Laboratory Testing & General Mineral Processing Engineering

Laboratory Testing & General Mineral Processing Engineering

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Bentonite water absorption drops after milling (2 replies and 1 comment)

FarshidBsr
5 years ago
FarshidBsr 5 years ago

I am working with a project involving a bentonite powder for pelletizing plant. 0-50 mm bentonite is dried in dryer, and milled with ring roller mills to produce a bentonite powder with P80=45 um. The bentonite water absorption drops from 449% to 323% after milling. The overall data circuit are following:

  • Wet bentonite: Moisture=16% , Water absorption=449%
  • Dried bentonite: Moisture=11%, Water absorption=454%
  • Powder bentonite: Moisture=9%, Water absorption=323%

Why does bentonite water absorption drop after grinding?

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you for consideration.

Best Regards

J
Jorge
5 years ago
Jorge 5 years ago
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I believe that the difference is related to the voids or empty spaces. For example, at this same moisture content, the bentonite is stable with two molecular layers of water. At higher moisture contents, a comparison of the different sizes indicated that the finer bentonite has fewer water layers associated with it, and the coarser size has more water layers.

FarshidBsr
5 years ago

Thanks for the reply,
Lump samples are collected from circuit and pulverized to below 75 um in laboratory in order to measure water absorption of lump bentonite (wet and dried bentonite) which is about 450%. Instead, the water absorption of bentonite powder (ring roller mill product) taken from the circuit is about 323%. The only difference between these two samples is the grinding equipment (industrial ring roller mill vs laboratory disk pulverizer).

J
Jorge
5 years ago
Jorge 5 years ago
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Try to get a detailed particle size distribution from the roller mill and the lab pulverizer. The production of fine particles could be different. 

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