Comparison Of Scenarios Of Industrial Scale Pellet Feed Pressing Through Simulation

The HPGR development and application in the minerals industry resulted in an important increase in its application in iron ore pellet feed processing in the last decades. Vale SA was one of the pioneers in application of the HPGR in integrated plants, currently operating with six HPGRs in the pelletizing plants of Complexo de Tubarão (Vitória, ES). The work uses the mathematical model of the HPGR, proposed by Torres & Casali and modified by the present authors, to predict the performance of two industrial pellet feed HPGR units of the Complexo de Tubarão. Besides model validation, results of process simulations are shown in order to optimize the pellet feed pressing according to industrial demands, presenting different scenarios that are more attractive to HPGR operation. Simulations showed that it is feasible to reduce the specific surface area of the HPGR feed from 1770 cm²/g to 1570 cm²/g, allowing to produce a pellet feed of the same quality in its product (1911 cm²/g) and therefore reduce the work done by upstream ball milling.