A story
of Efficiency

1925

Christian Pfeiffer founded his company with the idea of making grinding processes more efficient. His invention: a diaphragm for ball mills that wears less, is robust, and has positive effects on the grinding process. As early as 1930, Christian Pfeiffer patented the transfer partition made of particularly stable and hardened rolled steel, manufactured according to the MONOBLOC design invented by him. With over 5,000 units installed, it is still successful on the market today. Due to the permanent further development to today's 4th generation, the MONOBLOC transfer partition is a core piece of efficient grinding processes in ball mills.

Every detail influences the grinding process!

Therefore, we have been emphasizing the holistic view of the grinding process for decades. We have developed, tested and optimized every process-relevant component ourselves. This makes us experts in our field. We have gained our know-how to in the cement industry and the grinding equipment established there. We transfer our knowledge in a solution-oriented manner to the industrial minerals, mining, alternative fuels, building materials and energy sectors. Time and again, ball mills prove to be the most efficient solution for grinding a wide variety of materials to precise particle finenesses. That is why we have perfected all process-relevant components for grinding with ball mills!

Shell lining and ball charge play a decisive role

Shell lining and ball charge in combination with the MONOBLOC diaphragm, result in the core equipment that holds the potential for energy savings. For about 40 years, we have been manufacturing and improving the shell lining plates with MFL's foundry in Austria. The goal of optimization is to create the ideal lifter shape to generate the greatest possible impact and friction energy for crushing the material. The plates are extremely robust and have long service lives, so we sustainably reduce maintenance efforts and wear part costs.

The ideal interaction of the mill internals leads to the perfect result

For coarse and fine grinding, the ideal interaction with the ball charge is crucial. We design the mill internals according to a fixed principle: the ball size must perfectly match the material size and be ideally activated by the armoring to ensure the most efficient grinding at the highest product quality.

Significant increase in efficiency through the use of separators

At the end of the 1930s, the portfolio was expanded to include separators. They separate the fines from the material stream and return the grit, particles that are too coarse, to the grinding process for regrinding. In this way, defined finenesses are achieved and product quality is ensured.

By adding a separator, the residence time of the material in the mill can be significantly reduced - this saves energy! The potential for performance increase by a 3rd generation separator is therefore up to 30 %. For very high target finenesses, the increase in performance can even be 50 % compared to the open circuit without separator.

In 1939 Jakob Heyd, employee at Christian Pfeiffer at that time, introduced the first HEYD separator to the market. Due to its greatly improved separation efficiency, the "HEYD" model advanced to become an international classic, which is still used to some extent today.

More and more efficient - the development of QDK separators

In the mid-1980s, the HEYD separator was replaced by the extremely robust high-performance separator QDK. The development of the cross-flow rotary cage separator was decisive for the increasing demands on product fineness. With the aim of increasing efficiency, the QDK has also been continuously developed further at Christian Pfeiffer. Today we are talking about the 3rd generation of QDK classifiers, which is technically mature for a wide variety of applications and can often exceed the fineness requirements.

Identify energy saving potentials

Over time, we have added many useful aggregates to our portfolio that help make product grinding as efficient as possible. The heat balance of a grinding plant provides us with important information on where further energy saving potentials are hidden.

Ideal flow behavior is the basis for smooth production processes.

This realization led us to include powder coolers in the Christian Pfeiffer product range at the beginning of the 1990s. Since then, we have successfully installed approx. 50 powder coolers on the market.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

  • "The optimum material temperature ensures an ideal product flow. The more homogeneously the material can flow, the less energy is required."

    Hendrik Kruse
    Head of Competence Centre

Sustainable use of equipment and product purity

Unwanted metal bodies or ball fragments often contaminate the product. For a particularly pure product, we have developed a foreign body trap, the PROTECTOR. The PROTECTOR pulls foreign bodies out of the material stream through a ventilated settling box, thus increasing product purity. At the same time, downstream equipment, such as the classifier or filters, is protected from damage by metal pieces in the material stream. This eliminates repair effort and costs. The equipment can be used more sustainably.

With the well sorted ball charge, energy consumption can be reduced by 
up to 5 %

The sorting of the ball charge can lead to significant energy savings of up to 5 %, because the efficient grinding of the particles is directly related to the gap spaces between the balls. If the gaps between the balls are too large, the material has to remain longer in the mill until it reaches the appropriate fineness. Broken balls are reliably sorted out by our grinding ball sorting machine "SORTER". Whole balls are sorted according to their size and prepared for reuse.

Detailed knowledge ensures efficiency throughout the grinding plant

Since the 1990s, we have systematically evolved from a component supplier to a system provider for complete grinding plants. Our unique process know-how is the most important driver for this evolution. Our profound knowledge enables us to master all process-relevant components par excellence, which is the cornerstone of our efficient grinding plants. We execute projects in scope EP (Engineering and Procurement) or EPC, including 'Construction'. Our customers receive turnkey grinding plants, with the most efficient process design for their individual products. We have already implemented numerous projects worldwide - in the shortest possible realization times.

Our vision: An efficient and thus sustainable future

To fulfill this vision, we have drawn up a comprehensive action plan. This will ensure that we focus our combined energies on maximum efficiency. We are rapidly becoming more digital, sustainable and efficient in our internal processes and in our plant design.

  • "By developing our unique process know-how, maintaining our customer proximity, flexibility and reliability, intensive investments in innovation and attention to service and the constant promotion of the team spirit, we inspire customers worldwide as the best partner for high-quality, tailor-made mills, separators and grinding plants."

    Dietmar Freyhammer
    Managing Director