ABSTRACT
Optimization of grinding time of comminution processes is very important due to economical aspects. In this study, the grinding time of limestone in a ball mill - attrition bead mill process was optimized with laboratory tests. The limestone was firstly ground in a continuous ball mill with five different residence times after which the products of ball mill were fed into the batch attrition bead mill, in which the limestone was ground as wet. The energy consumption of grinding was measured in each stage, and the whole energy consumption for different thought grinding processes was determined. By that the optimized grinding times of both mills can be found when the specific energy consumption of the whole process is minimized if the material is ground to the certain fineness. This study showed clearly that by optimizing grinding time at each stage significant economical advantages are reached
