Project: TONNERRE
Project name: TONNERRE (French acronym for Study of optimization study of comminution system using electrical discharges)
Object : Support for Alexandre BRAGA's CIFRE thesis
Start Date: 15/03/2023
End Date: 14/03/2026
Partner(s): I-ROX
Scientific manager at the SIAME: REESS Thierry,
Permanent members of the SIAME involved: SILVESTRE de FERRON Antoine
Contract Type: Cooperation contract
Project Description
Comminution is the first step in mineralurgical processing that leads to particle size reduction. The objective is to obtain a target particle size called "release mesh" ideal for releasing valuable minerals, generating fresh grain surfaces and reducing grain size to improve hydrometallurgical or pyrometallurgical processing rates.
Current techniques consist of multiple mechanical crushing operations, crushing with dry and/or wet machines: primary crushing with jaw or gyratory crushers, secondary crushing with cone crushers to obtain centimetric grains and tertiary crushing generally carried out with ball or ball mills to obtain a grain size of a few micrometers
Comminution is not only the largest energy consumer in the mineral processing chain. It also has the highest capital and operating costs. Growing environmental concerns coupled with the current surge in energy prices are inevitably driving industry innovation to find new technologies to reduce the energy consumption and environmental footprint of mineral extraction projects.
This thesis aims at demonstrating the interest of electric fracturing on ore comminution.
Optimizing the competitiveness of this technique in comparison with mechanical comminution methods and promoting its deployment on an industrial scale are the guidelines of this thesis.
