| A game-changing technology in mineral processing by high-velocity impact comminution with the VeRo Liberator® pt.2 Gregor Borg1; Oscar Scharfe2; 1VERO LIBERATOR, HAMBURG, Halle, Germany; 2VERO LIBERATOR, HAMBURG, Hamburg, Germany; PAPER: 503/Mining/Keynote (Oral) SCHEDULED: 14:00/Sat. 26 Oct. 2019/Zeus (55/Mezz. F) ABSTRACT: As the highly respectable Mining Journal (issue 20. May 2019) recently stated: “Mining may have pedigree, with its roots in the Bronze Age, but with direction and momentum established over some 5,000 years it also has the turning circle of the QEII and, as such, has long been regarded as an innovation and technology laggard among industries.” This reputation is currently changing fast with major international mining companies and the World Bank Group jointly promoting “The growing role of Minerals and Metals for a Low Carbon Future” [1]. Traditional comminution systems for ores such as ball and SAG mills are trusted for their robustness but also known for their inefficiency, particularly in energy consumption and general rock breakage [2]. With more than 50 % of energy being consumed in a typical mining operation for crushing and milling and – even worse – only 1 % of the energy consumed by a conventional ball mill used for breakage and the rest wasted as heat, there is huge potential for radical improvement. The VeRo Liberator<sup>®</sup> was invented some 6 years ago and achieves high-velocity, high-frequency impact comminution through a vertical four-fold axle-in-axle system with hammer tools, rotating clockwise and anticlockwise [3]. The impacts produce highly turbulent particle flow and trigger fracture nucleation and propagation at and along phase boundaries. With energy consumption being reduced by over 70 % and particle liberation far superior to conventional systems, this new technology offers huge operational and economic advantages. The VeRo Liberator<sup>®</sup> operates dry and thus produces waste that does not require dewatering and allows for safer direct dry stacking. The VeRo Liberator<sup>®</sup> achieves its drastically energy-efficient particle size reduction and particle liberation by high-velocity impacts that achieve an efficient momentum transfer into the ore particles. This leads to the disintegration or quasi “explosion” of the ore particles, predominantly without actual contact with the impact tools. Consequently, the VeRo Liberator<sup>®</sup> uses less energy, shows surprisingly little wear, and operates at very low noise levels. Market entry of the VeRo Liberator<sup>®</sup> technique was achieved in 2017 and several units are now performing in industrial-scale operations or are on their way to installation for Anglo American. It is now up to the wider mining industry to test and embrace the new technology and develop it to its full potential. References: [1] The World Bank (2017) The growing role of Minerals and Metals for a Low Carbon Future, Washington, DC, USA, 92 p. [2] Napier‐Munn T (2014) Is progress in energy‐efficient comminution doomed? Minerals Engineering, Vol. 73, 1–6. [3] Borg G, Scharfe F, Scharfe O, Lempp Ch (2018) Mechanical high‐velocity comminution by VeRo Liberator® technique for efficient particle liberation and size reduction. AT Mineral Processing, Vol. 59, 04, 66‐80. |
