Abstract
The working characteristics of a laboratory ball drum mill during grinding of Karaganda coal products were studied in order to apply the results obtained to industrial installations. The performed analysis shows that the most complicated and energy-intensive stage of preparation of coal dust is the grinding of fuel. The operational characteristics of the mill productivity, consumed electric power and specific energy consumption in terms of the relative rotational speed of the drum as well as the optimal values of the relative velocity determining the qualitative grinding of the fuel have been determined. The performance of the processed drum mill reaches its maximum at a relative speed of rotation of the drum 0.71 ensuring a waterfall mode of grinding of fuel related to the high-speed mode of a coal-grinding mill. The estimated specific energy consumption for fuel grinding varies in the range from 0.11 kWh/kg up to 0.23 kWh/kg at fuel milling coefficient of Kl = 1.2.