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Hosokawa Alpine Aktiengesellschaft, Augsburg, Germany

Minerals & Metals Division

Mr. Dietmar Alber

IM 22

VANCOUVER

1-3 April 2014

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Ultrafine Micronisation

of

Hard Minerals

for

the Ceramic and IT Industry

Dietmar Alber, Hosokawa Alpine, Augsburg, Germany

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- Production facilities in 5 countries

- 12 R&D and testing centres world-wide

- 1500 Employees

Hosokawa Worldwide

Hosokawa Micron

Powder Systems

Hosokawa Alpine

Corporate Headquarters

Osaka, Japan

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Hosokawa Micron Powder Systems

Location: Summit,

NJ USA

Founded: 1923

� Powder & Particle Divisions:Mills, Classifiers, Mixers and Dryers for Applications in the Minerals & Metals, Chemicals, Pharma and Food.

� Powder & Particle Divisions:Mills, Granulators and Classifiers for Applications in the Minerals- & Metals, Chemicals, Pharma, Food and Feed Industries and the Inline-Recycling.

� Blown Film Division:Blown Film Lines: Extruder, Film Die Heads, Film Winders, Film Orientation Lines

Location: Augsburg

Founded: 1898

Employees: 620

Hosokawa Alpine Aktiengesellschaft

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• Micronisation of high purity quartz

• Micronisation of zircon opacifier

• Processing of special grades for

the ceramic industry

• Processing of silica powder for

LCD display screens

Agenda

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Agenda

Micronisation of high purity quartz

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Definition:

- High Purity Quartz (HPQ)

- Ultra High Purity Quartz

- Official definition is not fixed

- range from 99.30 % to 99.9992 % SiO2

- standard SiO2 products hardly reach 99.50 %

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Applications of HPQ:

- semiconductors

- high temperature lamp tubes

- telecommunication

- optics

- microelectronics

- Solar silicon applications

The market for really ultra high purity silica with

contamination levels < 30 ppm is relatively small

and according to IM Magazine report from

Jan 2012 a maximum of 100.000 tpa

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Processing of High Purity Quartz/Silica

Avoid contamination as far as possible during processing

• Autogen grinding

• Jet milling

• Benefication processes

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Impurities are ranging from 10 to 7000 ppm

Depending of the application one has to look

which impurities come into the product by

processing and how much is already in the

feed

Impurities

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What impurities are added during processing?

- Fe203

- Al2O3

- SiO2

- TiO2

- ZrO2

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What impurities are added during processing?

- Fe203 any increase is a no go

- Al2O3

- SiO2

- TiO2

- ZrO2

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What impurities are added during processing?

- Fe203 any increase is a no go

- Al2O3

- SiO2

- TiO2

- ZrO2

In sum a contamination of maximum 300 ppm

is possible today

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silica lining

and

silica grinding media

AUTOGEN GRINDING in Ball Mills

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Jet Milling system AFG for Silica

Multi-Wheel Classifier

Head

for very fine products

For minimized contamination of the raw material

ALPINE Fluidized Bed Jet Mill AFG

with

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Jet Milling system AFG for Silica

Wear Protection is a must !

Multi-Wheel Classifier

Head

in ceramic design

Milling section

in ceramic design

with

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Jet Milling system AFG for Silica

Typical Flow Sheet:

400 AFG with load cellsStandard plant design AFG

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Jet Milling system AFG for Silica

Plant Examples:

800/3 AFG

• Feed material: 97 % < 100 µm

• Fineness: d97 = 10 µm

• Capacity: approx. 400 kg/h

400/4 AFG

• Feed material: 97 % < 100 µm

• Fineness: d97 = 7 µm

• Capacity: approx. 20 kg/h .

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Agenda

Micronisation of zircon opacifier

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Definition: zircon opacifier

Origine from purified zricon sand (ZrSi04) used direct as

glaze opazifier in the white ceramic ware at a fineness

of typically 100 % < 6 µm and a average particle size of

0,8 – 1,2 µm

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Ball Mill / Classifying system for Opacifier grade

Typical Flow Sheet

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Super Orion SO-SF Ball Mills with ceramic lining

+

fully wear protected

ultrafine classifier

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Optimized parameters at dry running ball mills

For ultrafine micronisation of hard minerals

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Processing paramters of dry running ball mills

• ball mill revolution /r.p.m.)

• L/D ratio of the ball mill drum

• selections of grinding media

• sizing of the grinding media

• number of grinding chambers

• selection of mill lining

• mill discharge system (airswept, overflow, slotwall, etc)

• ball mill filling level

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High capacity and heavy wear

protection

ATP – multi wheel

315/6 ATP/GS

d50 = 0,8 µm

Aluminiumoxide

ceramic

version

315/3 ATP

Aluminiumoxide

ceramic lining

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Preconditions for processing of ultra fine hard

industrial minerals at a fineness of < d50 = 0,8 –

3,0 µm in closed ball mill - / classifying circuits

• optimized ball mill parameters

• economical ultra fine wear protected classifiers

• use of grinding aid

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Agenda

Processing of special grades for

the ceramic industry

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The key word here is

One Plant - Two Products

What does this phrase mean?

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Master-tailored powders

for Sanitary, Tile and

Porcelain Industries

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ceramic body ceramic glazes

Up to date dry processing

of

silica for ceramic

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µm

%conventional

wet

conventional

dry

tailor

made

µm

%

µm

%

Deve

lop

me

nt

of

PS

D

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Today’s requirements of

Ceramic Industry

Glaze:

1 µm max. 13 %

3 - 4 µm ≈≈≈≈ 50 %

20 µm ≈≈≈≈ 99,8 %

Body:

1 µm max. 3 %

15 - 18 µm ≈≈≈≈ 50 %

80 µm ≈≈≈≈ 99,8 %

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

0 10 20 30 40 50µm

%

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

0 20 40 60 80 100µm

%

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Advantages of narrow PSD

Ceramic Body:

• wide sinter intervals

• thinner bodies

• less scrap (deformation)

Ceramic Glaze:

• less fines ⇒⇒⇒⇒ less cohesion & adhesion

• even pigment and glaze distribution

• smooth surface

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S.O. + ASP + ATP

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Example of Production Capacities

Plant: 265/500 S.O. + 630 ASP + 500 ATP

Products: Feldspar Quartz

20 - 63 µm 6,4 t/h 5,3 t/h

0 - 20 µm 0,9 t/h 0,7 t/h

Power consumption: 295 kWh

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Ball Mill

0

20

40

60

80

100

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

µm

%

Ball Mill

Particle size distributions

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0

20

40

60

80

100

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

µm

%

ASP fines

Ball Mill

Particle size distributions

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0

20

40

60

80

100

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

µm

%

Glaze

Ball Mill

Body

Particle size distributions

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Silica plant for specialty and standard powders

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Dry processing of standard PSD grades

gritt 100 – 800 µm

gritt 75 – 630 µm

various fractioning 100-300; 100-500

powder D97 = 75 µm

powder D97 = 63 µm

powder D97 = 45 µm

porcelain powder D97 = 20 µm

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Flexible silica production plant

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Super Orion Ball Mill

With conventional gear rim - pinion drive

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Al2O3 lining

and

Al2O3 grinding media

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Wear protected 800 ASP Classifier

1

2

3

2 = Bull ring

3 = Guide vane Ring

1 = Classifier wheel

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Allgaier & Mogensen Screens for gritting

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- Optical sorting

- High intensive magnetic separation

- Magnetic separation

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Agenda

Processing of silica powder for

LCD display screens

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Design of steep Particle Size Distributions

Products for LCD & plasma display screens:

- very steep PSD within the limits of:

99 % < 90 µm

and

35 % < 45 µm

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Steep PSD for LCD screens

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

1000010000

1

2

3

4

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Datum: 12.03.12

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Maschine: ALPINE process

20

25

30

40

Material: silica

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50

60

65

70

75

Firma: Step PSD80

85

90

95

97

99

99,5

99,899,9

99,99

99,999

99,9999

AlpineKörnungsnetz

(RRS Diagramm)

1 10 100 1000 10000

Korngröße d in µm

Du

rch

gan

g D

in

%

1 PSD LCD screen

2

3

4

5

6

7

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Steep vs Standard PSD

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

10000

1000010000

1

2

3

4

5

Datum: 12.03.12

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Maschine: ALPINE process

20

25

30

40

Material: silica

45

50

60

65

70

75

Firma: Step PSD80

85

90

95

97

99

99,5

99,899,9

99,99

99,999

99,9999

AlpineKörnungsnetz

(RRS Diagramm)

1 10 100 1000 10000

Korngröße d in µm

Du

rch

gan

g D

in

%

1 PSD LCD screen

2

3 standard silica

4

5

6

7

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Production of steep PSD:

- very steep PSD within the limits of:

99 % < 90 µm and 35 % < 45 µm

Requires: - high yield of above fraction > 50 % !!!

- processing know how of micronisation

in ball mill separator loops

- high efficient air separators

- contamination poor processing machines

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Hosokawa Alpine Aktiengesellschaft, Augsburg, Germany

Minerals & Metals Division

Thank you very much for your attention!

IM 22