How do you calculate screen efficiency in tons?

Multiply tons per deck cycle by the number of cycles to get gross capacity, then multiply by uptime and first-pass yield. With 18 tons/cycle over 240 cycles at 90% uptime and 96% yield, gross is 4,320 tons and net screen efficiency is 3,732.48 tons.

What is a good screening efficiency percentage?

Most aggregate producers target 90-95% screening efficiency on a single deck for clean, dry feed. The default here uses 96% first-pass yield combined with 90% availability, which is realistic for a well-maintained dry circuit; wet or near-size-heavy feeds often drop to 80-85%.

Why is my net tonnage lower than the deck rating?

Because the nameplate rate is gross. In the worked example the gross 4,320 tons loses 432 tons to downtime and another 155.52 tons to mis-sized material, leaving 3,732.48 net tons of on-spec product.

What causes low screen efficiency?

Blinding and pegging of the cloth, excessive bed depth, worn or incorrect aperture, too steep or shallow a deck angle, and moisture in the fines. Each of these shows up as a lower first-pass yield, not a lower deck rate.

How is screen efficiency different from screen capacity?

Capacity is the gross tonnage the deck can pass; efficiency is the fraction of that tonnage which ends up correctly sized once uptime and carryover are counted. This tool reports both so you see the 4,320 ton gross alongside the 3,732.48 ton net.

How do I improve first-pass yield on a screen?

Reduce bed depth by spreading feed across the full deck width, correct the aperture and open area for your cut point, manage moisture, and keep the cloth clean. Raising yield from 96% to 98% on this circuit would recover roughly 78 of the lost tons.

Bulk Solids, Mining, Aggregates & Material Processing calculator

Screen Efficiency Calculator

Screen efficiency measures how well a vibrating or trommel screen recovers the on-spec fraction from your feed once you account for the time the deck actually runs and how much material is mis-sized on the first pass. Quarry plant managers, wash-plant operators and aggregate process engineers use it to convert a nameplate deck rate into the net tons of saleable, correctly graded product they can promise. It matters because a screen rated at 4,320 tons gross can quietly deliver far less once near-size blinding, carryover and downtime eat into the number. This calculator separates the gross deck capacity from the uptime and yield losses so you can see exactly where tonnage disappears.

What this calculator does

Estimate screen efficiency for screen efficiency for bulk solids, mining, aggregates, and material processing using plant-floor material, production, quality, capacity, or cost inputs.
a plant team is reviewing screen efficiency for bulk solids, mining, aggregates, and material processing and needs a clear screen efficiency for production, quality, capacity, maintenance, purchasing, or costing decisions
It computes net correctly sized tons by multiplying deck output per cycle and available cycles, then derating that gross figure by screen availability and first-pass sizing yield.

Formula used

Gross screen efficiency = screen efficiency output per cycle × available screen efficiency cycles
Screen Efficiency = gross capacity × uptime × yield

Inputs explained

Tons screened per deck cycle:
Screening cycles available in the period:
Screen availability (uptime):
First-pass sizing yield (correctly sized fraction):

How to use the result

Use it when sizing a screening line, validating a supplier's deck rating, or troubleshooting why a quarry circuit misses its graded-product target.
It treats efficiency as a single first-pass yield figure and does not model deck-by-deck partition curves, near-size loading or moisture-driven blinding, so wet or sticky fines may behave worse than the number suggests.

Common questions

How do you calculate screen efficiency in tons? Multiply tons per deck cycle by the number of cycles to get gross capacity, then multiply by uptime and first-pass yield. With 18 tons/cycle over 240 cycles at 90% uptime and 96% yield, gross is 4,320 tons and net screen efficiency is 3,732.48 tons.
What is a good screening efficiency percentage? Most aggregate producers target 90-95% screening efficiency on a single deck for clean, dry feed. The default here uses 96% first-pass yield combined with 90% availability, which is realistic for a well-maintained dry circuit; wet or near-size-heavy feeds often drop to 80-85%.
Why is my net tonnage lower than the deck rating? Because the nameplate rate is gross. In the worked example the gross 4,320 tons loses 432 tons to downtime and another 155.52 tons to mis-sized material, leaving 3,732.48 net tons of on-spec product.
What causes low screen efficiency? Blinding and pegging of the cloth, excessive bed depth, worn or incorrect aperture, too steep or shallow a deck angle, and moisture in the fines. Each of these shows up as a lower first-pass yield, not a lower deck rate.
How is screen efficiency different from screen capacity? Capacity is the gross tonnage the deck can pass; efficiency is the fraction of that tonnage which ends up correctly sized once uptime and carryover are counted. This tool reports both so you see the 4,320 ton gross alongside the 3,732.48 ton net.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.