Some aspects on grindability of feldspar ore using ball mill

Abstract

Egyptian feldspar ores are usually of low grade and need beneficiation to improve their grade for industrial applications. Therefore, feldspar should be ground to a reasonable liberation degree prior to beneficiation processes. Mineralogical studies showed that a good degree of liberation is below 0.25 mm. This work aims to optimize the grinding parameters for an Egyptian feldspar ore that ensures maximum production of size −250 + 45 µm and minimum % − 45 µm. Grinding was performed using a laboratory ball mill. The results displayed that the grinding performance was increased with decreasing the solid content with U between 0.5 and 1. A high milling rate was achieved at ball filling 20–30%. The ideal ball-filling ratio was determined to be 25%, with less production of fines. Hence, it was decided to crush the feed to less than 2 mm before grinding with 36.6 mm balls to reduce fines.

Keywords:

• Feldspar
• ball milling
• grinding rate
• slurry filling ratio
• optimal ball size

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank the Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF), Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Egypt, for supporting this research work under grant number 45915.