Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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by A. K. Chatterjee*
Limestone and other naturally occurring compact raw materials are usually received in a plant from the quarry in maximum sizes of 1 to 2 m. In order to convert these raw materials into clinker and cement, it is necessary to produce a raw mix with a top size of about 0.2 mm. The reduction ratio required for most raw materials is consequently 1000-2000:0.2 or 5000-10,000. It is obvious that such a degree of comminution cannot be achieved through a single machine or a one-stage operation. Further, following the stage of comminution, good homogeneity has to be achieved for the raw mix, as this is essential for product quality and plant efficiency. In parallel with this, it should also be borne in mind that in order to ensure continuity of the manufacturing process, stocks must be built up at various points. Typical quarrying of limestone followed by crushing and conveying to a cement plant is shown in Figure 2.3.1.
Figure 2.3.1. Limestone quarry showing crushing and conveying operation to storage silos.
* Director, The
Associated Cement Cos. Ltd., 121, Maharshi Karve Road, Mumbai 400 020, India
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The process route for raw materials preparation is multi-stage and complex. It generally consists of such steps as: Crushing (one-, two- or three-stage) Prehomogenization and storage of crushed materials Grinding (diverse milling systems) Proportioning, homogenization, and storage of fine material All the above unit operations are obviously controlled with onsite and offsite equipment. Hence a control laboratory with appropriate hardware and software becomes an integral part of the raw materials preparation facility. The salient features of process and facilities pertaining to the above unit operations are dealt with in the following sections.
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Figure 2.3.2. A primary jaw crusher used in crushing limestone rock at a cement plant quarry.
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Jaw Crushers
These crushers are compression machines as already mentioned and come in several forms. The most common types are the single and double toggle designs. These machines are gravity-fed and the material discharge is not mechanically assisted. The reduction ratio of jaw crushers is in the range of 4 to 8. In a double toggle jaw crusher, which is also known as Blake or Swing type, the jaw is pivoted on an overhead shaft. The swing jaw is put into motion by a double toggle linkage activated by the pitman, which rides on an eccentric shaft. Since the moving jaw is pivoted at the top, its movement is the greatest at the discharge opening and decreases toward the top of the crushing chamber. One end of the crusher frame constitutes the stationary jaw. Most machines of this type currently in use have a crushing angle of about 29 between the swing and stationary jaws (Figure 2.3.3).
2700
4800
The single toggle type machine, also known as Overhead Eccentric jaw crusher, has a movable jaw with maximum movement at the top of the crushing chamber and minimum at the discharge point (Figure 2.3.4). The use of jaw crushers as primary or secondary units has been decreasing in cement plants due to the capacity limitation, lack of control of product size (high percentage of oversize), and operational problems, where the limestones are associated with sticky argillaceous materials. The use of jaw crushers seems to be presently restricted to small plants operating with hard and abrasive raw materials. Barring special circumstances, crusher engineers generally recommend that a user consider a jaw crusher for throughputs up to 600 tph (Carter, 1999), although higher capacities are not unknown for jaw crushers.
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It must be admitted that jaw crushers have shown remarkable staying power since their invention. In recent years indications are strong that the manufacturers of jaw crushers have put in renewed efforts to introduce newer models both for stationary or mobile primary crushing duties. One design area receiving significant attention is crusher toggle angle. Conventional design over the years has made the toggle a key component in protecting the crusher against damage from uncrushables, resulting in a compromise between optimum crusher performance and safety. The crusher manufacturers, therefore, are now looking at methods of securing the machines against damage due to uncrushables using hydraulics or other shock-relief systems to protect the toggle. Some of the recent improvements in jaw crusher performance can be attributed to the advent of computer-aided finite element analysis (FEA), along with improved materials and fabrication methods. It is expected that FEA will eliminate high-stress points in the crusher at the design phase. It is reported that the large crusher manufacturing companies have used this technique for some of their products that are already in the market (Carter, 1999). In some of these new models, different jaw plate profiles can be fitted for different feed materials and the closed side can be adjusted with shim plates to provide a wide range of settings. The newly designed machines have capacities varying from 45 to 50 tph to 1200 to 1300 tph, and the small crushers have provisions for chassis or track mounting for mobility. The operational experiences in general indicate that the power consumption in primary jaw crushers for medium hard limestones would be as low as 0.21 kwh/t in large crushers and as high as 1.38 kwh/t in small ones (some average comparisons on specific power consumption are shown in Table 3).
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87
Cone crushers (Figure 2.3.6) are essentially gyratory crushers, with the mantle and bowl modified for reduction rather than for primary crushing. The mantle is flared to a relatively large diameter skirt at the bottom of the crushing chamber and the bowl is constructed to follow the contour of the mantle. Unlike gyratory crushers, which have an eccentric throw approximately equal to the discharge setting, cone crushers have a much greater throw and higher eccentric speed. These machines have a flatter crushing head than the gyratory type. Cone crushers are available up to capacities of over 1000 tph. Standard and shorthead machines are used for secondary and tertiary crushing respectively. The principle difference between these machines is the shape of the crushing cavities. While standard secondary cone crushers are normally operated in open circuit, tertiary short head crushers operate in closed circuit with a screen to produce the controlled product size. In many situations, cone crushers differing in drives and crushing cones are used for intermediate and fine crushing in combination with the Blake-type jaw crusher for primary crushing. Such a multistage crushing plant may have an advantage of low wear compared to impactors or hammermill crushers, due to lower differential velocity between material particles and breaker plates. However, the installation cost and complexity of layout for such a multi-stage plant should not be ignored.
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In a comparison between jaw and gyratory crushers, the latter are used more in the cement industry for the following reasons: 1. Gyratory crushers have two to three times higher capacity with the same size feed opening and discharge setting. 2. On the basis of energy consumption, the capacity of a gyratory crusher per kwh is 1.3 to 3.6 times higher than that of a jaw crusher on a comparable basis. 3. While idling, gyratory crushers use up to about 30% of full load power and jaw crushers consume 45% to 50%.
Roll Crushers
In principle, roll crushers effect size reduction through the compression mode in the same manner as in jaw or cone crushers. The crushers may either be single (Figure 2.3.7) or double roll (Figure 2.3.8) types. The crushing rolls may be smooth, toothed, riffled, or corrugated on the surface. In the cement industry, toothed roll crushers have generally been in use. In the roll crushers used in the cement industry, it is the shell diameter and the tooth profile that determine the feed size and nip angle. Capacity is dictated by the actual width of the shell. The peripheral speed of the shell is also an important factor and can vary from 1.4 m/s to 10 m/s, depending on the material type and throughput. In addition, the rolls may operate with differential speeds so that the crushing effect is achieved by radial pressure and tangential forces. It is often claimed that of all the types of crushers available for primary and secondary crushing of limestone and argillaceous materials, the double roll crusher is the most versatile. It can process materials ranging from a dry dusty type to an extremely sticky variety.
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In recent times certain significant improvements have been incorporated in the design. Two identical shaft lines are independently mounted and driven. Each shaft line is supported by a spherical bearing that is grease-lubricated. These bearings are perfectly sealed against dust and water. One shaft line is rigidly mounted, while the other is slide mounted. Adjustment to crusher setting can be made in minutes by mounting the adjustable shaft line toward and away from the fixed shaft line. Tramp metal removal is easy, as the adjustable shaft line is spring-mounted. The reduction ratio is about 6:1 and the machine can handle limestones with compressive strength up to 1400 kg/cm2 (McCarter, 1996).
Impact Crushers
Unlike the roll, gyratory, and jaw crushers that work on compression, impact crushers operate primarily on the principle of dynamic impact as explained earlier. In impact crushers, there is a free fall of rocks and throwing at high speed against stationary surfaces. The fragmentation of the feed material is largely dependent on velocity and, hence, on the peripheral speed of the rotor. Impact crushers can be broadly typified by as follows: Fixed hammer impactors. Single- and double-rotor impactors are designed to handle nonabrasive rocks which are fragmented by the high speed pulverizing action of fixed hammers mounted on a heavy control rotor. For limestones containing free silica not exceeding 5% to 7%, impactors turn out to be a good choice for either primary or secondary crushing, when a high reduction ratio, high capacity, cubical product, and high properties of fines are desired. Hammer mills (crushers). These machines can either be single-rotor or double-rotor type (Figure 2.3.9). In the single-rotor type the rotation is counterclockwise so that the hammers force the material downward. The bottom part of the crusher consists of longitudinal grid bars, and the distance between the bars and the speed at the hammer determine the maximum
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size of the crushed product. Size reduction is achieved by the impact of swing hammers against the breaker blocks and finally by the crushing action against the grid bars. A double-hammer crusher with two rotors (Figure 2.3.10), the left-hand unit rotating clockwise and the right-hand unit counterclockwise, offers the possibility of handling larger feed size, larger output, and higher moisture content in feed material. Impact hammer mills. In this variant (Figure 2.3.11), the feed material enters the crusher from the left and is transported toward the hammer rotor by slowly rotating one or two shock-absorbing inlet rollers to avoid jamming and to ensure precise feed control. The hammers rotate clockwise. When they hit the feed material from below, fragments are thrown against the breaker plates and the inside casing, where secondary crushing takes place. The final crushing is performed between the hammers and the outlet grate.
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Swing hammer reversible impactors. In these machines, the rock is slammed by the freeswinging hammer against breaker plates arranged circumferentially around the upper part of the chamber and allowed to fall freely from the bottom, as there is no grate arrangement (Figure 2.3.12). Reversibility of the impactor calls for a central feed chute to the crushing chamber.
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Hammer crushers and other impact crushers are suitable for crushing limestone and other cement raw materials as long as these are not very abrasive. A larger hammer crusher has a very high reduction ratio. It can be fed materials having a lump size of 1 m and can deliver a product with a maximum size of about 25 mm. On the other hand, these crushers suffer from a high wear rate of parts and consequently becomes suitable for non-abrasive materials such as limestones with less than 5% free silica. The tentative wear rates of hammers lies in the range of 0.5 to 12 g/t of material treated, but under high speed the wear rates could be higher (4 to 12 g/t). A general idea of the effects of peripheral speed of the rotor and outer grate opening and the product size can be obtained from Table 2.3.1. It has been reported that a specific model of impact hammer crusher of a renowned machinery manufacturer is capable of crushing 2500 tph with outlet grate and up to 3000 tph without it (F. L. Smidth, 1999).
Table 2.3.1. Effect of Peripheral Speed of Rotor and Outlet Grate Opening on Product Size of Impact Crushers Peripheral speed of rotor, m/s
20 45 Impact hammer crusher 3040 3040
Crusher variant
Standard hammer crusher
Product size
5% residue on 30 mm 20% residue on 20 mm 3% residue on 20 mm 28% residue on 10 mm 4% residue on 25 mm 30% residue on 10 mm 1% residue on 25 mm 5% residue on 20 mm
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3. Slugger crusher as patented by the Williams Co., USA (McCormack, 1996) designed with selfcleaning breaker plates to reduce feed material to smaller than 25 cm without any clogging. ` 4. Impact crusher-dryer, designed by Krupp Fordertechnik (McCormack, 1996). Depending on design, impact crushers-dryers are capable of crushing feed sizes of up to 1000 mm and moisture contents of up to 20%. 5. F.L. Smidth twin-shaft breaker designed to crush soft to medium-hard materials. The configuration of breaker teeth may be arranged to meet the specific end-product requirements of different mill systems, including vertical roller mills (F.L. Smidth,1999). 6. Magimpact crusher of Magotteaux with high productivity and cubical rock products, developed essentially for the construction industry (Magotteaux, 1999). Its relevance for cement raw materials has not been reported. 7. Automated system regulation developed for the secondary cone crushers. The system claims to protect the machine from overload and also to provide control of the crushed product (Heckert, 1999). Obviously, the above list of design developments is not exhaustive. It only illustrates current trends in meeting customer expectations. One such expectation is having mobile portable crushers, the salient features of which are highlighted below.
Mobile Crushers
It is a normal practice to transport raw materials with a maximum size of 1 m or more from the quarry face to a stationary crushing plant by dumper trucks. For larger quantities, the cheaper transport of belt conveying can be considered only after primary crushing so that the rock is transportable by a belt conveyer. To meet this requirement, traveling crushers (Figure 2.3.13) are avail-
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able in the market and the viability of installing such crushers is weighed against truck transportation of run-of-mine rock to the stationary primary crushing plant. Whenever decisions are in favor of installing mobile crushers, only lightweight jaw or impact crushers are considered. It is often observed that there are very few truly mobile crushers capable of moving from one quarry face to another, because of the fact that support frames, feeders, screens, conveyors, generators, etc. have to be dismantled, disconnected, and reassembled at the new face. Hence, looking at the increasing demand of mobile crushers, there is a deliberate effort on the part of manufacturers to construct lightweight primary crushers with effectively transportable system design. Illustrations may be given of C-series and NW-series portable jaw crushing plants of Nordberg. Another new model, LT 105, of this company is a truck-mounted mobile crusher driven by a 240 HP diesel engine, offering output up to 480 tph (Carter, 1999). The relevance and advantage of adopting a mobile crusher plant in an aggregate production unit have been reported by Drake (1999). This relates to the experience of installing a Nordberg 1415 Lokstrack system, including the manufacturers locolink motorable conveyors. This installation peaked the throughput to 850 tph and assured a constant flow of material with 10% to 20% increase in plant capacity.
5% Residue on
1530 mm 2040 mm 50100 mm 150300 mm
Generally, it can be said that cement raw materials should not be crushed finer than is necessary. Thus, following the above guidelines, when vertical roller mills are used for grinding, impact crushers with an output range of 0 to 90 mm (maximum 100 mm) are preferred. When ball mills or roller presses are used in grinding, hammer crushers with an output range of 0 to 25 mm are mostly used.
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The tentative ranges of specific power consumption of different crusher systems have been mentioned earlier in the context of their constructional features. The data are summarized in Table 2.3.3 for comparison. On the whole, the power consumption is generally estimated to lie within 0.5 to 1 kwh/t of material processed.
Table 2.3.3. Specific Energy Consumption of Different Types of Crushers Type of crusher
Jaw Gyratory Fixed hammer Impactor Single-rotor Hammer mill (with grate) Double-rotor Hammer mill (with grate) Swing Hammer Impactors EV Hammer Impact Crusher
Reduction ratio
4-8 4-8 Up to 80 20-30 30-40 10-20 Up to 100
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In principle, the homogenization effect as reflected by the reduced standard deviation of the material composition is achieved by stacking the material in a large number of layers. Theoretically the blending effect is closely linked to the square root of the number of layers reclaimed in crosssection after the formation of material beds. In this context, it is important to note that normally it is not possible in practice to measure homogenizing effects greater that 1:10, due to the statistical inaccuracies inherent in the representative sampling and analyses of lumpy materials. In practice, however, the blending efficiency of the prehomogenization systems lie within this range.
Process Outline
The prehomogenizing systems have two major operations: 1) storing or stacking and 2) retrieval or reclaiming of materials. That is why the facilities are also often known as stacker-reclaimer systems, Depending on their homogenizing capability, two broad categories can be considered for these systems.
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Reclaiming from these stockpiles is done by a Portal scraper, which is a kind of a side reclaimer. The equipment used in this essential storage systems is relatively inexpensive and the blending effect is low, generally 1:2 to 1:5, since the number of layers simultaneously reclaimed is rather limited (4 to 25).
15 14 13 12 11 10
10
12
14 15 13
11
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Figure 2.3.15. Roof-type stockpiling (chevron method) with stacker boom that can be lowered and lifted.
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The Chevron method causes segregation of the material with fine particles in the central part of the pile, and coarse particles on the surface and at the bottom of the pile. To ensure proper blending, a Chevron pile must therefore be reclaimed from the pile end in the longitudinal type, working across the entire cross-section. In the Windrow method, material is deposited from a number of positions across the full width of the pile (Figure 2.3.16). This method, essentially followed to build up longitudinal stockpiles, prevents segregation and is preferred in cases where the reclaimer operates in one part of the pile cross-section at a time or where segregation may create situations of total unacceptability. Apart from segregation, the clogging tendency of materials is also an important consideration when deciding on a prehomogenization system. The reclaimer is usually equipped with a constant speed motor when the reclaimed material is carried by belt conveyors to large-volume intermediate storage bins. The reclaimer can also operate in a direct mode, feeding the mill without any intermediate storage, when the reclaimer is equipped with speed regulated motors and an integrated belt weigher.
Figure 2.3.16. Layer-type stockpiling (windrow method) with stacker rigid boom and telescopic belt.
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101
b A B a 360
a.
a
B A b A B a 360 b
b.
A B A 360
c.
A B A 360
d.
Figure 2.3.17. Different stockpiling methods in circular beds. The plan views are on the left and the longitudinal sections parallel to the center line are shown unrolled on the right.
An important step is the sampling of material during the formation of stockpiles. Ideally each layer of the heap should be analyzed accurately, which requires a complicated sampling installation. In traditional sampling stations for crushed limestone, typically about 2% of the material flow is diverted as a spot sample at a given point of time. The accumulated sample for a given period of time is subjected to stepwise size reduction. For wet materials, infrared dryers are provided. Ultimately duplicate analytical samples of 250 g/h each are generated through the system and analyzed by on-line or off-line x-ray fluorescence spectrometers.
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A more convenient system has subsequently emerged with the development of the on-line crossbelt gamma ray analyzer for bulk materials (Tschudin, 1995; Woodward, 1997; and Sucre, 1998). This system is based on the identification and quantification of constituents by recognizing the gamma ray emitted by the material when it is activated by neutrons emitted by a source
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Abbreviation
1980s 1990s
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Ball Mill
The majority of grinding in the world is performed with the help of ball mills (Figure 2.3.18). The material to be ground passes through the rotating cylinders, and grinding takes place by the impact of and attrition from the grinding balls tumbling inside the cylinder. In early days a ball mill was used in conjunction with a tube mill. The ball mill was short with a large diameter (L/D 0.5) and very large size grinding media. The mill was fitted with peripheral screens that passed coarsely ground material to the tube mill, which was long with a smaller diameter (L/D 5.0). Such a system was necessary then, as the feed to the ball mill was fairly large in size. Since later the mill feed size could be brought down to 25 mm or so, large balls were no longer necessary, and the functions of the ball and tube mills were combined into a compound mill. This was divided into chambers by perforated diaphragms permitting the passage of materials, but not of the balls.
The mill shell was protected against wear by liner plates bolted to it. A more recent development has been the introduction of classifying liners designed to aid the small balls in migrating toward the discharge end and the bigger ones toward the feed end. In yesteryears, the classical mills for open circuit grinding were divided into three chambers with varying ball charges. With the classifying liners it became possible to have two-chamber ball mills for complete grinding. In the subsequent period, ball mills known as air-swept tube mill and tube mill with bucket elevators were developed to carry out both drying and grinding of moist materials. They worked in close-circuit, the object of which was to remove the material from the mill as soon as it had
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reached the required fineness in order to prevent it from blanketing the grinding action or being ground unnecessarily fine. Ball mills have undergone considerable evolution in the last three or four decades. The trends are reflected in increasing mill size, use of high efficiency separators, adoption of new designs of mill internals, application of innovative control systems, and adoption of hybrid plants. While the concept of hybrid plants will be treated later in the section, some of the other significant developments of ball mills are highlighted below.
High-performance Separators
Based on the stage of development, separators have been classified as first, second, and third generation. In first-generation separators, the air currents were generated by a fan within the body of the separator. They were, therefore, of internal air circulation type. In second-generation separators, air was supplied from an external fan and the distribution disc was driven separately. The simultaneous effects of a separate air current and separate centrifugal movement resulted in better classification. In third-generation separators, the air flow is better guided and controlled. The classification zone is made into a compact zone of a rotating cage. In this type of separators, all the basic principles of good classification are satisfied, making them High-Efficiency Separators. The main distinctive features of these three generations of separators are given in Table 2.3.5. An efficient way of describing the classification process over the entire range of particle sizes is by plotting the particle size against its recovery in coarse tailings. These curves are known as Grade Efficiency Curves or Tromp Curves (Figure 2.3.19). They are calculated from the percentages by weight of individual fractions (the more fractions, the greater the accuracy) of the three separator streams: feed material, tailings, and fines. The result of the calculation is a distribution figure (% by weight) for a particular fraction. The function shown in the diagram, viz., the partition ratio (%) as the function of particle size (m) is obtained from a number of points. Finally, the curve obtained states the percentage by weight of each individual particle size of the separator feed material that passes into tailings and into the finished product. The percentage in the finished product can be read off above the curve and those in the tailings below the curve. The steepness of the curve and its
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First generation
Conventional separators 5060% 30% Not efficient due to lack of fresh air In the outer cone of separator Sturtevant Turbopol (Polysius)
Second generation
Cyclone-air separators 6075% 10% Better as recirculation air contains fresh air also In the external cyclones attached to separators Cyclopol (Polysius) ZUB (KHD-Wedag)
Third generation
High-efficiency separators 8090% 2% More effective as fresh air is used In cyclones or bag filter attached to mill system O-sepa (Fuller) Sepax (FLS) Sepol (Polysius) Sepmaster (KHD)
Commercial examples
Coefficient of separation 1%
70
50
30
82% in tailings
0 1 2 3 5
24
42
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location with respect to the two coordinates in the diagram are important in assessing the selectivity of the separator. The Kappa value as the ratio of the percentage of two particle sizes has been introduced as a measure of the steepness of the Tromp curve. The steeper it is, the more efficient the separator. The lowest point (minimum) of the Tromp curve is referred to as Tau. The separator achieves its greatest separating efficiency for the particle size associated with this partition ratio. The flatter the left hand branch and the lower the value, the greater the selectivity of the separator in the finer range of particle size. In addition to Tau, the location of the Tromp curve is also determined by d50. The small the value of d50, the finer the range of separator fines. The above concepts, in addition to the traditional feature of circulating load in close-circuit mills, have helped in designing the high-efficiency separators. The benefits that accrue from such separators in raw grinding are as follows: 1. The narrow particle size distribution and lower residues on 200 microns improve the burnability of raw mix. This results in better quality clinker and lower fuel consumption. 2. Alternatively, the materials can be ground to the same residue on 200 microns while having higher residues on 90 microns. In this case, while the burnability remains unchanged, higher raw mill output and lower power consumption can be achieved. 3. With reduced circulation of fines, grinding efficiency is improved.
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400
5000
350 Power consumption 4000 300 Power consumption, kW Gas volume, m 3 /kW
250
3000
200 2000
150
The operating principles of vertical roller mills, roller presses, and ring roller mills are schematically shown in Figure 2.3.21 and the basic features of the three systems are compared in Table 2.3.6 (Brunkick and Schafer, 1999).
Mill features
Number of rollers Active pressure angle Grinding force w.r.t. VRM Grinding speed Output factors Classifier 2
Roller press
6 Not comparable 1.0 1.5 m/s Size of roller No
109
d 6
12
18
24 d d
d/D
d/D
0.5
110
Exit duct Classified housing Rotor Material flow path Grinding rollers Grinding table
Manufacturer (a)
Manufacturer (b)
In addition to the above developments, the service life of the grinding elements have been substantially increased in recent years as a result of improvements in wear-resistant construction materials. Depending on the abrasiveness of raw material, values ranging from 6000 to 16,000 hours are reported (Mlzig and Their, 1987). After some initial difficulties the compact bevel-planetary gear has made headway against the conventional bevel-spur gear drive. It is well known that in the cement industry, in order to derive the benefit of the scale of operation, there is a trend toward larger production units. The effect of this trend on the manufacture of vertical roller mills is shown in Figure 2.3.23 (Jung, 1999), which indicates that mills having capac-
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1000 900 Mill throughput rate, t/h 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 2 4 6 8 10 Clinker production rate, x 1000 t/d 12 Existing mills Future expectations
9000 8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 Mill drive rating
Figure 2.3.23. Development of throughput capacity and drive rating in vertical roller mills for producing raw meal.
ities in the range of 400 to 600 tph with drive ratings between 4000 to 5000 kW have already been produced; the operating experience of running vertical roller mills with output ranges of 630 to 650 tph has been reported by Becker (1995). The future expectation is further capacity increase to 700 tph and beyond. Success in designing and manufacturing large vertical roller mills has essentially been due to reliable dimensioning of the mechanical components and the adoption of finite element analysis for certain highly stressed critical components. For raw meal preparation, the success of a roller mill with four grinding rollers and a high-efficiency separator at the Bosenberg cement works in Germany has recently been announced (Schneider, 1999). The roller mill with a grinding table of 2.0 m and four externally mounted 1.0 m diameter x 0.4 grinding rollers, designed for a nominal throughput of 55 tph raw meal of less than 12% residue on 90 mm reached a throughput of 68 tph with specific power consumption of 11.45 kWh/t.
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All of these problems have successfully been solved through the introduction of high-efficiency separators, different models of which are now available to the industry. The majority of these models have variable-speed cage-type rotor with adjustable guide vane arrangements as shown in (Figure 2.3.24a, b) for a variant of FLS Sepax design (Wehr, 1999) and a model like Loesche LSKS (Brundick and Schfer, 1998). Other commercial types like Sepol RM
Separator drive shaft Mill outlet
Separator rotor
Feed chute
Rejects cone
Mill body
Figure 2.3.24. Some examples of high efficiency separators of vertical roller mills.
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(Schneider, 1999) or OKS separators (Birch and Keefe, 1998) are of comparable designs, differing in specific details. It should be borne in mind that advances in vertical roller mills have been dictated more by the adoption of this milling system for clinker and slag grinding as well as production of pozzolanic blended cements. Apart from design improvements in the classifiers, the concept of speed reduction to minimize vibration and the use of roller pairs with a master-slave arrangement (Brundick and Schfer, 1998) have been implemented more from the angle of effectiveness of cement grinding than the preparation of raw meal. However, thermal stressing in vertical roller mills when drying and grinding very moist materials has led to the development of proper methods for designing and dimensioning the components (Jung, 1998; Brundick, 1998). When large volumes of water have to be evaporated, the gas temperatures at the mill inlet can sometimes be as high as 600C. The mill components exposed to the hot gas flow, therefore, either have to be made to withstand such high temperatures or protected from their effects. Further, when mills are started up from ambient conditions, care should be taken not to exceed the calculated temperature gradient on which the mill components have been dimensioned. With these developments of design and operation, vertical roller mills now have been operated with raw materials containing more than 20% moisture. With the ever-growing popularity of roller mills, the reliability of wearing parts such as roller tires and table liners has become more critical than ever. In order to avoid roller tire breakages, a new composite material known as Duocast has been developed (Leclercq, 1997). The new material consists of high chromium inserts embedded in a ductile iron base. It is claimed that a roller tire produced by this method shows higher mechanical reliability and improved service life by a factor of more than 2. This technology reportedly has been tried in vertical roller mills of different designs of different manufacturers.
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Rotor
a.
Coa rse
Fine
LV pocket
b.
the separator reject cone and other mill internals. In most cases a mill upgrade project will include modification of the air nozzle ring and the air guide cone. It is claimed that more than 30 optimization projects have been launched since the first modification was taken up by LV in 1998. The upgraded mills have shown a 15% to 20% increase in output and power savings of 1.7-4.2 kwh per ton of raw meal.
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Roller presses are now used with ball mills in both existing and new plants. Such systems, without a downstream ball mill, are also used for fine grinding of limestone and other raw materials. Some statistics regarding the application of this system to the grinding of different kinds of materials had been collated in 1993 (Figure 2.3.26), which showed that, even then, approximately 20% of supplies made by the German manufacturers was geared toward raw meal preparation (Ellerbrock, 1995). The use has increased substantially in the subsequent period. A few illustrative general layouts for roller presses with or without ball mill circuits are shown in Figure 2.3.27a-d. The configuration given in Figure 2.3.27a is used for grinding raw materials and cement. In this case, the proportion of fines generated in the roll presses is small and consequently it is possible to achieve an increase in throughput of about 20% and energy savings of about 7% to 15%.
Cement clinker
Limestone quicklime blast furnace slag Cement raw material Ore, coal
The arrangement shown in Figure 2.3.27b is intended for using the roller press as a fine or finish mill. The compacted cake is broken up in a downstream disagglomerator and the fines are separated in a classifier. A hammer mill or a vertical impact mill can be used as a disagglomerator. This kind of system can achieve an energy saving of up to or more than 50% when compared with ball mill systems. Finish grinding of this type with a roller press has been successfully used in the cement industry for grinding raw meal, blast furnace slag, and quicklime. A hybrid grinding plant is shown in Figure 2.3.27c, while the configuration shown in Figure 2.3.27d is known as semi-finish grinding. The hybrid grinding scheme involves a combination of pregrinding and finish grinding in the roll presses, while in the semi-finish grinding mode the
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pregrinding and secondary grinding are separate. Both of these configurations are primarily used in cement grinding and hence not discussed in further detail here. In the early 1990s, a specific case study was reported involving the modification of a ball mill with a roller press as shown in Figure 2.3.28 (Brugan, 1991). The results of the modified system are given in Table 2.3.7.
Separator Separator Separator
Roller press
Separator
Separator
Ball mill
Ball mill
Figure 2.3.27. Different configurations of grinding plants with roller presses. (a) Pre-grinding mode of the roller press (b) Finish grinding mode of the roller press (c) Combined grinding mode of the roller press with both pre-and finish grinding (d) Semi-finish grinding mode of the roller press
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Air sep
Grit sep
Figure 2.3.28. Configuration of a grinding plant involving a roller press (HRC) at a factory in the United States.
Table 2.3.7. Comparison of a Ball Mill System Modification with a Roller Press Before modification Mill systems Capacity, tph
198 13.2 13.2 314 8.3 2.5 10.8
After modification
118
Material feeding
Air
It is claimed that the roller press operation can be significantly stabilized because the V-separator can remove most of the superfine fraction from the roller press circuit. The removal of this superfine fraction reduces the wear of the roller press as well as of the downstream machines. A specific case study of a plant having a grinder facility consisting of a roller press, V-separator, ball mill, and dynamic separator reveals the success of a system of this kind (Schultz and Lube, 1997). The above system had the flexibility of operating both in semi-finish or finish grinding, depending on the inclusion or exclusion of the ball mill from the circuit. The raw materials ground included limestone (92% to 96%), laterite (0% to 3%), and bauxite (0% to 5%). The feed size was 85% passing 35 mm with a moisture content of approximately 3.5%. The Bonds work index for the feed was 16.0 kwh/t. The operational data of the mill system are given in Table 2.3.8.
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Table 2.3.8. Typical Operational Data of a Plant Utilizing a Roller Press with V-Separator with or without Ball Mill with Dynamic Separator Parameters
Production rate, tph Raw mix % R on 90 mm Raw mix % R3 on 212 mm Specific energy consumption (kWh/t) Roller press Ball mill Dynamic separator Separator fan Bucket elevator Total 9.4 0.7 4.6 0.9 15.6 5.9 7.0 0.4 2.7 1.0 17.0
Finish grinding
175 15 17 23
Semi-finish grinding
300 15 17 23
It was seen in this system that the V-separator rejects had a size of not less than 1.0 mm, which ensured steady operation of the roller press. The fines removed in the V-separator were entrained in the air current to the dynamic separator, where rejects and fines of the desired size were separated. The rejects were fed back to the roller press. When operated in the finish-grinding mode, the V-separator was used for deagglomerating, drying, and separating the product discharged from the roller press. The kiln gases were used for drying. The inventors of the V-separator are quite hopeful that it will successfully proliferate in the industry.
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Fresh feed
Roller press
Disagglomerator
Rejects
Separator Rejects
Finished product
Ball mill
Figure 2.3.30. Configuration of a milling system involving a roller press, a ball mill, and a twostage Sepax separator.
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Shaft
Tyre
Buffer layer
Basic material
Slide protection
Tyre
(c)
Figure 2.3.31. Armouring of rollers. (a) Two-piece roller consisting of a shaft with shrunk-on tyre (b) Welded protection (c) Studded armouring
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4. Wear protection by inclusions of material between a pattern of studs made of hard metal alloy on the roller surface (Figure 2.3.31c). Operating experience indicates that this studded armoring is suitable for all materials, both wet and dry. All in all, the design of roller press systems sporadically has incorporated a large number of advances as illustrated above. Consequently, the systems have turned out to be more reliable and efficient resulting in higher levels of acceptance in the industry.
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Horomill tube Rotation of Horomill tube Scraper Forward plate Roller Material outlet Material inlet
Shoe bearing
Grinding force
material in the mill is not affected by the material moisture, although some loss in grinding efficiency was observed when the fresh material at the mill inlet had moisture of more than 6-8%. The Horomill used as a raw mill is claimed to combine the effectiveness of the vertical roller mill and the roller press with a very low pressure drop in the circuit. It is also expected to offer some advantage in handling raw materials containing a higher percentage of quartz in comparison to vertical roller mills (Buzzi, 1997). The development and industrial introduction of Horomills should be followed with interest by cement manufacturers because of the mills simple functioning, its stable mode of operating, and its potential to save energy.
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arrangements before entering the kiln. Experience shows that a slurry basin works as the ideal blender. The mechanical system consists of multiple storage silos, each of which is provided with regulated withdrawal facilities. Blending is achieved by an orderly withdrawal of material at variable rates from all silos. While this type of mixing consumes lower power, the system requires a great deal of material handling that increases power consumption. In addition, the required of number of silos is obviously more than in other systems. As a result of these shortcomings, this kind of homogenization system is not in wide use in the cement industry. The most common homogenization system used over the past several decades is the pneumatic unit based on the air fluidization method. Air introduced through a permeable medium in the silo bottom causes the raw meal to behave almost like a fluid. This agitational method is known to provide high blending efficiency for dry material. But at the same time this method is the highest consumer of power in relative terms. The gravity approach to homogenization has been conceived only with the compulsion of achieving reduced power consumption. This is in many ways comparable to the mechanical system. While the mechanical system utilizes multiple silos, the gravity method can work with even one silo but with multiple discharge points operating on a time cycle. The power consumption levels generally recorded for the above dry blending methods are quite variable, as shown in Table 9 (Bartholomew, 1995); the table shows two types of gravity systems. The inverted cone silo refers to the type utilizing a homogenizing chamber within the central cone. The multi-outlet silo refers to multiple discharge points located above the silo bottom. The differences in these two designs reflect on power consumption as shown in Table 2.3.9. The pneumatic and gravity systems of homogenization are dealt with further in the following sections with reference to recent advances.
Table 2.3.9. Power Consumption Levels of Different Dry Homogenization Systems Homogenization system
Mechanical Pneumatic fluidization Gravity (inverted cone) Gravity (multi-outlet)
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Pneumatic Systems
The pneumatic systems have been traditionally classified as discontinuous and continuous types. The discontinuous types are based on either batch homogenizing or funnel-flow principles, while the continuous ones rely on chamber mixing or cascading of material. A relatively new CF type (continuous flow) homogenization system recently was added by F.L. Smidth. Because of the high capital cost, the intermittent homogenization systems are used only in special cases, where the variations in chemical composition are to be kept very small even lower than that attainable with preblending and continuous homogenization working together. The batch blending systems are more effective, even when there are short-term or long-term input variations. The blending factor may go up to 20 or more. In continuous homogenizing systems, the same silo performs both the blending and storage functions in an online mode. Different designs of continuous homogenization systems are schematically shown in Figure 2.3.33a-e (Mlzig and Their, 1987). The incoming material is deposited layer by layer in the silo. During the course of discharging, the layers are disrupted by downward funneling of materials and get intermixed. Continuous blending silos are emptied via central chambers, which are either located outside the actual silo (Figure 2.3.33a,b,c) or within the silo (Figure 2.3.33d,e). In all the systems, the material is fed simultaneously from two or more aerated sections being activated alternately. Several discharge funnels are formed, which helps ultimately in better blending. Continuous blending silos, which are connected in parallel and fed by a material flow divided over the respective silos and whose discharge flows are recombined, can further improve the blending effects. It is claimed that the continuous homogenization with one silo can offer a blending factor of 5-7, and it may improve to 7-12 with two silos. Notwithstanding the effectiveness and extensive adoption of pneumatic blending systems in the cement industry, the following issues have kept the pressure on to search for other options: 1. High power consumption 2. Maintenance problems, particularly of porous media 3. Difficulties of providing clean air and the high cost of installing oil-free air compressors The gravity-based systems mentioned earlier originated out of these considerations, but it must be recognized at the very outset that gravity blending cannot have the same efficiency as wet or pneumatic blending. In gravity blending the interaction of material layers takes place on withdrawal as shown in Figure 2.3.34 (Biege and Bartolomew, 1998). The success of the system is apparently related to multiplicity of discharge points, adequate residence time, and feed correction
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(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
Figure 2.3.33. Continuous homogenization systems. (a) CF silo of F. L. Smidth (b) Multistream silo of Polysius (c) Blending cone silo of Ibau (d) Homogenizing chamber silo of C. L. Peters (e) Mixing chamber silo of C. L. Peters
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intervals. The dependence of the blending factor is primarily on the last two parameters. It is claimed that for effective blending with gravity systems, there must be a feed period of less than 4 hours and silo capacity between 8-12 hours. A feed period is defined as a sinusoidal curve crossing the control point three times. A blending efficiency level of 15:1 is apparently achievable with proper design of the gravity systems, and pressure as low as 0.27 bar can be utilized for silo extraction. The conversion of existing systems to the gravity type has also been found feasible. On the whole it is evident that for effective homogenization, various options are available and specific demands of a given situation can be comfortably met.
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Sampling
Sample blending
Sample dispatch
Pneumatic transfer
Fusion unit
Powder sample
XRF
XRD
XRF: X-ray fluorescence spectrometry XRD: X-ray diffractometry PSD: Particle size distribution
Figure 2.3.35. Schematic diagram, showing the preparation and flow of samples in the raw meal control process.
It may be mentioned that X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometers are the preferred analytical tools in plant laboratories. Normally the simultaneous spectrometer is used for its simplicity, speed, and reliability. Today, however, it has often been necessary to determine trace elements and heavy metals for monitoring environmental protection measures. For this latter purpose it is necessary to use a sequential spectrometer. For such combined duties, a new series of instruments have been designed and manufactured that enables sequential and simultaneous analysis with the same instrument (Price and Siegenthaler, 1987). A further improvement in instrument design has led to the development of what is now known as the Total Cement Analyzer (Yellepeddi and Bonvin, 1999). This analyzer integrates the appropriate X-ray modules such as an XRF monochromator, an XRF goniometer, and an X-ray diffraction (XRD) system. The use of X-ray tubes and generators more powerful than the conventional 3 kW systems, allows enhanced sensitivities particularly for the light and mid-range elements. The integrated XRD system also benefits from this increased X-ray power since the same excitation conditions are used for both XRF and XRD within a single analytical program. In XRF analysis, one of the factors that may affect accuracy is the matrix effect. In order to minimize these effects in conventional or routine analysis, fine grinding is resorted to in the sample preparation, followed by the adoption of separate calibration programs for separate types of samples.
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The other alternative route for sample preparation is the fusion bead technique, which allows various types of samples to be analyzed in one calibration program with a very wide range for major oxides, ranging from 0.1 to almost 100% (Yellepeddi and Bonvin, 1999). The fusion bead technique can also be adopted with either precalcined or uncalcined powders. While the former is more direct and accurate, the latter depends on software to calculate the losses. The typical range of concentrations for various oxides in cement-related materials and their errors of determination are shown in Table 2.3.10. The standard error of estimate is a combined effect of sample preparation error, measurement error, and other associated inaccuracies. The integrated XRD system is based on parallel beam optics and operates under vacuum in the same manner as the XRF system. It is claimed that the free lime measurements or the measurements of CaCO3 in this system are highly stable and reproducible (Yellepeddi and Bonvin, 1999). It has been a common practice to control the fineness of raw meal by measuring the residues on specific sieves, such as 200 and 90 mm. On the other hand, for the fineness of cement grinding today, a LASER-granulometer is preferred to determine the particle size distribution (Rawle, 1999). With the availability of such a facility in a laboratory, extension of this technique to measure and control the particle size distribution of raw meal may not be too futuristic.
Table 2.3.10. Analytical Ranges and Estimation Errors for Different Oxides in CementRelated Materials Achieved in the Modern XRF Facilities Range on loss-free basis, %
0.02 94.4 0.35 99.7 0.03 94.0 0.01 97.3 0.20 90.0 0.01 15.4 0.01 5.0 0.01 17.0 0.01 4.0 0.01 40.0 0.01 2.0 0.05 10.5
Elements
CaO SiO2 Fe2O3 MgO Al2O3 K2O MnO Cr2O3 TiO2 P2O5 SO3 Na2O
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Laboratory Automation
It has generally been the experience that the automation of laboratory systems and the quality control function enhances the efficiency of the entire plant system. A case study has been reported by Shafer (1999), who has brought out the intricacies of a system design and the basic considerations essential in such an exercise. In the given situation, the system design was based on the automation of the laboratory with the ability to introduce samples manually (Figure 2.3.36). The decision to employ pressed powder samples for chemical analysis was based on the need for analyzing sulfur and alkalies, and the synergy of using the same pellet for XRD analysis. Thus an automated mill, automated press, and an XRF instrument were necessary. Fineness analysis was needed for the cement process control and a laser diffraction particle size analyzer was employed. Free lime and calcination testing was required to support the existing high-level kiln control strategy. An XRD instrument was chosen. Finally, handling equipment was necessary for the integration of the components. This included a series of small belt conveyors, x-y manipulation for the XRF instrument, and a robotic arm to act as a go-between for all the equipment.
PSA Cup storage rack Sample storage Manual sample preparation XRD XRF Robot Receiving station
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Table 2.3.11. The Analytical Performance of an Imacon 100 Analyzer Static accuracy (1 sigma)
0.15 0.12 0.09 0.03
Oxides
CaO SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3
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sample from the cell. The static reproducibility test is the same as the previous one, with the difference that the sample is taken out of the cell and reintroduced for measurements. The dynamic accuracy is a comparison of the Imacon individual 4-minute analysis value of a sample with the analysis of the same sample by a wavelength-dispersive XRF instrument. With such performance records, these kinds of analyzers seem to hold great promise for on-line operation.
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