*Article* **Grinding Behaviors of Components in Heterogeneous Breakage of Coals of Di**ff**erent Ash Contents in a Ball-and-Race Mill**

**Jin Duan 1, Qichang Lu 1, Zhenyang Zhao 1, Xin Wang 1, Yuxin Zhang 1, Jue Wang 1, Biao Li 2, Weining Xie 3,\*, Xiaolu Sun <sup>4</sup> and Xiangnan Zhu <sup>5</sup>**


Received: 30 January 2020; Accepted: 2 March 2020; Published: 3 March 2020

**Abstract:** Coals used for power plants normally have different ash contents, and the breakage of coals by the ball-and-race mill or roller mill is an energy-intensive process. Grinding phenomena in mill of power plants is complex, and it is also not the same with ideal grinding tests in labs. The interaction among various coals would result in changes of grinding behaviors and energy consumption characterization if compared with those of single breakage. In this study, anthracite and bituminous coal of different ash contents were selected to be heterogeneously ground. Quantitation of components in products was realized using the relation between sulfur content of the mixture and mass yield of one component in the mixture. Product fineness *t*<sup>10</sup> of the component was determined, and split energy was calculated on the premise of specific energy balance and energy-size reduction model by a genetic algorithm. Experimental results indicate that breakage rate and product fineness *t*<sup>10</sup> of the mixture decrease with the increase of hard anthracite content in the mixture. Unlike the single breakage, *t*<sup>10</sup> of anthracite in heterogeneous grinding is improved dramatically, and bituminous coal shows the opposite trend. The interaction between components results in the decrease of the specific energy of the mixture if compared with the mass average one of components in single breakage. Breakage resistance of hard anthracite decreases due to the addition of soft bituminous coal, and grinding energy efficiency of anthracite is also improved compared with that of single grinding.

**Keywords:** grinding behaviors; energy consumption characterization; sulfur content; heterogeneous breakage; split energy
