Analysis of energy consumption of crushing processes – comparison of one-stage and two-stage processes

This paper presents experimental comparison of two machine crushing technologies: one-stage and two-stage. The study was carried on a model double-toggle jaw crusher which allows crushing forces, energy and toggle displacement to be measured. The main aim of the work was to determine the energy consumption of crushing process assuming a given level of fragmentation. Studies were performed on three rocks: granite “Strzegom”, limestone “Morawica” and sandstone “Mucharz”. The material tested had a cubic shape and average dimension of 90 mm. One-stage crushing was carried out for outlet slot e_r = 11 mm, and two-stage crushing for e_r = 24 mm and 11 mm. In the tests special design of variable profile moving jaw was used and fixed jaw was flat. The analysis of the results shows that taking into account energy consumption, it is better to use two-stage crushing process. For given materials energy consumption in the two-stage crushing process was reduced by 30%.