Screening
Comminution Sizes
Process F80 P80
Explosive shattering Infinite 1m
Primary crushing 1m 100 mm
Secondary crushing 100 mm 10 mm
Coarse grinding 10 mm 1 mm
Fine grinding 1 mm 100 µm
Very fine grinding 100 µm 10 µm
Superfine grinding 10 µm 1 µm
Effective range is 80% passing size because it can be measured.
80% passing size (D80) is the size of the sieve at which 80% of the material pass through that sieve. 80% passing size
can be determined from the plot of cumulative weight % passing versus sieve size.
F80 is the 80% passing size of the feed material.
P80 is the 80% passing size of the product material
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Numerical on Particle Size Distribution
(from sieve analysis test)
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Solution
For example, the size of –14 + 22 mesh fraction is (1200+710)/2 = 955 microns.
Cum wt% passing W vs Mean size di microns
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Screening
Coal screening necessary because:
1. Separation of coarse coal for hand picking and for breaking to smaller sizes
2. Removal of fine coal before a size reduction step
3. Separation of raw coal into two or more sizes for beneficiation in separate machines
4. By-passing fines or other sizes around the beneficiation operations or discarding them entirely
5. Recovering solids from a slurry
6. Recovering the separating medium used in coal beneficiation processes
7. Dewatering
8. Grading the coal into various trade sizes, each size to be beneficiated separately
Screens used for coal are:
1. fixed bar grizzlies and
2. moving screens (revolving Trommel, shaking or jigging
screens and vibrating screens.
3. Another stationary screen used for fines is sieve bend also
known as Dutch State Mines (DSM) screen Basic design features:
1. Surface and aperture
2. Types of screens
3. Screen movement
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Fixed bar grizzlies
1. consists of parallel bars set at an angle to the horizontal so that
coal feeds slides down over them by gravity.
2. The spacing of the bars fixes the sizes of the products.
3. The smaller coal passes between them and is collected in a
hopper.
4. The larger sizes slide off at the lower end.
5. The cross section of the bars is usually wedge-shaped, with the
thicker edge at the top.
Advantages:
simple and cheap to install and operate
have large capacities
require no power
withstand rough service.
Disadvantages:
But the sizing is not accurate
Excessive breaking of coal.
long, flat pieces, pass through the bars.
Use: for sizing coarse coal.
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Revolving Trommel
1. consist of punched plates or wire mesh, bend to form a cylinder,
which is rotated about its axis.
2. speed of rotation is 8–30 rpm.
3. axis at slight inclination to horizontal,
4. coal fed at upper end, oversize traverses the screen longitudinally
while undersize passes through the holes
5. deliver several sized products; smaller apertures at feed end and
coarser apertures at the discharge end.
Problem: fine screen wears quickly
undue wear on the fine screen trammel is overcome in the compound
trammel which has a series of concentric cylinders, with the coarsest
screen at the centre, such that the coarsest fraction is removed first.
Compound trammel,
difficult to observe failure of the inner screens and also difficult to
replace when worn.
Advantages: Although trommels are cheap, vibration free and robust
Disadvantages: poor capacities since part of the screen surface only is in
use at any one time and they blind
very easily. 7
Shaking or Jigging screens
1. reciprocating movement mechanically induced in the horizontal direction
2. mounted either horizontally or with a gentle slope.
3. Shaking screens consist of rectangular plate, perforated with holes of required size and shape, fixed in a
suitable frame. The screen is mounted on flexible supports and is connected to an eccentric, or other
driving mechanism which moves the screen backwards and forwards a distance of between 2 and 6 inches
about 100 times per a minute.
4. supports are arranged so that during the forward stroke the motion carries the screening surface and the
particles on it slightly upwards; on the return stroke, the screen moves backwards and slightly
downwards, thus withdrawing itself
5. from under the particles.
6. This motion together with the slope of the screen, causes the particles to slide jerkily in contact with the
screen.
7. Screens may be superimposed or may be arranged end to end so as to prepare a number of different
grades.
8. Screens of this type are efficient for sizes down to about ¼ inch.
Advantages:
accessible,
cheap to operate, and
have a high capacity 8
Vibrating screens
flat screens made of wire mesh mounted at a slope of 16° to 26°.
screen aperture sizes : 10 inch to 100 mesh.
Vibration :elliptical motion, slanting forward at the feed end;
a circular motion at the centre;
and an elliptical motion, slanting backwards at the discharge end.
Forward motion at the feed end serves to move oversize material rapidly out of the feed facilitating passage
of fines which should be completely removed in the first one-third of the screen length.
As the oversize bed thins down, near the centre of the screen, the motion gradually changes to the circular
pattern to slow down the rate of travel of the solid.
At the discharge end, the oversize and remaining near-size materials are subjected to the increasingly
retarded effect of the backward elliptical motion. This allows the near size material more time to find
openings in the screen surface.
Advantages:
accessible,
cheap to operate, and
have a high capacity
.
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DSM Sieve Band
1. developed by the Dutch States Mines in the early 1950s,
2. is a stationary curved screen composed of horizontal wedge bars oriented at right
angles to the line of flow. The screen surface is curved in a 60° arc at a radius
between 20–60 inch.
3. The feed end of the sieve is tangent to the vertical so that discharge end is
elevated 30° from the horizontal for a 60° sieve bend.
4. Oversize product tends to slow down at this end, contributing to dewatering.
5. feed slurry is introduced through a feed chamber mounted at the top of the
screen and is distributed over the top end of the screen surface.
6. Feed slurry enters tangentially to the upper surface in a direction perpendicular
to the openings between wedge bars.
7. This feed slurry action on the concave screen surface imparts centrifugal action in
addition to the gravitational force.
8. Liquid and undersize particles pass through the openings while dewatered
oversize particles flows on down the screen.
Each wedge bar appears to act as a knife on the underside of the passing slurry.
This slicing action produces an undersize particle which is approximately one half the
dimension of the space between the bars.
Sieve bends make a relatively sharp separation at ½ and 2/3 the slot width.
Advantages eliminates blinding of the screen surface.
Use: processing dilute suspensions of fine coal particles up to 2 mm. 11
Use of screens in coal washing practice
1. Raw coal screen: used to divide run-of-mine coal into two or more sizes for further treatment or
disposal; usually employed to remove the largest pieces for crushing.
2. Dewatering screen: used to separate water from solids
3. Desliming screen: used to remove slimes from coarse coal.
4. De-mediuming screen, De-pulping screen, medium-draining screen, Medium
5. recovery screen: used to drain the separating medium.
6. Sizing screen: used to divide the product i.e. washed coal into a range of sizes.
7. Check screen, Oversize control screen: used to prevent oversize coal to feed into next operation.
8. Undersize control screen: used to remove undersize coal from a product.
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Factors affecting rate of screening
Material factors
•Bulk density of the material
•Size and size distribution of the particles
•Size of the particle relative to the aperture
•Shape of the particle
•Moisture content of the material
Machine factors
1. Size of the aperture
2. Shape of the aperture
3. Size of the screen surface
4. Percent opening area
5. Angle of incidence of the particle on the screen surface
6. Speed at which the particle strikes the screen surface
7. Thickness of the material on the screen surface
8. Blinding of the screen surface
9. Type of screening, i.e., wet or dry screening
10. Type of motion given to the screen surface
11. Slope of the screen deck
12. Mechanical design for supporting and tightening the screen deck
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