Waste Heat Recovery- Practical Solutions for Cement Plants

Gerald L Young, N. Jayaraman, Jayanta Saha and Dr. Suchismita Bhattacharya PENTA Engineering Corp., St. Louis, USA PENTA India Cement & Minerals Private Limited, Mumbai, India

SUMMARY

Due to process involved, cement industry requires very high electrical as well as thermal energy. Modern plants on an average take ~ 100 kWh of electric energy per ton of OPC production which is on higher side compared to old wet process plants. Advances in pyro technology have brought down the heat consumption of ~ 1400 kcal/kg clinker for wet process kilns to even < 700 kcal/ kg clinker for state of the art dry process kilns. Around 400 kcal/ kg clinker is required as heat of reaction for clinkerisation. The rest is needed to cover losses from radiation (~ 60 kcal/ kg clinker), cooler (~ 105 kcal/ kg clinker) and preheater exhaust (~ 160 kcal/ kg clinker). Around 30 kcal/ kg clinker comes from material and fuel as free heat. As a standard practice, part of heat from preheater/ cooler exhaust is utilised for raw material/ fuel drying. This paper will quantify, in detail, the waste heat that is actually available in cement plants and describe options for recuperating this waste heat for various location-based useful purposes. Among all applications, power generation from waste heat has become most popular. Cogeneration potential ranging from 3.0 to 20.0 MW (20- 30 KWh/ton clinker) exists in different plants depending upon the temperature, quantity of waste gases from preheater (PH) and cooler exhaust and raw materials/ fuel moisture content. The paper will also describe how waste heat can be utilised in multiple effect desalination (MED) plants to produce desalinated water.
1.0 INTRODUCTION The cement industry is highly energy intensive. Thermal energy required per ton of OPC is about 0.70 Mil.K.Cal and is generally supplied by fuels like coal, pet coke, gas or fuel oil. Electric power requirement of ~100 kWh/ tonne of OPC can be supplied from the electricity grid or through captive power plants depending on the facility available with the cement plant. Since the gaseous exhaust streams (from the preheater and the clinker cooler) are hot (200-400 C), it makes sense to investigate the possiblility of using this waste energy. Waste heat produced in cement manufacturing facilities can be captured and put to use to produce steam for desalination or generating power (Bottom Cycle Cogeneration) or power can be generated using an onsite engine or turbine and its waste heat can be captured and used for some industrial process such as drying, preheating, and cooling (Top Cycle Cogeneration). This paper focuses on Bottom Cycle Cogeneration in cement plants. Based on annual global clinker production and an assumption of the technical potential of heat recovery per ton of clinker, a theoretical maximum electricity generation from the global cement industry can be estimated. In a large cement plant, it is technically feasible to generate 20-30 kWh/ t clinker via bottom cycle cogeneration. This leads to a saving of around 10 kg of coal per tone of clinker and corresponding reduction in CO2 emissions. The technology for waste heat recovery is very mature in the Chinese cement industry as well as in Japan and Korea (20 years, over 70 installations). As per available reports, in India only 5 installations are in operation (refer Table 1). The intention of this paper is to show how waste heat
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recovery (WHR) can be engineered into existing cement production lines as well as for greenfield projects. Table 1: WHR Systems in Indian Cement Plants Location India Cements Vishnupuram, AP, 1800 + 5200 TPD J.K cement Nimbahera, RJ 1200 + 1800 + 4800 TPD KCP cments; Mancherla, AP, 1800 TPD Shree Cement, Beawar, Unit 1, I million TPA Ultratech, Tadipatri, AP MW Installed 7.7 steam turbine generator Rankine Cycle; 13.2 steam turbine generator 2.35 steam turbine generator Rankine Cycle; 5- 6 MW Steam generated 4 MW Organic Rankine Cycle, Vendor Kawasaki Heavy Industries Thermax boiler + Taiheiyo Engg. Corporation, Japan Transparent Energy Systems, Pune Transparent Energy Systems, Pune Transparent Energy Systems, Pune and ORMAT Systems

1.1

Heat Consumption in Cement Manufacturing Process

The cement kiln consumes heat < 700 kcal/ kg clinker in modern state of the art plants to about 800 kcal/ kg clinker in older dry process plants. A typical heat balance (Reference 0 C) for 6-stage ILC preheater with modern clinker cooler is given in Table 2. Table 2: Heat balance (relative to C) Parameter Heat of reaction Heat Loss from PH Gases Radiation loss from PH and kiln Cooler Loss Heat in with raw meal, air and fuel Total 1.2 Availability of Waste Heat kcal/ kg cli 400 160 60 105 -30 695

The PH gases exit the system at 275-350 C, while the excess air from the clinker cooler exits the system at 250-300 C. Increase in number of PH stages reduces the heat in the PH gases and consequently the fuel requirement. Clinker coolers with higher efficiency (73 to 78 %) also recuperate more heat from the hot clinker and consequently the amount/ temperature of cooler excess air is minimised. Table 3: Raw Material Drying Capacity of Waste Heat 100% Kiln Gases to Raw Mill Kiln Heat Consumption PH Exhaust Gas Temperature Exhaust gas Quantity Drying Capacity in a VRM running 20 hrs /day (@15 C ambient) kcal/kg cli C kg/kg cli %H2O 5 stage ILC 705-715 312 2.18 8.6 6 stage ILC 690-700 280 2.16 7.3

Waste heat from the preheater and clinker cooler is usually used for drying of raw materials and fuel. Depending on raw materials/ fuel moisture content, number of cyclone stages is selected. However, due to increase in electrical power consumption, number of cyclone stages is restricted to maximum six. Table 3 shows the maximum moisture that can be dried from raw material if 100 % PH gases are sent to raw mill. The remaining available heat is then may be considered for recovery. Steam or hot water production makes sense if there are industrial consumers or district heating in proximity to the cement plant. Preheating of raw material is usually more energy efficient than the cogeneration of electricity. Cogeneration systems convert thermal energy to electrical energy at about 30% efficiency (typically about 2504 kcal are required to produce 1 kWh (860 kcal)). 2.0 WHR TECHNOLOGY Waste heat is used to produce steam in a boiler which can be used to generate electricity, desalinate sea water and for other purposes like domestic heating etc. Power generation requires a heat recovery boiler and a turbine system and can be based on Steam Rankine cycle, Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) or Kalina process. Based on the chosen WHR process, 10-12 kWh/ t clinker can be produced from the cooler waste air and 11-15 kWh/ t clinker from the PH gases. Hence up to 25% of the power consumption of a cement plant can be produced by these technologies without changes in kiln operation. With suitable modification in kiln operation it may be possible to produce up to 30 kWh/t clinker. Power generation can be further increased by additional co-firing into the boiler. Some systems report generation of up to 45 kWh /t clinker. 2.1 Steam Rankine Cycle The steam turbine is the technology best known from power plants. In the Rankine cycle waste heat is supplied to vaporize the working fluid (water) in the boiler to a high pressure steam which expands in the turbine to produce electricity by rotating it. The expanded water vapour is condensed to low pressure liquid in the condenser and is recycled back to the boiler for continuing the cycle. A typical flow sheet is shown in Figure 1. In modern power plants an efficiency of 40-45% can be achieved, but the relatively low temperature of the waste heat in cement plants (200 -400C) limits the efficiency to a maximum of 20-25%. Technology suppliers are modifying the tubes of the boiler (vertical versus horizontal) to prevent dust accumulation on the tubes. Some heat recovery boilers are provided with dust rapping systems to periodically remove any accumulated dust especially for the PH boiler. Figure 1: Flow sheet of Typical Steam Turbine WHR System

2.2

Organic Rankine Cycle / Kalina Cycle

The ORC and the Kalina technologies use organic substances (pentane) or NH3 as cycling media which evaporate at lower temperatures and can therefore produce electricity at a lower temperature level than steam turbines. The efficiency however is on lower side. The ORC uses a high molecular mass organic fluid to recover heat from low temperature (<240 C) heat sources. The hot gas is passed through an oil heater, the hot oil is then pumped through a pentane circuit where pentane is vaporised. The high pressure pentane vapor expands in the turbine and generates power. Pentane is then cooled in an air condenser and recycled into the system. Figure 2 shows the schematic of such a system. Figure 2: Organic Rankine Cycle
Turbine Generator Working Fluid (Pentane) Vapors

Working Fluid (Pentane) Pump

Pentane Vaporiser Air Cooled Condenser CLINKER COOLER 230 C ESP Cooler Air 2.4 kg/ kg cl Cooler Fan Cooler Fan ~275 C 20-50 mg/m3 Oil Heater

Thermal Oil Pump

85 C 125 C To Stack

ESP Fan

In the Kalina cycle, the working fluid (82% ammonia in water mixture) is pressurised, preheated to 68 C and evaporated at 121 C by hot gas. The gas (rich in NH3) is then separated in a separator and used to drive a turbine and generate electricity. The water rich portion from the separator is used to preheat the working fluid and is then mixed with the ammonia rich vapour exhaust from the turbine and after recuperation of heat, the mixture is again adjusted to the working fluid proportion and recycled. The organic cycles are typically more expensive to install. The steam rankine cycle requires gases above 250C whereas the organic cycle can work well above 200C. Hence it is applied for clinker cooler vent gases. If it is possible to tune the cooler operation to raise the temperature of the excess air from sub 240 C to around 300 C, it may be possible to use the steam Rankine cycle. However, electricity generation is 30-50% more with the organic Rankine cycle. 2.3 Desalination

The waste heat from preheater and/ or clinker cooler can also be used to generate steam to carry out desalination by distillation in a multiple effect evaporator. Desalination is applicable in areas of low water availability and proximity to sea. Such an installation is in operation at Gujarat Cement Works of UltraTech Cement. During installation the clinker production was 6000 TPD from an SLC with 6 stage preheater and COOLAX grate cooler. 14 TPH of saturated steam at 8.8 kg/ cm2 pressure is produced from the waste heat recovery boiler.

In a typical design, the hot gases exiting the cooler vent fan are sent to a boiler to generate steam. The boiler exit gas can then be passed through an economiser to preheat evaporator inlet water. An induced draft fan is provided to meet the pressure drop encountered in the boiler, ducting and dampers. While designing the boiler tubes, suitable fouling factors have to be considered for minute amount of dust that is present in the cooler vent air (after cooler fan). Erosion allowance is to be considered along with corrosion allowance for the tubes. Appropriate control loops need to be installed to avoid operation fluctuations. 3.0 ESTIMATION OF POWER GENERATION In order to determine the amount of power that can be generated, the available energy from the gas streams must be estimated.

H EG = m EG Cp EG (TEG TBEG )
Where

H EG mEG

= enthalpy of exhaust gas, kcal/ kg clinker

= mass of exhaust gas, kg / kg clinker (2.1 for PH exit gases, 1.1 for cooler excess air)
= temperature of hot gas at boiler inlet, C

CpEG = heat capacity of exhaust gas, kcal/ kg C TEG TBEG

= Temperature of exhaust gas at boiler outlet, C

The total heat available, Qavailable (kcal/ hr) from cooler exit gases and PH exit gases is determined.

Qavailable = [H EG ,cooler + H EG ,Pr eheater ] mcli

QWHRSG = Qavailable Where mcli is the mass flow rate of clinker (kg/hr), QWHRSG is the energy that is generated (kcal/ hr) in the waste heat recovery steam generator (WHRSG) turbine system and is the efficiency of the
WHRSG (considered 20%). Further calculations are carried out to determine the heat required to dry raw material and fuel. Table 4 shows an estimate of the power generation from waste heat for a clinker production line of 1000 tpd. It can be seen that for a 5 stage PH system, the (PH) exit gases are warmer and hence 16% more power can be generated compared to a 6 stage PH system. The gases exiting the PH boiler (at 240 C) are used further to dry coal (12% H2O) and raw material (5% H2O). The estimate stands at a generation potential of 21 to 25kW hr/ ton of clinker. Table 4: Estimation of power generated from Waste Heat Parameter Clinker Capacity Ambient Temperature Exit temp of cooler excess air Cooler (AQC) gas quantity AQC gas Boiler exit Temp Heat available on Cooler Gas Units tpd C C Kg/kg clinker C kcal/kg clinker Value 1000 25 250 1.1 150 27.28

Table 4: Continued. Parameter Exit temp of preheater PH gas quantity Boiler exit Temp Heat available in PH gas Total Power @ 20% efficiency Power generation rate Power Generated Moisture in Raw meal/ product Specific Heat Consumption Coal Required @ 4200 kcal/kg coal Moisture in raw Coal/ fine coal Total Drying Heat from PH gas Final Temp of PH gas Heat available in PH gas Units C Kg/kg clinker C kcal/ kg clinker kcal/ kg clinker kcal/ kg clinker kcal/h kW Kwh/ton % kcal/ kg clinker kg/ kg clinker % kcal/ kg clinker C kcal/ kg clinker Value 5 stage 6 stage 340 315 2.1 240 240 52.08 39.06 79.36 66.34 15.87 13.27 661333 552833 1058 884 25.4 21.2 5/ 0.5 720 705 0.1886 0.1846 12 / 1 65.7 65.4 110 110 68 68

4.0 IMPACT OF WHR SYSTEM ON PLANT OPERATIONS The gas flow in a typical cement pyro system is shown in Figure 4. Depending on the existing layout of the plant and the control system, introduction of the WHR boiler will lead to modification in existing system and control philosophy. 4.1 Pyro System The kiln is operated at near atmospheric pressure. The PH ID fan is designed to supply the pressure drop required for the kiln gases to pass through the calciner and the cyclones. Cooler fans supply air (~2.4 kg air/ kg clinker) to the clinker cooler. Part of cooler air is drawn to the kiln as secondary air, part of the air is sent to calciner as tertiary air and the remaining portion exits the cooler as excess air and sent to stack via an ESP (or heat exchanger/ bag filter) and vent fan. The vent fan is designed to supply the pressure drop through the ducting after the cooler and through the cooler ESP. The variation in preheater exit temperature is within 5C during normal running. The cooler exit gas temperatures vary within 20C. Dust concentration in the preheater gas and the cooler exit gas varies from 35-125 g/ Nm3. Presence of dust in the gas can affect heat transfer rate by forming a coating over the tubes of the heat recovery boiler. Abrasive dust can lead to failure of tubes. Figure 4: Gas Flow in Typical Cement Pyro Process

4.2

Raw Mill / Coal Mill

The raw mill fan pulls the hot gases through the raw mill department- mill, separator, cyclones and dust collector. Details of the raw mill circuit are shown in Figure 5 for a ball mill and in Figure 6 for a Vertical Roller Mill (VRM). The main filter fan pulls the gases through the ducting and the main bag filter/ ESP to the stack. The coal mill circuit for a VRM is shown in Figure 7. Figure 5: Typical ball mill circuit (closed) Figure 6: Typical Vertical Roller Mill Circuit

Figure 7: Typical Vertical Roller Mill Circuit for Coal Mill

The gas flows through the raw mill and coal mill circuits are controlled through dampers and these circuits can be isolated/ bypassed when mills are not in use. The gases flowing through the raw mill department are generally returned to the main circuit and the main bag filter/ ESP. Bleed air dampers are provided for temperature control whenever a bag filter is used instead of an ESP. 4.3 Configuration of Preheater WHR Boilers The gas circuit after the PH consists of a downcomer, ID fan, main bag filter/ ESP and main filter fan. A gas conditioning tower (GCT) may be present after or before the ID fan. After the fan, take offs are provided for the coal mill and raw mill departments. The location of the preheater boiler for different ID fan configurations is shown in Figure 8 A, B and C. Ideally the PH boiler should be parallel to the GCT. If the WHR system is down, the GCT can be operated. The pressure drop in the boiler is to the tune of 80 to 120 mm WG. If boiler is placed before the ID fan and enough margin is available, then resizing of ID fan is not required for implementation of WHR system. If boiler is placed after the ID fan, the downstream fans should be capable of handling the boiler pressure drop for the PH gases or booster fan should be provided. If the boiler tubes are horizontal, they
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tend to take up more floor area compared to the vertical tube boiler. Hence it is imperative the check the feasibility of the boiler placement within the existing layout. Figure 8A: ID fan after GCT: Preheater boiler location

Figure 8B: ID fan before GCT bypass: Preheater boiler location

Figure 8C: ID fan before GCT: Preheater boiler location

4.4

Configuration of Clinker Cooler WHR Boilers

The excess gas from the clinker cooler leaves at 250 to 300 C. The steam turbine based waste heat recovery boilers (WHRB) are placed between the cooler and the de-dusting system. Various configurations are shown in Figure 9 A, B and C. If no modification is made to the cooler and the excess gas is ducted from the cooler exit to the WHRB, then the vent fan should have enough margin to supply the pressure drop in the heat recovery boiler. Otherwise the vent fan size has to be increased accordingly or booster fans have to be provided. As shown in Figures 9 B and C, mid taps can be taken from the cooler such that hot gas at 400450 C is taken to the WHRB, where as the rest of the cool gas at 100-115 C is sent directly to the ESP. In this case hotter air is available and steam can be generated at higher pressures, improving the efficiency of the Waste heat recovery system. Hence up to 15% more power can be generated for cooler systems with mid tap. The mid tap is positioned after the tertiary air take-off point and dampers are controlled in such a way that pressure is balanced within the clinker cooler. However in these cases an additional booster fan may be required to pull the gasses from the cooler mid section. Hence this reduces the net power generation from the waste heat recovery system. Part of the hot gases can be utilized for coal
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drying as shown in Figures 9-A and C. Since dusty gases are sent to the boiler, the boiler tubes must be designed for low dust accumulation and they should also withstand abrasion. Figure 9 A. Option 1: No Mid Tap

Figure 9 B. Option 2: Two Mid Taps and Booster Fans

Figure 9 C. Option 3: Single Mid Tap and booster fan

5.0 CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTATION Both existing cement plants and greenfield cement projects need to evaluate the potential for waste heat recovery. Placing of the boilers and ducts within the existing layout requires smart engineering. The PH ID fan and the cooler vent fan should be able to handle additional pressure drops and false air ingress. The cement plant exhaust gases are dusty and/or abrasive and hence WHR boilers should be designed in such a way that the tubes will not get fouled or clogged. Most boiler providers are coming up with solutions ranging from rapping of tubes to installation of dust collectors (cyclones) before the boilers. Variations in waste heat content of the gases with changes in raw material moisture content, or during operation have to be taken into account while designing the waste heat recovery system. The design, maximum and minimum conditions need to be determined correctly in order to achieve smooth running of the WHR generator system. Care should be taken while deciding final control philosophy. Financial barriers do exist as WHR project costs are in the range of 6-10 crores per MW generated. Hence the WHR projects may be financially viable only above a certain scale. However projected payback periods are in the range of 3-4 years. 6.0 CONCLUSION Though, except for a very few countries, implementation of waste heat recovery system in cement industry is at a nascent stage, tremendous potential exists for such systems. In places where water is a scarcity, recovered heat can be used to generate steam to run desalination plants. Conservative estimates indicate a power generation capacity of 21-25 kWh/ton of clinker from waste heat. Compared to China where the government promoted such technologies a couple of decades ago, few extraneous factors exist to encourage investments in such systems. Indian technology is not as mature as in China or Japan. It is therefore the onus of technology providers and engineering companies to guide cement plants owners about the potential hidden energy. 7.0 REFERENCES 1. Bell, Jeff, Concrete energy savings - on-site power for the worlds cement industry, Cogeneration and On-Site power production, May 2007. 2. CII, Manual on Waste Heat Recovery in Indian Cement Industry, published by CII & Asia Pacific Partnership at GreenTech Cement Conference, 2009. 3. ECRA, Development of State of the Art- techniques in Cement Manufacturing: trying to look ahead., CSI/ECRA Technology Papers, June 2009. 4. Engin, Tahsin and Ari, Vedat, Energy auditing and recovery for dry type cement rotary kiln systems- A case study, Energy Conversion and Management, 46(2005), pp 551-562. 5. Gharpure, S.S., Waste Heat Recovery Based Power generation in Cement Plants, Presented at Green Cementech 2009, Hyderabad. 6. Kawasaki Plant Systems, Ltd, Waste Heat Recovery Power Generation (WHRPG) for Cement Plants, Presentation at Mexico, November 2007. 7. Legmann, Hilel and Citrin, David, Low Grade Heat Recovery, World Cement, April, 2004. 8. Pradeep Kumar, Cogeneration of Power through Waste Heat Recovery in Cement Plants Overview and prospects, NCCBM, New Delhi. 9. Thermax, Ltd., Waste Heat Recovery system for cement industry, Presented at Green Cementech at Hyderabad, April 2008.

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