RCE Lime Kiln

Introduction Kiln plant description

In the late seventies RCE Industrieofenbau The screened raw material is
Engineering GmbH, Radenthein, Austria, devel- transported to the kiln top by a
oped a high temperature shaft kiln for the pro- bucket elevator and subsequently
duction of top quality basic and non-basic charged into the kiln feed hopper
refractory products. Since then numerous kilns by means of a conveyor belt. The
have been supplied and built world-wide making feed hopper has to be kept full at
RCE the market leader for this type of shaft kiln. all times so it is equipped with a
Based on this design and in response to mar- level sensor. From this hopper the
ket requirements RCE subsequently designed and raw material is distributed uni-
patented a high efficiency single shaft kiln for formly over the cross section of the
the calcination of limestone, dolomite and kiln by a static distributor.
magnesite (see Fig. 1). The main features of the The kiln can optionally be
widely recognised RCE High Temperature Shaft equipped with an air sealed charg-
Kiln and the experience gained in many years of ing system if a high CO2-content in
operating practice were incorporated. the exhaust gases is required.
The shaft kiln basically consists
Main features of the RCE Lime Kiln of a cylindrical steel shell made of
A wide range of product reactivity (compared mild steel which is lined with high
to other shaft kiln types) due to easy quality basic and non-basic re-
adjustability of operating temperatures fractories.
Large stone size range The bottom section of the kiln is
High flexibility in adjusting the burning equipped with the discharge
temperatures mechanism. In order to operate the
Low impurity level in the product, e.g. sulphur kiln with a constant production rate
or fluorine the discharge mechanism comprises
Suitable for gaseous, liquid and solid fuels a speed controlled rotary discharge
Low investment costs per ton of product due table which can vary the amount of
to high specific output per m2 of shaft cross product discharged from the kiln.
section. The discharge table is connected to
a valve system with an intermediate
Process description weighing hopper. This hopper con-
The raw material to be calcined is charged at Fig. 1: RCE Lime Kiln trols the preset production rate by
the top of the kiln. It is then pre-heated by the controlling the speed of the rotary
combustion gases in counter-current before discharge table.
reaching the burning zone. In the burning zone the material is cal- The calcined product is finally discharged from the weighing
cined by means of fuel introduced together with primary combus- hopper by means of a vibrating feeder. The subsequent transport
tion air through radially arranged burner lances. Cooling air is of the product to the storage bin depends on the local require-
introduced at the discharge table of the kiln to cool the product in ments of the customer.
a counter-current manner. The heated cooling air travels upwards Cooling air is introduced to the kiln in the area immediately
to the burning zone and is used there as secondary combustion air. below the discharge table. The main volume is fed in at the periph-
From the top of the kiln the exhaust gases are directed to a dust ery of the shaft whereas the remaining volume is introduced at the
cleaning system. centre. This enables an optimum cooling air distribution through-
out the cross section of the kiln. The cooling air is supplied by a
Fig. 2: Patented Burner System blower driven by a variable speed motor, and adjustment of the air
quantity is achieved by changing the blower speed.
The required thermal energy is introduced through radially
arranged burner lances (see Fig. 2) situated at one or more
burner levels. This ensures sufficient flexibility in adjusting the
temperature profile to the requirements of the specific feed ma-
terial and the required product quality. Fuel and combustion air is
evenly distributed throughout the kiln by means of a defined
number of burners arranged at the burner level. Two air blowers

1
Fig. 3: Burner Arrangement

burner level which then distribute the combustion air to the single
burners.
For solid fuel firing a static fuel distribution system is used. This
system can be applied in all cases where solid fuels can be
pulverised and readily fluidised. The fuel, e.g. coal, lignite or pet-
coke, is stored in a bin to allow batch discharge into the weigh
hopper located underneath. The outlet cone of the storage bin is
equipped with a fluidising device operated with compressed air. For
safety reasons an inerting gas system, using nitrogen or carbon
dioxide, is provided which will be activated automatically whenever
required. The flow rate of the fuel is controlled by measuring the
weight difference of the fuel content in the weighing hopper in
regular time intervals. The fuel is fed in by means of compressed
air through metering valves to the static distributor from where it
are used to supply primary combustion air, and adjustment of the is conveyed to the individual burner lances.
air quantity is achieved by varying the blower speed. The nature of protruding burner operation requires the use of a
As shown in Fig. 3, the burner lances protrude into the hot bed thermal oil cooling circuit. A heat exchanger is installed to main-
of material at different depths to enable an optimum fuel distribution tain the thermal oil temperature constant. The system consists of
over the whole cross section of the kiln. The distance of the burner a loading/unloading tank, a loading/unloading pump station,
tips from the centre line of the kiln can easily be adjusted with a spe- circulation pumps, an expansion vessel and the heat exchanger.
cially designed quick-action mounting and fastening device. The exhaust gases leave the kiln at the top and are cleaned in
In case of gas firing, the mixing of gas and combustion air is a bag filter before being exhausted to the atmosphere by an
accomplished within the burner lances by means of gas nozzles at induced draught fan.
each burner. Combustion air and gas is fed in by means of
vertically mounted header pipes to the burner level ring lines which Principal layout and performance data
in turn distribute the air and the gas to the single burners. A The present range of RCE Lime Kilns, an example is shown in
central gas control and safety train assures constant and safe Fig. 4, comprises the following standard types:
supply of the gas.
In case of liquid fuel operation the constant supply of a defined Kiln type: H1 to H4
quantity of fuel to each burner is guaranteed by allocating one Daily output (tons): 25 to 200
dosing device to several burners. Combustion air for the burners is Outside diameter (m): 2.3 to 3.2
fed through vertically mounted header pipes to the ring lines at the Kiln shell height (m): approx. 10
Total kiln height (m): approx. 20
Stone grain size (mm): min. 10 to max. 80
Fuels: gaseous, liquid and
pulverised solid fuels
Specific heat consumption (depending on
type of fuel and required reactivity of product)
- burned lime (kJ/kg of product): 3800 to 4800
(kcal/kg of product): 900 to 1150
Residual CO2
- medium burned lime/dolime (%): <2
- hard burned lime/dolime (%): <1
Reactivity t60 according to DIN/EN 459-2 (min.): 2 to 20

Highlights and references

Several RCE Lime Kilns characterised by their compact design
and high specific production capacity have been built in recent
years. Uniform product quality, with low residual CO2, and re-
activity adjustable to all market requirements make this kiln type a
valuable alternative to the rotary kilns which have been commonly
used, up to now, for this application.
Fig. 4: RCE Lime Kiln Type H2