E. N. Bassey & M. T. Udongwo’s New Book Ball Mill Design, Pilot Test, and Scale-Up

Minneapolis, MN, January 18, 2024 — Fulton Books authors E. N. Bassey, a professor of chemical, petrochemical, and materials engineering and a former dean of engineering in Akwa Ibom State University, Nigeria, and M. T. Udongwo, a seasoned metallurgical engineer with a work experience that cuts across mechanical and process engineering designs, project management, and engineering consultancy, have completed their most recent book, “Ball Mill Design, Pilot Test, and Scale-Up”: a comprehensive guide to understanding the mechanics of a ball mill and how to utilize one in order to transform raw materials into valuable, refined substances for further use.

“The ball mill is an important piece of equipment for degrading basic raw materials into fine materials, which find application in a host of industries—namely, ore processing, mineral dressing, fertilizers, cement making, food and dairy, pharmaceuticals, etc.,” share Bassey and Udongwo. “It is basically a rotating hollow cylinder partially filled with grinding balls, made up of steel, porcelain, or stone pebbles. While sizing the mill, an important aspect of the ball mill design is finding the maximum ball size and the ball size distribution among the critical parameters that are required to achieve the desired product yield from the ball mill. The maximum ball size for any given application is dependent on the nature of the feed material, its size, and the level of size reduction required. Because throughout the life cycle of the ball mill it may have to process materials whose nature and feed size may vary, it becomes necessary that the ball mill design and the methodologies for determining the operating parameters for achieving the desired product yield are handled as a total concept. Relating our combined academic and industrial experience gathered over the years in successfully operating a commercial ball mill installation equipped with a pilot test grinding facility is the motivation for writing this book.”

The authors continue, “The book is intended to be used as a basic engineering text by both students and practicing engineers, where, as a unique feature, the total concept of a process design and comminution research for efficient operation of a ball mill throughout its life cycle are demonstrated. Specifically, the pilot plant grindability test methodology and the scale-up technique will serve as invaluable resources for the sizing of new commercial ball mills and tuning of the operating mills for processing materials of new origin as well as in the beneficiation of low-grade ores.”