Cemex establishes new record, Philippines
Cemex in the Philippines has established a new record for cement production in its SOLID plant, thanks to a series of efficiency improvements. On March 10 of this year, the plant produced 6467t of cement, topping the previous record of 6,139t set in March 2005.
The changes implemented in the plant consisted of two main projects. First, a modification to the calciner to improve the combustion process to increase production in the kiln as well as increased use of local coal, reducing the need for more expensive imported fuels. They also made modifications to the vortices of several of the cyclones in the plant’s preheater to improve collection efficiency and increase heat exchange, which lowered energetic consumption by 30-40kcal/kg of clinker. Together, these two actions resulted in an increased clinker production of 10%, equivalent to 100,000tpa of clinker; this increase in production made it possible for SOLID to reduce the expense of shipping clinker from the Cemex APO plant located in Cebu Island, 300km Southwest from Manila.
Secondly, looking to lower clinker factor in cement, during the past few years Cemex Philippines has been increasing production of blended cement based on pozzolana addition, but grinding wet pozzolana drastically affects cement mill performance. To address that problem the company developed a project to install a pozzolana dryer. This resulted in an improvement in cement mill performance by increasing the plant’s grinding capacity by 19%, which translates to a production increase of 300,000tpa of cement.
“Our expert technicians assessed the situation and found great ways to optimise efficiency and increase production. The modification of the calciner and preheater proved 100% successful, as did the proposal to dry pozzolana,” says Jaime Ruiz de Haro, President of Cemex Philippines and Asia Region. “None of this would have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our people.”
Published under Cement News
