As the AusIMM points out, “comminution might well be the great technology of the 21st century, yet only a paucity of information exists on the topic.” Prof Alban Lynch, an inductee into the International Mining Technology Hall of Fame, and now one of the global panel of judges, has taken it upon himself to address this void. He has put together an assortment of industry experts to produce the Comminution Handbook. With contributions from the coal, cement, sulphide and industrial mineral industries, as well as mill manufacturing and modelling groups, this work presents an overview of all aspects of comminution, the process of reducing solid materials via crushing and grinding. It comprises 16 chapters structured around the themes of material attributes, processing equipment, circuit design and circuit optimisation and control. The volume will appeal to professionals who are involved in, or have an interest in, comminution, metallurgy and related fields. The AusIMM hopes “that the book will present comminution as it is today to those who have the responsibility of improving the technology in the future.”
On the MEI Blog, Barry Wills says “most mineral processors think of grinding as wet grinding of mineral ores. On the first page Alban gently reminds us that more than twice this tonnage of cement and coal is subjected to fine dry grinding. So this text includes contributions on the whole array of crushing, grinding and classification equipment used to comminute the wide range of materials demanded by our communities. Of course, the discussion would not be complete without the explanations of sizing techniques, classification, testing and scale-up methods, mineral liberation, circuit design, process control, circuit practice and recent technology developments. It should haunt us that more efficient devices such as high-pressure grinding rolls and tower mills were common in dry grinding at least 25 years before they were discovered for ore grinding. This book may help ensure that we don’t let that happen again.
“The handbook begins with mineralogy, and reviews mineral liberation theory and quantitative analytical tools before addressing machines and circuits. Chapters 4 – 10 address types of comminution and classification machines including tumbling mills, crushers, stirred mills and HPGR, then chapters 11 – 16 cover circuit design, process control and modelling.”
http://www.ausimm.com.au/publications/publication.aspx?ID=16562
