The design and optimization process of ball mill to reduce particle size of calcium carbonate materials

Particle size plays an important role in the designs of calcium carbonate-based material. Small particle size in the order of micrometer of event nanometer size is preferred. The raw materials were ground from the big particle size to the smallest possible by using multistep grinding. In the laboratory, the common method to be used as the ball mill. This work aims to design a simple horizontal ball mill. Calcium carbonate material from limestone and eggshells powder was ground using the developed ball mill. The balls to powder ratio (BPR) and powder type were investigated in relation to the particle size. The study showed that the combination of the BPR and powder type affects the particle size result. The optimum of BPR at 12 with the number of balls is 60 pieces, and the filling rate is 10.13%. The result shows that the horizontal ball mill able to grind the calcium carbonate to a size of smaller than 100 mesh (149 µm).