
814
709

Total

285

20.13

5412

Size fraction (mm)

Number of Cylpebs

Mean size (mm)

Panel B
9 /40 40 + 29 /32 32
/28 28
/24 24
32 /20 20 + 24 /16 16
46 /16 16 + 32 /12 12
Total

38
55
8
56
78

33.9
28.0
24.0
18.3
14.4

235

Panel C
7 /40 40 + 22 /32 32
/28 28
/24 24
30 /20 20 + 19 /16 16
38 /16 16 + 23 /12 12
Total

29
48
7
49
61

33.9
28.0
24.0
18.4
14.5

194

Panel D
18 /40 40 + 38 /32 32
/28 28
Total

56
48

34.6
28

104

product is required in the Bond test. The locked-cycle

test therefore provides the size distributions of the fresh
feed, the final screen undersize and final screen oversizethat is, the total mill charge is sized.
The data of mill feed and product of the last run in
the locked-cycle grinding test are used for fitting the
breakage rate parameters of a ball mill model (NapierMunn et al., 1996), which are then scaled-up to simulate
the full scale operation. However, some problems asso-

Mass (kg)

Surface area (cm2)

8.87
7.19
0.61
2.01
1.45

2079
2035
216
896
770

20.13

5996

6.80
6.27
0.54
1.80
1.16

1590
1776
189
798
612

16.57

4965

13.88
6.27

3193
1776

20.15

4969

ciated with the locked-cycle test were identified (refer to

the next section), and the conventional batch grinding in
open circuit was then employed.
The test conditions for both the locked-cycle and the
single-stage open circuit tests are summarised in Table 3.
In the batch grinding tests 338 mill revolutions was selected in order to be consistent with the locked-cycle
Cylpebs test. This grinding time was kept constant
across all the single-stage open circuit tests.

Table 3
Comparative tests conditions
Test type

Charge type

Test conditions

Locked-cycle test
Locked-cycle test

Charge 1
Charge 2

Single-stage test
Single-stage test

Charge 1
Charge 2

Single-stage test

Charge 3

Single-stage test

Charge 4

Standard Bond balls charge; 1.18 mm limiting screen; 20% circulating load
Cylpebs of the same mass and similar size as balls, but greater surface area; 1.18 mm limiting screen;
20% circulating load
Standard Bond balls charge; batch grinding for 338 revolutions; open circuit
Cylpebs of the same mass and similar size as balls, greater surface area; batch grinding for 338 revolutions;
open circuit
Cylpebs of the same surface area and similar size as balls, smaller mass; batch grinding for 338 revolutions;
open circuit
Cylpebs of the same mass and surface area; fine media omitted; batch grinding for 338 revolutions;
open circuit

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F. Shi / Minerals Engineering 17 (2004) 12591268

4. Results and analysis

100
90

4.1. Locked-cycle ball milling results

80
70

Cum. % passing

Two locked-cycle milling tests using balls and cylpebs

charges at the same mass and similar size distribution
were conducted respectively. The results are summarised
in Table 4. The standard Bond ball mill test at 250% circulating load treating the same ore sample is also included in Table 4 for comparison.
The limiting screen aperture and the circulating load
exert a significant impact on the Bond Work Indices.
Comparing Test 1 with the standard Bond ball mill test
(both tests using exactly the same balls charge and
the same feed ore), the Bond WI increases from
14.3 kWh/t (for 0.3 mm screen, 250% circulating load)
to 17.8 kWh/t (for 1.18 mm screen, 20% circulating
load). This indicates that in the full-scale operation with
DSM in the place of other classifier such as hydrocyclones that normally have around 250% circulating load
in closed-circuit, the ball mill installed power requirement would be higher.
The size distributions of the final-run mill content
and the new feed are shown in Fig. 2.
It appears that the Cylpebs grind coarser for particles
below 1 mm, and slightly finer above 1 mm. However,
the effect of Cylpebs could not be justified from the
locked-cycle tests. As shown in Table 4, Test 1 (balls)
took 11 runs to get into steady-state, while Test 2 (Cylpebs) only took 8 runs. As a result, 450 mill revolutions
were applied in the ball charge locked-cycle test, and
only 338 revolutions for the Cylpebs charge. This indicated that grinding time in the two tests was significantly
different, thus the energy input for the ball charge test
was greater than for the cylpebs charge test.
This is a problem in the design of the locked-cycle
test. The test procedure requires to stop the test when
the grindability reach equilibrium, which is normally assumed within less than 3% variation between the last
two runs, or reverse its direction of increase or decrease.
This is similar to the standard Bond test procedure. It
has been found that in some locked-cycle tests, particularly with low circulating load, it takes long runs to stabilise and requires more mill revolutions (implying more
energy consumption), sometimes never reaches equilib-

60
50
40
30
20

New feed
Charge 1, balls

10

Charge 2, Cylpebs
0
0.01

0.1

10

Size (mm)

Fig. 2. Size distributions of the final-run mill content (screen undersize

plus oversize) and new feed from the locked-cycle milling tests using
balls and Cylpebs of the same mass and similar charge size
distributions.

rium. Thus in the locked-cycle test, the energy input is

not controlled. Although in the Bond test the mill revolution in the final run varies for different ores, it has been
factored in the calculation of grindability (net grams of
screen undersize produced per mill revolution), and it is
the major variable to determine the Bond Work Index
(Bond, 1961). However, in the locked-cycle test, the
grindability is not incorporated in the procedure at all,
and only the feed and final product sizes are used to
fit the breakage rate parameters of the ball mill model.
These parameters are then scaled-up for simulations.
Since the locked-cycle test does not take the actual
energy usage into account, the difference in the product size distributions as shown in Fig. 2 may not be
the result of the inherent properties of grinding media.
It may reflect the difference in the mill revolutions (450
versus 338, see Table 4), and hence the energy input,
between the two locked-cycle tests. Clearly the
locked-cycle test is not suitable for this study to determine the effect of grinding media on product size.
Therefore the conventional single-stage batch grinding
test was utilised.

Table 4
Locked-cycle milling results
Test

Chargea

Screen (lm)

Recirculation (%)

Runs

Final revolution

Grams produced per revolutionb

WIc (kWh/t)

U/S P80 (lm)

1
2
Bond

Charge 1
Charge 2
Charge 1

1180
1180
300

20
20
250

11
8
7

450
338
103

1.10
1.48
2.34

17.8
19.8
14.3

202
322
219

a
b
c

Refer to Table 2.
The net grams of screen undersize produced per mill revolution, which is defined as grindability in the Bond method.
Work Index.

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F. Shi / Minerals Engineering 17 (2004) 12591268

4.2. Single-stage batch grinding results

100
90
80
70

Cum. % passing

Four batch dry grinding tests were undertaken using

the Bond ball mill with various media charge conditions.
In the four tests the mill run at the identical 338 revolutions and treated the same mass of the same ore. Results
of the single-stage batch tests are given in Table 5 in
terms of percent passing two size fractions (1.18 mm representing the coarse end and 0.038 mm the fine end). The
full size distributions of feed and product are given in
Figs. 3, 5 and 6.
In order to perform statistical analysis on the comparative test results, additional one single-stage batch
test at Charge 1 condition (Bond balls) was conducted.
A standard deviation of 5% relative was estimated on
the base of percent retained size distribution. It is accepted that in such a well controlled open-circuit batch
test running at sufficiently long grinding time, the experimental error is small.
Fig. 3 demonstrates that at the same charge mass and
similar charge size distribution, the products below
0.425 mm are essentially the same using the ordinary
balls and the cylpebs, but the cylpebs produce a product
with less oversize. The specific energy utilised in the two
tests was assumed to be the same, as the mill power draw
is basically determined by the charge mass (Bond, 1961;
Morrell, 1996). Thus Fig. 3 is deemed to be a comparison at the same specific energy input level.
This observation may reflect the fact that the cylpebs
have a greater surface area than the ordinary balls at
the same charge mass and similar size distribution
(Table 2 Panel A versus B). It is generally agreed that
more surface area would provide more opportunity for
breakage. However, this general agreement is based
on tests mostly using ball charges, that is, spheres, and
may or may not be true of other shapes. The trend in
the coarse end size fractions of the product shown in
Fig. 3 seems support the surface area hypothesis, and
agrees with the Doerings claim. This trend, however,
does not extend to the full size range as expected by
the Doering.
The reason why at the coarse end the Cylpebs generate finer product while at the fine end they do not was

60
50
40
30
20
Charge 1, Bond balls
Charge 2, Cylpebs
Feed

10
0
0.01

0.1

10

Size (mm)

Fig. 3. Ball charge compared with Cylpebs of the same mass and the
same media size distribution, larger surface area.

sought from the contact mechanism in grinding action.

Beside the point contact action similar to the balls, Cylpebs have other grinding actions resulted from line contact along the cylindrical section and area contact
between the end faces on the ore particles. As illustrated
in Fig. 4, the line contact and area contact increase the
tendency for grinding to take place preferentially on
the larger particles. Once the large particles are caught
on the line or between the face areas, this prevents the
smaller particles being broken further, which is similar

Table 5
Single-stage batch grinding results
Charge

Conditions

% Pass 1.18
mm

% Pass 0.038
mm

Charge 1
Charge 2

Standard Bond balls

Cylpebs, same mass
and size, larger area
Cylpebs, same area
and size, less mass
Cylpebs, same mass
and area, coarser size
(fine media omitted)

86.1
89.0

29.8
29.8

83.9

25.5

91.6

26.4

Charge 3
Charge 4

Fig. 4. Grinding action of linear contact of Cylpebs increases the

tendency for grinding to take place preferentially on the larger
particles.

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F. Shi / Minerals Engineering 17 (2004) 12591268

100
90
80

Cum. % passing

70
60
50
40
30
20

Charge 1, Bond balls

Charge 3, Cylpebs
Feed

10
0
0.01

0.1

10

Size (mm)

Fig. 5. Ball charge compared with Cylpebs of the same media size and
the same surface area, smaller mass.

100
90
80
70

Cum. % passing

to the rod mill practice. As a result, the advantage of a

greater surface area of Cylpebs is cancelled out by the
grinding action of line contact and area contact, and
the product is almost identical at the fine end to that
ground by balls at the same specific energy and same
media size distribution. The benefit of the greater surface area of Cylpebs can only be realised at the coarse
end and the difference is marginal.
Fig. 5 shows the effect of energy input. Although having the same surface area and similar media size, the
smaller charge mass of Cylpebs means a smaller energy
input. The difference in product sizes above 1.7 mm is
not significant between Cylpebs and balls, showing that
the effect of surface area may, again, dominate the
grinding action in the coarse size fractions of particles.
The energy input effect appears in sizes smaller than
1.7 mm, which results in almost parallel lines, with a
smaller input energy producing a consistently coarser
product. This is as expected.
An interesting observation in Fig. 6 is that when the
Cylpebs smaller than 28 mm were omitted from the
charge, the size distribution curve of the ground product
became steeper, i.e. producing less fines (0.038 mm)
and less oversize, compared with the same charge mass
and the same surface area. This phenomenon may indicate that large grinding media offer a larger probability
for impact breakage, but less abrasion breakage. Such a
breakage mechanism would lead to rapid disappearance
of the coarser particles in the feed and avoid excessive
fines generation. A similar observation was reported
previously in a separate research project at the JKTech
using a laboratory ball mill at various media size distributions to grind silicon metal.

60
50
40
30
20
Charge 1, Bond balls
Charge 4, Cylpebs
Feed

10
0
0.01

0.1

10

Size (mm)

Fig. 6. Ball charge compared with Cylpebs of the same mass and the
same surface area, fine Cylpebs omitted.

5. Scale-up from the laboratory milling tests

5.1. Calibration of the scale-up procedure
A ball mill scale-up procedure (Man, 2001) was employed to scale-up the breakage parameters determined
from the laboratory milling tests to estimate the product
using Cylpebs in full-scale industrial operation comprising a 4.7 m diameter 9.5 m length mill and DSM
screens in a closed circuit.
The procedure involves a number of criteria to scaleup the appearance function, breakage rate distribution
and the discharge function. The variables taken into
consideration in the scale-up procedure include ball size,
mill diameter, feed size distribution, particle segregation
and classification effect. The scale-up procedure has
been coded by the author using the JKSimMet Software
Development Kit (SDK) and has been tested with Mans
original data (Man, 1999). In order to validate the
scale-up procedure, the data of locked-cycle ball milling
Test 1 (Table 4) was used to predict the full-scale ball
mill operation. The predicted size distribution of ball
mill discharge is compared with the survey data as
shown in Fig. 7. This is probably the first time the independent data have been used to test the ball mill scale-up
procedure.
The discrepancy is obvious. Interestingly the predicted and measured 80% passing sizes are very similar.
However, the rest of the size distribution is very different. This emphasises the need to present full size distribution for comparison, rather than a single size such
as the P80.
Analysis of the scale-up procedures identified that the
plant feed was much coarser than the database that Man

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F. Shi / Minerals Engineering 17 (2004) 12591268

5.2. Predictions of Cylpebs in the full-scale operation

100
90

Fig. 7. Comparison of ball mill discharge size distributions between

the measured and the predicted by the ball mill scale-up procedure
(Man, 2001).

A similar approach was taken to calibrate the scaleup procedures from the single-stage batch grinding with
balls to match the full-scale ball mill operation. The calibrated scale-up criteria were then applied to the singlestage Cylpebs grinding data. In the simulations, the
charge was set at 23% volume as in the plant survey.
As the bulk density of Cylpebs is higher, the model predicted that the Cylpebs mill would draw more power.
Another comparison was made at the same mill power
draw by reducing the Cylpebs charge volume. Two types
of make up Cylpebs were used for the simulations (/
85 85 mm and /65 65 mm). Comparisons of the predictions in mill product for a number of Cylpebs charge
conditions are given in Figs. 911. The simulation results are also summarised in Table 6.
The following trends are found in the simulations for
full-scale operations from the laboratory single-stage
grinding tests:

used to develop the scale-up criteria (Man, 1999). Thus

the scale-up criteria for the feed size distribution effect
are not valid in this case. The objective of this study
was not to further develop the procedure from the first
principlesit aimed to use the procedure as a tool for
scale-up. Therefore a simple step was taken by adjusting
the criteria for the feed size effect and for the classifier
factor to force the prediction to match the measured
data. The calibrated model works reasonably well.
Fig. 8 shows the ball mill product size distribution predicted by the calibrated scale-up procedure compared
with the plant survey data.

With the calibrated scale-up parameters, the model

predicts that the Cylpebs mill with a make-up size
of /85 85 mm produces a product slightly finer
around 1 mm size, compared with the ball mill
charged with 100 mm top size balls at the same load
volume. Under such conditions, the Cylpebs mill will
not improve the fines generated in the grinding circuit
while drawing 156 kW more power.
By reducing the charge volume to allow the Cylpebs
mill to draw the same amount of power as the ball
mill, the mill charged with /65 65 mm Cylpebs will
grind a product with slightly less fines in both mill
discharge and the DSM underscreen.

80

Cum. % passing

70
60
50
40
30
20
Survey

10

Predicted

0
0.01

0.1

10

100

Size (mm)

100

100

90

90

80

80

Cum. % passing

Cum. % passing

70
60
50
40
30

70
60
50
40
Pred. 100mm balls

20

30
Predicted

0
0.01

85mm Cylp. same volume

Survey

10

0.1

10

20
0.01
100

0.1

10

100

Size (mm)

Size (mm)

Fig. 8. The calibrated model prediction of the full-scale ball mill

product from the locked-cycle laboratory test.

Fig. 9. Predictions for full-scale mill product using 100 mm balls versus
/85 85 mm Cylpebs at the identical charge volume from the singlestage batch grinding tests (the Cylpebs mill drawing more power).

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F. Shi / Minerals Engineering 17 (2004) 12591268

100

100

90

90

80

Cum. % passing

Cum. % passing

80
70
60
50

70
60
50
40

40
Pred. 100mm balls

30

Pred. 100mm balls

30

Fine Cylp. truncated, same power

65mm Cylp. same power

20
0.01

0.1

10

100

20
0.01

0.1

10

100

Size (mm)

Size (mm)

Fig. 10. Predictions for full-scale mill product using 100 mm balls
versus /65 65 mm Cylpebs at the identical energy consumption from
the single-stage batch grinding tests.

Fig. 11. Predictions for full-scale mill product using 100 mm balls
versus /65 65 mm Cylpebs at the identical energy consumption from
the fine Cylpebs omitted test.

Table 6
Comparison of the predicted milling performance
Milling performance

Ball mill survey

Predicted 100 mm ball mill

85 mm Cylpebs

65 mm Cylpebs

Fine-Cylpebs omitted

Charge volume (%)

Make-up media (mm)
Mill power draw (kW)
Fresh feed F80 (mm)
Fresh feed rate (tph)
Combined mill feed F80 (mm)
Mill throughput (tph)
Mill discharge P80 (mm)
Mill discharge (% 0.038 mm)
DSM U/S P80 (mm)
DSM U/S (% 0.038 mm)
DSM O/S P80 (mm)
Circulating load (%)

23.0
100
2655
11.83
266
11.48
300
0.75
24.4
0.43
29.1
2.75
10.6

23.0
100
2674
11.83
266
11.83
308
0.65
25.2
0.41
28.6
3.05
15.9

23.0
85
2830
11.83
266
11.83
301
0.54
25.3
0.38
28.0
2.79
13.2

21.4
65
2675
11.83
266
11.83
310
0.63
23.5
0.38
26.7
3.61
16.4

21.4
65
2675
11.83
266
11.32
306
0.65
20.5
0.46
23.1
2.63
15.0

A truncated Cylpebs distribution (no fine Cylpebs)

will produce a product with about 5% less
0.038 mm fines at the same power draw.
The simulations indicate that the media size distribution exerts a more significant influence on fines generation than the media type.

6. Conclusions
Laboratory tests were conducted using a standard
Bond ball mill to compare the milling performance of
Cylpebs against balls. Effects of the three charge conditionsmass, size distribution and surface areawere
investigated. Single-stage batch grinding tests indicated
that the ground product using the Cylpebs of the same
mass and the same size distribution as the balls contained slightly less oversize. This may be due to the

greater surface area of the Cylpebs. This advantage,

however, may be balanced by the line contact and area
contact grinding action of the Cylpebs. As a result, Cylpebs produce a similar product at the fine end compared
with the balls at identical charge mass, and hence at the
identical specific energy input level. When compared at
the same surface area and a similar size distribution,
the Cylpebs produced a much coarser product, because
their specific energy level was smaller than for the balls.
When compared at the same mass and the same surface
area, the fine-Cylpebs truncated media produced a product with significantly less fines (0.038 mm) and slightly
less oversize.
These results have emphasised that due to the difference in the shape, the two grinding media have different
surface area, bulk density (implicitly the charge mass or
volume when one of them is fixed) and contact
mechanism in their grinding actions. All these factors
need to be taken into account when comparing the

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F. Shi / Minerals Engineering 17 (2004) 12591268

milling performance using the two types of grinding

media.
In order to predict the Cylpebs performance in an
industrial mill from the laboratory results, a ball mill
scale-up procedure was employed. A problem associated
with the locked-cycle test, one of the major components
in the procedure, has been identified: the grinding time
in the locked-cycle test is not controlled, and the energy
usage in the test is not factored in the scale-up procedure. Thus variation in the comminution energy input
may overcast the effect of different media on grinding
performance.
It was also found that the original ball mill scale-up
procedure could not predict the Phosphate Hill ball mill
operation correctly. One contributing factor is the feed
size being much coarser than the database used by
Man to develop the scale-up criteria. Modifications on
the scale-up criteria were made and model using the calibrated scale-up criteria was able to predict the plant
operation reasonably well.
With the calibrated scale-up criteria and the breakage
parameters determined from the single-stage grinding
data, the model predicts that there is no significant difference in fines generation between using the 100 mm
balls and the /85 85 mm Cylpebs at the same charge
volume while the Cylpebs mill (4.7 m diameter 9.5 m
length) drawing 156 kW more power. Using the /
65 65 Cylpebs and reducing the charge volume to allow the mill to draw the same amount of power as the
current ball mill operation resulted in the ground product contained about 2% less fines.
The simulations indicate that the media size distribution exerts a more significant influence on fines generation than the media type.

Acknowledgments
This work was conducted as part of a research project
sponsored by WMC Fertilisers Pty. Ltd.the financial
support and the permission to publish this paper are
greatly appreciated. The comminution circuit surveys
were conducted at the Phosphate Hill Beneficiation
Plant, Queensland, Australia. Dr. Mark Nott and the
other plant staff in organising the surveys are acknowledged. The Cylpebs used for the comparative tests were
kindly provided by Doering International. This research
project was initiated by Dr. Walter Valery. Useful discussions were held with Dr. Rob Morrison.

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