The grinding process in an ADM system begins with the transport of the product into the grinding chamber, which can be carried out pneumatically or via a screw conveyor. In the grinding chamber, the fed product is hit by rapidly rotating grinding tools. Due to the high impact speed, the material being ground is partially crushed, powerfully accelerated and hits the stationary impact chuck. The product is further crushed in the grinding zone by the impact on the impact chuck.

Air supplied from below transports the ground material to the classifier wheel after a deflection at the cover of the grinder. This separates the particles according to their size. Only those particles that have already reached the desired fineness can pass through the classifier wheel and leave the machine as a finished product. Coarser particles, on the other hand, are rejected by the classifier wheel and re-enter the grinding zone. This creates a grinding-classifying cycle until the feed material is reduced to the desired fineness.

The fineness of the end product can be controlled in two ways: On the one hand via the setting of the grinding tools, on the other hand via the rotation speed of the classifier wheel. A higher speed means that only finer particles can pass through the classifier, while at a lower speed, coarser particles also enter the finished product.