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2 MILL DESIGN

2.1 Mill Selection

Mill selection involves a two-stage process. Firstly the general plant layout must be determined,
including mill capacity and number of mills installed per boiler. The decision regarding number of
mills installed is based on boiler flexibility and stability, heat release rate in the furnace and standby
capacity requirements. The latter involves a decision regarding overall operating philosophy, for
example should the station be able to achieve full load on four out of six mills installed, (referred to as
N–2), thus providing for a standby mill even when maintenance work is being carried out on another
mill. This should lead to higher availability factors but would involve higher capital expenditure
compared to achieving full load on four out of five mills installed, (referred to as N–1).

The second stage involves selecting a suitable mill taking into account the following characteristics of
the coal feed stock:

• Calorific value
• Volatile content
• Ash content
• Moisture content
• Hardgrove Index
• Abrasiveness

The above characteristics, should be considered along with the following service requirements:

• Required production rate

• Size distribution
• Specific energy input
• Anticipated operating & maintenance costs

An appreciation of coal characteristics and service requirements will enable a list of candidate mills to
be compiled. Consideration of capital cost and anticipated running costs will enable the optimum mill
to be selected for each application, based on life cycle costs (3).

As previously stated, the relative advantages of vertical spindle mills and tube mills are debatable.
Both can pulverize coal to the degree of fineness required by boiler operators. Any superiority the
tube mill may have had for fine grinding appears to have been negated by the introduction of high
efficiency rotary classifiers. Vertical spindle mills have a lower specific grinding energy requirement
than tube mills, but this is partly offset by a higher pressure differential across the mill, thus
increasing primary air fan power.

In the context of total power station auxiliary power, marginal differences in mill energy consumption
are seldom a deciding factor in the choice of milling systems. As the milling system is usually
installed as part of the overall boiler design, the choice of system often reflects the preferences of the
boiler manufacturer, who is after all responsible for ensuring that the boiler meets its design
performance.

However, practical experience has shown that it is false economy to disregard running costs and only
consider the lowest capital cost mill for an application. Operating and maintenance costs are high on
milling plant, particularly when grinding highly abrasive South African coals.

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2.2 Coal Grindability

Grindability is a coal property that may be defined as follows (4):

Grindability is a measure of the relative effect of a coal on the maximum grinding

capacity of a mill when giving a product of specified fineness

It is difficult to relate grindability to a measurable coal property. The difficulty arises partly because
grindability depends on the testing equipment used, but also because of the complex and
heterogeneous nature of coal. Coal type, grade, rank and maceral composition are important when
predicting the behaviour of coal in milling equipment. Coal properties are discussed in detail in the
Eskom “Coal Combustion” course, and are therefore not included in this course.

2.2.1 Hardgrove Index

The most commonly used apparatus for determining grindability is in essence a model of a ball and
race pulveriser, as shown in the figure 2.2.1 below. The machine includes a stationary cast iron
grinding bowl with a circular horizontal track that holds eight polished steel balls each 25.4 ± 0.13
mm in diameter. The balls are driven by an upper grinding ring. The coal sample is air dried and
sized to less than 16 mesh and greater than 30 mesh, (particles pass through 1.18 mm apertures
and are retained by 600 µm). 50 g of the dry sized coal is loaded into the machine and the upper
grinding ring is turned through 60 revolutions. After grinding the sample is removed from the mill and
screened. The weight of material passing an ASTM 200 mesh sieve (0.75µ apertures) is determined.
By comparing the results from a test using a standard coal with the result from the sample, the
Hardgrove grindability index (HGI) for the sample can be found.

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Figure 2.2.1 Hardgrove Grindability Machine

Where the full size pulveriser uses a grinding process similar to that of the Hardgrove machine, the
HGI has been found to give a fairly good indication of the required mill capacity. Thus the HGI results
are most directly applicable to vertical spindle mills but, because the HGI test is only a model of the
commercial process, it can produce misleading results. Apart from scale effects, there are significant
differences between conditions of the Hardgrove test and commercial coal pulverising practice:

Sample preparation: the test is conducted on a size fraction that may be unrepresentative of the
original coal.

Coal moisture: an air-dried sample is used to determine the Hardgrove index. In normal power
station practice the coal is moist and the pulveriser is also used to dry the coal.

Size classification and recycle: the Hardgrove test is a batch process. Commercial mills work
continuously with oversize recycle.

Product sizing: the material from the Hardgrove test is coarse in comparison with modern
pulverised coal specifications.

When preparing the test sample, all of the original coal, which is in the form of particles, less than
600µ in diameter is rejected. For some commercial coals this may amount to 30% of the original
sample. Discarding a large portion of the original sample may lead to significant error.

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Grindability and the specific energy consumption for grinding are related but the relationship is not
straightforward. There is generally an inverse relationship between HGI and specific energy
consumption, although with some high vitrinite coals the energy requirement is significantly lower
than that predicted by the Hardgrove test.

2.2.2 Bond Work Index

As described above, the Hardgrove index models batch grinding in a vertical spindle mill. The Bond
work index is a measure of the grindability of a coal modelled on continuous grinding in a tube mill.
The test, devised as an essential feature of the Bond method for sizing tube mills, contains five major
components:

A standard grindability test for the material.

An empirical equation that converts the test results to the observed results for a commercial mill.

An empirical equation to allow for the overall size reduction ratio.

Scale-up equations to predict the result for larger mills.

A series of empirical correction factors based on experience to allow the results to be extrapolated
for other milling conditions.

Although the Bond method was devised for the design of wet grinding systems, the Bond index is
determined by using a dry grinding test. A standard cylindrical test mill, 305 mm diameter by 305 mm
long, is loaded with 285 test balls between 15.2 and 38.1 mm in diameter and weighing a total of
20.125 kg. The coal is air dried and sieved over a No 6 mesh sieve, (3.36 mm apertures). 700 cm³ of
the undersize from the sieve is charged into the mill which is then rotated 100 times at 70 rpm. The
product is then screened over a 200 mesh (75 µm) sieve. Fresh feedstock is added to the oversize to
return the volume to 700 cm³ and the mixture is replaced in the mill. Using the screening results from
the run, an estimate is made of the number of revolutions required to give a product containing
28.6% passing through 200 mesh and 71.4% (250% of 28.6) oversize. This iterative process is
continued until a constant value is obtained for the mass of undersize produced per mill revolution.
This value is termed the grindability G. By comparing his laboratory results with the results obtained
using a full-scale commercial mill, Bond derived a relationship between the grinding index G and the
specific energy Wi used by the commercial mill, the latter being a mill of 2.4 m internal diameter
operated with a 350% re-circulating load:

44.5
Wi = kWh/short ton
 10 10 
0.75 0.23 . G 0.82 .  − 
 P80 F80 

Where: Wi = specific energy

G = grinding index
P80 = screen size passing 80% of product
F80 = screen size passing 80% of feedstock

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Various correction factors are applied to Wi to allow for different operating conditions. For example,
to allow for dry grinding the Wi factor for wet grinding is multiplied by 1.30 (5).

2.2.3 Other Grindability Tests

As the Bond work index and the Hardgrove index are both measures of the grindability of a material,
it might be expected that results from the two tests could be correlated. However, due to the wide
scatter of reported results, the relationship is only approximate (6).

A number of organisations have developed variants of the HGI test featuring continuous grinding with
oversize recycle. Some researchers (7) have proposed a new grindability test that overcomes some
disadvantages of the Hardgrove test. However, at the time of writing none of these test methods
have found widespread use.

2.3 Mill Sizing

Most mill manufacturers use the Hardgrove Index to predict required mill capacity. However, some
prefer to use a pilot-scale mill since they feel that this allows them to obtain grindability and wear
data that realistically reflect what occurs in practice (8). Pilot-scale tests require a much larger
quantity of coal, approximately 300 kg, and this may be a problem where only bore core quantities
are available.

If a specific coal is being pulverised elsewhere, actual mill capacity tests are the best guide for sizing
a new mill (9).

Results from some coal switching tests illustrate the shortcomings of the standard Hardgrove test. In
the USA, the need for utilities to meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 is
promoting interest in the use of lower sulphur coals. A mill that had been crushing high sulphur
Illinois coal with a moisture content of 9.8% and a Hardgrove Index of 51 was switched to crushing a
Powder River Basin low sulphur coal. This coal also had a Hardgrove Index of 51 but a moisture
content of 24.7%. The capacity of the mill was reduced by 19%. Since the calorific value of the
Powder River Basin coal was only 80% of that of the Illinois coal, the maximum heat input was
reduced by 35% (10).

2.4 The Milling Process

The function of the mills in a power station can, in many ways, be compared to that of a carburettor in
a car. A controlled amount of fuel is broken up into fine particles, mixed with air and introduced into
the combustion chamber. The ratio, in which the fuel and air are mixed, is carefully controlled and
called the air/fuel ratio (A/F ratio).

When the energy demand increases, more air is allowed to flow through the mill, which will carry
more fuel to the point of combustion, thus increasing the power output.

Before mills were in general use, coal-fired boilers made use of a grate to burn the coal. These coal-
fired boilers, called chain-grate boilers, are still used today in older installations and for smaller
applications where rapid load-change capabilities are of little concern.

The advantages of pulverising the coal before combusting include the following:

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• Increased fines ensure increased particle surface area. This increase in surface area allows for a
proportional increase in the rate at which the volatile matter evolves. This phenomenon is
valuable in igniting and sustaining the flame in close proximity to the burner.

• The burnout rate, if the resultant char is also affected by the available surface area of the
particles. Larger particles that take too long to burn out could lead to the discharge of unburnt
carbon and even continuation of the combustion process outside of the combustion chamber.

• Rapid changes in firing rate are possible, hence the load-change capacity of the system is
greatly improved.

Many more advantages could be mentioned. For instance, the use of pulverised fuel has made it
possible to utilise large-capacity boilers, firing up to 400 tons of coal per hour, (in South Africa).

On such a boiler or steam generator, accurate control of the fuel quantity and particle size required
by the combustion process is of vital importance.

The process involved in grinding or pulverising the raw coal to its final product can be broken down
as follows:

• Drying
• Impact
• Crushing
• Attrition
• Conveying
• Re-circulating and regrinding
• Rejecting

Each component will be discussed in as much detail as is necessary for the student to appreciate the
importance in the fuel preparation process.

2.4.1 Drying

The raw coal fed to the mill has a moisture content ranging from approximately 5 to 15%. Where the
preparation of the raw coal includes washing of a certain portion of the coal, the moisture content
may be higher than 10%. In general, however, raw coal moisture above 10% should be avoided, as it
will create handling problems and will adversely affect the throughput of the mill.

After leaving the grinding elements the coal particles are transported by air to be classified and
distributed to the various burners, and it is essential that most of the moisture in the coal is
evaporated. Only the moisture that is still inherent in the particles leaving the mill is not be driven off.
This portion will be evaporated during the combustion stage.

Drying of raw coal is a function of available temperature and primary air mass flow, surface area of
the coal particles and time. It is therefore possible to remove proportionally more of the total moisture
with relative increases in any of these factors.

Some mills are equipped with a pre-drying arrangement that dries the coal with primary air prior to
reaching the grinding zone. These systems are inherently inefficient due to the relatively small

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available surface area of the raw coal particles. For the same reason it is found that the drying
efficiency within the grinding zone, mill and classifier are very efficient.

Primary air is introduced into the mill at a high temperature, (up to 400ºC). Monitoring the outlet
temperature of the mill controls this temperature, ensuring that only the required energy is supplied.
Pulverised fuel mills are successfully operated with outlet temperatures ranging from as low as 60°C
to 120°C. This temperature is also dependent on the volatile content of the coal and will thus be
reduced for high volatile contents.

Another factor limiting the outlet temperatures is the effect of wear, as velocities in the fuel lines to
the burners would become impractically high and erosion would become excessive.

2.4.1.1 Heat Requirements for Drying

The following example can be used to calculate the energy required to mill one kilogram of coal with
the following characteristics and under the following conditions:

A mill has an air inlet temperature of 270°C. The o utlet temperature is 80°C and the moisture content
of the raw coal is 10%. The air/fuel ratio of the system is 1,5/1 and 2,5% moisture remains in the
pulverised fuel on leaving the mill.

As, for every one kg of coal, 1,5 kg of air is passing through the mill, the heat given off by the air per
kg of coal is calculated as follow:

E = M C p ∆T
E = 1.5 × 1.03 × (270 − 80)
E = 293.55 kJ

Where :
E = Energy Required to dry one kg of coal

M = Mass of air (kg)

C p = Specific heat of air at constant pressure (kJ/kg K)
∆T = Temperature loss across the mill

Of course, a change in the heat lost by radiation and the quantity of heat derived from friction in the
grinding zone could alter the above figure. With this in mind we assume that ±300 kJ of heat is
required per kg of coal.

To further highlight the significance of this, consider the total heat requirement of the mills on a
600 MW unit firing 320 tons/h of coal at full load.

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320 *1000
Total coal flow = = 88.9 kg/s
3600
Total heat supplied for four mills = 88.9 × 300 = 26.67 MJ/s
or 26.67 MW (Almost 4.5% of the net output)

A vertical spindle mill consumes approximately 10 - 15kWh/ton, whilst a tube mill will consume
approximately 20 – 25kWh/ton. If the above mill were a vertical spindle mill, four mills would typically
consume 4 MW and similarly tube mills would consume 7.2 MW.

It may be concluded that when grinding coal with a moisture content of 10%, approximately 5.6 times
more energy is needed for drying than for grinding the coal in vertical spindle mills, and 3.2 times
more in a tube mill. The above calculations are only assumptions, but they provide an appreciation of
the significance of drying.

2.4.2 Impact

As shown in the following sketches, impact is achieved when an accelerated body with a specific
mass and velocity hits a raw coal particle. The energy exerted onto the raw coal is a function of mass
and velocity, providing that the impacting body remains constant in shape and size.

This phenomenon occurs in vertical spindle mills only as a function of grinding element rotational
speed and vibration.

In a tube mill impact breakage will occur when individual grinding media is thrown from the top of the
charge directly onto a raw coal particle. Although there is a great deal of energy available in this type
of effect, it is believed that a very small percentage of total raw coal grinding is achieved through this
concept. Tube mills for typical Southern African coals are usually running at relatively low critical
speeds and very low filling degrees. This reduces the possibility of raw coal particles being impacted
directly by tumbling grinding media. This concept is used more in semi-autogenous wet mills where
large ore particles are crushed.

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2.4.3 Crushing

The following sketch illustrates the concept of crushing:

Crushing occurs when raw coal particle pass between two components that are forced together. This
is achieved between the grinding elements and the table, track or ring of a vertical spindle mill. The
force is applied by a combination of the weight of the grinding elements and the additional force
applied through the tension springs or hydraulic rams.

Raw coal in a tube mill is taken up into the moving grinding media and force is applied by the weight
of the grinding media lifted by the rotating drum and liners.

Needless to say, most of the grinding in a raw coal mill is achieved through this principle.

2.4.4 Attrition

Attrition can be explained as the rubbing together of two mediums. The following sketch shows the
grinding that would occur when two pieces of raw coal are rubbed together.

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Rubbing could occur between two similar mediums, such as coal particles, or two separate mediums
such as coal and steel.

In vertical spindle mills this movement can be very pronounced, especially towards the outlet end of
the grinding zone, such as the outer periphery of table segments or rings. It is a circular movement
and is sometimes called “cavitation”. It is this movement that causes a wave type wear pattern called
scalloping. Grinding elements in vertical spindle mills are not usually in direct contact, and are
normally separated by a bed of partially crushed coal. Attrition is responsible for the breaking of
particles in this bed of coal.

By comparison, the tube mill has an enormous grinding surface and much more steel is in contact
with the coal. A typical tube mill with a 100 ton equilibrium charge of 50 mm top size balls would
supply a grinding media surface area of 2089.6 m². This is only the available surface area of the
grinding balls and excludes the surface area of the drum liner material.

Relative movement between coal and individual grinding media components causes the attrition that
is needed. It would be fair to assume that attrition would be largely responsible for the breaking of
particles that have become smaller than the voids between the grinding media.

2.4.5 Conveying

In the vertical spindle mill, the ground coal is moved over the outer edge of the table by a
combination of centrifugal force and the force applied by the incoming raw coal. The air stream
around the edge of the table picks the particles up. The air gap between the rotating table and the
surrounding segments (throat gap) is of such a size that the air enters with sufficient velocity to carry
the finer particles of coal into the classifier. The heavier particles fall back into the grinding zone
when the velocity decreases as a result of the expanding area towards the mill outlet. This is known
as primary classification.

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The very high density particles, such as the pyrites and other stone material, can overcome the
velocity and fall through the throat gap into the chamber underneath the mill table and be scraped
into the reject chamber. This mainly occurs at lower mill loads, when the air velocities are lower.

In the tube mill, a pool of particles and raw coal collects at the toe of the grinding media charge. This
level is controlled by some sort of level control. The pool of pulverised fuel and raw coal will typically
separate to allow the fine less dense particles to move to the top whilst the more dense raw coal is
found at the bottom, ready for introduction into the grinding media charge.

The velocity of the air jet that blown into the mill drum picks up particles. Primary classification will
also occur as the air stream is allowed to expand in the drum and the mill outlet. The rest of the
particles will be carried to the classifier for further classification.

2.4.6 Re-circulating and Re-grinding

Re-circulation can occur in the mill or through the classifier. It is almost impossible to determine the
percentage of particles that is re-circulated in the mill, but it is not uncommon to have 100% of the
mill load being re-circulated through the classifier.

Re-circulation is an important factor in the total milling process, as it removes particles from the
grinding zone and thus creates space for the production of more particles. Particles will be re-
circulated for two main reasons. The first reason is that the particles are too heavy and secondly
because the particles were subjected to too low or too high air velocities.

Particles can be too heavy because of size, density or moisture content. A large particle will be dealt
with in the regrinding stage. Particles that are too heavy due to density, such as pyrites and quartz,
would most likely not reduce much in size during the regrinding phase. These particles would most
likely re-circulate until they are finally rejected through the throat gap in a vertical spindle mill or back
into the pool in a tube mill. Particles that are too heavy because of the moisture content would re-
circulate until they have lost enough weight through drying. Regrinding is also easier when the
particle has been dried.

Poor air distribution in the mill will result in a poor velocity distribution, resulting in particles being
picked up prematurely or rejected unnecessarily. Particles light enough to pass through the classifier
can be rejected as a result of low velocities in certain areas.

In a vertical spindle mill it is possible for particles to be rejected prematurely on one side of the throat
only to be picked up again on another side of the throat. This results in unnecessary re-circulation
and wear.

The total quantity of material being re-circulated is called the re-circulating load, and is closely related
and inverse to the grinding efficiency of the grinding elements and the throat arrangement. The re-
circulation load in a mill decreases the available flow area and increases the pressure drop and
velocity.

In general, a high re-circulating load will lead to a choking effect and increased wear and therefore
should be avoided. A certain amount of re-circulation is beneficial, even necessary. By allowing a
reasonable amount of re-circulation, the energy needed for grinding will be much reduced and over
grinding avoided.

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Tube mills will generally have a lower re-circulation load than vertical spindle mills. The reason is
mostly found in the pool of pulverised fuel and the tendency to separate the pool in terms of density.
Only the low-density pulverised fuel will be found at the top of the pool and will be in contact with the
air stream. Even the high-density pyrites and quartz will be hidden within the pool of partially ground
coal.

2.4.7 Rejecting

In terms of a vertical spindle mill, rejecting refers to the heavy and high-density particles in the coal
stream being collected in the reject bin or chamber. The principle of operation is based on the
influence of velocity through the throat area and the subsequent mass to size ratio of the particle.

Two particles with similar mass, but different densities, would obviously have a different physical
size. The largest particle will be more likely to be transported by the air steam, because of the
surface area that is exposed to the air velocity.

Hard and high-density particles are also less likely to be broken because of attrition and would thus
usually be larger than the low-density particles.

It can be argued that by rejecting the high density, and often abrasive particles, there would be far
less wear on the grinding elements and the mill power consumption would be reduced. The same
can be argued for boiler tubes and gas paths exposed to this material.

The main mineral component in coal is kaolinite. This is a clay-type substance and is usually
inherently mixed with the coal. This means that it will behave much like coal and will not fall through
the throat gap.

The following are examples of minerals present in the ash of South African coals, (average of six
stations):

Kaolinite 50%
Quartz 25%
Calcite 2,5%
Dolomite 3,5%
Siderite 3%
Pyrite 5%
Others 11%

If all the abrasive material was rejected, ie all minerals with the exception of kaolinite and calcite, it
would amount to 47,5% of the ash in the coal.

On a 70 ton/h mill grinding coal with an ash content of 30%, the total rejects would amount to
10.6 tons/hour.

This obviously makes rejecting all the hard material impractical.

From practical experience, it is known that the rejected material is intimately mixed with coal, and
often has a heating value of up to 14 MJ/kg. Mills in Eskom are designed and calibrated to supply a
variety of outputs at a specific air/fuel ratio. The air flow through the mill, and therefore the velocity in
the throat gap, varies with load. When a mill is calibrated to reject the heavy material in the coal at a
high load, the same mill will reject excessively at lower loads. Rejecting, therefore, can be regarded

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as the ability to eject heavy particles through the throat gap. These particles are scraped into the
reject bin where they are periodically removed.

A reasonable reject quantity would be between 0.05 – 0.1% of raw coal feed. The density is normally
above 1.4 T/m³. Rejecting increases when coal with a high rock content is milled, and also when the
mill grinding efficiency has decreased due to worn grinding elements.

Reject material should be analysed frequently to detect changes in rejection rate, density,
composition and calorific value. This information should be used to optimise the mill throat gap and
design.

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2 MILL DESIGN ........................................................................................................................ 2-1

2.1 MILL SELECTION ............................................................................................................... 2-1
2.2 COAL GRINDABILITY .......................................................................................................... 2-2
2.2.1 Hardgrove Index ...................................................................................................... 2-2
2.2.2 Bond Work Index ..................................................................................................... 2-4
2.2.3 Other Grindability Tests ............................................................................................ 2-5
2.3 MILL SIZING ...................................................................................................................... 2-5
2.4 THE MILLING PROCESS ...................................................................................................... 2-5
2.4.1 Drying ...................................................................................................................... 2-6
2.4.2 Impact ...................................................................................................................... 2-8
2.4.3 Crushing .................................................................................................................. 2-9
2.4.4 Attrition .................................................................................................................... 2-9
2.4.5 Conveying .............................................................................................................. 2-10
2.4.6 Re-circulating and Re-grinding ............................................................................... 2-11
2.4.7 Rejecting ................................................................................................................ 2-12

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