Scale-up of power consumption in agitated ball mills

Previous investigations have shown that the specific energy input is the overall parameter of influence on product size during communition in agitated ball mills, from laboratory up to industrial scale. The specific energy input is the introduced energy related to the amount of comminuted material. This parameter can be used for mill scale‐up. Consequently, a method had to be found of introducing power into the mill so as to obtain a given specific energy input. For this purpose, stirring tests with purely Newtonian liquids were carried out in absence of solids and hence, without comminution. Mathematical models are presented which describe the power consumption in agitated ball mills in absence of grinding beads. In addition, tests with grinding beads filling were also performed, leading to scale‐up guidelines with respect to power consumption. Finally, the influence of size and material of grinding beads was investigated.