RAW MATERIAL HANDLING

AND GRINDING

INTRODUCTION
In a cement plant the Cement Manufacturing Process consists of the
following:
Raw material handling
Raw Material Grinding
Coal handling
Coal Grinding
Pyro Process
Cement Grinding
Cement Packing
These processes are are shown in the flow chart.

Raw Material
Handling

Coal
Handling

Raw Material
Grinding

Coal
Grinding

Pyro - Process
Cement
Grinding
Cement Packing

Raw Material Handling

The raw materials use in cement plants are limestone, laterite,
bauxite and iron ore. The major raw material (about 95%) is
limestone, which is supplied from limestone mines. The
limestone supplied from mines is of size up to one cubic meter
and therefore requires crushing for reducing to the required
sizes. Other raw materials are normally of required size. The
raw material handling consists of the following operations and
is shown by flow chart..
Limestone crushing
Limestone Stacking and Storage
Limestone Reclaiming
Feeding to limestone and additive hoppers

Limestone Crushing
Belt conveyors
Limestone
Stacking & Storage
Limestone
Reclaiming

Additive Stockyard

Belt conveyors

Belt conveyors
Limestone Hopper

Additive
Hopper no.1

Additive
Hopper no.2

Raw Material Crushing

Limestone mined from limestone mines having size up to one cubic
meter have to be crushed to the required sizes depending on the type
of raw material grinding system available in the plant. There are
different types of crushing as given below.
Single stage crushing
Primary crushing
Secondary crushing
Tertiary crushing

Different types of crushers used for limestone crushing are

given below:
Jaw Crusher
Gyratory Crusher
Jaw type Gyratory Crushers
Cone Crusher
Roll Crusher
Hammer Crushers
Impact Crushers
Impact-hammer crusher

Different Types Crushers

1. Jaw Crusher: - It is mainly designed for medium hard to very hard
materials and usually installed as primary crusher. There are two
types of jaw crushers. Single toggle jaw crushers are ideally suited
to hard and tough, but not so abrasive materials. Double toggle jaw
crusher are suited for highly abrasive extremely hard and tough
material. Capacities of 25 1300 tph are available with a reduction
ratio of 6-8: 1. Specific power consumption of this crusher is 0.2
0.4 Kwh per ton of material.
2. Gyratory Crusher: - In cement industry gyratory crusher is used
for primary crushing of limestone of medium hard to very hard for
higher capacities of around 1800 tph. It has a two to three times
capacity of jaw crusher for the same sizes of feed opening and
discharge slot. The reduction ratio of this crusher is 7:1 to 15:1.
The specific power consumption of this crusher is 1.3 to 3.6 times
more than the jaw crusher.

3. Jaw type Gyratory Crushers: These crushers are designed to handle even bigger feed lumps
than the comparable size of the gyratory crusher with the same
cone diameter. These crushers can be installed for single stage
crushing. These crushers can be installed for crushing all type of
material from very hard to soft except wet or sticky material.
The main features of gyratory crushers are:
Lower power requirement
High throughput rates
Possibility of direct feed

No idle strokes due to continuous crushing

Low fines content in the crushed material, if required
Start under load possible
Low operating and maintenance cost
4. Cone Crusher:
In this type of crusher the positions of the crushing cone and conical
crushing ring are arranged with each other. These crushers are
mainly installed as secondary or tertiary crushers. The reduction
ratio is in the order of 8 to 1. It is used for hard to very hard
(moderately abrasive) to friable material. The specific power
consumption of this crusher is 0.3 0.4 Kwh per ton of material.

5. Roll Crusher:
These crushers are specialized machines to medium strength, highly
sticky material such as limestone contaminated with clay, coal, marl
and overburden. Comminution in a roll crusher is based on the passing
of material between two rotating rolls which crush the material by
compression. These are used for primary, secondary or tertiary crushing
and achieve crushing ratios of 3:1 to 6:1. The specific power
consumption of this crusher is 0.5 0.7 Kwh per ton of material

6. Hammer Crushers: These are widely used in cement industry. They are used for size
reduction of hard to medium hard limestone and sometimes for
wet and sticky material. Hammer mills work with reduction ratios
as high as 1:40 to 1:60 as primary and 15:1 as secondary crushers.
It can be installed for single stage crushing, primary crushing or
secondary crushing. Two types of hammer crushers are
manufactured; single shaft and double shaft hammer crushers and
work with the impact effect of the hammers. Capacities up to 2000
tph are available. The material crushed in double rotor hammer
crushers is limited to certain characteristics of its properties. The
specific power consumption of this crusher is 1.0 1.8 Kwh per
ton of material

These limits are:

Compressive strength: -

< 28000 lb per sq.inch

Mohs hardness: -

<4

Moisture: -

max 25-30%

Clay content: -

max 30%

7. Impact Crushers: These crushers are suitable for non abrasive, from soft to hard,
slightly wet materials. The predominant stress used is impact,
however cut and attrition are also used. The maximum reduction
ratios are 40:1. There are two types; single rotor impact and double
rotor impact crushers. The specific power consumption of this
crusher is 0.4 1.0 Kwh per ton of material

Impact crushers are capable of capacities of more than 2000 tph.

The size reduction work of impact crushers is limited to certain
quality characteristics of the crusher feed. These limits are:
Compressive strength: -

< 35000 lb per sq.inch

Mohs hardness: -

< 4.5

Moisture: -

max 20%

Clay content: -

0%

8. Impact-hammer crusher: It is a combination of impact and hammer crusher. The limestone is

crushed in a single operation to a finished product of 95% minus 25
mm. It can be fed with rocks of 1 2 m3 size with an edge length up
to 2 meter. The specific power consumption of this crusher is 0.9
1.1 Kwh per ton of material

CRITERIA FOR CRUSHER SELECTION

1. Material to be crushed:
- nature
- abrasiveness (% of silica)
- resistance to compression (kg per cm2)
- hardness
- moisture content
2. Maximum feed size
3. Percentage of fines in the feed
4. Desired Production rate
5. Desired granulometry of crushed material

Physical Characteristics of Limestone

1. Bond work index

: - range 5 17 , normal 10 11

2. Hardness by Mohs scale : - 3 5

3. Bulk density

: - 1520 Kg per m3

4. Compressive strength

: - 1500 2500 Kg per sq. cm

5. Moisture content

: - 1 25 %

Wear in the Crusher

In jaw crusher, the greatest wear shows at the lower part of the fixed
jaw plate; next the lower part of swing jaw plate. The specific wear
rate of jaw liners is in the range of 5 30 grams per ton of crushed
material.
Liners in gyratory crushers have to be replaced more often than jaw
crushers and also the reversal of liners performed in jaw crusher is
impossible in gyratory crushers.
Depending upon the hardness of limestone, the specific wear rate of
impact hammers is 1.5 to 3 grams per ton of crushed limestone.
The wear rate of impact crusher is 0.6 - 3 gm per ton of limestone
crushed.

Limestone Stacking & Storage

The crushed limestone is transported by belt conveyors to the
limestone storage yard and is stacked in the limestone storage
yard. Stacking is done for pre-blending of limestone.
What is Pre-blending: - Pre-blending system consists of stacker
and reclaimer. It is a method of stacking limestone of widely
varying quality in layers or piles and reclaiming it in such a
manner that the quality variations in the output stream are
substantially lower than those in the input stream.

PRE-BLENDING OF RAW MATERIAL

Essentials of Pre-blending: - Today with the technological
advancements in cement industry and increase in the specific kiln
volumes, a uniform quality of kiln feed has become pr-requisites not
only for optimum kiln output but also for quality of the clinker. For
getting uniform quality of kiln feed the pneumatic homogenization of
ground raw meal alone is not sufficient and hence it has become
necessary to prehomogenise the raw material by pre-blending before it is
fed to the grinding mills. It has another advantage of pre-homogenization
of raw materials from non-homogeneous materials mined by selective
mining, manual mining or mechanized mining over a wider area.
Types Pre-blenders: Pre-blending consists of stacking and reclaiming.
Stacking: - The stacking is the process of depositing material of nonuniform quality in layers (longitudinal or circular) over a period of time.
The following are different methods of stacking.

1. Longitudinal stockpiles
a) Roof-type stockpiles (Chevron method)
b) Line-type stacking (Window method)
c) Combination of chevron & window method
d) Strata method
e) Conical method
f) Layer method
2. Circular stockpiles
a) Section style Chevron method
b) Continuous chevron stacking
c) Layer method

Chevron Method (Linear): - In this, a stacker continuously travels

back and forth over the stockpile along its length and deposits the
material in cone shaped layers. The stockpiling is performed either
by a belt conveyor tripper or by a stacker with rigid boom, which
moves alongside the stockpile.The material dumped centrally over
the ridge flows on each side of the pile to form the required layers.
The pile increases uniformly up to its maximum height. One
drawback of this method is the segregation of the material into larger
and smaller particles as it tumbles down the sides of the pile. Due to
simplicity of operation this is the most commonly used method.
Window Method (Linear): - In this method piles are built-up in a
number of rows of limited cross section one above other. This
method eliminates the disadvantage of material segregation as in
chevron method, but it is less adopted due to requirement of more
elaborate stacking arrangement.

Combination of Chevron & Window method (Linear): - From the

view point of blending efficiency this is the best, but is rarely
adopted due to complexity of stacking arrangement.
Strata Method (Linear): - Strata method is more intended
reclaiming by the side acting scrapper.
Conical Method (Linear): - A belt conveyor traveling longitudinally
over the piles deposits a succession of conical shaped layers. This
method is suitable for sideways reclaiming or for under floor
extraction of material. The blending effect is poor in this case.
Layer Method (Linear): - In this method relatively wide and thin
layers of material are deposited one upon another. A bridge or gantry
travels in the longitudinal direction of the stockpile and a distributing
belt conveyor moves transversely to and fro.

Sectional-style Chevron Stacking (Circular): - The

stockpiling is performed by a belt conveyor which is swivelmounted in the beds center point. The cross section of a circular
stockpile can either triangular or trapezoidal. Stacking in this
method is relatively straightforward and can be compared to
longitudinal beds. However, this method produces substantial
variations in the quality in the transition zones from one section
to other.
Continuous Chevron Stacking (Circular): - This is the most
common method applied in circular stockpiling and it gives a
larger volume of fully homogenized material with maximum
storage capacity.
Layer Method (Circular): - The material is deposited by a belt
conveyor system. The stacker belt moves in circular directions
to and fro and has a luffing boom.

Reclaiming: - Reclaiming is the process of extracting the

material from the stockpile by cross-cutting of material from the
overall height and width of the stockpile and the reclaimed
material slice is equivalent to the average quality of the blending
bed. The following are the methods of reclaiming used.
1. Side Reclaiming
2. Front end Reclaiming
a) Luffing Scraper Chain Assembly
b) Horizontal Scraper Chain
c) Bucket Wheel Reclaimer
d) Barrel Reclaimer
3. Excavating
a) Bucket Wheel on Pivoted Booms
b) Bucket Chain System

1. Side Reclaiming: - Equipment for side reclaiming comprises of a

traveling boom extending over the pile and reclaiming is
achieved by the scraping action of a luffing scraper chain
assembly on one face of the pile. The material rakes down the
base of the pile where it is removed by a longitudinal belt
conveyor under floor or to one side of the stockpile. Such
reclaiming is normally used for stockpiles based on strata system
or conical system.
2. Front end Reclaiming: - It comprises a traveling bridge
operating on rail tracks on either side of the stockpile. The
reclaimed material is removed by a belt conveyor. The reclaiming
in this case is done by any of the following methods

i)

Luffing Scraper Chain Assembly: - This is basically the same

equipment as in case of side reclaiming except that it is mounted on
a traveling bridge on rail tracks and reclaims the material from the
front end (cross section) of the stockpile. This method is used for
finer grain sizes up to 300 400 tph capacity.

ii) Horizontal Scraper Chain: - In this case, material is dislodged by

a triangular harrows or wire rope, which partly covers the end face
of the stockpile along its angle of repose and moves horizontally to
and fro across it. The blades on the scraper chain transfer the
dislodged material to a belt conveyor. With this equipment it is
possible to reclaim from stockpiles 20 60 meter in width at rates
up to 1000 tph.

iii) Bucket Wheel Reclaimer: - In this case one or more bucket

wheels operate in conjunction with a raking down device. The raking
down device dislodges the material and bring it down within the
reach of buckets. These two move automatically across the face of the
pile and their direction of movement is reversed with the help of limit
switches at the bridge ends. Simultaneously, the bridge moves
forward in the longitudinal direction for a present distance. The
material scooped by the buckets is fed on to a belt conveyor mounted
on the bridge and in turn on to a longitudinal belt conveyor for
onward transmission.
iv) Barrel Reclaimer: - In this case material is dislodged and
scooped from the entire cross section of the pile without performing
any oscillating motions. For this scoops are mounted on the outside of
a tube or drum which pick up the dislodged material and feed it on to
a belt conveyor installed inside the tube. This drum is mounted on a
bridge type structure, which travels on rails and spans across the full
width of the pile.

3. Excavating: - These equipment are used for very moist and sticky
material in which there is no raking down mechanism but instead,
the equipment bites its way through the material. Two types of such
equipment are described here.
i)

Bucket Wheel on Pivoted Booms: - In this the bucket wheel itself

bites its way through the entire height of the dump in certain number
of slices depending on the bucket wheel diameter. This method is
suited for coarse grained moist or sticky material.

ii) Bucket Chain System: - For certain materials, it is preferable to go

in for a storage pit instead of a stockpile. Above the pit two gantries
run on tracks. From the upper gantry, raw material is dumped into
the pit from a distribution belt. Running on the lower gantry is a
bucket ladder excavator which removes the dumped material.

PRE-BLENDING EFFICIENCY
Efficiency of pre-blending stockpile is measured by the ratio of
standard deviation of CaCO3 content of input material to
standard deviation of CaCO3 content of output material. It is
possible to achieve a blending efficiency of 7:1 to 10: 1.
Factors affecting Blending Efficiency: - The factors affecting
the blending efficiency are:
variation in the incoming material
method of formation of stockpile
no. of layers forming the bed
quantity of material per bed
quantity of material per layer

 blending bed capacity

method of reclaiming
Quantity of material per reclaimer slice
All the pre-blending systems achieve the required blending
efficiency by controlling the above parameters

RAW MATERIAL GRINDING

The raw material grinding is a process which involves preparation of
raw mix for making clinker. The crushed limestone along with the
additives such as laterite, bauxite or iron ore in the required
proportions are ground raw mills for getting raw meal of required
fineness.
The right choice of a raw grinding system is influenced by a series
of techno-economic considerations including the local conditions.
The system which has the highest operational economy, coupled
with low investment cost and high reliability, has to be aimed at.
The important parameters which influence the design and selection
of a raw grinding system are:
A. Raw material characteristics
i) Grindability
ii) Abrasiveness

iii) Moisture
iv) Granulometry
B. Utilization of heat
i) kiln, cooler and preheater system
ii) Gas quantity and temperature
C. Operating Cost
i) Energy
ii) Wear
iii) Manpower
D. Investment Costs
i) Plant and Machinery
ii) Electricals and control system

iii) Civil construction

E. Environmental Regulation
i) Dust
ii) Noise
iii) Vibration
F. Maintainability & Reliability
i) Damage and Replacement of compounds
ii) Skill of plant operating staff
iii) Complexity of design, replacement and availability
The most important factors in relation to a modern dry process
plant is the moisture and grindability of raw material and
specific power consumption.

Types of Mills available for raw material grinding: - The

following are the types of grinding systems available for raw
material grinding.
1. Ball Mills
a) Air Swept Mill
b) Tandem Mill
c) End Discharge Mill with Drying Chamber
d) Central Discharge Mill with Drying Chamber
2. Vertical Roller Mills
3. Vertical Roller Mills
4. Roller Press
5. Horomill

Types of Mills available for raw material grinding

1. Ball Mill: -Conventionally raw materials were being ground in
the ball mills. The ball mills are highly inefficient with more
than 98% of the energy going out waste towards friction and
heat generation. In the ball mills the material and the grinding
media (spherical balls or cylpebs) are brought together in a
rotating tubular compartment. The material and the grinding
media are lifted some distance due to the rotation of the mill.
During lifting, the material is ground by compressive and
shearing action. After raising to a certain height, the grinding
media falls down creating size reduction by impact. Ball mills
can be of single, two or three chamber mills. It can be used for
wet as well as dry grinding. Wet grinding consumes 30% less
power than dry grinding. There are different types of ball mill
grinding systems.

a) Air Swept Mill: - In this mill ground raw material is swept

away by the gases supplied at the inlet of the mill and the fine
product is separated in a separator and the coarse rejects are
returned to the inlet of the mill.
b) Tandem Mill: - It is a combination of ball mill and hammer
mill. The lower power consumption is due to the closed bottom
hammer mill installed in the system which results in about
30% of raw meal produced without being ground further in the
ball mill.
c) End Discharge Mill with Drying Chamber: - These can be of
either open circuit or close circuit. These mills will have one.
two or three chambers separated by diaphragms.

i) Open circuit mills: - These mills do not have a

separator for separating the output from the mill into
product and rejects. The total mill output is product and
the
fineness is controlled by the grinding media loading
pattern, mill feed input rate, gas flow rate etc. The gases
used
for drying raw materials in the mill is separated
from fines
either in a bag filter or Electrostatic Precipitator.
ii) Closed Circuit Mills: - In these mills the output from
the mill is is fed to a separator by a bucket elevator for
separating into product and rejects. The rejects are
returned to the mill inlet. The closed circuit mills have a
better control on the particle size distribution and
fineness
control.

d) Central Discharge Mill with Drying Chamber: - This mill has

two chambers. Raw material is fed to the first chamber.The
material ground in the first chamber and second chamber are
centrally discharged and fed to a separator through a bucket
elevator. The rejects of the separator is fed to the second
chamber of the mill. The gases used for drying are separated
from fines either in a bag filter or ESP.
2. Vertical Roller Mills: - The vertical roller mill has become the
obvious and preferred tool of choice for raw milling due to
higher output rates, lower energy consumption, drying capacity,
dependability, versatility, etc. These mills offer simplicity by
combining the functions of secondary ~ tertiary crushing,
drying, grinding and classifying in one compact machine.
VRMs are available with two, three, four and six rollers.

The vertical roller mills are different types such as Ring Roller
Mills, Ring Ball Mills, Bowl Mills, etc. The characteristic of
these mills is that the size reduction is effected by rollers on
comparable grinding elements traveling over a circular bed of
material. The material after passing under the rollers is subjected
to a preliminary classifying action by a stream of air sweeping
through the mill. The air at high velocity lifts the material to the
classifier which separates the coarse and fine particles. The fine
particles are entrained and the separated coarse particles fall
back to the table. The separator could be either static or
dynamic. The fine particles are collected later in an ESP or Bag
Filter. In Vertical roller mills with external recirculation, the
nozzle ring velocity is lower ( 40-60 m.per sec) than the mills
without external recirculation (70-80 m. per sec).

The advantages of Vertical Roller Mills: VRM is comparatively more energy efficient and on an average these
system consume 25% less energy in comparison to the conventional
Ball Mills.
VRM has higher drying capacity and can dry up to 25% moisture, as
against maximum drying capacity of 8-10% in the conventional Ball
Mill system.
VRM is more compact and occupies less space for the equivalent
capacity in comparison to a conventional Ball Mill system.
VRM can have higher capacities up to 800 TPH.
The modern automatic control systems also facilitate better control
of grinding operation.

3. Hydraulic Roll Crusher: - It is possible to use a hydraulic roll

crusher to produce raw meal without a ball mill or vertical
roller mill. This can be useful for kiln capacities of less than
2000 tpd. The recirculation rates through the rolls are as high
as 6-7 times for a given production. It does not have clear
advantage over vertical roller mills and has higher risks of
mechanical difficulties. The application of HRC is only
attractive when it is combined with an existing ball mill
process.
4. Roller Press: - Roller Presses are more energy efficient than
Vertical roller mills. It can operate in semi finish and finish
mode.

In semi finish mode, the output of roller press is further

ground in a ball mill. The raw material is ground when it
passes through two rotating high pressure grinding rolls (one
is fixed and other is moveable). The ground raw material
passes through a dissagglometor and then a separator either
static or dynamic. The separated coarse material is fed back
to the roller press and the fines are fed to a ball mill for finish
grinding.
5. Horomill: - This mill works on the concept of in-bed
compression and comminution. It consists of a shell driven at
supercritical speed, a roller applied on the material bed by
means of hydraulic jacks and material fed from one side and
ground several times between shell and the roller. It has
energy saving potential of 35 to 70%. It is environmental
friendly with low noise levels, no pollution and low energy
consumption.

Wear in raw mill and remedial measures

Wear of grinding media, rollers and liners in raw mill grinding varies
with the physical and chemical characteristics of the raw material to
be ground. The important factors are:
Grindability work index by Bond
Abrasiveness
Silica and quartz content
In ball mills, wear of the following are to be considered.
1.Grinding media
2.Mill liners
3.Diaphragm plates

The wear rate of grinding media and liner plates can be reduced by
selecting proper alloys, which are wear resistant as material for
construction of grinding media and liner plates. The common
material used are forged steel. White cast iron and chromium alloyed
cast media.
In vertical roller mills wear of the following are important.
Rollers
Table liners
By proper selection of material of construction and by hard facing
(building of wear resistant surface by welding with special
electrodes) life of rollers and table liners can be improved.
In Roller Press and Hydraulic Roll Crusher also by proper selection
of material wear rate can be reduced.

Raw Mix Fineness: The advantages of increasing the raw mix fineness are:
Shorter time required for preheating of suspended raw mix in
preheater.
Faster calcination and clinkerization reactions.
Increase in clinker production rate.
Reduction in specific fuel consumption.
The disadvantages of increasing the raw mix fineness are:
Increase in specific power consumption of raw mix grinding.
Depending on chemical and physical characteristics of the raw mix,
optimum fineness has to fixed by considering all the above
mentioned factors.

Role of Separator in Fineness control

A major role in controlling the fineness of raw meal.
Raw meal grinding systems of air swept ball mills, central
discharge ball mills, vertical roller mills, HRC, Horomill and roller
press can not work without separators.
In case end discharge ball mills separator is installed for close
circuiting the mill to have a better particle size distribution of the
product.
Separator efficiencies are different for different kinds of
separators.
Specific power consumption of raw material grinding varies
depending on the efficiencies of the separator installed in the circuit.
Two important parameters of separators are recycle ratio and
separator efficiency.

Recycle ratio is the ratio of quantity of separator feed to quantity

of separator fines.
Separator efficiency = (Sf / S a) x ((S a- Sg) / ((S f - Sg)) x 100
Sf = % passage of separator fines of one grain size
Sa = % passage of separator feed of one grain size
Sg = % passage of separator rejects of one grain size
Fineness is controlled by:
Speed of the separator
Air to material ratio
Angle and shape of stationary and rotating separator vanes
Air velocity through the separator

Tromp Curve
A common method used to determine the quality of the separator
classification sharpness is determining the distribution density
using a tromp distribution curve (so called Tromp curve).
It is determined based on the weight components of the individual
particle fractions of three separator flows, i.e; feed, grits and
product. The result of calculation is one distribution figure
(percent by weight) for a particular particle size fraction. From
numerous points you get the function depicted in the graph of the
distribution figure T (%) as function of particle size (micron m).
The curve indicates for each particle size of the separator feed
material what percentage share (weight) passed into the grits and
what percentage passed into the product. Above the curve you can
find the shares in the fines, beneath the curve, those in the grits.

To evaluate the classification sharpness of the separator it is

important to determine the steepness of the Tromp curve and where
it is located in the graph.
The steeper the curve (the right axis) the more efficiently the
separator handled the classification, that is, the more coarse
particles are there in grits and fine particles in the product.
The ideal curve would be one in which the coarse range in the
distribution function would run 100% horizontally up to the desired
separating particle size and then drop vertically and drop down to
the distribution figure 0 in the fine range. This would mean that all
the particles in the feed which are larger than the separator particle
size passed into grits and all the smaller particles into the product.

Process of drying raw materials in Raw Mills

The characteristic feature of the drying-grinding process is that
two different processes are generally performed in the grinding
mill. The heat required for drying the raw material is supplied by
hot gases from preheater or cooler or hot air generator and by the
heat generated by comminution in the grinding process.
In ball mills for drying of raw material a drying compartment is
arranged in front of the grinding compartment of the mill. The
drying chamber is equipped with lifters, but has no grinding
media.
In the traditional ball mill the drying capacity is limited by its
geometry. Even at sufficient hot gas amount it was difficult to get
all necessary gas flow to pass the mill. The gas flow and drying
capacity was normally decreased with mill size (grinding
capacity).

In other mills like vertical roller mills both grinding and drying
take place together inside the mill by the hot gases supplied
through the mill. The vertical roller mills are usually designed to
have a rather constant ratio between air flow and grinding
capacity. VRMs of all sizes have the same drying capacities up
to 25%.
When calculating the amount of exit gases from a dryinggrinding mill, the following should be taken into consideration:
1. The amount of water vapor generated from the moisture content
of raw material
2. The heat required for evaporation, using a practical figure of
1250 kcal per kg of water.
3. The amount of flue gas when generating the required heat.

The method of control of drying are:

Control of inlet gas temperature by controlling GCT outlet
temperature or hot air generator outlet temperature.
Control of inlet gas volume by increasing the speed or inlet
damper of raw mill ESP fan.
Control of feed input to mill.
Residence time of material in hot gases
Control of recirculation gas volume
Control of mill internal water spray in case of Vertical roller
mills.

Control Loops in Raw Mill automation

The system has the following control loops:
Material feed to mill is controlled by differential pressure across the
mill.
Control of gas flow though the mill increase or decrease of mill fan
speed or damper.
Mill inlet temperature control by controlling GCT water spray or
heat generated from hot air generator.
Mill outlet temperature control by controlling mill internal water
spray.
Preheater fan exit draft control by controlling recirculation air to mill
by controlling damper in recirculation duct.

Method of De-dusting raw mill gases

De-dusting of raw mill exhaust gases are done by the
following methods:
Gravity settling chambers: - It has the importance of precleaning of high dust laden gases; they work on the principle
of removing the dust by reducing the velocity of gas stream.
Sometimes it is equipped with deflectors. The efficiency of
gravity settling chambers are 30-70%.
Cyclones: - cyclones are low cost dust collectors and it
consists of two sections; a cylindrical and conical one. At the
top of the cylindrical section the dust laden gas enters
tangentially. It spirals along the walls downward and upward
to the outlet thimble. Dust is separated from the gases by the
centrifugal forces. The efficiency of cyclones decreases with
decreasing particle sizes and inversely proportional to its
diameter. It is used as a pre-collector.

Multicyclones: - Multicyclones are units of cyclones installed in

combinations of series and parallel for high throughput and high
efficiency. The efficiency of multicyclones is in the range of 8594%.
Fabric Filters: - These are generally of bag type, i.e. tubes with
300 mm diameter or less, and up to 10 m high; they consists of
woven or felted cloth, made from natural or synthetic fibers. Fabric
filters can handle small particles in the sub micron range at high
efficiencies of 99.95%. The dust laden gases flows through the
porous medium of - the filter fabric- and deposits particles in the
voids. After filling the voids, a cake starts to build up on the
fabrics surface, which does most of the filtering. When the dust
layer becomes too thick, an increase in pressure drop results; this
requires cleaning of the fabric. Depending on the characteristic of
the dust and type of fabrics, the following methods are applied for
cleaning.

a) Bag swinging
b) Reverse air
c) Pulse pressure
d) Sonic cleaning
Gravel bed filters: - The principle of a granular layer of pebbles
is also used for gas cleaning. It works in combination with
cyclone precipitators. This filter is immune to high temperature
up to 500 o C and efficiency can be up to 99.9%.
Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP): - The principle of dust
collection is based on the utilization of the effect of gas
ionization in a strong electric field, which is formed by discharge
electrodes (corona effect, negative) and by collecting electrodes
(positive). Collection of efficiencies of 99.75% is attainable
under favorable conditions.

Merits and Demerits of using Bag filter and ESP

The ESP sizing depends on the outlet emissions desired.
Size of the bag filter is almost independent of the outlet emission.
The cost of ESP increases with the reduction in the emission
norms.
With the availability of latest PTFE bags, bag filter is the most
techno-economic solution to achieve emissions below 50 mg per
Nm3.
For the clinker cooler dust extraction, ESP is still the most
economical solution due to large particle size.
The cost of bag filter is less than ESP.
The power consumption by both equipment is same.

 The process condition in ESP varies during raw mill and coal mill
shutdowns and the ESP performance varies.
The tripping of ESPs with increase in CO content in the kiln exhaust
gases due to process fluctuations are very common.
The disadvantage of bag filter is it can not with stand high
temperatures which happens during plant start up and upset conditions.
Bag filter system requires regular maintenance of cleaning system
and timely replacement of filter bags.
The disadvantage of ESP is the snapping of electrodes and plant
stoppage for its rectification.

Essentials of good blending of raw mix

For stable running of kiln which is the heart of cement plant,
uniform quality of raw meal is very much essential.
A uniform quality of kiln feed to kiln ensures optimum kiln output,
reduced specific heat and power consumption and uniform quality of
clinker resulting consistent cement quality.
To get uniform quality of raw meal from limestone of varying
quality from limestone mine operated in different phases or locations.
Though the variation in the limestone quality can be reduced to
some extend by pre-blending, to achieve uniform and consistent
quality of raw meal blending of raw meal is essential.

Types of Blending
Homogenization of cement raw mix can be performed on a batch
basis as well as continuously.
Batch blending: - For batch system two two blending silos;
normally one is called as blending silo and other as storage silo. The
homogenization process starts during the filling of blending silo.
After filling the blending silo, homogenization process continues for
about one hour. Then it is discharged to the storage silo normally
located at the bottom of the blending silo, where it is homogenized
continuously and extracted for kiln feed. Batch type homogenization
is applied in cases where the quality of the raw material widely
fluctuates and in relatively long time intervals.

Continuous blending: - The continuous blending is applied in

cases where the quality of raw material is allowed to fluctuate only
within narrow limits and in short period of time. Continuous
blending can be done with single, two and three silos. Two or three
silos work in series for continuous blending depending on the
fluctuations in the quality of raw material. Single continuous
homogenizing silo work with raw materials of less quality
fluctuations and is best applied in cases where the raw material is
already pre-blended. Single continuous blending silo can be of
bottom discharge or side discharge types. In case of side discharge
type overflow discharge is taken from the opening in the side wall
of continuous blending silo and stored in a storage silo. In case of
bottom discharge silo, kiln feed extraction is taken from the
bottom of the continuous blending silo.

Role of Blending Silo in Quality Control of Raw Mix

Blending silos have a major role in achieving uniform and consistent
quality of raw mix, which is essentially required for getting maximum
output from the kiln and optimizing specific fuel and power
consumption. Blending silos, by blending process reduces the quality
variation in the raw mix. There are various types blending silos having
blending factor from 6:1 to 15:1. The basic principle of blending
process is one or combination of the following mechanisms.
Distribution of input raw meal at the blending silo top.
Pneumatic dry blending by aeration of raw meal by the aeration
units placed at the bottom of silo.
Segmental aeration (octant or quadrant system) with difference in
the pressure of air supplied for aeration of various segments for
thorough mixing of raw mix.
Method of extraction to kiln feed

Blending Factor
For calculation of blending factor of a silo, input and output raw meal
samples are to be collected in regular intervals and to be tested for
CaCO3 content.
Silo input samples to be collected for a period of one theoretical filling
of silo with an interval not exceeding 1.5 hours and a minimum 40
samples are to be collected. For optimum blending efficiency silo should
be filled more than 70%. The output samples are to be collected at an
interval of 3 to 5 minutes after the input samples are collected and a
minimum of 20 samples are to be collected.
The standard deviation of the input samples as well as output samples
are to be calculated. The blending factor is the ratio of standard
deviation of input raw meal to standard deviation of output raw meal.
The more the blending factor, the blending is more effective.

Collection and Disposal of partially calcined preheater dust

The quantity of dust generated from different cement kilns is
estimated to vary from 8 to 15 percent. The dust generated from the
kiln, which goes out with preheater exit gases are collected by
electrostatic precipitators or bag filters or other kinds of dust
separators. Disposal of the partially calcined preheater dust is as
important as its disposal. Undoubtedly recycling of the dust is the
most practical solution. In dry process, the dust can be either mixed
with kiln feed or raw mill output. Wherever preheater gases are used
for drying of raw material in raw mills, a major part of the dust gets
mixed with the raw mill output and only the dust collected in GCT
and during raw mill shutdown is to be recycled. Due to changes in
the chemical composition of the dust, sometimes the recycling of
dust causes build ups in kiln or preheater ducts. In such cases the
solution for the disposal of the dust is by blending with ordinary
portland cement.