The goal of this project was to improve energy efficiency of industrial crushing and grinding operations (comminution). Mathematical models of the comminution process were used to study methods for optimizing the product size distribution, so that the amount of excessively fine material produced could be minimized. The goal was to save energy by reducing the amount of material that was ground below the target size, while simultaneously reducing the quantity of materials wasted as "slimes" that were too fine to be useful. Extensive plant sampling and mathematical modeling of the grinding circuits was carried out to determine how to correct this problem. The approaches taken included (1) Modeling of the circuit to determine process bottlenecks that restrict flowrates in one area while forcing other parts of the circuit to overgrind the material; (2) Modeling of hydrocyclones to determine the mechanisms responsible for retaining fine, high-density particles in the circuit until they are overground, and improving existing models to accurately account for this behavior; and (3) Evaluation of the potential of advanced technologies to improve comminution efficiency and produce sharper product size distributions with less overgrinding. The mathematical models were used to simulate novel circuits for minimizing overgrinding and increasing throughput, and it is estimated that a single plant grinding 15 million tons of ore per year saves up to 82.5 million kWhr/year, or 8.6 x 10 11 BTU/year. Implementation of this technology in the midwestern iron ore industry, which grinds an estimated 150 million tons of ore annually to produce over 50 million tons of iron ore concentrate, would save an estimated 1 x 10 13 BTU/year. 4

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