The Process Technology of

cement Industries
By Mulatu Betsegaw

HiOT
Chemical Engineering
Background

 Cement is an important ingredient in concrete locking together

the sand and gravel constituents in an inert matrix.
 It is one of the principal building and construction materials in
building and construction sectors.
 It is therefore essential to meet society’s needs for housing and
basic infrastructure such as bridges, roads, water treatment
facilities, schools and hospitals.
 Currently, the country has more than 16 cement plants (other
than 2 new entrants).
 In terms of size and installed production capacity: four are large
and integrated firm with more than 2 Mta installed cement
production capacity; four are mid-sized cement plants with
combined installed cement production capacity of 2.3 Mta; while
the balance are small cement plant with vertical shift kiln
technologyincluding clinker grinding facilities.
Cement definition
 Cement is a manmade mineral structure created at high
temperatures, mainly comprising lime (CaO), Silica (SiO2) and
oxides of aluminum 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.
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
minimise transport
1.Primary rawmaterials
 limestone (CaCO3) & limestone containing minerals,

2.Secondary rawmaterials
 clay ( Al2O3 ),sand (silica, aluminium and iron dxides).

3.Tertiary rawmaterials
 Gypsum
Other "alternative" raw materials slag, mill scale, fly ash
Types of processes

 There are two main process routes for the manufacture of

cement. These are:

 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 preheater or precalciner kiln or,
more rarely, to a long dry kiln.

 Wet process: - the raw materials (often with high moisture

content) are ground in water to form pumpable slurry. The
slurry is either fed directly into the kiln or first to slurry dryer.
 Major unit operations
1. Quarrying
2. Cushing
3. Proportionating / Prehomogenization
4. Raw mill Grinding
5. Homogenization /Silo
6. Raw meal preheating
7. Kiln operation
8. Clinker cooling/storage
9. Cement mill and gypsum addition/storage
Quarrying Rock blasted from the quarry
is transported to the primary crusher where
large "run of mine" rocks are broken into
pieces of approximately 100mm.
Crushing and Grinding

 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, where as grinding refers to communition in the fine 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.
 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).
The actual height to which they are lifted depends on a
number of factors: the speed of mill, the type of lining,
the filing ratio (mill loading percentage), and the
properties of mill feed material (like moisture content.)
proportionating homogenisation
 The raw materials are then proportioned to the correct
chemical balance and milled together to a fine powder,
"rawmeal. To ensure high quality of cement, the chemistry of
the raw materials and rawmeal is very carefully controlled.
 Materials are also homogenised to ensure consistency of
product quality.
 Kiln exhaust gases are used in the rawmill to dry the raw
materials. In some gases with wet materials, additional heat
sources are required for drying.
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.
 Depending on the raw material moisture, a kiln may have 3 to
6 stages of cyclones with increasing heat recovery with each
extra stage.
Calcination
 The calciner is a combustion chamber at the bottom of the preheater
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.
Kiln operatoion
 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.
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:
 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:
 Alite formation: -

3CaO + SiO2 ------> 3 CaO. SiO2 (C3S)

 Belite formation:-

2CaO+ SiO2 ------> 2 CaO. SiO2 (C2S)

 Aluminates formation:-

CaO+ Al2O3 -----> 3 CaO. Al2O3 (C3A)

Ferrite formation:-
CaO+ Al2O3+ Fe2O3 -----> 4CaO. Al2O3. Fe2O3 (C4AF )
Energy source
 Fuel oil, Coal, natural gas, pet coke and other alternative fuels
are energy sources
 plastic, rubbers, solvents, waste oil or meat and bone meal
are burned to feed the flame which can reach as high as
2000oC.
 The high temperature allows the materials to become
partially molten as the intense heat causes the chemical and
physical changes that transform the raw feedstock into a
material called clinker
Clinker formation
 Expressed at its simplest, the series of chemical reactions
converts the calcium and silicon oxides into calcium silicates,
cement primary constituent. At the lower end of the kiln, the
raw materials emerge as a new substance red-hot particles
called clinker.
Clinker
clinker cooler
 The clinker tumbles onto a grate cooled by forced air. Once cooled the clinker
is ready to be ground into the grey powder known as Portland cement. To save
energy, heat recovered from this cooling process is re circulated back to the
kiln or preheater tower.
 Cement mill
 The clinker is then ground with other mineral components to cement
 Gypsum is used to control the setting time of the product;
 Slag and fly ash can also be used to control other properties of the
cement.
 Traditionally, ball mills is used for cement milling.
 Portland cement is produced by intergrinding cement clinker with a few
percent of natural or industrial gypsum (or anhydrite) in a cement mill.
 Blended cements (or “composite” cements) contain other constituents in
addition such as granulated blast-furnace slag, natural or industrial
pozzolana (for example, volcanic tuffs or fly ash from thermal power
plants), or inert fillers such as limestone.
 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.
 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.
 CO2 and Climate Protection
 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%
…End

Thank you!!??
By Mulatu Betsegaw, A.lectuer @ HiOT Chemical Engineering 35