INNOVATORY AIR FLOW MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES IN THE CEMENT MAKING PROCESS

Des Redmond Promecon GmbH, Germany Introduction For the proper operation of equipment in a cement plant, knowing the flow rate is essential. In the past, difficult challenges have prevented on-line flow measurement for hot dusty applications. Some of these challenges include the location, due to accessibility and safety, temperature, pressure, moisture, dust concentration, and fluctuation in flow rate. One solution is the Promecon Air Flow System, which utilizes the dust to measure the velocity of the gas flowing in the duct. Typical applications in the cement plant The system can measure tertiary air up to 2000 F and dust concentrations at the outlet of a raw mill or coal mill. The system has been operating in various cement plant since many years for various applications. Some typical applications are as follows: Tertiary air. Raw mill exhaust (to control the gas flow accurately). Cement mill (flow to separator and mill sweeps). Primary air (for consistent grind and flame shape). Down comers Air from grate cooler. Bypass ducts. The system works on the tribo-electric principle where each particle has a static charge associated with it. Each measurement requires two sensors located 12 - 20 in apart in line with the gas flow. The quantity of the particles passing the sensors is unsteady. The sensors obtain a millivolt pattern from the passing particles and each sensor will obtain a similar pattern. The patterns are time shifted by the delay from one sensor to the next. The computer utilizes cross correlation techniques to determine a match or a correlation between the millivolt patterns. The correlation enables the time delay from one sensor to the next to be known, and, as there is a fixed distance between the sensors, the velocity can also be calculated. The velocity is the average velocity over the effective length of the sensors inserted into the duct. A completely new velocity is provided every four seconds for each measurement. Up to 16 measurements can be provided from the computer. Nitin Singla TECHFAB Systems Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi

Application at Holcims Midlothian Plant in Texas The plant has two large dry kilns with preheater - pre-calciner and two vertical roller raw mills (supplied by Loesche and Gebr. Pfeiffer, respectively). The high moisture content of the raw material (13%) requires more than the normal gas flow through the mill for drying the material. Thus the power consumption of the mill ID fan is about 60% of the total power consumption of the grinding system. In the past the operators controlled the mill draft manually and tended to overdraft the mill to maintain a very stable operation without loading up the internal recirculation. This also minimized any rejects from the mill that had to be manually removed. The plant determined that they could save energy costs and decrease erosion by automatically controlling the fan speed based on flow measurement of the gas through the mill. Several relative flow indicators had been appraised, including differential pressure across the raw mill cyclones, calculated air flow using amps and DP across the fan, and mill inlet pressure. These were not satisfactory and the plant had budgeted for pitot tubes even though there was little confidence that they would perform. After learning of Promecon Technology, the plant spoke to the company's reference plant in Germany and received a recommendation. The Promecon Air Flow System was commissioned in December 2004. The sensors were located in the duct downstream of the cyclones and about two diameters downstream of a 90 elbow and before the fan inlet. One duct was 12.5 ft dia. and the other was 10 ft dia. The measurement location available close to the elbow prompted the company to recommend four sensor pairs for greater accuracy. The plant understood this recommendation, but felt that they would start with two sensor pairs, as ultimate accuracy was not required for this application, but rather a steady repeatable flow indication for controlling the draft. One duct received the sensors located 180 apart and the other duct had them located 90 apart, since the plant had to build a new access platform. The Promecon System requires little time to commission, as a calibration is not required and the system is drift free. No absolute temperature or pressure is utilized. Commissioning consists of wire terminations and setting parameters in the computer. The computers are industrial quality with redundant hard drives and power supplies. Very critical flows can be performed with fully redundant computers operating in parallel. There is a local sensor box that amplifies the signal and the box must be within 60 ft of the sensors. From the local box to the main measurement cabinet the distance can be 3000 ft for dusty applications, and within 1000 ft for cleaner applications. By locating the main cabinet in a central location in the plant, measurement signals can be brought in from all over the plant. The main cabinet needs to be located in a controlled environment (electrical room usually). The majority of the cost is in the main cabinet, and the sensors subject to the atmosphere and erosion are the least expensive. The solid stainless steel sensor rods can also be protected with a hard coating to enhance wear in difficult applications such as raw mill discharge ducts and coal mill outlets. The cost per measurement decreases with an increasing quantity of measurements.

Plant Results After the system became operational, the plant personnel performed a 15 minute traverse of one of the ducts with their pitot tubes and compared this with the Promecon flow for the same time period. The flow from each system had a difference of 0.20%. While not always this close, the Promecon system has been independently checked with pitot tubes and venturis in the past and the accuracy has always been validated. The sensors are located in the best flow profile that is available, but many existing installations do not provide an ideal location. The company has worked with other plants in very demanding locations and has been able to provide flow measurement where it was not possible before. In one of the ducts at the plant, one pair of sensors was found to be in a non-repeatable flow location. As the actual gas flow increased or decreased this pair did not always follow. Being close to the elbow, it appeared that the flow stratification would move around within the duct across the load range. It was recommended that this sensor pair be moved around the duct 90 from its current location to find a more suitable flow field. The sensors are easily installed and can be installed on-line for most applications. The energy savings (as determined by the plant) for this one application at the plant was 0.5 - 1 kWh/t raw meal. This can only be accomplished with an accurate indication of actual gas flow. The plant determined that the flow system has proven itself to be reliable and accurate. The system has not required any maintenance thus far and there is none scheduled. A modem provides remote diagnostics and can minimize service calls. In addition, there are more operational benefits from steady operation. The next focus for this plant is flow measurement in the separator sweep and mill sweep of the ball mills. Conclusion Cement plants have learned to survive without flow measurement for difficult applications. With this technology, accurate and repeatable flow measurement is possible up to 2000 F. Properly integrated into the plant control system, this technology will increase the efficiency and profitability of the processes where it is utilized. Today, Holcim has made Promecon Air Flow Measurement System as a standard/mandatory part of all their cement plants including the upcoming ACC plants in India.