Numerical calculation of tertiary air duct in the cement kiln installation

Borsuk G., Wydrych J., Dobrowolski B.

Department of Thermal Engineering and Industrial Facilities

Opole University of Technology, Prószkowska 76, 45-578 Opole, Poland
e-mail: g.borsuk@po.opole.pl

Key words: pneumatic transport, particle concentration, tertiary air, rotary kiln

Abstract

During cement production process, part of the fuel can be burned in preheater, so it is necessary to supply additional air
(tertiary air), which should be taken from the clinker cooler [1]. Trouble at the tertiary air conveying make clinker
particles which are entrained from the cooler and settle in the duct [2,3,4]. For optimization of kiln, it is necessary to
understand the detailed process which takes place in the kiln. The specific requirements of the process is designing the
burner system and provide a burner design that will deliver efficient and reliable combustion. Yet, extensive use of this
form of transportation may bring about some problems that need to be eliminated.
For describe the complex process of cement production a numerical calculation object were built. As for subsequent
analyses only flow distribution through the kiln head was important, authors decided to build a part of cement kiln
installation. Fig. 1 shows general view of the rotary kiln system with connection between head and preheater.

Fig. 1 Rotary kiln general view

Part of the installation inside a dotted line was cut and then had the opportunity to build a computing system of tertiary air
duct. Figure 2 shows head of rotary kiln with base tertiary air duct connection, in figure 3 we see selected particle
trajectories. Flow parameters for the system are set out the following assumptions: constant velocity in the inlet cross-
section depends of the gas flow rate to the kiln head, at the outlet of the kiln and pipeline constant pressure value
determined for the basic variant for the appropriate distribution of gas on kiln and tertiary air duct.
Pressure drop between inlet to head and outlet from tertiary air pipe was treated as a base information for calculation
proper distribution of gas. The primary step of setting the numerical calculation was the pressure at the outlet to the kiln,
as the flow distribution is the same as at the start of the analysis. Over 70% of the incoming flow to the head is transported
through the kiln. The rest is transported through the tertiary air installation.
For the particle calculation authors used Rosin-Rammler-Sperling distribution, separated 10 fraction of particle with the
range from 15 to 600 µm. The calculations assume the same number of intake point for all particle fraction. Such adopted
boundary conditions gave the result of the expected pressure drop. Calculation were made by using ANSYS Package [5].
For the boundary conditions obtained from the initial calculations, special settler was used as one of the tertiary air
installation sections located just behind the outlet from the kiln head.
 G.Borsuk, J. Wydrych, B. Dobrowolski

Fig. 2 Head of rotary kiln Fig. 3 Particle trajectories (d110, d150, d220 m)

Three-dimensional, steady, isothermal gas flow was considered. Movement of the gas was defined on the principles of
mass and momentum conservation. The fundamental system of equations consists of: flow continuity equation, momentum
conservation equations and turbulence model equations [2]. All the mentioned equations can be written in a generalized
form:
( ui )    
      S  Sp
xi  xi 
(1)
xi
where  is a generalized dependent variable,  is a diffusion transport coefficient, and the source element S embraces
all the remaining – apart from convection and diffusion – terms of differential equations.
Basing on the analysis it was stated that in the issue being considered two forces is of essential importance: gravity and
drag force. After taking into account main forces acting on particle and after transformations the following equation is
obtained:


du p
 u  u p   g
1  
(2)
dt p
 p d p2
where p is particle dynamic relaxation time  p  (3)
18f
From the results of numerical calculations, the following conclusions can be drawn:
 It is possible to develop the inverse problem in order to focus on studies of the tertiary air installation without the
analysis of the other processes in a rotary kiln,
 Initial conditions were selected on the basis of a predetermined pressure drop between kiln head and preheater,
 The pressure at the outlet to the rotary kiln was selected as long, as the distribution of the gas flow rate is
consistent with the real installation,
Solving the inverse problem, it was possible to analyse several variants of modification the tertiary air installation. The
results of computations will be presented in the final version of the paper.

References

[1] H. Lederer: A new rotary kiln burner technology, World cement 1996
[2] G. Borsuk, B. Dobrowolski, J. Wydrych: Gas - solids mixture flow through a two - bend system. -Chemical and
Process Engineering vol. 27, nr 3/1, 2006, s. 645-656
[3] H. Akili, E.K. Levy, B. Sahin: Gas-solid flow behaviour in a horizontal pipe after a 90° vertical-to-horizontal elbow,
Powder Technology 116/2001
[4] S. Laín, M. Sommerfeld, Numerical calculation of pneumatic conveying in horizontal channels and pipes: Detailed
analysis of conveying behavior, International Journal of Multiphase Flow, no. 39, (2012), pp. 105–120
[5] ANSYS Fluent, Release 14.0, ANSYS Inc.,