Development of Piston Press Test to Simulate the Energy Consumption of HPGR Comminution

The operating parameters of high-pressure grinding roller (HPGR) is commonly obtained from a crushing test using small or semi-industrial HPGR. However, a large ore sample size is required, and the test is complex, hence the uptake of HPGR technology has been slow. A static pressure work index based on Bond’s third theory of comminution is proposed to determine the specific energy consumption of particle bed comminution of ore using an HPGR. A piston ballast test (PBT) has been conducted, and an equation established to predict the work index for three ore types, which can be subsequently used to estimate the HPGR circuit-specific energy consumption. The model has an error of 5.59%. This paper provides an experimental approach for determining the energy consumption and performance of an HPGR suitable for research and application.