Effect of operating parameters on the breakage process of calcite in a stirred media mill

Calcite has found many applications in the industrialized countries recently, such as filler for paper, paint, plastics, rubber and food. Furthermore, calcite separates many toxic elements, and thus it is used in water treatment, and it is also used to raise the pH of drinking water. Due to its special features, calcite has been characterized as a useful coating and reinforcement filler for applications. Finer particle size of calcite has been determined to provide improved features for all of these applications. For submicron particle production, wet milling is selected over dry milling to produce finer particle sizes. Wet stirred media mills are also used in many industries. For that reason, this study investigated the effects of operating parameters on particle size reduction in the wet grinding process. The knowledge acquired by this study will allow the finding of optimal operating parameters for a stirred media mill to optimize specific energy consumption and reduce particle size.