Better Grinding Systems

Siegfried Strasser, KHD Humboldt Wedag AG, Cologne, Germany

Summary
Even improvements have been made in the grinding
department, still more than two third of the electrical
energy in a cement works is consumed by grinding
plants. For each ton of cement, 45 to 70 kWh are
recorded, and even more, when producing high
grades of OPC. While updated technology was
applied preferably for cement mills, comparatively
little improvement for raw material grinding is seen.
In average, 12 to 20 kWh/t of raw meal, which
relates to 18 to 30 kWh/t for the final product cement
are consumed. High pressure loss of the system fan
for the combined drying and grinding process and
inefficient mills are the main reason for the high
consumption.
Since long, it has been an attractive field for
suppliers of innovative technology, to safe energy
and to use limited resources at a minimum. To
understand present and future developments better,
a short look back is given before outlining process
developments with roller presses and ball mills.
1. Introduction
Grinding technology has undergone substantial
changes, after the roller press has been introduced
in the market. Simple pre-grinding systems have
been used in the beginning. Naturally, it was tried to
transfer as much grinding work as possible to the
roller press, consuming only about 50% of the ball
mill energy. In the early nineties the first two-stage
grinding systems have started up. But the
arrangement of the so called Semi-Finish Grinding
of the first generation, or also known as CombiGrinding has become very complex and high in
maintenance. Grinding and drying of moist raw
materials were limited to about 4% water content.
The main reason for the shortcomings is the mode
of deglomeration of the roller press product by high
speed rotors (figure 1) and separation of fines after
this deglomeration process by high efficiency
separators.
Since development and industrial use of the VSeparator and VSK-Separator by KHD Humboldt
Wedag, equipment and process systems are
available, that avoid the shortcomings of the first
generation design. Today, operating experience with
more than 40 grinding plants are available with the
new generation of separators.

Figure 1: Deglomerator
Applications for new grinding plants and upgrades,
considering roller presses as well as ball mills and
the combination of both, are outlined below.
2. Grinding Circuit with Roller Press,
First Generation design
In Figure 2 the flow scheme and the main equipment
of the grinding system are shown.

Figure 2: Grinding Circuit with Deglomerator,

first generation design

Fresh material (1) is ground in the roller press (5)

and conveyed to the deglomerator (13).
Agglomerates are broken up by the fast rotating
rotor, fines is separated in the following rotor cage
separator. Finish product can be produced with this
grinding circuit, or it can be arranged as pregrinding
unit in front of one or several ball mills.

new separator in the cement industry. World-wide it

is known as the V-Separator. (figure 3, left side)

Position numbers in flow sheets:

1 - fresh material
2 - material circulation
3 - V-Separator
4 - VSK Separator
5 - roller press
6 - ball mill
7 - product cyclone

8 - system fan
9 - hot gas for drying
10 - fines
11 middlings, rotor cage
rejects
12 - deglomerator
13 rotor cage separator
14 impact hammer mill

Excessive wear was the main problem with most of

this grinding circuits, faced right after start-up. The
sharp edged grains with up to 10 mm size have
been in direct contact with the rotating parts and
caused high wear to the separator and
deglomerator. Even with highly wear resistant
materials, the life of the wear parts was not
satisfying. Besides, the large number of equipment
and electrical consumers have increased the
maintenance- and spare parts cost. Many venting
points and a high vent air volume required extra
investment and maintenance.
Another limitation is the drying capacity. Even hot
gas can be introduced to the dynamic separator, the
retention time of the feed material before passing
the rotor cage is too short for efficient drying and
separation. Sticky material caused clogging and
unbalance to the deglomerator.
While the grinding performance was satisfying, most
urgent need was required to solve the wear problem
and to simplify separation of fine product.
3. V-Separator and VSK-Separator
With the V-Separator (VS) and the VSK-Separator
(VSK), a new generation of separators and better
grinding systems are offered to the cement industry.
Excellent operating results have confirmed the right
direction of development. Both separators have
been introduced in detail (references 1,2,3) Only a
short description follows.
3.1 V-Separator
The first approach, to eliminate the wear problem,
was to question the dynamic deglomeration- and
separation process. The idea of a cascade type
static separator has been picked up and transferred
to applications with the roller press. Air flow
simulations and extensive tests from a prototype
have given the shape and the specifications to a

Figure 3: left: V-Separator, Open Air Installation and fresh

air operation; right: LS-Separator

The features of the VS can be explained best by

comparing it with the static air separator type LS,
known from air swept tube mills. (see figure 3, right
side) The LS has the feed material entering together
with the separating air through the riser duct from
below. This requires a minimum ratio of air to feedmaterial for vertical conveying. Opposed to this, the
V-Separator is fed by gravity from top, while the air
is entering the VS from the side, crossing the
material stream. This makes the feeding rate less
dependant from the separating air. The material
loading of the separating air can therefore be up to
three times higher than with an LS-type separator.
The required product fineness is achieved by the air
velocity in the separating channels. The cut point
ranges from 90 microns up to 1.5 mm.
The internals, as step grate and separating channels
have straight and level surfaces, to which a simple
but effective wear protection is applied.
3.2 VSK-Separator
Right from the beginning, the target of KHD`s
development was to combine the sturdy design of
the VS with the high performance of the rotor cage
separator. This was possible with todays known
VSK-Separator. (figure 4) The horizontally supported
rotor cage is arranged as an add-on module to the
VS. The short connection for air and product
between VS and rotor cage results in low wear and
low pressure loss. After the first application of a
VSK-Separator in end 2000, in a German cement
plant (reference 2), start-up of further industrial VSKinstallations followed in 2003.
4. Flow Schemes with VS and VSK
Whether a VS or VSK is used, depends on the
required product fineness. While the VS is good for

cut sizes larger than 0.1 mm, the VSK can make fine
cuts between 200 to 20 microns.
With the multiple functions of the VS and VSK as:
separating, deglomerating, drying or cooling, and
accepting fresh feed, featuring low pressure loss,
good separating efficiency, even with high solids to
air loading and low wear rates, the application shall
not be limited within roller press circuits. Following
outline of grinding circuits considers different flow
schemes with roller press, ball mill and hammer mill.

With the V-Separator only, raw meal with a fineness

of 15% residue on 90 microns can be separated.
Opposite to ball mills and vertical roller mills, the gas
flow for drying is independent from the grinding
machine. Only the pressure loss of the VS and the
product cyclone with ducting has to be counted. For
this reason, the system fan consumes 3 to 4 kWh/t
of cement less compared with the fan of a ball mill or
vertical roller mill. With the VSK instead of the VS for
fine products, savings are still 2 to 2.5 kWh/t.
The shortcomings of the first generation design have
been turned into benefits:
- low wear rates
- number of material transfer chutes reduced
- no rotating parts and electrical consumers (VS)
- vent air volume and venting points reduced
- drying capacity is no more the limiting factor
- low pressure drop, electrical energy is saved
- with the VSK for fine cuts, wear and pressure loss
is low, the static part of the VS takes the load of
grains larger than 0.5 mm
4.2 Ball Mill Circuit with VS and VSK

Figure 4: VSK-Separator

4.1 Roller Press Circuit with VS and VSK

Figure 5: The grinding circuit consists mainly of the
V-Separator (3) and the roller press (5). Fresh feed
(1) is fed to the VS first together with the discharge
product of the roller press (2). Optionally, instead of
the V-Separator (3), the VSK-Separator (4) is shown
in the same flow sheet. (green colour)

Figure 5: Roller Press with V-Separator or VSK-Separator

The grinding circuit as per figure 6 is similar to that

with the roller press. Again, the VS is selected to
grind a relatively coarse raw meal, while the VSK
can separate fine products. There are a number of
applications for this kind of ball mill circuit:
For good grinding efficiency and to avoid excessive
wear of the internals, air velocity in the ball mill is
limited. Therefore, drying of moist fresh feed, as
slag, pozzolana and others are restricted. Drying
can be transferred from the ball mill to the VSK,
receiving fresh material and mill discharge product.

Figure 6: Ball Mill with V-Separator or VSK-Separator

Fresh feed (1) is introduced first to the VS or VSK (3

or 4) for drying with hot gas (9). The ball mill (6)
requires less or no hot gas.
Production upgrades of raw mills are often limited by
the amount of gas flow through the mill tube. In such
case, benefits from replacing inefficient separators
cannot be fully utilized. The VSK can do both, giving
the benefit of a high performance separator and
eliminating the drying limits. Than, integrated drying
chambers of tube mills may be loaded for grinding.

particle size distribution from a closed circuit mill is

required. It features the least number of equipment
for two-stage grinding in closed circuit.
For raw materials, if hard to grind component are
used, or a considerable portion of abrasive materials
as silica-sand, the S-System is recommended. The
sand component can be fed to the ball mill, being
ground more fine, which is welcome for the following
burning process. Drying with hot gases can be
arranged at both ends, at the VS, before entering
the roller press, and at the ball mill, if abrasive moist
fresh material is introduced to the ball mill.

4.3 Semi-Finish Grinding with VS and VSK

Basically, two different systems are offered:
- M-circuit: the preground product from the VS or
VSK is fed to the ball mill (M=Mill feed)
- S-circuit: the preground product is fed to the
separator first, to remove the fines to the finish
product (S=Separator feed)
In case of Semi-Finish Grinding M (figure 7), the
pregrinding circuit has its own system fan. The Mcircuit is preferably used in front of one or more
open circuit ball mills. Lower grades of cement, can
be produced very efficient with the M-System,
consisting only of roller press, VS and the open
circuit mill. Higher grades require the VSK, to
transfer more grinding work to the roller press and
improve the particle size distribution of the product.
Nevertheless, the cement properties of such a
system are most welcome.
The ball mill in closed circuit is preferred if large
quantities of additives are ground with clinker, such
as fly ash, slag and others, to control the residue on
the coarse end of the product particle curve.

Figure 8: Semifinish Grinding with VSK, S-System

4.4 Tandem Mill Circuits with VS and VSK

In Figure 9 an impact hammer mill (14) and a ball
mill (6) or a roller press (5) are arranged for raw
material grinding. Both machines are linked with
each other via the V- or VSK-Separator (3,4),
building a closed circuit.

Figure 7: Semifinish Grinding M with VS or VSK

The S-System see figure 8, is used for cement

with higher product fineness, or if the steeper

Figure 9: Impact Hammer Mill (HM)

This system combines high drying capacity, even

when feeding oversized lumps, and, either efficient
grinding with a roller press, or the uncomplicated
use of a ball mill, whin grinding abrasive feed
components.

from the VSK for further grinding. This can be done

very efficiently with the roller press (5). The ground
material is recirculated from the roller press to the VS for
final drying, deglomeration and separating of fines.
The closed crushing circuit with HM and VSK is just made
for upgrades of existing ball mills (6). The feed size to the
ball mill is reduced, the drying job is partly or fully
transferred to the VSK, which is made to accept high gas
volumes.

5. Conclusion

Fresh material (1) enters the system at the separator

inlet for pre-drying and separating of fines, before
passing the hammer mill. The coarse material
cascades down to the HM-inlet, being crushed and
recirculated to the VS.
If the VSK-Separator is used, the coarse material
from the rotor cage, the middlings, are withdrawn

Compared with roller press systems of the first

generation design, the number of equipment is
greatly reduced, and thanks to the VSK-design,
wear is under control, even when grinding abrasive
materials. With the V- and VSK-Separator and the
introduced process design, a wide field of
applications in the cement and minerals industry has
been opened for new plants as well as for upgrades.
Even designed for the roller press, is not exclusively
equipped with the new generation of separators.
Grinding circuits with tube mills and with impact
hammer mills benefit from the features of the VS
and VSK. The flow schemes outlined before, give
examples for standard applications. For upgrades
(reference 3) of existing grinding plants, no matter
which grinding machine is used, tailor-made
solutions are available.

References:
1. Suessegger, A.: Two in One: World Cement, Feb. 2003
2. Hilger, J. and Strasser, S.: New Grinding Plant with VSK-Separator at Rohrbach Zement in Dotternhausen, VDZKongress 2002
3. Bargan, A.S. and Binner, J.: Pressing ahead; International Cement Review, July 2003