Cement News tagged under: Tech Forum
Kiln emissions – more than just hot air01 February 2017, Published under Cement NewsIn last month’s Technical Forum we promised to return to the topic of cement kiln emissions, which were said to be both simple and complex, benign and noxious. The challenge is to see the broad simplicity, which then allows the increasing complexity to be understood. By Dr Michael Clark, UK. Kiln emissions include a wide range of gases – some benign but others noxious At the macro level cement kiln emissions are indeed simple. The raw materials used for manufacturing clinker are... |
Optimising a dynamic process04 January 2017, Published under Cement NewsThe cement production process is dynamic, with substantial opportunities for optimisation, improving plant productivity as well as profitability. Cemtech Technical Workshops are an important way of disseminating this information among plant staff and have proven highly successful. We take a look at what lies ahead in the 2017 programme of Cemtech Workshops. By Dr Michael Clark, UK. Participants can nominate their own priorities during some aspects of the Cemtech Technical Workshops ... |
Who is responsible for what?07 December 2016, Published under Cement NewsDr Clark turns his thoughts to the human resources-related aspects of operating, maintaining and managing a cement plant. Understanding roles and responsibilities is the first step in effective human resource management The primary topics for the Technical Forum are the technical aspects of manufacturing cement, the operating specifics and requirements of cement factories and the equipment found in cement plants. However, we can lose sight of the fact that those production facil... |
Who is responsible for what?07 December 2016, Published under Cement NewsDr Clark turns his thoughts to the human resources-related aspects of operating, maintaining and managing a cement plant. Understanding roles and responsibilities is the first step in effective human resource management The primary topics for the Technical Forum are the technical aspects of manufacturing cement, the operating specifics and requirements of cement factories and the equipment found in cement plants. However, we can lose sight of the fact that those production facil... |
Coal classification07 November 2016, Published under Cement NewsDr Clark understands that the accepted ways of classifying different types of coal have led to complications when plant personnel have been required to estimate the specific thermal energy consumption of cement kilns. The accepted ways of coal classification are not always useful in estimating the volume of this fuel required to fire the kiln Cement manufacturing is a capital-intensive industry where control of costs is paramount. To recover the capital investment required to... |
Biomass matters24 October 2016, Published under Cement NewsWhen accounting for CO 2 emissions from the manufacture of cement clinker it is important to know the biomass content of the fuels used to fire the cement kiln, as that biomass content is deemed to be ‘carbon neutral’ and therefore does not count in the CO 2 emission. The biomass content of alternative fuels is key in determining the carbon neutrality of the fuel As this month’s Technical Forum is being written, China and the USA have announced their ratification of the Paris ... |
How do blending beds stack up?27 September 2016, Published under Cement NewsDr Clark tackles the science behind longitudinal blending beds for crushed raw materials. He discusses the part played by blending time, bed dimensions, volume, layering and stacker speed in the effectiveness of the blending bed. Blending beds smooth the variation in raw materials before they are ground in the raw mill to produce the kiln feed The vast majority of modern cement plants have some sort of blending bed for smoothing the variation in the raw materials before they are... |
It's all about the costs26 August 2016, Published under Cement NewsDr Clark considers the value of measuring and comparing the costs of making cement as the first step to optimising, ie minimising, those outlays as he discusses cost benchmarking and optimisation. Raw materials can be cheaper to extract with bulldozers The Technical Forum has covered many technical topics related to the production of cement over the years. However, we must always keep in mind that cement-making companies and factories must also be money-making operations to s... |
A self-cleaning process11 April 2016, Published under Cement NewsDr Clark is inspired by two examples from International Cement Review and Cemtech that demonstrate the potential for the cement kiln process to be modified to continuously clean itself of potential emissions, prompting thoughts of which other ways the process can or can be made to clean itself. Smart plant design such as at St Marys Cement’s Bowmanville plant, Canada, helps to reduce the environmental impact and costs of cement production The inspiration for this month’s Tech... |
Red rivers of segregation09 March 2016, Published under Cement NewsThis month’s Technical Forum ponders the tendency of particulate solids to segregate at various stages of the cement manufacturing process with critical implications, especially in the clinker cooler. Red rivers are caused by particle segregation in the cement production process and can cause premature equipment failure As this month’s Technical Forum focusses on the phenomenon of segregation in the cement manufacturing process, let’s start with a definition of segregation. ... |