An Investigation of Barite Ore Breakage at DorrinMine of Kashan

The drilling mud used in oil exploration projects must meet strictly-definedspecifications which are dependent on its main components. Barite mineral is themain constituent of oil-well-drilling mud and according to the American PetroleumInstitute (API) specification, it must have a particle size distribution with at least ۹۷percent less than ۷۵ μm (۲۰۰ mesh). In order to obtain a barite product with in thisparticle size range, it is necessary to comminute barite run-of-mine ore by variousstages of crushing and grinding. Comminution is a costly mineral processingoperation particularly at this very fine size range. Characterization of ore breakagebehavior is of great importance in order to assure proper design and operation ofgrinding mills. In this research, breakage function determination experiment wasdone by running a series of grinding-screening tests on a mono-sized sample in alaboratory ball mill. Next, the breakage function was computed by BFDS (BreakageFunction Determination Software) based on the screening data. The plot of testresults indicated that a two-component breakage function curve does exist. A modelproposed by Austin et. al. was closely fit to experimental data in EXCELTM.

کلیدواژه ها:

Barite ، breakage function ، abrasion breakage