When ACC decided to replace coal with petcoke as the main fuel for its kilns at the Gagal works, the vertical E-mills required a high power input as they ran for extended periods. To reduce grinding time and hence save power expenditure, the cement producer called upon Walchandnagar Industries Ltd to design, engineer, manufacture, supply and install a vertical roller mill for petcoke grinding. By L N Kshirsagar, Walchandnagar Industries Ltd and Rajeev Shrivastava, ACC Ltd, India.
In March 2013 India-based Walchandnagar Industries Ltd (WIL) was awarded the EPC contract for a 20tph vertical roller mill (VRM) to grind petcoke at ACC’s Gagal cement plant in Barmana, Himachal Pradesh, northern India. WIL was responsible for the complete design, engineering, manufacturing, supply, civil and structural work, fabrication and erection of all mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and control equipment for the plant. The cement works operates two kilns with a total clinker capacity of 9250tpd (4350 + 4950tpd) and a cement capacity of 4.4Mta.
