Ultra tech Cement Tadipatri

Ultra tech cement limited situated in Tadipatri (A.P).

Capacity 8200 Ton per day
Raw material- Iron ore + Shale + Lime Stone + Al. Laterite
Feeding of raw material from raw material hoppers to raw mill Star Feeder by belt
conveyor and weigh feeder.
No. of Raw Mill- 2 (Atox mill 50)
Capacity- 550 TPH
Crusher
General Information
Equipment type- Single rotor impactor
Equipment Size APPM 1822
Feed Material Lime Stone
Feed Size Max 1400 X 1300 X 1100 mm
End Product Size 90 % (-) 75 mm sq. mesh
Capacity 1000 TPH Peak
950 TPH Sustained basis
Motor 1425 KW ,1000 RPM (Slip Ring)

SINGLE ROTOR IMPACTOR

HYDRAULIC CYLINDER

BLOW BAR
IMPACT ARM
IMPACT PLATE

ROTOR

GRINDING BAR
GRINGING BAR HOLDER
CROSS PIECE
GRINDING PATH

SECTIONAL VIEW OF CRUSHER

STACKER AND RECLAIMER

Coal Mil - 1 (Atox 27.5)

CapacityClinker MillCapacity-

Key production stages can be summarized as:

1. Raw materials
These are generally combinations of limestone, shells or chalk, and shale, clay, sand or iron ore, usually mined from a
quarry close to the plant where they undergo reduction using primary and secondary crushers. When the reduced
materials reach the cement plant they are proportioned to create a cement of specific chemical composition. Much work
is being done on the use of alternative raw materials often the by-products of other industrial processes. These can
minimize the effects of quarrying, reduce the impact of the cement plant on the local environment and enable the
cement industry to become a major player in materials recycling.

There are two basic methods used in Portland cement production wet and dry. In the dry process dry materials are
proportioned, ground to a powder, blended and fed into the kiln dry. The wet process involves adding water to the
proportioned raw materials and completing the grinding and blending operations in slurry form.
2. Pre-heater
To conserve energy, most modern cement plants pre-heat raw materials before they enter the kiln, using the hot
exhaust gases from the kiln itself.
3. Kiln
The mixture of raw materials is fed into the upper end of a rotating, cylindrical kiln, which achieves temperatures in
excess of 1000C. It passes through at a rate controlled by the slope and rotational speed of the kiln. Chemical reaction
inside the kiln leads to the fusion of the raw materials to produce clinker. Traditionally kiln fuels have been powdered coal
or natural gas, but increasingly alternative fuels are being used. These include materials such as scrap tyres, processed
sewage sludge and packaging waste.

4. Cooling/finish grinding
Clinker is discharged from the lower end of the kiln and transferred to various types of coolers. Cooled clinker is
combined with gypsum and ground to a fine powder in a ballmill to produce the final grade cement.

Case study:
Milling
overload
reduced
by
process
understa
nding
Problems of variable product quality were being experienced during pharmaceutical milling. Material was fed to
the mill by a rotary valve, and ground using turbulent air jets. Ground material exited via the dynamic classifier.

Periodic sampling of the milling product took place at a fixed period of D t. Samples measured in this way showed
the milling process to be acceptably close to the setpoint.

However, when real-time particle size measurements were undertaken, using an Insitec on the outlet of the mill,
the milling process was revealed to be much less stable.

The graph below shows that the median size (Dv 50) (red line) fluctuates significantly during milling. This
corresponds to a periodic fluctuation in the measured transmission (blue line), which is related to the mill loading.
100% transmission corresponds to there being no particles present, and 0% means that so many are present that
no light is reaching the detector.

Periodic fluctuations that are the consequence of forcing material through the mill, lead to "short-circuiting" of the
classifier. This affects the Dv 50 of the particles. The higher the loading, the more pronounced is the effect,
resulting in a larger (coarser) median size. As more and more particles are forced through the classifier, the
classifier motor draws more and more current (green line).
The remedy to this situation was to use the measured transmission value to drive the feed rotary valve.

As a result transmission oscillates around a mean value (indicative of a simple control scheme) and critically the
median size is continually close to the setpoint.

The numerous benefits of these actions included:

much higher milling product quality

smoother milling operations
less attention required for sampling, or for milling control
higher milling yield
less milling waste and re-work

A. Process feed stream

Useful for quality control of feed materials, where variation may have adverse effects on the performance of the main
unit processes.
B. After the dynamic classifier
Downstream of the main unit process this can be especially helpful in process start-up. Locating downstream of a
dynamic classifier may mean that there is a strong swirl in the powder stream. This can be neutralized using a flow
conditioner to give a uniform powder stream for sampling.
C. Final product stream / below classifier
The most widely adopted sampling point since it gives both quality control of the final product and a real-time view of
the entire process performance, allowing optimization of activities.
D. Superfines stream / below filter
Valuable where the product is collected after a bag house (most cement milling processes, for example), or as a
measure of the wastage that results from overgrinding and overproduction of fines. This location also allows the Insitec
to monitor and improve filter performance.
In some applications (toner production for example) two on-line particle size analyzers are installed on each line, in
positions B and C. This gives real-time yield information on the fines classification step

Gas-suspension preheaters

Cutaway view of cyclone showing air path

The key component of the gas-suspension preheater is the cyclone. A cyclone is a conical
vessel into which a dust-bearing gas-stream is passed tangentially. This produces a vortex
within the vessel. The gas leaves the vessel through a co-axial "vortex-finder". The solids are
thrown to the outside edge of the vessel by centrifugal action, and leave through a valve in the
vertex of the cone. Cyclones were originally used to clean up the dust-laden gases leaving
simple dry process kilns. If, instead, the entire feed of rawmix is encouraged to pass through
the cyclone, it is found that a very efficient heat exchange takes place: the gas is efficiently
cooled, hence producing less waste of heat to the atmosphere, and the rawmix is efficiently
heated. This efficiency is further increased if a number of cyclones are connected in series.

4-Stage preheater,
showing path of
feed
The number of
cyclones stages used
in practice varies
from 1 to 6. Energy,
in the form of fanpower, is required to
draw the gases
through the string of
cyclones, and at a
string of 6 cyclones,
the cost of the added
fan-power needed
for an extra cyclone
exceeds the
efficiency advantage
gained. It is normal
to use the warm
exhaust gas to dry
the raw materials in the rawmill, and if the raw materials are wet, hot gas from a less efficient
preheater is desirable. For this reason, the most commonly encountered suspension preheaters
have 4 cyclones. The hot feed that leaves the base of the preheater string is typically 20%
calcined, so the kiln has less subsequent processing to do, and can therefore achieve a higher
specific output. Typical large systems installed in the early 1970s had cyclones 6 m in
diameter, a rotary kiln of 5 x 75 m, making 2500 tonnes per day, using about 0.11-0.12 tonnes
of coal fuel for every tonne of clinker produced.
A penalty paid for the efficiency of suspension preheaters is their tendency to block up. Salts,
such as the sulfate and chloride of sodium and potassium, tend to evaporate in the burning zone
of the kiln. They are carried back in vapor form, and re-condense when a sufficiently low
temperature is encountered. Because these salts re-circulate back into the rawmix and re-enter
the burning zone, a recirculation cycle establishes itself. A kiln with 0.1% chloride in the
rawmix and clinker may have 5% chloride in the mid-kiln material. Condensation usually
occurs in the preheater, and a sticky deposit of liquid salts glues dusty rawmix into a hard
deposit, typically on surfaces against which the gas-flow is impacting. This can choke the
preheater to the point that air-flow can no longer be maintained in the kiln. It then becomes
necessary to manually break the build-up away. Modern installations often have automatic
devices installed at vulnerable points to knock out build-up regularly. An alternative approach
is to "bleed off" some of the kiln exhaust at the kiln inlet where the salts are still in the vapor
phase, and remove and discard the solids in this. This is usually termed an "alkali bleed" and it
breaks the recirculation cycle. It can also be of advantage for cement quality reasons, since it

reduces the alkali content of the clinker. However, hot gas is run to waste so the process is
inefficient and increases kiln fuel consumption.

The rotary kiln

General Layout of a Rotary Kiln

The rotary kiln consists of a tube made from steel plate, and lined with firebrick. The tube
slopes slightly (1-4) and slowly rotates on its axis at between 30 and 250 revolutions per hour.
Rawmix is fed in at the upper end, and the rotation of the kiln causes it to gradually move
downhill to the other end of the kiln. At the other end fuel, in the form of gas, oil, or pulverized
solid fuel, is blown in through the "burner pipe", producing a large concentric flame in the
lower part of the kiln tube. As material moves under the flame, it reaches its peak temperature,
before dropping out of the kiln tube into the cooler. Air is drawn first through the cooler and
then through the kiln for combustion of the fuel. In the cooler the air is heated by the cooling
clinker, so that it may be 400-800 C before it enters the kiln, thus causing intense and rapid
combustion of the fuel.
The earliest successful rotary kilns were developed in Pennsylvania around 1890, and were
about 1.5 m in diameter and 15 m in length. Such a kiln made about 20 tonnes of clinker per
day. The fuel, initially, was oil, which was readily available in Pennsylvania at the time. It was
particularly easy to get a good flame with this fuel. Within the next 10 years, the technique of
firing by blowing in pulverized coal was developed, allowing the use of the cheapest available
fuel. By 1905, the largest kilns were 2.7 x 60 m in size, and made 190 tonnes per day. At that
date, after only 15 years of development, rotary kilns accounted for half of world production.
Since then, the capacity of kilns has increased steadily, and the largest kilns today produce
around 10,000 tonnes per day. In contrast to static kilns, the material passes through quickly: it
takes from 3 hours (in some old wet process kilns) to as little as 10 minutes (in short
precalciner kilns). Rotary kilns run 24 hours a day, and are typically stopped only for a few
days once or twice a year for essential maintenance. This is an important discipline, because
heating up and cooling down are long, wasteful and damaging processes. Uninterrupted runs as
long as 18 months have been achieved.
Raw material requirements

The

range

of

cement

and

refractory

products

proposed

to

be

manufactured are Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) and Ordinary Pozzolana

Cement (OPC). The raw materials bases including (calcareous), silica (siliceous),
alumina (argillaceous), and iron (ferriferous) required for cement production will
be extracted by mining and quarrying. Limestone, which is the predominant raw
material for the production of cement in the proposed plant, will be transported
via belt conveyor from the captive limestone mine.
3.2.3

Production technology
The cement would be manufactured using Dry Process with rotary kilns,

5/6 Stage Suspension Pre-heater and Pre-calciner. The process would essentially
involve the following:
Raw material preparation
The mined lime stone shall be fed to the crusher with the help of dumpers
and the crushed limestone will be transported to the stockpile at plant site by belt
conveyor/pipe conveyor. Pre-blending of limestone in stockpile will be done to
even out the variation in the quality of materials being received from the mines.
Limestone, iron ore and shale shall be transported to the raw mill hoppers for Raw
Mill Blending. The process of raw milling in continuous blendingcum storage silo
of 16000 tonne capacity would be done to ensure consistency in chemical
configuration and particle-size for optimising fuel efficiency in the cement kiln and
for imparting strength to the final concrete product. In the dry process, the raw
material is dried using impact dryers, drum dryers, paddle-equipped rapid dryers,
air separators, or autogenous mills or during the grinding process itself. The raw
milled material would then be transported to the blending silo using a set of air
slides and bucket elevators. The blending-cum-storage system in the silo shall
further reduce the quality variation in the raw material. The gravimetric flow
control system for kiln feed shall be installed below the silo to avoid a separate
kiln feed building.
Pyro-processing
The pyro-processing system involves drying or preheating, calcining (a
heating process in which calcium oxide is formed), and burning (sintering). The
raw mix in the form of powder would be fed to the rotary kiln. The kiln system
would comprise of a 5/6 stage cyclone pre-heater, pre-calciner with tertiary air

duct, kiln, reciprocating type new generation grate cooler and a pan conveyor. The
pyro-processing would involve heating of the raw mix to produce cement clinkers
as the product of the chemical reaction between the raw materials. These clinkers
would be in the form of hard, gray, spherical nodules with diameters ranging from
0.32 - 5.0 cm (1/8 - 2").
Clinker cooling
The clinker cooling operation would recover up to 30% of kiln system
heat, preserve the ideal product qualities, and enable the cooled clinker to be
maneuvered by conveyors. The clinker

coolers that would be used are

reciprocating grate, planetary, and rotary. Air sent through the clinker to cool
would be directed to the rotary kiln nourishing fuel combustion. Based on the
cooling efficiency and desired temperature, the amount of air used in cooling
process would be approximately 1-2 kg/kg of clinker. For dedusting of cooler vent
gases an Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) has been considered. The clinker shall be
transported to one of RCC silos of 330000 tonne capacity from cooler by the pan
conveyors.
Clinker storage
Although clinker storage capacity is based on the state of the market, a
plant can normally store 5 - 25% of its annual clinker production capacity.
Equipment such as conveyors and bucket elevators will be used to transfer the
clinkers from coolers to storage areas and to the finish mill.
Clinker grinding
During the final stage of cement production known as finish milling, the
clinker is ground with other materials (which impart special characteristics to the
finished product) into a fine powder. Up to 5% gypsum and/or natural anhydrite
will be added to regulate the setting time of the cement. Other chemicals, such as
those which regulate flow ability or air entrainment, may also be added. These
materials will be sent to cement grinding system comprising of a ball mill with
high efficiency separator, then to Close Circuit Ball Mills which perform the
remaining grinding. The grinding process would occur in a closed system with an
air separator that will divide the cement particles according to size. For collecting
the ground material from ball mill and deducting of the vent air, a suitable sized
bag filter has been considered.

3.2.4

Cement storage
The cement shall be stored in 3 silos of 9000 tonne capacity each. The

cement shall be fed to silos through buckets elevators. The extraction system
shall consist of air slides and dosing valves.
3.2.5

Packing and dispatch

For packing of cement, electronic rotary packers have been considered.

From packer outlet up to loading of the packed bags, suitable systems with curve
belts, flat belts, diverters and automatic high speed loading machines have been
considered so as to facilitate smooth loading into trucks.

00. Limestone Quarry and Crushing plant

01. Limestone Stockpile
02. Additives Hopper
03. Additives Storage
04. Raw Mill Building
05. Blending and Storage Silo
06. Preheater
07. Gas Conditioning Tower and ESP
08. Kiln

09. Cooler
10. Deep Bucket Conveyor
11/12. Clinker/Gypsum Storage
13. Coal Mill Building
14. Cement Mill and Bag House
15. Cement Storage Silo
16. Packing & Dispatch
17. Central Control Room

00 Limestone Quarry and Crushing Plant

The major raw material for cement production is limestone. The limestone most suitable for cement
production must have some ingredients in specified quantities i.e., calcium carbonates, silica,
alumina, iron, etc.Typically, cement plants locations are based upon the availability of good quality
limestone in the vicinity. The quarrying operations are done by the cement producer using the open
cast mining process.Quarrying is done through drilling and subsequently, using heavy earth moving
equipment such as bulldozers, payloaders and dumpers.The quarried raw material is then transported
to the cement plant, using mechanical conveying equipment such as ropeways or belt conveyors, or
by vehicles like wagons and trucks.The quarried limestone is normally in the form of big boulders,
ranging from a few inches to meters in size. These varying sizes of limestone need to be crushed to a
size of about 10 mm in order to be prepared for finish-grinding.There are mainly two types of crushers
available for this purpose- compression type or impact type crushers. There are many types of
compression type crushers such as jaw crusher, gyratory crusher, cone crusher, roll crusher. The
impact technology is used in hammer crusher/impact crusher.Crushing is done either in two stages or
in a single stage. In the two stage crushing system, a compression type crusher is used in the first
stage for raw crushing, followed by impact/hammer crusher in the second stage. In single stage

crushing, an impact type crusher is used.The selection of the crusher depends mainly on the
characteristics of the raw materials. This selection is further guided by the particle-size distribution
requirements of the down-stream equipment such as raw mills and lastly by financial considerations.
01

Limestone

Stock

Pile

The raw material is stored at either the quarry or at the plant. Typically, circular or longitudinal stock
piles are used to store the material.A number of layers are stacked in circular or longitudinal piles and
are reclaimed in transverse, cross-sectional slices.The stock piles consist of separate layers/piles of
different kinds of raw material. This is used in segregating the raw material quality-wise. The required
quantity of the various raw materials is thus easily extracted for use.The extraction of different
qualities of raw material is monitored and controlled in order to maintain the desired composition of
raw meal, suitable for feeding into the kiln.
02

&

03

Additives

Storage

Hopper

In order to get the required composition of raw material, certain additives such as iron ore, bauxite,
laterite, quartzite and flourspar are added in required quantities.These additives are stored at the plant
in separate hoppers and are extracted using belt conveyors in conjunction with belt-weighing
equipment. This ensures that only the required quantities are extracted and added to the raw material.
04

Raw

Mill

Building

The raw material is finish-ground before being fed into the kiln for clinkering. This grinding is done
using either ball mills or vertical roller mills (VRM). The raw material is simultaneously dried.Ball mills
use impact with attrition principles for grinding the raw material. Inside the ball mills, various sizes of
balls are used and classifying liners are used to maintain the position of different sizes of balls. The
larger sized balls are utilized for impact grinding and the smaller balls for attrition. VRM uses the
compression principle to grind the raw material.The choice between a ball mill and VRM is governed
by many factors such as the moisture content of the raw material, the size of the plant, the
abrasiveness of the material, the energy consumption levels, reliability, and finally financial
considerations.Ball mills are suitable for low and medium moisture content in the range of five to six
per cent and are preferred for abrasive material. The main advantage of VRM is higher grinding
efficiency and ability to accept material with higher moisture content.Normally the energy consumption
level in VRM is 10 to 20 percent lower than in ball mills.
05

Blending

and

Storage

Silo

Normally there are various sources of limestone, each with different qualities, which are added with
various additives to get the required composition of raw mix. As there are various sources of raw
materials, it becomes necessary to blend and homogenize these different materials efficiently to
counteract fluctuation in the chemical composition of the raw meal.The variations in the composition
of kiln feed have very adverse impacts on the efficiency of the kiln. It results in undesired coating and
ring formation inside the kiln. In order to blend and homogenize the raw materials properly, continuous
blending silos are used.
06

Preheater

The most important activity in cement manufacturing is clinkering (or burning) of raw material.
Clinkering takes place in the kiln and the preheater system.Preheater systems offer heat transfer from
the hot kiln gases.
07

Gas

Conditioning

Tower

and

ESP

The conditioning tower is used to reduce the temperature and to increase the moisture level of the
dusty exhaust gas from the kiln, before it is passed through the bag house and ESPs. It is called a
conditioning tower because it conditions the hot gas, thus making it more suitable for the ESP and

bag house to extract dust from it.The Electrostatic Precipitators are used in cement plants particularly
for removal of dust from the exit gases of cement kilns and from the exhaust air discharged by dryers,
combined grinding and drying plants, finishing mills and raw mills through water injection.Through
ESPs, the dust-laden gas is made to flow through a chamber usually horizontally, during which it
passes through one or more high voltage electric fields formed by alternate discharge electrodes and
plate type collecting electrodes.By the action of electric field, the dust particles, which have become
electrically charged by negative gas ions which are formed at the discharge electrodes and attach
themselves to the particles, fly to the collecting electrodes and are deposited there. The dust is
dislodged from these electrodes by rapping and thus falls into the receiving hopper at the base of the
precipitator casing.
08

Kiln

A kiln is the heart of any cement plant. It is basically a long cylindrical-shaped pipe, and rotates in a
horizontal position. Its internal surface is lined by refractory bricks. Limestone and additives are
calcined in this. The output of the kiln is called clinker
09

Cooler

The clinker coming out of the kiln is hot. It is cooled in a set-up called a cooler. In the cooler, cold air is
blown to effect heat exchange between hot clinker and cold air.
10

Deep

Bucket

Conveyor

The deep bucket conveyor is essentially an equipment to lift material vertically.

11/12

Clinker/Gypsum

Storage

The output of the kiln is stored before it is fed to the cement mill for conversion to cement. This
storage is called clinker storage, if it is used for clinker storage purpose. If the storage space is used
for gypsum storage, it is called gypsum storage.The storage may be of silo type or covered stacker
reclaimer type or simply a gantry type. Silo type clinker storage has the advantage that there is no
dust pollution and spillage of clinker. Same advantage can be achieved through stacker reclaimer type
as well. However, there is a little bit of dust generated. Gantry type is not used in modern cement
plants because of its environmental unfriendly nature.
12

Gypsum

Storage

The output of the kiln is stored before it is fed to the cement mill for conversion to into cement. This
storage is called clinker storage, if it is used for clinker storage purpose. If the storage space is used
for gypsum storage, it is called gypsum storage.The storage may be of silo type or covered stacker
reclaimer type or simply a gantry type. Silo type clinker storage has the advantage that there is no
dust pollution and spillage of clinker. Same advantage can be achieved through stacker reclaimer type
as well However, there is a little bit of dust generated. Gantry type is not used in modern cement
plants because of its environmental unfriendly nature.Limestone coming out of quarry is crushed in
multiple stages in a sizing plant before it is put in limestone stockpile. Crusher are mainly of two types
viz. Jaw crusher and Hammer crusher. Jaw crusher is basically a simple mechanism having two
plates
one
fixed
and
another
moving.
This
is
also
called
primary
crusher. Hammer crusher has got metallic hammer mounted on the axes and the sizing achieved by
the impact of the hammer.
13

Coal

Mill

Building

The coal mill building houses the mill for grinding lumpy coals. This fine ground coal is used for
burning in the kiln.The mills used for coal grinding and drying are either trumbling mills (tube mills) or
roller mills.

14

Cement

Mill

and

Bag

House

Clinker, along with additives, is ground in a cement mill. The output of a cement mill is the final
product viz. Cement. In a cement mill, there is a cylindrical shell lying horizontal which contains
metallic balls and as it rotates, the crushing action of the balls helps in grinding the clinker to fine
powder.The term bag house is applied to large filters containing a number of tubular bags mounted in
a usually rectangular casing. The dust laden air is drawn through them by suction.The bag house is
used to remove dusty particles from discharge of different equipment such as cement mill, coal mill
and kiln. In a bag house system discharge gas containing dusty particles is passed through a series of
bags made of strong fabrics.
15.Cement

Storage

Silo

The cement storage silo is used for storing the finished product - cement.
16

Packing

and

Dispatch

The cement is packed with the help of a rotary packer and finally dispatched to the market
17

Central Control

Room

It is the nerve center of the cement plant since all equipment is controlled from this place. It is the
place from where all the process parameters are controlled .

Reference :