Cement News tagged under: manufacturing technology
Kiln feed and clinker quality16 December 2013, Published under Cement NewsCommissioning a new cement plant generally centres around the performance in terms of tonnes per day, kWh/t, or other operational matters. It is easy to lose sight of the need to achieve the required quality while fulfilling these other requirements. The following article describes a case study of quality issues and the means of improvement during the commissioning of a 4000tpd precalciner kiln. Coarse (brown) alite crystals, coarse prismatic C3A and degraded alite indicating poor-qua... |
Consistent, reliable results26 November 2013, Published under Cement NewsQuality control has been automated to such an extent that we run the severe risk of turning into a generation of button-pushing operators instead of thinking analytical scientists. It is imperative that analytical scientists responsible for the quality control in a plant remain vigilant and regularly evaluate their data because automated sampling systems, plant process control systems, analytical equipment and data management systems need so little human input once set up correctly. By Maggi... |
Alternative binder advances13 November 2013, Published under Cement NewsDue to increasing environmental regulations, cement producers are striving to replace even larger parts of the Portland cement with low-carbon alternative cementitious materials. Highly- to moderately-reactive cementitious materials such as slag, fly ash or partial inert fillers (limestone) are predominantly used as replacement constituents but their limited availability and the requirement to meet performance criteria restrict the use of these substitutes. However, the development of new al... |
Optimising filter media28 October 2013, Published under Cement NewsAs environmental regulations are tightened and pollution control equipment is required to function at higher efficiencies, baghouse performance and maintenance is becoming increasingly important. The operational efficiency of baghouse dust collection systems can be improved by integrating all dust collection system controls. By Vahid Mirsaiidi, FilterSense, USA. Figure 1: B-PAC integrated baghouse control, sensing and diagnostic system At a time when plant managers are looking t... |
Revamping Rezzato22 October 2013, Published under Cement NewsAs Italcementi looks forward to celebrating the groups 150th anniversary next year, the company plans for the future via a series of key investments. Following the firm's report earlier this month on its modernisation project at Devnya Cement , Bulgaria, Italcementi now offers an update on its progress at its Rezzato plant in Italy. By Italcementi, Italy. Rezzato under construction Italcementi is Italy’s leading building materials company and largest cement producer with a 30 p... |
Fly ash or GGBS?21 October 2013, Published under Cement NewsFly ash and ground granulated blastfurnace slag (GGBS) are regarded as conventional cement constituents in much of the world. The proportions used in concrete-making vary quite considerably and the price of the material is key when it comes to producing a cubic metre of concrete to the required specification at the lowest possible cost. Blastfurnace slag, a by-product of the iron-making process, is rapidly quenched if it is to be used in the manufacture of GGBS The terminolog... |
Thoughtful design09 October 2013, Published under Cement NewsGood cement plant design reconciles a plant’s functional demands with the need for a sustainable environment for the local community. A well-considered design should bring together productivity targets while taking into account the plant’s urban context, surrounding landscape and architecture – all key elements of thoughtful cement plant design. By Thierry Bogaert, Bogaert Architecture, France. When designing a cement plant, as well focussing on productivity targets it is also import... |
Modernising for the future08 October 2013, Published under Cement NewsNext year marks the Italcementi Group’s 150th anniversary. Despite the current economic difficulties that are heavily impacting the construction materials sectors, particularly in industrialised countries, the global cement major remains committed to improving competitiveness, efficiency and environmental performance in its industrial network. During this milestone year the modernisation of the Devnya works in Bulgaria is one of the company's key investments as it looks ahead to a long, sus... |
Cement mill output11 September 2013, Published under Cement NewsFollowing the Cemtech Asia technical workshop in Jakarta in June, Dr Clark decides that the blended cement workshop needs to be expanded to cover broader topics. Starting by considering the reasons for the current proliferation of mini-cement grinding plants around the world, he then moves onto the technical aspects of how energy consumption and output of a cement grinding system can be predicted. The output of the mill can easily be predicted by knowing the energy consumption of t... |
Unleashing dry bulk potential23 August 2013, Published under Cement NewsThe use of advanced automation technologies in the dry-bulk industry has become a key success factor to establish an efficient, high-quality and competitive supply chain that is significantly improving the ‘capital-efficient tonne’ output. Optimised and unmanned operation of dry-bulk equipment now receives assistance from FLSmidth as the company offers its BulkExport™ solution. By FLSmidth, Denmark. There are currently more than 30 BulkExpert systems in operation with various combinat... |