ADIGRAT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND

TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OFCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
PROCESS INDUSTRIES II

CHAPTER -1
THE TECHNOLOGY OF CEMENT INDUSTRY

By : Mengsteab N.
 Cement definition
Cement is a manmade mineral structure created
at high temperatures, mainly comprising lime
(CaO), Silica (SiO2) and oxides of aluminium and
iron (Al2O3 and Fe2O3.
Cement is a hydraulic powder material, which
reacts with water to produce strength-bearing
lattices.
The mixture of aggregates, cement and water is
concrete. The strength and durability of concrete
makes it one of the most useful materials
developed by man.

3/8/2017 2
Raw materials used to produce cement
The raw materials are naturally occurring
mineral and basically all CaO, SiO2,
Al2O3 and Fe2O3 bearing minerals can be
used to manufacture cement.

Plants generally rely on nearby quarries for

limestone to minimize transport costs.

3/8/2017 3
 1.Primary raw materials
limestone (CaCO3) & limestone containing
minerals,

2.Secondary raw materials

clay ( Al2O3 ),sand &silica (aluminum and
iron oxides).

3.Tertiary raw materials(additives)

Gypsum
Other "alternative" raw materials slag and fly
ash.
3/8/2017 4
 Types of processes
There are two main process routes for the
manufacture of cement. These are:
1.Dry process:-In the dry process, the raw
materials are ground and dried to raw
meal in the form of a flow-able powder. The
dry raw meal is fed to the pre-heater or
pre-calciner kiln or, more rarely, to a long
dry kiln.
2.Wet process:- the raw materials (often
with high moisture content) are ground in
water to form pump-able slurry. The slurry
is either fed directly into the kiln or first to
slurry dryer.
3/8/2017 5
 Types of cement
1.OPC (ordinary Portland cement)
It is the most energy consumable cement due to high
percentage of clinker.
It is the most expensive cement due to high energy
consumption.
Its percentage composition is
clinker = 95%
Gypsum =5%
It is more applicable for high building in fast construction
because:
it is high heat release cement and has early strength
it attains its strength fast.

3/8/2017 6
 Cont
2. PPC (Portland pozzolana cement)
It is called low heat release cement. This type of
cement contains pozzolana which is aluminum
silicate burned by volcanic eruption in its
composition.
The percentage composition of PPC is
Clinker= 75%
Gypsum= 5%
Pozzolana=20%
It is mainly applicable for massive construction
because it releases relatively low heat.

3/8/2017 7
 Cont
3. PLC (portland limestone cment)
This types of cement contains raw material limestone
in its composition.
The percentage composition of PLC is
clinker =70%
Gypsum=5%
High grade Limestone=25%
The PLC cement is more applicable for masonry and
plastering
Note: - Strength of OPC greater than PPC and PLC due to
high clinker content

3/8/2017 8
 Process Description
Major unit operations
1. Quarrying
2. Crushing
3. Proportionating
4. Raw mix Grinding
5. Homogenization/Silo
6. Raw meal preheating
7. Kiln operation
8. Clinker cooling/storage
9. Cement mill and gypsum addition 9
 1. Quarrying
Raw Material Quarry
Raw materials are extracted from earth through
mining and quarrying. The groups of raw
materials are; calcareous (lime), argillaceous
(alumina), siliceous (silica) and ferriferous (iron).
Quarrying operation consists of the process of
drilling, blasting, excavating, handling and loading.
Blasting: is fragmenting of raw material from the
ground surface using chemical explosive.

3/8/2017 10
 2. Crushing
Cement plant raw materials blasted in the quarry
requires size reduction for further processing,
size reduction is performed in crushers and
grinding mills. Crushing is communition in the
coarse range.
Primary crushing involves limestone rock fed
through large capacity crushers. This reduces
the rock to a maximum size of approximately 150
mm. Secondary crushing further reduces this to
75mm or under. Residue material is stacked and
reclaimed with a bridge reclaimer in a cross
section so that the homogeneous limestone is fed
further in the process.
3/8/2017 11
 3.proportionating/pre-homogenization/
The raw materials are then proportioned to
the correct chemical balance using weigh
feeders. In proportion unit there are four bins to
store for the four materials (lime stone, shale, silica
sand and iron ore).
To ensure high quality of cement, the
chemistry of the raw materials and raw
meal should carefully controlled.
Weigh feeder: is a machine which allows to flow the
material to the required quantity from the hopper.

3/8/2017 12
 4. drying
For dry process the raw material has to be
dried before milling.
Kiln exhaust gases are used to dry the
raw materials. In some gases with wet
materials, additional heat sources are
required for drying.

3/8/2017 13
 5. raw mix grinding
The mixed raw material from the proportion unit enters
through one common belt conveyor to the raw mill.
grinding refers to communition in the fine
range. The grinding media (steel ball) and the
feed material to be ground are brought
together in a rotating tubular or drum-shaped
compartment. The media and material rises
to an optimum height, necessary for grinding
operation, and come tumbling down
(cascading and/or contracting).
3/8/2017 14
 Ball mill grinding

3/8/2017 15
 Cont

Fig : raw mill circuit

3/8/2017 16
 6. Homogenization
Materials are homogenized to ensure
consistency of product quality. This is
done in a controlled flow storage silo(CFC)
which has compressors that supply air.

3/8/2017 17
 7. Preheater/Cyclones/
A pre-heater is a series of vertical cyclones. Where
the raw meal is passed down through these
cyclones it comes into contact with the swirling
hot kiln exhaust gases moving in the opposite
direction and as a result heat is transferred from
the gas to material.
This pre-heats the material before it enters the
kiln so that the necessary chemical reactions
will occur more quickly and efficiently. By
retaining energy from the exhaust gases, energy
is saved.

3/8/2017 18
3/8/2017 19
 Depending on the raw material moisture, a
kiln may have 3 to 6 stages of cyclones
with increasing heat recovery with each
extra stage.

3/8/2017 20
3/8/2017 21
 8. pre -Calcinations
The calciner is a combustion chamber at the
bottom of the pre-heater above the kiln back-
end. Up to 65% of the total energy needs of the
kiln system can be supplied to the calciner.
Calciners allow for shorter rotary kilns and for
the use of lower grade alternative fuels.
Calcination is the decomposition of CaCO3 to
CaO and CO2.
CaCO3 CaO + CO2.
These process emissions comprise 60% of the
total emission from a cement kiln. The
combustion of the fuel generates the rest.
3/8/2017 22
 9.Kiln operation
Raw meal, more accurately termed "hot
meal" at this stage then enters the rotary
kiln.
The kiln is the world's largest piece of
industrial equipment.
As the kiln rotates at about 3-5 revolutions
per minute, the material slides and tumbles
down through progressively hotter zones
towards the flame
Fuel is fired directly into the rotary kiln and
the heat is absorbed into the material being
processed. At the lower end of the kiln, the
raw materials emerge as a new substance
red-hot particles called clinker.
3/8/2017 23
3/8/2017 24
 Burning zone : The burning zone is where
combination takes place between the lime (
CaO), and the silica (SiO2 ), Alumina (
Al2O3 ) and ferric oxide (Fe2O3) to form the
four basic clinker components (i.e.
C3S,C2S,C4AF and C3A).

The basic chemical reactions taking place

in the burning zone are the following:
3/8/2017 25
Basic chemical reactions of the burning zone
1.Alite formation: -
3CaO + SiO2 ------> 3 CaO. SiO2 (C3S)
2. Belite formation:-
2CaO+ SiO2 ------> 2 CaO. SiO2 (C2S)
3.Aluminates formation:-
3CaO+ Al2O3 -----> 3 CaO. Al2O3 (C3A)
4.Ferrite formation:-
4CaO+ Al2O3+ Fe2O3 -----> 4CaO. Al2O3. Fe2O3 (C4AF )

3/8/2017 26
3/8/2017 27
3/8/2017 28
 10.clinker cooler
The clinker tumbles onto a grate cooled
by forced air. The clinker is cooled by the action
of air which is blown in the plenum champers by
fans arranged independently for each chamber.
The clinker cools to a temperature of about 80 -
100c above ambient temperature. To save
energy, heat recovered from this cooling
process is re circulated back to the kiln
or pre-heater tower.

3/8/2017 29
 Cont

3/8/2017 30
 11. Cement mill
The clinker is then ground with other
mineral components to cement.

Gypsum is used to control the setting time

of the product;

Traditionally, ball mills is used for cement

milling.

3/8/2017 31
 In recent years technologies with better
energy efficiency have been developed.
Compound mill systems include pre-
crushing and sophisticated separator
systems to reduce electricity consumption.

Vertical cement mills mill the material in a

roller mill with reduced electricity
consumption also.
3/8/2017 32
 From the grinding mills, the cement is
conveyed to silos for shipment. Most
cement is shipped in bulk by trucks, rail
or barge. A small percentage of the
cement is bagged for customers who
need only small amounts or who have
special needs.

3/8/2017 33
 Cont

Fig. Schematic of finish milling system in a cement plant.

3/8/2017 34
 PFD cement production

3/8/2017 35
 Energy utilization
The cement making process is highly energy
intensive accounting for nearly 40 50 % of the
production costs.
Energy flows:
Electrical Energy -mill drives, fans and conveying
systems.
Thermal Energy-kiln and precalciner.
Thermal energy accounts for about half the energy
costs incurred in cement manufacture. Fuel oil,
Coal, natural gas, pet coke and other
alternative fuels are energy sources.
3/8/2017 36
 Energy Efficiency Opportunities

Energy efficiency improvement reduces CO2

emissions.
Reduction in CO2 emissions from the cement
plant involves a two pronged strategy.
1. By improving energy efficiency
2. By promotion of blended cements which can
decrease the clinker percentage in cement,
thus reducing the process CO2 emissions

3/8/2017 37
 Environmental aspects

3/8/2017 38
Globally, the cement industry produces
about 5% of man-made CO2 emissions.
This breaks down to:

Clinker production: 50%

Burning fuel: 40%

Electricity use and transportation: 10%

3/8/2017 39
 summary
The production process of cement has three major
stages. The first stage is Raw Mix Preparation stage which
is responsible to mix certain proportion of clay and
limestone and to crush them to powder form. The second
and the most important stage is pyro processing which
consumes more than 90% of total energy. This stage
includes pre-heater, calciner, kiln and cooler. In the pyro
processing a gray and hard clinker is formed. Then, clinker
is transported to the finish mill, which is the third stage,
by a conveyor belt to be ground into fine powder cement.
A small amount of gypsum is added during grinding to
control the set properties of the produced cement.

3/8/2017 40
3/8/2017 41
 Quize#1
#1) write the difference among raw mix, raw meal
and clinker.(1.5)
#2) write the advantage of dry process over wet
process.(1.5)
#3) Determine the quantity of CO2 released from a
cement plant that has a capacity of producing 1ton
clinker per day.(2)
Note that 70% of the clinker composition is
limestone. Neglect the CO2 emission from burning
of fuel.
3/8/2017 42