Energy-Mass-Size balance model for dynamic control of a wet open circuit grinding mill: Part I - Model development

Majority of traditional mill simulation models have been successfully applied in mill circuit design and optimization. However, only limited success has been reported with respect to dynamic mill control. This is partly attributable to the fact that these models are based on steady state analysis and fail to account for energy balance inside the mill. In this paper, an integrated model has been developed based on energy-mass-size balance for dynamic simulation of open circuit wet grinding mills under MATLAB environment. The model combines information from energy-mass balance, material breakage mechanisms, fundamental material properties and the milling conditions in a simple and clear representation of the physics and thermodynamics of the wet milling process, thereby addressing the limitations of traditional model formulations. Simulation test results depicting the dynamic response of the model are presented in Part II. Successful validation of this modelling approach would go alongside improving the current methods of continuous control of grinding mills.