Filtering

Kiln exhaust

Gases
Introduction
Ambuja Cements and ACC which are controlled by Holcim
group operate various cement plants all over India. In last few
years monitoring of the manufacturing process impact on the
environment has become the top priority of the company. This
includes the control on Dust emission from various electrostatic
precipitators and process /nuisance bag filters.

The company must comply with the Indian regulations

concerning environmental protection. In 2006 Ambuja Cements
announced putting up a new plant at Rauri near Darlaghat in
Himachal Pradesh of 7200 TPD.

Intensiv Filter India deliberates the design,

realization and commissioning of a new pulse jet
filter for Kiln/Raw Mill application at Ambuja
Cements Rauri, Himachal Pradesh; the World’s
largest Bag filter for this application.
Conceptualization of Pulse Jet Bag
Filter fro Kiln/Raw Mill system
Traditionally Ambuja Cement management also ACC for recent
plants had selected Reverse Air Bag Filter over Electrostatic
Precipitator for Kiln/Raw Mill application in various plants.
However, after Holcim taking over management control,
Ambuja Cements decided to consider Pulse Jet Bag Filter
Technology over Reverse Air Bag Filter due to various
advantages.
Factors considered for selection of Pulse Jet Filter Technology

• Holcim operates various plants all over the world and are having good
experience of pulse jet bag filter technology for Kiln/Raw Mill.

• Foot print area of pulse jet bag filter is less compared to Reverse Air Bag
House.

• Filter Media of P-84 and Glass with PTFE membrane are proven for very low
emission and this reasonable bag life.

• Most important aspect of this technology is meeting dust emission level of

10mg/Nm3 or less. Electrostatic Precipitators and Reverse Air Bag House
cannot meet such low levels.

• The plant is located in sensitive area near well known hill station Shimla,
hence the environmental norms needs to be strictly complied with.

The process data of Bag filter is given below:

Table 1. Filter process data

Application Kiln and Raw Mill
Dedusting
Type of dust Kiln/Raw Mill Dust
Direct Compound
Gass Flow (m3/hr) 21,00,000 14,40,000
Gas temperature (°C) < 200 90 - 160
Maximum inlet dust load (g/m3) 70 100
Dew Point (°C) 50 50
Maximum outlet dust Emission (dry) < 10 mg/Nm3
Basic project data
The Technical solution of Intensiv Filter consisted of two parallel pulse jet bag filter
units due to space constraint. The filter media was decided as P-84 so that during
Raw Mill shut down, the gases will be cooled up to 190-195°C and will be filtered for
gas temperature less than 195°C.

Intensiv Filter has supplied Pulse Jet Bag Filter for Kiln/Raw Mill application
from 1994 with excellent results. (Polysius, Holcim, KHD, Equador, Cemex, Lafarge,
Rudniki, Tong-Yang Cements.Italcementi, Dyckerhof, Campulung etc)

Selection of P-84 filter media was due to its capability to Filter gases up to
200°C and to offer emission as low as 10mg/Nm3.(measured values for some
installations are as low as 2-3mg/Nm3)

In July 2007, Intensiv Filter India was entrusted the job and by January 2010
the Bag filter was installed and commissioned successfully.
 The new filter is designed for a gas volume of 22, 00,000 m3/hr when raw mill
is down and for a gas volume of 14, 40,000 m3/hr when raw mill is working. This is
the largest bag filter for Kiln/Raw mill application in Cement Sector.

Due to large Volumes and space constraint Intensiv Filter proposed two
parallel streams with Twelve compartments each; Twenty Four totally with two
separate Induced Draught (ID) Fans.

Intensiv Filter offered low pressure cleaning technology with the patented
Jet Bus technology for cleaning. As Intensiv has considerable experience of using
filter bag as long as 8000 mm, it was decided to consider bag length of 8000 mm.

For ease of maintenance Pent House was installed on bag filter and chain
conveyors were considered below bag filter for collection of dust.

Erection Stage
General arrangement

As shown in the layout the dusty gas from Preheater will go either to the raw mill or
to the bag house after dilution. The exhaust gases from raw mill are passed through
the bag filter after set of cyclones and raw mill fan. Thus the bag filter will receive
the dusty gas either from Preheater directly or from Roller Mill. The clean gas from
the bag filter will be exhausted by two ID fans.
The process filter data and the technical specifications are given in Table 2.

Table 2. Technical characteristics of the Filter

Direct Compound
Capacity (m3/h) 21,00,000 14,40,000
Gas Temperature < 200 90 - 160
Bag size (mm) Dia. 160x 8000
No. of filter bags 7680
Bag material P84
Bag weight (g/m2 ) 550
Filtering Surface (m2 ) 31795
Filtering Speed (m3/m2/min) 1.1 0.75
Filtering Speed with one intercepted chamber 1.15 0.8
Total Pressure Drop across Bag Filter (mmwg) 150-175
Cleaning system Pulse Jet
Compressed air consumption (Nm3/h) 500
Compressed air pressure at manifold Variable Pressure Cleaning
Maximum outlet dust Emission (dry) (mg/Nm3) < 10

Advantages of the new installation

Thanks to the new Filter Technology, a phenomenal reduction in dust emissions is
achieved. The new plant has been designed to guarantee a dust emission rate lower
than 10 mg/Nm3 these values were fixed by Ambuja Cements in view of Plants
location in Himachal Pradesh, However actual emissions is much lower. Other
significant advantages are:

• Low pressure cleaning improves bag life.

• Low compressed air consumption.

• Possibility of replacing damaged bags when the filter is working.

Conclusion
The plant was commissioned without any problems in January 2010 and has bettered
the performance parameters stipulated by Ambuja Cements. The Filtering process is
optimized and client is very happy with new filter technology and dust free
environment. Needless to mention that this was the first and largest Pulse Jet Bag
Filter for Kiln/Raw Mill application.