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Home / Ask Dr Clark / Raw materials / Ask Dr Clark - Raw materials
Ask Dr Clark - Raw materials
Q: What is Integrated Value for SO3 and LSF ?
can u please send me the Values as per details below: Previous Data Current Data Mixed Bed LS
Pile (with Clay-1500 Tons) Qty Total -30,000 Tons LS Pile (without Clay) Qty Total- 30,000 Tons
Pile set Point for SO3 - 0.71 Pile set Point for SO3 - To be Investigate-? for LSF - 112 for LSF -
To be Investigate-? Clay Composition SO3 is 3% and LSF is 11 Waiting the response soon.
It is not entirely clear to me what you are trying to do? Please explain. The correction of
the lime content for SO3 content is: %CaO - 0.7*%SO3. This derives derives from the
molecular weights of CaO (=56) and SO3 (=80). 56/80 = 0.7.
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Q: what happen when i increase the vrm inlet air temperature and water pressure also
This depends on the control loops applied to your VRM in your control system.
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Q: how much velocity is required for 1 kg of air at 38 degree celsius temprature to transport a
coal partical of size 90 micron to a height of 2 meter?
please provide air and coal conveying calculation with formula if possible and please specify any
assumption have taken in this calculation....
I only have rules of thumb. If the conveying distance is <30m then you need 0.2 kg of air
per kg of coal. If the distance is further then you need more air. Also the dimensions of the
piepwork must be sufficient to ensure a conveying velocity of 25 m/s minimum, and ideally
in excess of 30 m/s.
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Q: Do you have such site for coal prparation
Please explain what you mean?
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Q: Is there any graphical representation or any excel sheet which shows what is the relation
between the coalsh and coal tph.
As we know in our cement plant that when ever coal ash increases the % coal consumption
increases. Do we have any excel sheet or any graph which shows what is their relation and how
much percentage the coal consumption increases by % ash increase.
Such a spreadsheet and chart should be easy to construct. As the ash content of coal
rises so the calorific value will reduce. That means that you need more coal to maintain
constant calorific input to the kiln.
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Q: What is the possiable reasons of ring formation inside ball mill?
ring sample analysis sio2 13.75 Al2o3 3.7 Fe2o3 2.35 cl 0.14 cao41.43 mgo 1.9 na2o 1.65 k2o
.7 caco3 73.95 mgco3 3.93 water content 5% note clay water content 8 %lime stone water
content 3.9%
There should be no ring formation in a ball mill as the action of the grinding media
should prevent any material sticking to the liners inside the mill. Damp material may stick to
the mill liners when the mill is standing. Perhaps such material could stick right around the
mill liners during slow turning of the mill.
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Q: Burning SR and NP clinker?
Hi Dr. We are making both SR and NP types of clinker. While making NP our alumina ratio target
is 1.6 while making SR our alumina ratio target is more like 0.8. Should these ratios be affected
by making different clinker or should we adjust to keep the ratio constant? One of the reasons I
am asking is because i recently began working here and they are currently doing raw mix control
based around C3S, C3A and Fe2O3 and I would like to see this switched to LSF, SR, and AR. The
people here have the understanding that if you have C3S, C3A and Fe2O3 on target the LSF, SR,
and AR will also be on target. Should we be able to maintain the LSF, AR, and SR for different
clinker types while obtaining a different C3S in the final clinker?
You need to lower the alumina ratio when main sulphate resisting clinker in order to
reduce the C3A content of the clinker. When the potential C3S, C3A and Fe2O3 contents of
cinker are used for raw mix control you have to make an assumption about the degree of
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combination of the clinker and the residual free lime in clinker. When controlling to LSF, SR
and AR you do not need to do that.
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Q: What is SO3 in clinker if SO3 in lime stone is 0.35%.
Sulphur in Petcoke is 6-6.5%.Petcoke is firing in kiln with a 40-45% of total coal consumption
per hour.if any direct formula/calculation is there for getting SO3 in clinker.Please suggest.
The contribution to the clinker SO3 from the limestone will be given by 0.35 x 0.8 x 1.55.
The contribution from the fuel will be given by SO3 content of fuel x kg fuel/kg clinker.
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Q: new cement plant to be built and needs expert advice
do you offer such a service in which you provide expert advice for newly built cement
manufacturers?
Certainly. That is our main line of business.
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Q: High MgO limestone
We are in the process of doing sampling of limestone to check on their quality before making a
proposal to acquire the limestone hill for setting up an integrated cement plant.We have taken
random surface samples covering about 10% of total hill area and found out that CaO/MgO
reading as follows 55.3/0.22,
55.2/0.25,53.3/1.49,51.8/2.79,41.3/11.0,36.4/13.9,54.1/1.32,55.4/0.17,48.6/6.16,55.5/0.24.We
have now used jack hammer so that we can deeper sample at the high MgO areas again just to
retest the quality..Do u expect difference in MgO level between surface sample and sample at 2
feet depth?Is the limestone hill usable if we carefully mix it?What is the limit for MgO at raw mix
stage?Can we use the high MgO limestone as additive for cement grinding? Appreciate your
further advice on our next step.
I know no reason to expect a difference in MgO content of the limestone between surface
samples and those at 2 feet depth. Based on the information provided some of the limestone
is high purity and therefore certainly useable with careful blending. 3% MgO in limestone is
the maximum limit, dependent to some extent on MgO content of secondary materials and
your national standard for cement. The high MgO limestone can be used as an additive for
cement grinding.
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Q: Which slag is suitable for producing Portland slag cement ?
Which slag is suitable for producing portland composite cement? Air cooled slag or Blast furnace
slag? Tahmid
Granulated blastfurnace slag that has been quenched in water when drawn off the
blastfurnace. Air-cooled slag has little or no hydraulic properties and is not suitable.
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Q: How I can detect slag in Portland Composite Cement
Dear Sir, How I can detect Slag or quantity of slag mixed in portland composite cement by
chemical method? Tahmid
That will be difficult because the slag will be composed mainly of lime, silica, alumina
and iron oxide therefore undistinguishable from the clinker minerals by chemical methods.
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Q: Raw Mill Residue
Dear Sir, is there any effect of raw mill residue on the bag house bags either we grind finer or
coarser.
No, I don't expect the fineness of grinding the raw meal will have any effect on the
baghouse bags.
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Q: How I can estimate flyash,slag,limestone content in portland composite cement
How I can estimate of Fly ash, slag ,limestone in portland composite cement
The best way would be by X-ray diffraction.
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Q: Dear Sir, we are using high sulphur coal. Clinker Lt. wt. is 1300 -1350. we want to increase
C3S more than 45%. Please advice for required liquid phase in the clinker. Our kiln feed LSF=
112, SM= 2.24, Al2O3= 2.9, Fe2O3= 2.4. Our clinker SO3= 2.6 to 2.8
To achieve a higher C3S content in clinker you need to raise the lime saturation of the
clinker. Your kiln feed lime saturation is high but so is your clinker SO3. The full analysis of
kiln feed, coal ash and clinker would be required to properly adtvise you this.
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Q: How to fix the raw mix ratio with following raw materials
Dear Sir, I have following composition of raw materials. LOI SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO MgO
Limestone 42.58 3.24 0.79 0.38 50.01 1.24 Clay 5.87 74.98 8.80 6.20 0.98 0.24 Iron Ore 4.65
9.16 2.00 83.04 0.06 0.41 By using of these raw materials I want to fix the raw mix with
following modulus but I can't success to get following target modulus in raw mix HM=2.3
SM=2.5 IM=1.5 Here, I am kindly asking what are the ratios of raw mix to get the above
modulus of the raw mix. If not, what kind of correcting raw mat should I used to obtain above
target modulus in raw mix? Your valuable suggestions will be very appreciable for me Regard
Dinesh Koirala
T&he hydraulic modulus is an outdated concept. Better is to use the lime saturation
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factor. In order to control 3 rations in the mix you need four raw materials. You only have 3
so can only control 3 ratios.
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Q: Belite
What is the major difference between alpha-belite and beta-belite ? Higher content of which
crystal form of belite is preferable ? Explain.
These are different crystal forms of the belite. beta-belite has the most hydraulic
reacttivity and this therefore preferred. It is what is normally produced in an industrial
cement kiln.
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Q: Laterite
Hello Dr., Can you suggest any material that would replace laterite and still produce high
strength cement ? If possible ,please state the chemical composition of such material.
Laterite is normally added to cement raw mixes to increase the Fe2O3 content of the mix.
Therefore any source of iron oxide can be used instead of laterite. Alternatively a higher
alumina modulus mix can be prepared which will reduce the amount of laterite used and still
produce high strength cement. The Fe2O3 containing clinker mineral (C4AF) does not make a
major contribution to cement strength.
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Q: Coating
Hi Sir, What is coating index ? what is its significance ?
The coating index is an indicator the likelihood that a raw mix of a particular chemistry
will give rise to coating with the cement rotary kiln.
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Q: Clinker Burning
Hi Sir, What is the general expression for calculating burning temperature of clinker ?
There is no general expression for calculating the burning temperature of clinker.
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Q: Coal Ash
Hello Dr., How do coal ash gets added to the kiln feed ? Please clarify with explanation
The fine coal burnt in the kiln contains some ash. That ash is predominatly silica and
alumina so the ash combines with the lime from the limestone to produce the clinker
minerals C3S, C2S, C3A and C4AF.
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Q: Effect of Ash
What is the effect of ash on LSF, SM, AM of clinker ?
Coal ash is mainly composed of silica, alumina and iron oxide so the LSF is reduced. The
effect on silica and alumina modulus depends on the exact composition of the ash.
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Q: Hydraulic Modulus
Hello Sir, What is the significance of hydraulic modulus in the present days ?
The hydraulic modulus is the ratio of CaO to the sum of SiO2, Al2O3 and Fe2O3. It was
often used historically and for good cement quality, it should be between 1.7 and 2.3.
However, this is not a useful as the lime saturation factor so it does not have major
significance today.
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Q: industrial waste in cement
Sir,Can we use zinc metallurgical waste, jarosite in cement manufacturing process either as raw
material for raw meal preparation or as set retarder by partial replacement of gypsum? anybody
in the world uses hazardous waste jarosite in cement manufacturing process?
I am not aware of anyone using jarosite in the cement manufacturing process. The first
step would be to know the chemical composition of the jarosite.
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Q: Online Analyser for Raw Mix
Hello Sir, Can you provide some information about online analyser used for monitoring raw mix
? Nowadays what are the online analysers cement manufacturer use for controlling the raw mix ?
Please advice.
The most widely used would be Gammametrics or the Scantech analysers.
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Q: Lime Saturation Factor (LSF)
Hello Sir, It is found that LSF of output of the Raw mill (Vertical Roll Mill) is 94% whereas the LSF
of Kiln feed is 95%. Can you provide any possible reason for this change ? Please advice.
This might arise from how the dust from the kiln is handled. The kiln feed will contain the
dust. The raw mill product might not contain the dust.
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Q: kiln not giving rated production
sir our kiln with capacity 600 tonns per day is not going on rated capicity.it is operating upto
60% of rated capacity.As soon as feed rate is increased proper clinker formation does not take
place also sometimes there is sudden feed surge.It also accompanies decaoting and ball
formation.What can be the possible causes?
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There could be many causes. A technical audt is required to identfy the possible causes.
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Q: what happend in kiln when latarite is not gone in rawmeal
The laterite is presumably added for it's iron oxide content. Therefor if has not gone into
the raw meal for whatever reason there will be a deficiency of iron oxide in the meal in the
kiln. That will mean less liquid phase or flux and changed properties of the remaining flux.
The clinker will be more difficult to combine therefore fuel consumption is likely to be
higher. Coating tendency will change and perhaps the coating will be stripped out of the kiln.
Potentially the clinker will be over 100% lime saturated and there will be high levels of
residual free lime.
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Q: Excessive Dust in Preheater
Sir our CF is 1.85 you said that it is caused by excessive dust loss from the top stage of the
preheater. So how do we reduce this dust loss from Pre Heater Section?
That depends on the wider situation. Things to be checked are the condition of the
internal fittings (dip tubes, feed distribution plates, feed flaps) in the preheater. Also the
drafting of the preheater, excess air, inleaking air, etc. Also the fineness of the kiln feed. The
give more specific advice a technical audit would be required.
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Q: Excessive fines in raw material
Hi Sir I posted a question on excessive fines in raw material for which you said that the fines can
be added directly to the VRM separator Thanks for your answer. If we do the above exercise will
our clinker factor come down? (now it is at 1.85). Is there any other plant where the above
exercise is successfully followed. Thanks
There is no reason why the raw mix to clinker factor would reduce from it's current value.
1.85 is a very high factor which must be caused by excessive dust loss from the top stage of
the preheater. How you handle the fines in the raw milling circuit will not make any
difference in the top stage of the preheater.
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Q: Excessive fines in Raw Material
Hi Sir We are having excessive fines in our raw material. this is directly grinded by Imapct type
crusher and is carried to stacker reclaimer. My doubts are 1. Since excessive fines are there it
reduces the capacity of crusher and when it comes to raw mill it is grinded excessively. 2. Our
cooler has IKN KIDS and we also are faced with Red river formation and spillage in cooler due to
which stoppages happen often. Our suggestion is to provide screen in crusher area to remove
excessive fines thereby improving the capacity of crusher. I have a doubt on where can the fines
be supplied either to raw mill or after raw mill based on the size. Please suggest your valuable
inputs on how to get rid of this problem.
Certainly a screen to scalp the feed to the crusher seems to be a good idea. Whether the
fines can be added back to the raw mill feed or product will depend on the sieve residues of
the fines. One solution would be to add the fines to the separator of the raw mill. Then any
material already fine enough will go straight to the product while the coarser material will be
returned to the mill for regrinding.
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Q: method of raw mix pile avg calculation according to hourly tonnage in excel?
This requires that the weighted average of each oxide in the pile be calculated after each
new sample using the analysis of the sample and the wieght of material added to the pile.
The composition to correct the pile to target can then be calculated.
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Q: Sir, Why we multiply with 2.8 to Sio2, 1.18 to Al2O3 & 0.65 to Fe2O3 in LSF formula i.e.
CaO/(2.8SiO2+1.18Al2O3+0.65Fe2O3)
These are the coefficients in the Lea and Parker formula for the maximum combinable
lime in Portland cement clinker. They are derived from the phase equilibria of the CaO-SiO2-
Al2O3-Fe2O3 system.
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Q: How 5 or more components raw mix design are calculated ?
it is too important for me please answer it to me
By setting up 5 simultaneous equations with the 4 targets in the raw mix that you want to
control. Then solvng those simultaneous equations.
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Q: chemical and physical analysis for white cement (LSF- SIM -ALM & C3S - C2S - C3A - C4AF)?
LSF = 95%, SM = 4+, AM = 10+. C3S = ~60%, C2S = ~20%, C3A = ~15%, C4AF <1%.
Strengths higher than grey cement due to higher silicate content.
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Q: lime stone is pure cristaline calcite @ 87% T.CO3 and in the same bench it has very low
T.CO3% as pegmatite or gniees with 16 % MgO , sir our raw mill is 170 TPH VRM and is there any
difficulty of raw mill fine grinding of this calcite and gniees
dear sir , good evening. here in kenya we are going to instal 3000 TPD clinker unit with 170 TPH
VRM for raw mix and is there any difficult to get fine grinding like 212 mic residue up to 2% and
90 mic residue up to 18% with this lime stone pure calcite crystalline and bottom layer is very
low phlegmatic or genies with 2 to 16% mgo. one place we find low cao stone with 56 silica and
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i came to know that this stone silica should not be good reactive as it formed from calcite
washed with water and cao is eliminated. i think that in ball mill we can maintain finesse as we
required. please give me reply at the earliest thanking you RAO . Y . S NATIONAL CEMENT CO.
LTD NAIROBI - KENYA
There is no reason to suppose that a VRM would not be able to grind this material while a
ball mill would.
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Q: Difference Between Limestone & Shale
How to Distinguish between Limestone & Shale with chemical compostion.
Limestone is a form of calcium carbonate. Pure limestone has 56% CaO. Shale is
geologically altered clay so composed of alumino silicate minerals. The CaO content of shale
is very low. It's silica content is likely to be around 50-60%.
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Q: Why we set carbonates 77 or 76 per in pile formation ?
what happened when we increase the carbonates or decrease in pile like 70 or 80? why we set 80
or 70 per carbonates in pile formation?
Because that level of carbonate will give you the required amount of CaO in the pile. If you
set lower then you will need to add high grade limestone at the raw mill to bring the kiln feed
LSF up to target. If you set higher then you will have to add silica, alumina or iron oxide at
the raw mill to bring the LSF down to target.
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Q: crusher for kaolin
Hi sir What is the best crusher for Breaking kaolin? Also in our factory for kaolin Breaking use of
jaw crusher & Gyratory crusher.What do you think about using impact crusher? Best regards
Impact crushers are normally used for brittle materials. Kaolin is normally quite soft. The
only problems that might arise are if the kaloin is wet and sticky.
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Q: low liter weight clinker and decrease product
LSF X- RAY : 90-92 SIM : 2.3-2.4 ALM :1.3-1.4 LSF CHEMICAL :88-90 SIM :2.4 ALM 1.3
Well, it seems that you X-ray is reading high on CaO, if the chemical analyses are correct.
That does not explain the decreased productivity. My suspicion that there is some other
problem.
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Q: How to calcualate or simulate the alkali enrichment in the preheater when alkali rich material
is used as additive?
I am substituting Trass for Sand to get silica in the raw mix. The trass contains 1.2% K2O and
3.2% Na2O. Consequently, the total alkalies in the raw meal inceases from 0.34 % to 0.56%. How
calculate or simulate the alkali enrichment in the preheater circulation material?
It is of course possible to do this with an Excel based model of the alkali cycles, as I
demonstrated at Cemtech in Dubai and Jakarta. However, it is not just a question of
calculating. That depends on yhe volatility of the Na2O and K2O, which is dependent on the
amount of chloride and sulphate present. It is too complicated for a simple calculation and
depends on a model. However at 0.56% total alkali there should be no problems.
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Q: what is silica modules & alumina modules give me defination.
Silica modulus is the ration of the %silica to the sum of the %alumin and %iron oxide.
Alumina modulus is the ration of the %alumina to %iron oxide.
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Q: LSF FORMULA
Dear sir,kiln feed is: Cao=42.3%, Mgo=2.7% ,sio2=12.90%, Al2o3=3.37%, Fe203=2.23% .some
plants do not consider Mgo in calculation of LSF and they use the formula
LSF=100*cao/(2.8*sio2+1.18*Al203+0.65*Fe2o3)is it right?or they should add 0.75*Mgo in
numerator. if we want to announce kiln feed LSF with above analysis what should we say about
LSF? LSF=102(without Mgo)or LSF=105(with considering Mgo).
Normally for kiln feed LSF the MgO is not included.
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Q: Finess of raw meal influenced snow man
Hi Dr Clarck, Can raw meal fineness(212) influenced formation of snowman?
Only indirectly. This will not be the primary cause of snowman formation in a cement kiln
clinker cooler.
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Q: what is the essential raw materials to produce white cement
Raw materials which give the required CaO, SiO2 and Al2O3 content with the minimum of
Fe2O3 contamination. No other first row transition elements can be tolerated, but they are
rare components on cement raw materials or fuels.
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Q: Raw mix design of 4 components
How 4 components raw mix design are calculated and what are the LSF,SM, and AM for the mix
design?
Proportioning 4 raw material components to LSF, SM and AM targets involves setting up
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and solving 4 simultaneous equations. The LSF, SM and AM targets are variables within those
simultaneous equations. I suggest that the enrol of the CemNet Cement Manufacturing
Technology course.
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Q: Sweetner grade (High Grade ) Lime stone
Sir, Pls tell me, is it possible that CaO % 57 in High grade lime stone (Its LSF aprox 1050)
The maximum CaO content in pure limestone (calcium carbonate) is 56%.
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Q: The ingredients in ASTM C150....
Dear Dr. Clark, I have some questions on ASTM C150/C150m-11 Standard Specification for
Portland Cement revised in April 1, 2011. There are several ingredients specified in Item 5.
Ingredient of the specification, 5.1.1 Portland Cement Clinker 5.1.2 Water or Calcium Sulfate
5.1.3 Limestone (not more than 5 %) 5.1.4 Inorganic Processing additions (not more than 5 %)
5.1.5 Organic Processing additions (not more than 1 %) 5.1.6 Air-entraining addition Would you
be more specific about the following aspects? 1. What's the meaning of Water of "5.1.1 Water or
Calcium Sulfate" ? 2. What's the meaning of Processing additions ? What's the difference between
5.1.3 and 5.1.4 ? 3. What's the maximum addition rate ? Not more than 10 %? 4. What's the
meaning of 5.1.5 ? Does it mean grinding aids? 5. What's the purpose the us government revised
the specification like this? For the reduction of CO2 emission? I really thank you for your help up
to now! Best Regards.
Dear Obong, The short answer is I don't knnow exactly. I presume the reference to water
or calcium sulphate is saying that the calcium sulphate addition might be gypsum with 2
molecules of water of crystallisation. I think inorganic processing additions are pfa, gbs, etc.
so the same as limestone. As far as I I am aware the total additions are 10%, including the
gypsum. I think organic processing additions are grinding aids and organic quality
improvers. I don't know the motives of ASTM or the US Government but this seems to be a
move towards EN197 CEM I cements.
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Q: Intensity of kiln feed
Hi sir How we can get the analyze of material , from intensity of kiln feed? Best regard
I presume you mean the intensify of the fluorescent X-radiation from a kiln feed sample
in X-ray fluorescense spectrometer. These are calibrated so that the SiO2, Al2O3, Fe3O3,
CaO, etc.content of the kiln feed is correlated with the X-ray intensity.
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