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Main features
• Highly reliable F.L.Smidth offers a range of six standard Preference is commonly given to the cooling
KILN SYSTEMS
systems for any dry-process kiln systems, each with its of clinker in the SF Cross-Bar™ cooler in
production level unique advantages depending upon the which the two main functions, conveying
particular application. In this way we are and cooling of clinker, are completely sepa-
• A wide range of able to provide the industry with the most rated. The introduction of stationary air dis-
calciner systems to suitable kiln system configuration for any tribution plates with self-regulating
suit specific require- given set of conditions and requirements. mechanical flow regulators (MFR) has revo-
ments lutionized cooler operation.
F.L.Smidth has supplied over 2500 rotary
• Highly efficient low kiln systems and more than 3500 clinker This brochure describes each of the six pre-
pressure cyclones coolers. This experience, coupled with the heater/calciner system configurations in
latest advances in pyroprocessing system detail and presents general guidelines for
• Effective emission design, makes our technology the logical their selection depending upon capacity
control technology choice for both new installations and mod- requirements and whether the system is
ernisation of existing cement making facilities. new or an upgrade of an existing installa-
• Optimized fuel and tion. System components other than
power consumption In modern cement plants, raw meal is pre- cyclones and calciners are dealt with in sepa-
heated to calcination temperature in a mul- rate brochures that describe their mechanical
• Suitable for waste ti-stage cyclone preheater and most of the and operational features.
fuels calcination process takes place in a separate-
ly fired calciner. The remaining calcination
• Compact, space-saving and clinkerization process takes place in a
preheater designs short length-to-diameter rotary kiln without
internals.
• Matching state-of-
the-art technologies
for clinkerization,
cooling and firing:
ROTAX-2 two-support
kiln, SF Cross-Bar™
clinker cooler and
Duoflex kiln burner
280° C
100° C
4· Dry process kiln systems
1349_M_FLS_DryProcessKiln 28/11/02 9:16 Side 5
840° C
280° C
100° C
1000° C
280° C
SLC-D:
Separate Line Calciner – Downdraft
Special advantages Features
• High material and gas retention times in • Normal capacity range: 1500-6000 tpd,
the calciner/ combustion chamber whose with multiple strings > 10,000 tpd.
dimensions are minimal since the kiln • Firing in calciner: 55-60%.
gases do not pass through it. • Bypass of kiln gas: 0-60%.
• Very well suited for all fuel types, espe- • Maximum bypass regulation range: 30%.
cially low-volatile fuels, as the combustion • Calcination at kiln inlet: 90-95%.
in the calciner takes place in hot atmos-
pheric air and the combustion tempera-
ture in the calciner can be controlled
independently of the temperature of the
calcined material fed to the kiln.
• Low NOx operation is possible.
• Smallest possible tower dimensions, as
the calciner can be installed separately
from the cyclone tower.
• Especially well suited for retrofits of
existing SP or ILC preheaters due to
very short down time.
1000° C
280° C
100° C
1000° C
280° C
100° C
1000° C
280° C
100° C
Dry process kiln systems · 9
1349_M_FLS_DryProcessKiln 28/11/02 9:16 Side 10
systems always have at least two tion of these fuels. Special fuels, and partially fused. For this reason,
preheater strings and, therefore, will however, require special considera- a precalcining system is always pre-
normally only be considered for tions when selecting the appropriate ferred when using low-grade coals
capacities above 5000 tpd. kiln system configuration: because the total input ash content
to the kiln burning zone is greatly
Tables 1a and 1b show the six different Low-volatile fuels reduced. Each type of fuel should
preheater/ precalciner configurations Fuels such as anthracite, petroleum be considered separately. Typically,
as a function of production capacity coke, and other low-reactive fuels the lower limit for net heating value
along with standard kiln sizes. The SP pose no problem in the kiln which can be 3800 kcal/kg for the calciner
kiln system is also shown for compari- operates at a high temperature. The and 4000 kcal/kg for the kiln.
son, although this would not normally kiln burner, however, should be of
be a preferred solution for a new the modern flame-shaping type, Alternative fuels
installation. such as the DUOFLEX, which has a Combustible waste products can be
suitable flow pattern that ensures used in all kiln systems as a substi-
Operation and maintenance rapid and stable ignition. tute for fossil fuels, provided that
These days, precalciner systems are such substitution does not result in
generally preferred to SP-type kiln The use of low-volatile fuels in calcin- negative consequences for the kiln
systems due to the fixed degree of ers (that usually operate at a temper- system operation.
calcination of the material entering ature around 900°C) can cause prob-
the kiln and the shorter material lems unless the system is provided Each type of waste product must
retention time in the system. Longer with a high-temperature calciner. All therefore be assessed on an
lining life and lower kiln refractory our calciner systems are suited for individual basis, by evaluation of the
weight enable precalcining kiln sys- the use of low-volatile fuels as they impact on clinker quality, production
tems to remain in operation for are designed to allow raising the tem- capacity, kiln system stability and
longer periods than SP kilns, thus perature in the combustion chamber emissions. Also health and safety
reducing down time and refractory without affecting the rest of the sys- issues must be taken into conside-
costs. tem. This is accomplished by means of ration.
a dividing gate that leads a relatively
Generally, the maintenance costs of large amount of raw meal to the cal- For many solid waste products, the
a single-string kiln system are lower ciner and/or the kiln riser duct. physical size may be a challenge. For
than those of a double-string kiln slow-reacting waste products the
system. Consequently, a single- Low-calorific fuels SLC-D system might be suitable,
string preheater is always preferable Fuels with high ash content rarely due to the possibility of high-tem-
to a double-string preheater for cause problems in the calciner perature calciner operation.
small-to-medium production capaci- because the ash is intimately mixed However, high temperature opera-
ties, provided there are no tower into the raw meal as a consequence tion can also be introduced in the
height limitations. of the turbulence and high material SLC type of calciners.
retention time. However, the use of
Fuel types and grades such fuels for kiln firing can cause Some solid waste products must
All F.L.Smidth kiln systems can be problems such as (1) the inability to always be pretreated before feed-
fired with natural gas, heavy fuel oil, reach sufficiently high flame temper- ing to the kiln or calciner. The
standard coal grades or a combina- ature, and (2) the non-homoge- traditional method is to operate
neous mixing of ash into the kiln costly shredding and grinding sys-
charge which is already nodulised tems, but for the ILC system a HOT-
DISC reactor may be used instead.
DUOFLEX Kiln burner. This is a combustion chamber inte-
grated with the calciner, allowing
for direct firing of lumpy waste
products at high substitution rates.
Heat efficiency
Table 2: Heat consumption, pressure drop & power consumption ( no kiln bypass )
The specific heat consumption of the vari-
SLC-kiln 5000 t/d ILC kiln 3000 t/d ous kiln systems depends mainly on the size
(SF Cooler) (SF Cooler) of the kiln, the number of preheater stages,
Heat balance in (kcal/kg clinker) 5-stage 6-stage 5-stage 6-stage the rate of kiln bypass (if any), the raw mix
Heat in exhaust gas and dust 153 132 149 130 composition, and the fuel type.
+ radiation loss from preheater 34 39 31 35
+ radiation loss from kiln 19 19 23 23 Table 2 shows typical heat balances for five-
+ heat of reaction 405 405 405 405 stage and six-stage SLC and ILC kiln systems.
+ free water 5 5 5 5 As shown, the specific heat consumption of
+ VDZ cooler loss 107 109 113 115 the six-stage preheater system is 10 kcal/kg
+ heat of clinker at amb. temp. 3 3 3 3 clinker lower than that of the equivalent
- heat in raw meal, air and fuel 30 30 30 30 five-stage system. By comparison, the specific
- combustibles in raw meal 8 8 8 8 heat consumption of the five-stage preheater
= Net specific heat consumption 688 674 691 678 system is 20-25 kcal/kg clinker lower than
K-C K-C that of the equivalent four-stage system.
Exhaust gas temperature (C) 294 256 293 258
Pressure loss preheater (mmWG) 305 360 305 360 Pressure drop and
Pressure loss in the rest of the system 45-140 45-140 160 160 power consumption
Total pressure loss (mmWG) 350-445 405-500 465 520 The most power-consuming parts of a kiln
Power consumption (kWh/t clinker) system are the Induced Draft gas fan
ID fan(s) 5,0 5,4 5,3 5,7 motor(s), the cooler fan motors and the kiln
Cooler (drive + fans+ crusher) 5,5 5,5 5,5 5,5 drive motor.
Kiln drive 2,1 2,1 2,1 2,1
Primary air fan 1,0 1,0 1,0 1,0 The power consumption of the ID gas fan(s)
Cooler vent system 1,4 2,2 1,7 1,1 mainly depends on the total pressure drop in
Total specific power consumption 15,0 16,2 15,6 15,4 the kiln system. Most of this pressure drop
(1) (2) (2) (1) occurs in the preheater. Increasing the pre-
heater cyclone dimensions will reduce the
Table 2: Typical process values of SLC and ILC kilns pressure drop, but for any given preheater
with five and six-stage preheaters.
geometry stable preheater operation (with-
(1) Includes electrostatic precipitator, vent fan and out raw meal falling through the riser ducts)
dust conveying system. requires a certain minimum pressure drop.
The Low Pressure (LP) cyclone, a standard
(2) Includes fabric filter, heat exchanger, vent fan
and dust conveying system. component in all FLS kiln systems, was deve-
loped to ensure a low pressure drop in the
preheater while maintaining high efficiency
and reasonably small cyclone dimensions.
It also shows a comparison between the two volatile concentration in the gases of a pre-
modern types of cooler venting systems calcining system which is caused by the
(electrostatic precipitator versus fabric filter lower specific gas flow through the kiln, see
and heat exchanger). table 3.
For many years, costs have favoured the use If the volatile components in the raw mix
of electrostatic precipitators (EP) for this pur- (and fuel) are higher than these upper limits,
pose because of the higher running costs of the kiln system must be equipped with a
fabric filters (FF) in terms of power consump- bypass that enables extracting some of the
tion and maintenance (bag replacement). kiln gas from the system before it reaches
However, with the tightening of emission the preheater. In this way, internal circula-
standards, FF will tend to be preferred for tion of volatile components is reduced.
cooler venting installations, because the EP Bypassing a few per cent of the kiln gases is
size increases proportionately with tighter sufficient to reduce the internal circulation
emission standards, while the FF size remains of chloride in the kiln system to an accept-
constant. able level.
limit to the acceptable content of the various ILC, SLC & SLC-I
Cyclone preheater
All six kiln systems are supplied with a four- mulate and this, in turn, ensures smooth
stage, five-stage, or six-stage cyclone pre- operation.
heater equipped with Low Pressure (LP)
cyclones. The lowermost cyclone (exposed to gas
temperatures of about 900°C) is equipped
The unique design of the LP cyclone ensures with a cast, segmented central pipe (thimble)
high thermal efficiency and low pressure drop of special alloy which maximizes thermal
while enabling moderate preheater tower efficiency while ensuring long life.
dimensions.
The central pipe is easy to install and, because
A four-stage preheater can be designed for it consists of segments, will fit any size of
The segmented central
pipe (thimble). a pressure drop down to 250 mm WG across cyclone both in new and existing preheaters.
the preheater itself, while a five-stage pre-
heater can be designed for a pressure drop To prevent the gas from bypassing up through
down to 305 mm WG at nominal capacity. the material chutes between the individual
Even with these low nominal pressure drops, cyclone stages, the chutes are equipped
the preheaters operate smoothly down to with tipping valves. Distribution boxes with
70-80% of rated capacity without increasing adjustable spreader plates ensure correct
the percentage of excess air. material distribution in the individual riser
ducts. Change-over gates and dividing gates
Since the LP cyclones have no horizontal are used to efficiently distribute the raw meal.
surfaces on the inside, no material will accu-
drawn through a separate tertiary air duct. So, by feeding a relatively larger amount of
Because the kiln combustion gases do not raw meal to the kiln riser duct and keeping
pass through the calciner, the calciner size the fuel input to the calciner constant, the
can be reduced to attain the required gas mean temperature in the calciner vessel can
velocity and retention time. This often be brought up to 9500 – 10500C. The tem-
results in a shorter preheater structure (and perature of the exit gas and the degree of
a shorter erection period for retrofits) since calcination of the raw meal leaving the cal-
the calciner can be readily situated outside ciner will increase accordingly. However, when
of the preheater structure. mixing with the kiln exhaust gas that contains
uncalcined raw meal, the temperature of the
In the SLC configuration, the hot tertiary air gas/particle suspension falls to approximately
from the cooler enters the calciner through 900oC. So a normal temperature level is
the central inlet in the bottom cone and maintained in the calciner cyclone. Similarly,
leaves through either a side outlet or (in a normal degree of calcination of 90-95%
case high temperature operation is planned) is maintained for the raw meal supplied to
through an outlet cone connected to a cen- the kiln.
tral outlet pipe.
The higher temperature in the calciner
In the SLC-I configuration, a SLC calciner ensures effective combustion of even low- SLC Calciner
is built parallel to the kiln riser duct as reactive fuels and helps to greatly minimize
described above and a second ILC calciner fuel NOx formation.
is built into the kiln riser duct. This design
effectively destroys thermal NOx generated The calciners of the SLC and SLC-I systems
in the burning zone of the kiln. Fuel NOx are characterized by a vortex formation in
generated in the calciner is effectively mini- the bottom cone, ensuring effective mixing
mized through high temperature operation. of raw meal, fuel and tertiary air for a high
particle-to-gas retention time ratio.
A unique feature of the high temperature
calciner system is the fact that the tempera-
ture inside the calciner is independently
controlled by the position of the gate that
divides the raw meal flow to the calciner
and to the kiln riser duct, respectively.
1349_M_FLS_DryProcessKiln 28/11/02 9:16 Side 18
State-of-the-art systems
State-of-the-art systems
Designing equipment and systems for the Table 4: Examples of F.L.Smidth plants operating with low heat consumption
Heat balance (kcal/kg clinker)
manufacture of cement has always been a
challenging task due to the variations in raw Plant location Plant A Plant B Plant C Plant D
materials, the multitude of cement products Mexico Indonesia USA Thailand
required for the marketplace, and the need Heat in exhaust gas and dust 134 184 135 182
to minimize investment costs. In addition, Heat in free water evaporation 2 2 5 4
integrating high-efficiency concepts with Heat in bypass gas 0 0 39 0
the requirement for reliability has tended to Radiation loss from preheater 37 22 48 35
inhibit the development of new machinery Radiation loss from kiln 28 31 44 25
and systems. However, widespread accept- Total cooler loss 132 125 113 124
ance of preheater and precalciner systems Heat of reaction 374 384 320 360
has created the opportunity to evolve to the Free heat from air, fuel and feed -30 -29 -31 -33
present high level of efficiency and reliability. Net specific heat consumption 677 719 673 697
(651 w/o bypass)
Table 4 clearly reflects the trend towards
large single production lines and previously
unheard-of low levels of fuel consumption Plant A – 6-stage ILC preheater w/2-support kiln and conventional cooler (3000 MTPD)
Plant B – 4-stage SLC-I preheater w/conventional cooler (7800 MTPD)
for the modern dry processes. Plant C – 6-stage ILC preheater w/SF Cross-Bar cooler and 15% operating bypass (3700 MTPD)
Plant D – 5-stage SLC preheater w/ conventional cooler (10,000 MTPD)
In the case of F.L.Smidth, the evolution of
our designs has been driven by the continuing
performance evaluation of existing systems,
coupled with feedback which has identified By utilising its extensive mechanical and
the obstacles to achieving optimum perform- plant design capabilities, F.L.Smidth has
ance of every system component. This has been able to implement the necessary mo-
been particularly true for kiln system upgrad- difications with minimum interruption to
es and modernisation projects. It is com- the plant's normal operations. In this way,
monplace for F.L.Smidth to audit the per- the “state of the art” has been advanced
formance of kiln systems before and after for existing plants as well as greenfield
modification. In the process of establishing facilities.
the potential modification scenarios, each
preheater stage, the kiln, cooler and other
system auxiliaries are analysed and compared
to the standards of performance being
achieved by the most modern systems that
have been installed by F.L.Smidth worldwide.
Some of the more notable achievements of
these projects are shown in table 4.
Data in this brochure is intended for preliminary project planning only. Manufacturer reserves the right to modify equipment details and/or specifications without notice.
12-02-271 Gramstrup Design ApS