Vertical Roller Mills

Vertical Roller Mills

The term Vertical Mill denotes equipment with the following characteristics
A rotating, circular grinding table that turns around a vertical shaft Spherical, cylindrical, tapered rollers that are pressed on to roller paths on the surface of the table

A source of pressure on the rollers

A stream of gases flowing upwards around the table, entraining and drying the material A separator mounted directly on the mill housing

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Vertical Roller Mills in the TCEA zone

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20

Maroc; 5

Very common to grind fuel (FCB mill: E type)

Spain; 4

More and more common on Raw meal New on cement

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Nigeria; 1 Kenya; 1

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UK; 8 Maroc; 4

Spain; 2 5 UK; 2 France; 5 France; 2 France; 1 0 Fuel mill Raw Mill Cement Mill (Project) Spain; 1 UK; 1

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Vertical Roller Mills advantages and disadvantages

Advantages

Disadvantages

Very compact workshop Larger feed size

Investment cost Prone to vibrations

Better grinding efficiency and thus power consumption

Accept very wet material (moisture up to 20%)

Need a good maintenance mastery

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Mills technologies

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VRMs - Variations by supplier

Table design Roller number and design (shape) Ease of roller change Roller tensioning arrangement

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The Grinding Tracks

F G A Raymond -LMF G A Loesche -LMF G A A Raymond -LMF F F G A Pfeiffer -TGF G A G

A FLS -LMF

Polysius -TG-

F G A Onoda-Kobe -LMG A Babcock CPAG -TG-

Kawasaki -LM-

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VRMs Technology Two main types

Track guided

Polysius Pfeiffer (Allis Chalmers, KHD) Babcock

Claudius Peters

Lever mounted

Loesche (Fuller-Loesche)

Kawasaki (CKP)
IHI Raymond OK (Onoda/Kobe - Fuller)

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Track Guided Characteristics

Rollers are held in place by the table track Hydraulics are used as springs and some grinding pressure Excellent on limestone. Difficulty with hard materials

High replacement due to lost track and wheel shape. Rollers wont stay in the track
Polysius Design

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Pfeiffer MPS Design

3 rollers held by a triangular frame Hydraulic cylinders at each corner Low external recirculation

High internal velocity and wear

Air port design critical

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FCB Design

Several balls (blue) 1 rotating table in the lower part (brown) 1 fix table in the higher part which is pressed on the balls (green)

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Lever Mounted - Grinding

Larger cylinders Smaller rollers

Large linking elements required between hydraulic cylinder and roller arm
Hydraulics critical

Loesche Design
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Lever Mounted - Characteristics

Uses external shaft to hold roller in place. Not dependent on track condition

Usually no roller to table contact

Coal mills use springs, other design use complex hydraulics Rollers are smaller, more emphasis on hydraulics Roller speed monitoring on latest models

ABB Raymond HP Coal Mill

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CKP Internal

Dedusting

Feed

Roller

Spherical rollers Tapered track 6 cylinders

Center feed
Scrapers to bottom discharge

Table Reducer Hydraulic Cylinder

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Main flow across Vertical Mills

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Operation principle

Mill feeding by the table center Combined drying/grinding

Material travels outwards and passes under rollers

External and Internal recirculation of coarse particles Product leaves mill with gas flow

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Gas flow circulation

Inlet gas can come from:

Mill outlet (re-circulated gas)

Hot gas source Cold gas source

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Materials flows: the table rejects

Go back in the mill with the fresh feed Constitute the EXTERNAL circulating load

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Material flows: the internal rejects

Constitute the INTERNAL circulating load The mill DP is an image of the internal circulating load

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Material flows: the final product

Fines from the table

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Theoretic approach on the grinding by compression applied on VM

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Action of the grinding rollers

The grinding theory is based on 2 main angles:

The nip angle:

The pressure angle:

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Grinding theory: nip and pressure angles

Depend on:

Dam ring height Quantity of material on the table Material propriety Roller surface state

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Grinding theory: angle variations

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Grinding theory: angle variations

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Synthesis: and angles variations

For the same hydraulic pressure

High grinding bed ( angle high)

Low pressure inside the material bed Low grinding efficiency Pressure resultant less vertical (high angle) Increase of the absorbed power Leads to High recirculation High mill delta P Low vibrations

Low

grinding bed ( angle low)

Reverse consequences on grinding efficiency and mill absorbed power Leads to: Sensitive of vibrations
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Typical values for material and gas flow

Concerning material flow:

Circulating loads range: from 500% - 1000% External circulation allows reduced airflows. Spill Over
Ranges from 0 to 50%, depending on manufacturer and mill operations

Bed thickness:
From 30 mm to 60 mm

Concerning gas flow

Gas speed at the ventilation ring

From 40 to 90 m/s depends on the VRM supplier

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Hydraulic units

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Hydraulic circuit for grinding rollers

Equipment present in all hydraulic circuit type

1 hydraulic pomp

1 cylinder
1 or several nitrogen accumulators

Typical arrangement:

Nitrogen

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The nitrogen accumulators

Two main types:

Bladder accumulators

Piston accumulators

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Hydraulic circuit operations

PH=0

Nitrogen pressure = PN

PH=P w = 2 x PN

Cylinder moving due to instability

Nitrogen pressure increase Hydraulic pressure increase

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Nitrogen pressure and hydraulic rigidity

1st case: PW = 100 bars PNinit= 0.8 * PW = 80 bars

2nd case: PW = 100 bars PNinit=0.4 * PW = 40 bars

PH= 0 PN = 80 bars VN = Vaccu = 5 liters

Moving of 1.3 litres due to instability

PH= 0 PN = 40 bars VN = Vaccu = 5 liters

PH= PW = PN = 100 bars VN = V1 = 4 liters

Moving of 1.3 litres due to instability

PH= PW =P N = 100 bars VN = V1 = 2 liters

VN = V2 = V1 1.3 liters = 2.7 liters PFinal= PH * V1 / V2 = 148 bars

<

VN = V2 = V1 1.3 liters = 0.7 liters PFinal= PH * V1 / V2 = 286 bars

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The hydraulic circuits: synthesis

Operating principles:

Hydraulic pressure set point:

Used to control an average grinding pressure

Nitrogen pressure setting:

Used to manage the system rigidity

Availability of the levers:

Hydraulic pressure set point:

Every time during the operations

Nitrogen pressure setting

During system shut down.

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Grinding equipments wear: Table, Rollers and Dam ring

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Typical Wear cycle

New rollers T/H

Rollers partly worn peak efficiency

Vibration worsens

TIME
Rollers need to be replaced. Grinding efficiency worsens as you lose roller shape.
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Roller Shear Forces

Crushing

Synchronized speeds

Fine grinding

m/s

Difference in surface speeds, creates shear forces that help grinding, BUT accelerate wear (fine grinding zone).
From center
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Main roller wear in the FOS /MER slag mill

0

-5

-10

-15

-20 0 100 200 300 400 500

Origin (mm)

15/10/2003

01/03/2004

24/05/2004

Limit

After welding

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Main roller wear in the BORDEAUX slag mill

-5

-10

-15

-20 0 100 200 300 400 500

Origine (mm)

Limite

14/02/2007

04/04/2007

20/06/2007

09/11/2007

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Wear patterns

EWEKORO Fuller/Loesche

QUADROPOL

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Dam ring function and impact of its wear

Main function:

Keep the material on the table and under the rollers

Main impacts on the VM operations:

Direct impact on bed height Acts on the absorbed power and the grinding efficiency Acts on the mill vibrations

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Dam ring following

The dam ring is a VM key point, thus it must be followed properly

Mechanical state, continuity

Its height should be adapted to the table wear.

Objective: keep constant height between track bottom and dam ring high part.

How to follow the table wear and the dam ring height:

Regularly draw the track profile Reduce the dam height as the table wear or Recharge the table profile regularly to keep constant the global dam ring height

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Dam ring following: PLN RM example

mm/s kWh/t

5 4,5 4

2003
ADFshutdown Sept 03 Kiln Nvle cerce 60mm 10/2003 New dam ring: 60 mm

2004
Dam ring cut dcoupe cerce from 60 passage de 60to 40mm 40mm

2005
Kiln ADFshutdown Jv05 nv01/2005: profil New table & table/galets rollers nvle cerce - 60mm New dam ring: 60 mm

2006

2007

12

dcoupe cerce Dam ring cut passage from de 4040 to 30mm30mm

Water en nettoyage injection profondeur system circuit cleaning injecteurs

Dam ring cut: dcoupe cerce -12/2006: from 60 to 50mm - passage de 60 50mm dc06 - Kiln shutdown 01/2007: from - puis 50 30mm ADF Jv07 50 to 30mm

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10 3,5 3 8 2,5 2 1,5

Vibrations sparateur vertic (mm/s) Separator vertical vibrations (mm/s) KWh/T
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3.2 mm / s

Separation process in VM

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VM separation: 3 stages
3rd separation: separator selection Go back to the table

2nd separation: settling in the mill body Go back to the table

1st separation: table reject Go to the external recirculation

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Dynamic Old design

Types of Separators

Ventilation+ final product Separator Variable speed

Static
Rejects Ventilation+ final product Adjustable Blades Static Separator Ventilation + Final Product + Rejects Rejects Cone (option)

Rejects Cone Ventilation + Final Product + Rejects

Gas + Final product

Dynamic New design

Rotating cage

Fixed blades

Rejects Gas + Rejects + Final product

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Standard flow sheets and control loops

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Typical flow sheet

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Gas flow circuit: key points

T

Constant flow through the separator

Final product dry

Gas speed through the ventilation ring

P T

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Gas flow circuit: control loops

Mill outlet T; controlled by hot gas sources T

Mill gas flow rate: controlled by the mill fan

Mill inlet pressure: controlled by the recirculation damper

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Normal Grinding
Coarse material is ground under the roller. If the table material is presented uniformly, the roller passes over the bed smoothly.

Table rotation Fines (and some coarse) fall over the edge of the table

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Over Loaded Table

The roller tries to ride over the bed, but swims through it. Causes a low frequency vertical movement. Snow-plowing pushes at the roller, causing a twist in the mill body. When it snaps back, causes a higher frequency torsional vibration.

Causes: -Too much feed -High internal recirculation -Not enough grinding -Speed of de-aeration

More ungrounded material is spilled over the edge

As long as it is not snowplowing, a deeper bed is generally a quieter mill, BUT draws higher kW.

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Unstable beds

Flushes create thick and thin bed zones

Irregular feed Irregular size (fines) Material fluidity Poor gas control

Too much recycling makes bed too fine and unstable

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Material feed rate: key points

The three main sensors which are useful to fix the mill throughput:

Mill DP, Vibration, kWh/t

Mill DP

Vibrations

Mill kWh/t
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Parameters to follow up: direct impact on performances

Continuous control of the air flow measurement (annubar vs exhaust fan efficiency)

False air reduction

Water injection peripheral: clogging on-line detection. Water injection on table inconclusive

Reduction of the gap Between the table and the Nozzle ring

Dam ring: height regularly controlled. To adapt to table profile

Maintain in good state the belt height sensors, have a proper calibration

Periodic control of nitrogen pressure

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Main differences between grinding: Raw materials or slag compare to cement

Raw material or slag

Wet material No quality impact of water injection No gypsum dehydration management

Cement
Dry material Quality impact of moisture

gypsum dehydration management

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Conclusions

Main Advantages of Vertical Roller Mills

Better grinding efficiency Better production costs (higher energy savings) Drying capacity (up to 20%)

Quick product change (cement mills)

One single machine for drying, grinding and separation

Restrictions

Maintenance
Frequent recharge of rollers (automatic) Water injection, dam ring height adjustment Slag grinding tests at 6000 Blaine

Sensitive to vibrations Few industrial references at high Blaine

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