Investigation on pre-weakening and crushing of phosphate ore using high voltage electric pulses

•Development of a novel High Voltage Electric Pulses Crusher (HVEPC).•Development of equation between minimum specific energy of discharge pulse and initial particle size of phosphate ore.•Reduction of crushability index up to 10.6% using electrical pre-weakening.•Reduction of Abrasion index of phosphate ore up to 28.1% using electrical pre-weakening.

Mechanical size reduction processes in the mineral processing industry are energy intensive. In this study, a novel High Voltage Electric Pulses Crusher (HVEPC) was designed and developed to pre-weaken and crush a phosphate ore. To compare the effectiveness of the new HVEPC in crushing with the conventional crushers, several rock samples of a phosphate ore were used and the effect of the capacitor, the voltage level and voltage rise time on the phosphate ore breakage was investigated. Comparing the particle size distribution of the crushed samples using both the HVEPC and the conventional crushers revealed the difference between their breakage mechanisms. The final results showed that applying the high voltage pulses at specific energy of 3–5 kWh/t could significantly increase and extend the cracks and microcrakcs inside the rocks and consequently lead to decline in the Bond crushability and Abrasion indices of the crushed samples by 10.6% and 28.1%, respectively.

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