You are on page 1of 13

Manufacture of Cement

Portland cements are hydraulic cements composed primarily of hydraulic calcium silicates.
Cement, or Portland cement, is defined as "a hydraulic cement, obtained by burning a mixture of lime and clay to form
a clinker, then pulverizing the clinker into powder. The greenish gray powder is composed primarily of calcium
silicates, calcium aluminates, and calcium ferrites. When mixed with water (Hydrated), it solidifies to an artificial rock,
similar to Portland stone." A Portland Stone is a yellow limestone from the Isle of Portland, in Great Britain.
Portland cements are hydraulic cements composed primarily of hydraulic calcium silicates. Hydraulic cements set and
harden by reacting chemically with water. During this reaction, called hydration, cement combines with water to form a
stonelike mass. When the paste (cement and water) is added to aggregates (sand and gravel, crushed stone, or other
granular material) it acts as an adhesive and binds the aggregates together to form concrete, the world's most versatile
and most used construction material. Concrete is a mixture of gravel, sand and cement. Concrete is NOT cement, but it
is made with cement.
Cement manufacturing is the basic processing of selected and prepared mineral raw materials to produce the synthetic
mineral mixture (clinker) that can be ground to a powder having the specific chemical composition and physical
properties of cement. Cement manufacture, like many other manufacturing processes, begins at the mine, where the raw
materials like limestone, silica, aluminates, ferric minerals and others are obtained.
Some typical materials used for calcium carbonate in cement manufacturing are limestone, chalks, marbles, marls,
and oyster shell.
Some typical materials used for alumina in the cement manufacturing are shale, clay, slags, fly ash, bauxite, alumina
process waste, and granite.
Some typical materials used for silica in cement manufacturing are sand, clay, claystone, shale, slag, and fly ash.
Some typical materials used for iron in cement manufacturing are iron ores, blast furnace flue dusts, pyrite clinker,
mill scale, and fly ash.

Manufacturing Processes - An Overview


Although there are several variations of commercially manufactured portland cement, they each share many of the same
basic raw materials and chemical components. Limestone, clay and sand are the most common raw materials,
representing calcium, silica, alumina and iron components. Calcium is derived from limestone, marl or chalk, while
silica, alumina and iron come from the sands, clays and iron ore sources. Other raw materials may include shale, shells
and industrial byproducts such as mill scale.
Two different manufacturing processes have become prevalent in the cement industry - "Wet Process" and "Dry
Process".
In most respects, these processes are the same, or very similar. However, "Wet Process" technology is older and begins
with the raw materials being ground and mixed with water, in a thick, liquid "slurry". In "Dry Process" technology, the
crushed limestone and raw materials are ground and mixed together without the addition of water.

Regardless of whether a cement plant is engineered for wet or dry processing, the raw material mix is pumped or
conveyed to a huge rotating furnace, known as the kiln. Essentially the heart and soul of the cement manufacturing
process, the kiln is a horizontal steel cylinder, lined with firebrick and sloped slightly downward, from the raw material
feed to the fuel feed supply and burner pipe. Typically, kilns will rotate at one to three revolutions per minute, heating
the raw material mix to a red-hot, 2,500-plus degree molten form that emerges from the lower end of the kiln in the
form of very hot, marble-sized chunks known as "clinker". Once out of the kiln, the clinker goes through a cooling
process. When cool, the clinker is ready to pass through a series of grinding and milling processes that result in the gray
powder we know as cement.
Modern cement plants featuring dry process technology are usually easy to recognize, for their shorter kilns and vertical
pre-heating towers that serve to efficiently heat the raw materials in cyclone chambers before entering the kiln. Wet
process plants, by contrast, feature longer kilns and large slurry tanks near the upper end of the kiln.
A cement kiln is a big rotating oven, typically 12 feet in diameter and 160 to 500 feet long depending upon the process
used. It can process up to 150 tons of raw material an hour while burning 12 tons of fuel an hour.

Raw materials - limestone, clay and sand - are fed to the kiln here.
Fossil fuels - coal, oil or natural gas - are fed to the kiln here. Liquid waste-derived fuel is also fed to the kiln at this
point.

As the raw materials move through the inclined, rotating kiln, they're heated to extremely high temperatures - 2,700
degrees Fahrenheit in this zone - and chemical reactions occur. The molecules become unglued and recombine to
form new compounds called "clinker."
The clinker leaves the kiln here to be cooled, mixed with gypsum, ground into a fine powder (cement), and then
trucked to the customer.
Gases produced by the process are used to preheat the raw materials.
Powdered limestone (90% of the raw material) scrubs the hot gases as they pass through the preheating section,
helping neutralize acid gases.
Kiln dust (partially processed raw material) is collected here and either fed back into the kiln with the raw
materials, recycled in other processes or disposed of.
Common gases which come mainly from the raw materials used in this process include carbon dioxide, nitrogen
and water vapor. Pollution control equipment is used to monitor and minimize the amount of emissions that result
from the burning process.

Ball Mill In A Cement Plant

You might also like