WRITE UP ON HEATING UP AND COOLING DOWN OF ROTARY KILN

This write up is being prepared to deal with the actual and practical
approach for heating up and cooling down of rotary kiln, which is
required during start up and there after during shut down of
operation for maintenance work

HEATING UP PROCEDURE
__________________________
This procedure starts just after oil firing of the kiln------ called kiln light up. It
is done by igniting any conventional liquid fuel through the central burner. The
aim is to bring up the temperature inside the kiln at such a level, when self
burning of solid fuel,--- coal, starts. When this is accomplished a steady state is
attained in which the produced by the combustion of coal, injected from outlet
of kiln, is sufficient to raise the temperature of incoming material to desired
range and thus start of a autoganeous process, once this is stabilised , the
supporting liquid fuel are taken off.
Generally , in the beginning , fuel injection rate should be kept low, 90
to 120 litres per hour, a desired oil pressure should be maintained for proper
atomisation of oil. To monitor the temperature , Quick response thermocouple
should be fixed at position 9 & 10 and average rising trend of either or both of
thermocouples are to be monitored . At the time of start of oil firing , any one
of these two should be positioned at top( gas phase) of the kiln . Temperature
should be recorded hourly. Along with this temperature , temperature of kiln
inlet hood (D S C ) J7 T10 , should also be recorded . Since temperature shown
by QRT 9 or 10 varies as per its position ( maximum in gas phase, minimum in
bed phase ) but J7 T1O temperature will be linear and acts as guide line for
heat up rate
A typical heat up cycle is being shown in attached sheet . For initial hour
heat up rate should be kept 18 to 22 degree centigrade per hour. Adjustment
of oil flow as well as air flow from central burner should be done to achieve
this heat up rate . Kiln rotation schedule during heat up procedure is being
described separately , As shown in the heat up curve, when average tempt. Of
QRT 9/10 is around 580 to 600 degree C, then a soaking time of 3 to 4 hours
should be aimed by keeping the temperature constant . After this stage, heat
up rate should be increased to 3035 degree C per hour, by adjusting fuel and
air




When bed temperature at QRT 9/10 indicates +450 degree C , injection coal @
0.5 t/h should be tried to see it is burning or not, generally one can expect
burning of coal at this tempt. And quantity of injection coal should be adjusted
to suit comfortable combustion of coal
Once temperature at QRT 9/10 bed reaches 600 degree C shell air
fan should be started ensuring 800 to 1000 cub. Mtr air is going through air
tube . This will ensure cooling of air tube as well as supply of air for combustion
of coal
KILN ROTATION SCHEDULE DURING HEAT UP
Following schedule of kiln rotation is being recommended during
heating up cycle

1/2 rotation every four hours when QRT 9/10 avg. Tempt. Up to 200 degree C
1/2 rotation every two hours when QRT 9/10 avg. Tempt. 200 to 400 degree C
1/2 rotation per hour when QRT 9/10 avg. Tempt. 400 to 600 degree C
When avg. Tempt of QRT is more than 600 degree C , and kiln shell tempt. Is
around 100 degree C , then kiln can be put on auxiliary drive, continuously


When injection coal starts burning well as well as QRT 9/10 avg. Tempt
showing more than 900 degree C , kiln should be taken on Main drive, with
low rpm , 0.150 to 0.200 rpm . Once the kiln is on main drive, normal
thermocouple along the kiln, starts giving temperature, fuel as well as air
through air tubes should be adjusted to bring up temperature profile along the
kiln . At this stage , I D fan should be started and emergency cap ( which is
already running , partially closed since light up of kiln ) should be closed to
divert the gas through the boiler( After informing power plant) . Slowly kiln
should be tuned to have 0.35 to 0.36 rpm along with tuning of air profile
through air tubes , at this stage kiln would attain healthy temperature profile
hence balancing of oil and injection coal input should be started in parallel
,aiming keeping off the oil injection .
Once kiln inlet temperature ( kiln thermocouple no 1 & 2 ) is around
500 to 550 degree C , feed coal, approx. 20 to 25 % of planned feed coal
requirement , should be started from inlet side , after momentary drop, the
inlet temperature will be boosted up , once kiln inlet temperature is around
700 to 750 degree C , Feeding of Iron ore should be started . After starting
feeding , balance air through air tubes should be compensated along with
movement of feed burden from inlet to out let .

Generally, at the start up ore feed should be kept around 50 to 60 %
of the rated capacity, after seeing the stability and response of process, further
optimisation of feed rate and air profile to be taken up in next three to four
days
Once the kiln operation with ore feed is stabilised , following factors must be
ensured for good operation:
KILN SHOULD BE MAINTAINED ON POSTIVE PRESSURE
CONSISTENCY IN COAL INJECTION , interruption must be avoided
SIZING OF RAW MATERIAL IS BACK BONE FOR GOOD AND
CONSISTANT OPERATION
HAVE WATCH ON C/FE RATIO
KILN TEMPERATURE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO GO ABOVE 1020
degree C
ABC TEMPERATURE SHOULD NOT GO ABOVE 950 to 960 DEGREE C
KILN RPM DURING OPERATION SHOULD BE TRIED TO BE KEPT ON
HIGHER SIDE GENERALLY IT SHOULD RANGE BETWEEN 0.380 TO 0.410
IF DURING OPERATION KILN COMES TO STANDSTILL FOR ANY REASON
SHELL AIR FANS INVERTER SHOULD BE REDUCED TO MINIMUM (20 TO
30%) ,ACOORDINGLY KILN PRESSURE SHOULD BE ADJUSTED TO BE
POSTIVE
IF FINISHED DRI GOING TO STOCK BIN, CARE SHOULD BE TAKEN , DRI
DOES NOT COME IN CONTACT WITH MOISTURE OR ELSE IT MAY CAUSE
CATCHING OF FIRE IN DRI
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES KILN SHOULD BE STANDSTILL WHEN
AVERAGE SHELL TEMPERATURE IS MORE THAN 80 DEGREE
CENTIGRADE















KILN HOLD
Meaning of kiln hold , is just to maintain the vital parameters
required for process in as healthy condition as possible i.e. it is aimed
to keep heat loss , loss of bed carbon , as low as possible . so that
when operation of kiln is resumed , deviation in product quality as
well as kiln condition , should be on minimum side .
To ensure above conditions , following actions are to be
taken;
Put the kiln on minimum possible speed , i.e. Auxiliary
drive
Air through air tubes should be at minimum level( 750 to
850 cub. Mtr) i.e. just sufficient for cooling of air tubes ,
so reduce inverter at 20 % , if hold is expected short
time, if hold for longer period is anticipated , then
reduce all shell air fan damper to 20 notches, and keep
inverter setting at 70 to 80% to ensure , only minimum
air is blowing inn
Injection coal rate 3.0 to 1.5 t/h , depending on hold
duration ,
Central burner air around 1000 to 1500 cub.mtr total
air, just to cool the pipe
Kiln should be ensured on positive pressure









SHUT DOWN --- Cooling down of kiln
There are different ways to cool down the kiln . As per the need ,
procedure of cooling down should be adopted . But in every
procedure , aim is to gradually bring down the temperature profile of
the kiln in safe way
(A) Planned cooling down ; Aiming cooling down as well as
taking out metallized produc
This procedure is adopted when kiln is being operated steadily with
good product quality but due to some reason it is decided to shut the
kiln down in that case it is always favourable to take out as much
quality product as one can during cooling , in this case cooling down
procedure to be adopted as follows;
I. Stop ore, feed coal and lime stone feeding , keeping kiln speed
II. and injection coal rate unchanged
III. Start reducing air from air tubes from kiln inlet side i.e. with
stoppage of kiln feed , reduce air from AT 1 & AT 2, then at the
interval of one hour , start reducing Air tube 3, after two hour
reduce Air tube 4 and so on ,,,,,,, after six hour reduce Air tube
8 . Two hours after reduction of Air tube 8, reduce central
burner air. Air reduction to be done to minimum value i.e. up
to 800 to 1000 cub.mtr , just to cool tubes
IV. Two hours after reduction of central burner air , reduce
injection coal rate by 50 % and after four hours of this
reduction stop coal injection, however let injection air on to
cool the pipe
V. When temperature inside the kiln drops down, go on reducing
kiln speed, if temperature drops down below 600 degree C ,
take the kiln on auxiliary drive

VI. Three hours after putting the kiln on auxiliary drive, cooler
should also be put on auxiliary drive
VII. When temperature inside the kiln is sufficiently down and it
looks dark inside, increase central burner air to approx 6000
cub. Mtr , this excess air should help in cooling the kiln further,
kiln inlet air should also be increased to let the excess air do
cooling effect
After ensuring cooling effect is satisfactory , air from middle
zone to be increased to further cool down the kiln
Once kiln is under cooling with this excess air , ID fan can be
switched off and emergency cap should be opened and kiln
should be allowed to go on natural draft cooling
Once the average shell temperature of kiln is below 80
degree C , kiln can be kept still









B, IF KILN IS ALREADY RUNNING WITH LOW
METALLIZATION
If kiln is already running with low metallization, then for cooling
down , there is no need of sequential reduction of air through air
tubes, but to be done as follows;
a) Stop kiln feed
b) Reduce air from air tubes as well as central burner to the
minimum level , 800 to 1000 cub.mtr
c) Kiln speed as well as injection coal rate to remain unchanged
d) After 8 to 10 hours stop injection coal
There after procedure same as in case (A) ,, step IV
onwards














UNPLANNED COOLING DOWN , MAIN DRIVE NOT
AVAILABLE
There may be some situation , which demands cooling down of kiln
at the same time , for some reasons, operation of kiln main drive is
prohibited
In this case there is no option but to do cooling down
operation,keeping the kiln on auxiliary drive , one should go as
follows ;
I. Reduce all air, through air tubes as well as through central
burner to minimum level
II. If at the time of decision , kiln was running on high
metallization , look out possibility to continue kiln on main
drive for three to four hours, even after air reduction .
III. Take kiln on auxiliary drive
IV. Coal injection to continue with existing rate
V. After 10 hours , reduce coal injection rate by 50% ,and continue
this coal injection rate for another 8 to 10 hours
VI. See cooling trend , if required go on intermittent coal injection
VII. Generally cooling on auxiliary drive takes more time , so after
feeling the bed condition wait till temperature is sufficiently
low ,i.e. less than 400 degree C ,before opening up central
burner or air tubes for excess cooling air
VIII. Once with excess air cooling is ensured, kiln can be put on
natural draft by opening of emergency cap





EMERGENCY PROCEDURE

COAL INJECTION
Coal injection is very important for smooth operation , it is
called heart of process. The deviations can be observed in
following ways
SIZE DEVIATION ; In normal operation avaiblity of two fractions of
coal , coarse coal and fine coal is a must . As these two fractions serves
two different purpose . while fines coal maintains heat demand as
well as reducing atmosphere at kiln outlet , distribution of coarse
coal ensures carbon avaibility to the bed material .
But here unfortunately , two fraction of coal could not be
maintained owing to difficulties at Raw material plant, however this problem
must be addressed to have healthy operation of kiln . Based on kiln
requirement, generally fines coal should be 20 to 30 % of total injection coal
A,,,,, LOSS OF COAL INJECTION , If loss of coal injection is for more than 10
minutes , central air volume should be reduced to minimum side , if it further
continues ,then kiln hold is recommended , but since stand by injectors are
ready, more than 10 minutes injection loss should not be acceptable
B,,,,, TOO MUCH FINES FRACTION IN COARSE COAL ,,,, If this trend continues
for longer period air tubes air from no 5 , 6 ,7 should be reduced temporarily
but if contamination seems to be high, then material to be drained out and
fresh filling to be done
C,,,, COAL STARVATION IN PRODUCT . This situation arises mainly due to
less carbon available to the bed ; either due to prolonged interruption of coal
input , or due to excess air ( caused by false air due to negative pressure of
kiln) , resulting in re-oxidation of DRI

INDICATIONS In case of minor reoxidation , a greyish or blue skin layer can be
seen on DRI lump when it is broken , source of false air ,mainly at kiln out let
cooler inlet/outlet should be checked and rectified
When extent of reoxidation is major, then following indication
will be revealed
,,, kiln outlet puffed out dust will look not black but brown like brick dust
,,,,, DRI at cooler discharge belt will be very hard, difficult to break when
hammered
And after some times round pebble shaped DRI can be seen at cooler
discharge belt
ACTION REQUIRED
Immediately reduced central burner air to the minimum value
Kiln air from AT6 TO AT8 reduced to 20 notches
Increase injection coal rate abruptly high may be 1.5 times of
normal rate
Check accuracy of injection coal weigh feeder
After taking above steps wait and see the trend of development,
generally if coal starvation is in outlet zone only then within 8 to
10 hours things will start improving and parameters to be
brought back gradually

REASONS FOR REOXIDATION TO BE INVESTIGATED AND
RECTIFIED



D,,,,, CRACK IN AIR TUBES ; In every shifts AIR TUBES must be inspected
through the glass , particularly in night one can get clear vision . After regular
inspection one can develop a feeling of healthy and unhealthy look of Air
tubes , generally if a crack will develop at any location of air tubes that
location will look brighter than the surroundings but to have this feeling ,
regular and routine inspection is a must

After development of crack, and if it is unnoticed , one can expect
presence of agglomerates in cooler discharge even when every things seems
normal . After pin pointing the affected tubes , minimum air should be
managed through the affected air tubes , just sufficient for cooling ,
E,,,, ACCRETION MOVEMENT IN THE KILN ---- Some times when wall
accretion get dislodged , it starts floating on the bed and some times one can
feel the knocking sound in the kiln , normally after floating for some time this
big pieces gets self broken and will come out in normal way without
disturbing the operation , during this activity cooler over size chute should be
operated frequently depending upon the extent of over size material .
Some time it may frequently interfere with the central burner
pipe, in this case it is advisable that to avoide damage of C B pipe ,one should
pull out the pipe by 200 to 300 mm ,keeping the operation continued, and
after some time things should be normal
F,,,,, ACCRETION and BOULDERS ,,,, This is to be clearly understood that
there is big difference between accretion and boulders . Accretion is lump
pieces which has come to the bed after dislodging from the wall , and starts
floating on the bed , these lump is supposed to break after getting impacted
along with the kiln rotation
Where as BOULDERS are lump pieces which is formed in the bed itself
due to wrong operation of kiln . As explained earlier , in the case of carbon
starvation , re-oxidized DRI comes in to plastic stage and due to rotation of the
kiln it takes complete round shape , in the case of re-oxidation of lesser extent,
the boulders may be smaller in size and will come out easily , but if re-
oxidation is on larger scale , boulders very big in size, may get formed. This
boulder will never get broken, rather it can damage the Refractory and Air
tubes , so sensing this type development , no option but to terminate the
operation, keep all air off to minimum , kiln immediately on minimum speed
coal injection continued till temperature is low , Once kiln is cooled down
boulders have to be taken out manually .


FAILURE OF AIR TUBES

During operation it may happens that any of the air tubes gets
damaged, this damage can be detected during routine inspection . If
damage is of minor nature ,it may not affect the operation , air from
affected tube should be kept very low and continue operation
But some times it may also happen that due to impact of
accretion piece or due to material defect , Air Tube gets broken
heavily with considerable big hole ,in this case this tube has to be
stripped out or other wise big portion of air tube may get detached
and fall in side the kiln . For replacement of tube kiln has to be
cooled down . If part of Air tube has fallen inside the kiln it should be
taken out or other wise it may damage refractory or even remaining
air tube











HOT SPOT ON KILN SHELL

some time due to spalling of refractory inside the kiln , outer
surface of kiln shell indicates very high radiation temperature , if the
affected area having high radiation more than 400 degREE C but it is
not glowing red, or whitish (in day time ) , air cooling system to be
provided to cool down affected area , some time due to major
damage of refractory , the affected area glows red ( tempt> 600
degree c) , in this condition water cooling can be recommended ,
here also care should be taken ,in case shell is not of boiler quality
steel it may crack, as long as with the available cooling device
,temperature is manageable ,kiln operation can be continued
But if this hot spot is very near to kiln Tyre , girth gear,
and below power slip ring , no other option to cool down the kiln for
refractory maintenance
FOLLOWING VITAL PARAMETERS MUST BE INCORPORATED IN THE
DCS , TO HAVE THEIR TREND GRAPH for BETTER MONITORING OF
THE KILN OPERATION
OPERATING PRESSURE, kiln inlet/outlet, cooler inlet

KILN OUTLET HOOD TEMPT.(J3 T24)

KILN POWER AND KILN RPM

COOLER POWER

SHELL AIR FAN INVERTER, CENTRAL BURNER INVERTER


INJECTION COAL WEIGH FEEDER
The above trend graph will help in analysing as well as predicting the
process trend .In present condition if some deviations are observed ,
it is very difficult to pin point real cause of those deviations
Secondly it will be act as full proof process record for any
reference


B K JHA