A pulverizer or grinder is a mechanical device for the grinding of many different types of materials. For example, a pulverizer mill is used to pulverize coal for combustion in the steam-generating furnaces of fossil fuel power plants.
Coal pulverizers may be classified by speed, as follows:
A ball mill is a pulverizer that consists of a horizontal rotating cylinder, up to three diameters in length, containing a charge of tumbling or cascading steel balls, pebbles, or rods.
A tube mill is a revolving cylinder of up to five diameters in length used for fine pulverization of ore, rock, and other such materials; the material, mixed with water, is fed into the chamber from one end, and passes out the other end as a slurry.
Both types of mill include liners that protect the cylindrical structure of the mill from wear. Thus the main wear parts in these mills are the balls themselves, and the liners. The balls are simply "consumed" by the wear process and must be re-stocked, whereas the liners must be periodically replaced.
The ball and tube mills are low-speed machines that grind the coal with steel balls in a rotating horizontal cylinder. Due to its shape, it is called a tube mill and due to use of grinding balls for crushing, it is called a ball mill, or both terms as a ball tube mill..
These mills are also designated as an example size, BBD-4772,
The grinding in the ball and tube mill is produced by the rotating quantity of steel balls by their fall and lift due to tube rotation. The ball charge may occupy one third to half of the total internal volume of the shell. The significant feature incorporated in the BBD mills is its double end operation, each end catering to one elevation of a boiler. The system facilitated entry of raw coal and exit of pulverized fuel from same end simultaneously. This helps in reducing the number of installations per unit.
A ball tube mill may be described as a cylinder made of steel plates having separate heads or trunions attached to the ends with each trunion resting on suitable bearings for supporting the machine. The trunions are hollow to allow for the introduction of discharge of the materials undergoing reduction in size. The mill shell is lined with chilled iron, carbon steel, manganese steel, or high chrome liners attached to shell body with counter sunk bolts. These liners are made in different shapes so that the counter inside surface of the mill is suited for requirement of a particular application.