Izmir Cimentas has ordered high-performance air cannons to replace an under-performing existing system.  The new air cannon network resolves build-up issues that previously needed manual removal on a daily basis, which required at least two hours’ maintenance each time, as well as a monthly slowdown for a major cleaning. 

To address the material build-up issue, the plant decided to have a detailed survey performed by Martin Engineering technicians, who inspected the preheaters and planned out a solution that included upgrading all air cannons on the entire preheater tower of the 3rd line with Martin Engineering air cannons.  On 15 January, 2010, a purchase order was received from Cimentas headquarters of Turkey, with a tentative installation date in mid-March.

However, just three days later, officials from the plant said that they hoped to use an outage of just 10 days to install the air cannons, starting immediately. Martin Engineering Turkey placed a rush on the order, delivering 50 high temperature nozzles, 50 air cannons and a variety of pneumatic components and control systems to the plant within a few working days.

Since the air cannon installation was completed in February, 2010, no manual cleaning has been needed in the entire preheater tower. Plant officials relayed positive references to another Cimentas plant in Turkey, leading to a similar system being installed at the Cimentas Elazig plant.