COMPARTIVE STATEMENT BETWEEN BALL MILL Vs VRM

Description Ball Mill

Operation Easy to Operate and Operator
friendly

CAPEX Slightly higher due to civil

construction requirement.
Plant Layout More space required to
accommodate Ball Mill Grinding
System

Specific Electrical As compared to VRM, Ball Mill will

Power Consuption have appx. Adidtional 10-12
kwh/ton. Additional power
requirement in ball mill will cost
~INR. 1.82 Cr/annum
(10 kWh/t x 60 tph x 20 hrs/day x
300 days/annum x INR 5/unit = ~
INR. 1.80 Cr/annum)

Availability Higher as downtime is low.

Wear Life Average wear life for ball mill

liners would be 25000-30000 hrs
(~5 years).
Annual liners replacement cost
would be ~INR 0.16 Cr.
(75 t liners x INR 105000 / 5 year =
~0.16 Cr.)

Maintenance cost Low

Hot Gas Slag Drying system will be

Requirement required. However hot gas
requirement will be less and
hence, less expensive.
Maintenance of mill
vent bag house Less.
Mill vent bag house capacity is
smaller than VRM baghouse
Consistency in No reduction in capacity
production
EOT requirement Required

Spare Requirement Lower

Staff Requirement Ball mill is easy to operate and

maintain hence high qualified staff
is not required.

Capital Cost Low

STATEMENT BETWEEN BALL MILL Vs VRM

VRM Favour
Sensitive. For smaller capacity mill, with smaller roll diameter, the Ball Mill
stabilization would be difficult. This may lead to high vibrations and
would require additional water spray/lower table speed for
stabilization. Frequent start-stop due to power failure is difficult to
manage. VRM operation requires skilled expertise.

Very less civil construction required for VRM part. VRM

Compact layout as compared to Ball Mill System VRM

VRM will have a ~10.0 kWh/t lesser power consumption compared to VRM
ball mill for the given feed composition

VRM has lesser avalability due to higher maintenance requirement. Ball Mill
For OPC, the re-welding shall be done every 2500-3500 hours. For
every re-welding campaign, the mill has to be shut down for around 5
days. On an average, mill has to be shut down for ~10 days in a year
for re-welding which will amount to loss of profit to the tune of INR
1.68 Cr./annum assuming profit of INR 70/Bag.

VRM table and roller liners are to be replaced every 8000-12000 Ball Mill
hours (2 years) . Annual liners replacement cost would be ~INR 0.2 Cr.
(15 t liners x INR 275000 / 2 year = ~0.2 Cr.)
Additional cost for VRM per annum on account of liner replacement =
~ INR 0.04 Cr/annum
(0.2 Cr/annum-0.16 Cr/annum= 0.04 Cr/annum)

High. Approximately 2.5 times of Ball Mill. Ball Mill

In addition, Liner rewelding cost for VRM + labour + specialist is ~INR
0.5 Cr/Annum.

Integral drying with VRM. However, Hot Gas Genertor will be required Ball Mill
to produce hot gases. Additional heat requirement in case of VRM
due to higher air volume and to evaporate additional water sprayed.
 Ball Mill
More.
Mill vent bag house capacity would be at least 4-5 times higher as no.
of bags would be more
Capacity reduction due to worn out liners. Ball Mill

Not Required. For 30 TPH capacity mill, VRM can be opened and VRM
mobile crane can be employed as and when necessary

Higher
VRM being a maintenance oriented machine with many failure prone
parts having very long delivery times e.g. Roller bearings, gearbox etc.
Hence, the insurance spare inventory requirement for a VRM is higher. Ball Mill
VRM requires experienced & qualified staff to operate. Also the Ball Mill
rebuilding of liners require qualified welders.

High Ball Mill