Environmental protection and the conservation of natural resources are key components of the Lafarge Group’s commitment to sustainable development. As such, during the winter 2012-13 shutdown of its Cizkovice cement works in the Czech Republic, the company carried out an extension of the calciner, which was completed in April this year and set a new milestone in the plant’s technical development. By Lafarge, Czech Republic.
The Lafarge Cizkovice works was one of the first cement plants in the Czech Republic to use alternative fuels at the end of the 1980s.
The original calciner in the five-stage preheater, dating back to 1995, was designed to burn heavy oil. To increase flexibility in terms of fuel use and to conserve natural resources, the fuel mix at the plant was modified and heavy oil was replaced by solid waste-derived alternative fuels (AF).
However, to improve the burning process and improve the entire system’s heat efficiency, changes had to be made.“The thermal energy of the AF could not be used completely with this type of combustion process,” explained plant manager, Jan Votava. “The main purpose of the project was to extend the calciner’s length by 30m, leading to an increase of the combustion gas residence times in the calciner by 50 per cent,” he added.
