Open Collections

Validation of methodologies for sizing a high pressure grinding roll

University of British Columbia

Currently, there is no standard recognized bench-scale laboratory test for sizing or modelling a high pressure grinding roll (HPGR) in hard rock mining. As a result, metallurgical studies are prohibitively expensive and not economical for early-stage projects. To be adopted as a standard industry test for the HPGR, a bench scale test must: 1) use the same breakage mechanism as an HPGR, 2) produce results that are reproducible by independent metallurgical laboratories, and 3) apply to full-scale HPGR in a non-proprietary manner for engineering design. In 2015, the Piston Press test Database Calibrated and Direct Calibration methodologies were developed at the NBK Institute of Mining Engineering at the University of British Columbia. These methodologies can calibrate Piston Press test results to the HPGR performance using a UCS machine to define energy breakage relationships. This thesis developed a multi-stage program for facilitating the transfer of these methodologies to industry. This program formalized Piston Press test into a standard operating procedure by examining the effects of moisture, sample preparation, and material porosity. The results of the program demonstrated the Piston Press test to be reproducible. In addition, the results validated the Piston Press test Database Calibrated and Direct Calibration methodologies for a full-scale HPGR closed circuit. The program results indicate that an increase of moisture 1.5% to 5% during high-pressure compression breakage results in improved reduction ratio performance and has a negligible effect on the specific energy consumption of the sample. Material porosity was found to be an indicator of ore amenability to high-pressure compression breakage. Duplicate test-work conducted at UBC and at an independent laboratory demonstrated the Piston Press test is reproducible and can be adapted to varying piston press machine configurations. Both the Database Calibrated and Direct Calibrated methodologies are suitable for simulating full-scale HPGR. The simulation methods developed in this research can be easily applied and adopted by industry.

Text

2018-10-18

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/67611

Mining Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/