Chemical Engineering & Technology, Vol.33, No.9, 1419-1426, 2010
Wet Classification in the Fines Range < 10 mu m
Nowadays, fine and narrow particle size distributions in the range < 10 mu m are frequently required to obtain desired product application properties in many different areas. Apart from the possibility of operating stirred media mills under conditions favoring steep residence time distributions, which are directly coupled with the steepness of the particle size distribution, wet classification is used as a tool to achieve this task in a mill/classification circuit or in a stand-alone operation. This study initially provides a short survey of classification apparatuses in the fines range between 10-100 mu m including gravity-sedimentation classifiers, sieves and filters. Classification in the fines ranges < 10 mu m is shown to require the use of centrifugal field classifiers. Some fundamentals that are necessary to understand wet classification in the centrifugal field are discussed. Following this, several fines classification apparatuses are introduced. Finally, the operation behavior, advantages and disadvantages of a stirred media mill/classifier circuit are described.