DIAGNOSTIC STUDIES

FOR
CEMENT MILL OPTIMISATION - A CASE STUDY

Naga Kumar, KPK Reddy, Rabindra Singh, AK Mishra

National Council for Cement and Building Materials

1.0 INTRODUCTION
The need for process optimisation through diagnostic studies has been
increasingly felt as production costs are shooting upwards in conjunction with
increased competition in the market. In order to reduce the manufacturing costs for
cement, it is very important to optimise the existing grinding installations.
Out of total energy consumption, 70% of energy is used in grinding process of
materials which shows that the potential for optimisation is greatest in the grinding
process in a cement plant. The benefits that can be achieved due to the optimisation of
cement grinding system are:
Reduction in specific power consumption
Increase in production
Stable and sustained operation
Increase in availability of the equipment - Less down time
Improved and consistent product quality
2.0 CASE STUDY
The plant having SLC kiln of 3300 TPD capacity has two cements mill CM- 1 &
CM-2 of Combidan type supplied by F.L.Smidth with rated capacities of 105 TPH each,
operating in open circuit mode. The case study pertains to cement mill-1 operating at
105 TPH (OPC) as against 120 TPH (OPC) best achieved and had high residue of 8-10 %
on 90 micron sieve. The specific power consumption was abnormally high to the tune of
40 KWh/T as compared to the earlier figure of 31 KWh/T (OPC).
2.1 Mill Details - Details of the mill are listed below in Table 1:
Table 1
Parameter Length ( m) Diameter (m)
Ball Mill 14.32 4.2
1st chamber 5.02 (effective ) 4.01 (effective )
2nd chamber 8.0 (effective ) 4.12 (effective )
L/D Ratio 3.409
Mill Speed 16.23RPM
Critical speed 78.6 %
Mill Drive 3600kW
ESP Fan 27500 m3/hr
I Chamber Liners Stepped with wave to double wave liners
II Chamber Liners Classifying Liners
Partition Diaphragm Combidan type with slot opening of 6 mm width
Discharge Diaphragm Combidan type with slot opening of 4 mm width.

The target of Blaine and residue for cement from this mill is given in Table 2 .
Table 2
Types of Cement Export Market Indian Market
Blaine % Residue Blaine % Residue
(m2/kg ) on 90 micron sieve (m2/kg) on 90 micron sieve
OPC 330 6% 300 8%
PPC - 340 4%

3.0 OBSERVATIONS
3.1 Grinding Media Pattern
It was observed that the grinding media load in the mill had uneven distribution.
1st compartment grinding media diameter varied from 90 mm to 60 mm and 2nd
compartment grinding media diameter varied from 25 mm to 17 mm and Cylpebs of 12
X 12 mm and 16 X 16 mm size. Grinding media loading pattern as given by the plant is
shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Grinding Media Pattern of the Mill
1st Chamber
Balls Diameter (mm) Loading % of total grinding media % chamber filling
(Tonnes)
90 11.32 13.5
80 24.6 29.4
28.62
70 25.74 30.8
60 21.96 26.3
Sub-Total (1) 83.62 100
2nd Chamber
25
20 76.73 56.5
17 26.7
Cylpebs (12 X 12 mm)
59 43.5
Cylpebs (16 X 16 mm)
Sub-Total (2) 135.73 100
Grand Total 219.35

3.2 Granulometery of Clinker

Clinker feed sample was collected at weigh feeder of cement mill for sieve
analysis and results of granulometery indicated that the clinker fed to the mill had high
fines of 56% passing through 5mm sieve and 80%of clinker passed through 12 mm
sieve. Temperature of the clinker on weigh feeder was 210 0C which is extremely high
as against the upper limit of 120 0C, which may also result in inefficient grinding.
3.3 Process Measurement
The process measurements were carried out at 105tph cement production while
OPC was being ground with 8% gypsum. Grinding aid to the tune of 0.02% was being
used and sprayed on apron weigh feeder in liquid form.
The Cement Mill was operating with nil inlet draft as against the normal value of
-5 to -10 mmWG. Lower draft was due to heavy leakage of air at the cement mill
discharge chute. Material pilferage was also observed from the inlet chute of the mill.
Draught at Mill outlet and at Mill fan inlet was found at -104 mmWG and -138 mmWG
respectively shown in Fig. 1. Temperature of cement at mill discharge was found to be
130 0C.
The air flow measured at the stack was estimated at 27500 m3/hr (0.18 Nm3/kg
cement) against the design flow of 23400m3/hr with 40% damper opening which is
considered low against the recommended value of around 0.5 Nm3/kg of cement.
Velocity in the mill was estimated to be 0.82 m/sec, which was lower as against the
normal range of 1-1.5 m/sec for open circuit mill operation.
NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR CEMENT AND BUILDING MATERIALS
BALLABGARH

STUDY TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF

CEMENT MILL 1
FOR M/s Gujarat Sidhee Cement Ltd.
3.4 Condition of Mill diaphragm
Mill is provided with single partition diaphragm of Combidan type with slot
opening of 6 mm width. It was observed that the outer ring of the diaphragm was
clogged with steel balls. Mill discharge diaphragm is also of combidan type with slot
opening of 4 mm width.
3.5 Analysis on Crash Stop
The recommended material level in the 1st Chamber should be equal to the
grinding media level during crash stop. However, the grinding media was found below
the material, resulting in high residence time of material. This high residence time of
material may also be on account of clogging of outer ring slots in central diaphragm
with worn out grinding media besides lower velocity across the mill.
Samples were collected from both the chambers as per the practices at length
interval of 1 meter along the axis of mill. Longitudinal sample sieve analysis of the mill
chambers is given in Table 4. The grindability curve drawn based on the above analysis
is shown in Fig-2. The grindability curve indicates that percentage retained on 2 mm
size sieve at the partition diaphragm discharge/ at the inlet of the 2 nd chamber is 0 %
which is lower as against the normal value below 5 % indicating high residence time in
1st chamber. The percentage of residue on 45 micron is on higher side at 93 % as
against the normal range of 60-65% which may be due to clogging of the mill
diaphragm besides low velocity of 0.8 m/sec through the mill as indicated earlier.
Sieve analysis along the 2nd chamber from 3rd to 6th meter and from 7th to 8th
meter show ineffective grinding due to non-optimum grinding media distribution in
the second compartment leading to high percentage residue on 90 micron sieve, and
difficulties in achieving the target blaine (330 m2/kg). This may be due to low
percentage of 25 -17mm grinding media at 56.5 % as against 70 % and above in 2nd
compartment.
 Table 4: Sieve analysis of Longitudinal sample
LONGITUDINAL SIEVE ANALYSIS OF THE MILL SAMPLES
Sieve Size
Leng
6 2 1 0.5 0.212 0.15 0.09 0.075 0.045 Blaine
th
mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm (m2/kg)
10.5 15.7 22.0
0m 4 2 9 34.93 58.61 65.25 72.64 76.26 88.25
1m 0 0.73 4.18 17.96 50.09 59.45 68.17 73.22 88.15
First compartment

2m 0 0.8 4.09 16.29 48.88 58.69 67.7 73.42 84.37

3m 0 0.23 1.23 9.58 43.67 54.09 63.66 68.81 82.69
4m 0 0.32 0.62 5.59 35.45 48.11 58.96 64.57 81.13
5m 0 0 0.19 4.41 35.91 47.87 59.35 65.2 93.31
Diaphragm
1m 0 0 0.14 1.64 18.96 29.89 44.89 53.98 94.84 179
2m 0 0 0.04 1.02 16.63 24.76 38.53 46.81 76.48 181
3m 0 0 0.08 0.41 9.83 16.46 26.25 33.89 77.17 243
Second compartment

4m 0 0 0 0.31 5.74 11.86 23.5 33 81.25 246

5m 0 0 0 0.16 4.71 10.17 21.06 32.83 87.86 256
6m 0 0 0 0.16 4.6 9.4 21.16 32.21 64.26 259
7m 0 0 0 0.58 3.66 7.06 16.81 24.65 81.94 283
8m 0 0 0 0.8 2.97 7.54 16.37 25.16 75.14 286
 Fig. 2 : Grindability Curve of the Cement mill

Grandiability Curve

100 350 6 mm

90 2 mm
300
80 1 mm
70 250
0.5 mm

Blaines (cm2 /gm)

%age Retain

60
200 0.212 mm
50
150 0.15 mm
40
0.09 mm
30 100
0.075 mm
20
50
10 0.045 mm

0 0 Blaine
0m 1m 2m 3m 4m 5m 1m 2m 3m 4m 5m 6m 7m 8m (cm2/g)
Chamber-1 Chamber-2
4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS
The plant was recommended to go for regradation and redistribution of
grinding media pattern as shown in the Table 5 & 6 .
Table 5 : Grinding Media Pattern In 1st Chamber
1st Chamber
Size of gm (mm) Existing Proposed*
Tonnes % Tonnes %
90 11.32 13.5 6.43 8
80 24.60 29.4 16.10 20
70 25.74 30.8 24.13 30
60 21.96 26.3 22.52 28
50 - - 11.26 14
Total 83.62 100 80.44 100
Average Piece Weight (gms) 1673 1394.4
Specific surface area of gm (m2/t) 9.977 10.41
% filling 28.62 28%

Table 6: Grinding Media Pattern In 2nd Chamber

2nd Chamber
Size of gm (mm) Existing Proposed*
Tonnes % Tonnes %
25 27.64 20
20 76.73 56.51 63.69 46
17 47.07 34
16 X 16 - -
59 43.46
12 X 12 - -
Total 135.73 100 138.4 100
Average Piece Weight (gms) - 21
Specific surface area of gm (m2/t) - 42
% filling 26.7 27
* The proposed grinding media pattern designed on the basis of Hi-Chrome bulk density
 The maximum ball size of grinding media for the feed with 80 % passing through
12 mm is estimated as 80 mm. However, for normal size clinker, the maximum
ball size of grinding media has been considered as 90mm but the quantity of 90
mm ball size was suggested to be reduced from 11.32 tonnes to 6.43 tonnes.
Considering high percentage residue on 90 micron at mill discharge, it was
suggested to increase 25 -17mm grinding media load from the existing of 76.73
tonnes to 138.4 tonnes in 2nd compartment. The cylpebs were not recommended
in the second compartment.
The worn out liners and different type of liners were suggested to be replaced
with new step with wave to double wave liners for effective grinding in the first
chamber.
There were a lot of leakages between mill outlet and mill fan. These leakages
have to be arrested. Clinker temperature has to be brought down below 120 0C
from the existing level of 210 0C after increasing the cooler efficiency, for efficient
grinding in cement mill.
The percentage of C3S in the clinker has to be maintained in the range of 45-55 %
from the existing level 33-40 % to improve the mill performance.
5.0 CONCLUSION:
Use of proposed grinding media designed for normal clinker with lower
percentage of larger diameter balls (90mm) in Ist chamber and high percentage of 17-
25mm diameter balls in 2nd chamber after regradation resulted in reduction of void
fraction and thereby increasing the mill production and reducing the specific power
consumption besides lowering the residue at 90 and improving the cement blaine. The
plant could operate the cement mill-1 at 110 TPH after adopting NCB
recommendations.

Acknowledgement
The authors have freely drawn upon completed R&D work/status reports of
NCB and some of the unpublished work in NCB. This paper is being published with the
permission of Director General, NCB.