1 GRINDING AIDS

Raw meal grinding aids:

improving burnability
While the use of raw meal grinding aids has not always been readily accepted due to

by Martyn Whitehead, Fosroc Asia Sdn Bhd, Malaysia, andMehmet Necdet Kaya, Fosroc Idea
Construction Chemicals Co, Turkey

C ement plants have often been reluctant

to use grinding aids in the raw mill as
they appear to offer limited cost saving
Figure 1: particle size distribution (PSD) analysis of the calcite fraction from the blank sample

potential when only electrical energy

is taken into account. Taking this single
viewpoint restricts a plant from maximising
the potential benefit that it can achieve
from grinding aids. Fosroc has previously
reported on its use of raw meal grinding
aids to help solve production-related
issues such as bottlenecks or difficult-
to-handle materials. 1 These applications
start to challenge the belief that raw
meal grinding aids offer little cost saving
benefit. This article demonstrates that
raw meal grinding aids do offer significant Figure 2: particle size distribution (PSD) analysis of the calcite fraction when using
cost saving potential when the process is Fosroc 360RM
viewed holistically. It will present detailed
information from a recent plant trial that
clearly demonstrates the economic benefit
that can be obtained by their use.

Raw meal burnability

Burnability is essentially the ease with
which the raw meal components react to
form the desired clinker minerals. There
are a range of factors that may affect the
burnability of a raw meal – for example, the
chemistry and mineralogy of the raw meal
components and the fineness of the raw
meal. If a raw meal is “hard-to-burn” it can
lead to high free lime content in the clinker,
low cement strength, poor grindability and reduction in coarse calcite or a one per cent the whole picture. Two raw meals with the
higher fuel consumption.2 While a cement reduction in coarse quartz will decrease same chemistry and sieve residue results
plant often has limited opportunities to the clinker free lime by one per cent at may have different amounts of coarse
select the raw meal components, it does 1400˚C, assuming all other parameters quartz and calcite, which will lead to
have the possibility to define the chemistry remain the same. 3 Therefore, cement differences in their respective burnabilities.
and fineness (or particle size distribution) plants need to determine the fineness level By the careful selection and
of the raw meal. required to ensure good combinability application of tailored grinding aids the
It has been widely reported that the without overgrinding the raw meal, and amount of coarse quartz and coarse
amount of coarse quartz (> 45µm) and wasting energy and capacity. Plants have calcite present in the raw meal can be
calcite (> 125µm) in the raw meal has typically achieved this by setting targets influenced and thereby improve the
a significant impact on its burnability. for the 90 and/or 200µm sieve residue of burnability. Raw meal with an optimised
FLSmidth reports that a two per cent the raw meal, but this does not present particle size distribution (PSD) will

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 GRINDING AIDS 2

be “easier-to-burn” and requires less recent cement plant trial in Turkey, which Industrial plant trial
thermal energy to reach the same level of applied grinding knowledge to optimise Table 1 shows some of the key data from
conversion to the desired clinker minerals. the raw meal burnability and reduce the the raw mill during the baseline and Fosroc
This is shown by an in-depth analysis of a thermal energy requirements. 360RM trial period. As expected, when
using a grinding aid, the mill output was
Table 1: mill output, 32-45-90µm sieve residue results from the trial using 350g increased by five per cent in this short trial.
Fosroc 360RM at 350g/t raw meal However, while mill efficiency was not the
Mill output (tph) 32µm sieve 45µm sieve 90µm sieve focus of this trial, it is an extra benefit.
residue (%) residue (%) residue (%) As any changes in raw meal chemistry
will also impact the burnability, care was
Blank Fosroc Blank Fosroc Blank Fosroc Blank Fosroc taken during the trial to minimise any
360RM 360RM 360RM 360RM fluctuations. The key control parameters
79 83 43.0 42.9 36.0 35.7 14.9 14.3 – lime saturation factor (LSF), silica
ratio (SR) and alumina ratio (AR) – were
Table 2: results for the key raw meal control parameters in blank and trial periods closely monitored and the results from
the baseline and trial periods are given in
Control parameter Blank Fosroc 360RM Table 2. These show minimal differences
between the two periods and therefore,
LSF 103.33 103.97
any variations in burnability will arise from
SR 2.22 2.20
changes in the PSD.
AR 1.32 1.32 During the trial multiple samples were
carefully collected and analysed for a range
Table 3: residual free lime content at various temperatures – blank and trial samples of chemical, mineralogical and physical
parameters, and a selection of key results
Sample type Temperature (˚C) shown below. As previously-mentioned, the
amount of coarse quartz and coarse calcite
1000 1100 1200 1300 1350 1400 1450
has a significant impact on burnability.
Blank 45.33 37.83 21.88 8.77 4.52 3.07 1.40 The PSDs of the calcite fractions for the
With Fosroc 360RM 44.82 36.90 21.11 7.25 3.36 1.91 0.95 blank sample are shown in Figure 1 with
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WWW.FOSROC.COM JANUARY 2018 INTERNATIONAL CEMENT REVIEW

 3 GRINDING AIDS
Table 4: potential economic benefit from using Fosroc 360RM
Parameter
Burnability without Fosroc 360RM grinding (kcal/kg)
Burnability with Fosroc 360RM grinding (kcal/kg)
Cost avoidance (%)
Coal cost (US$/t of clinker)
Cost saving (US$/t of clinker)
Clinker production (tpa)
Total annual saving (US$)
Clinker factor
Raw mix amount (tpa)
Fosroc RM grinding aid cost (US$/kg)
Grinding aid dosage (g/t)
Cost of Fosroc RM grinding aids (US$/t of raw meal)
Annual cost of Fosroc RM grinding (US$)
Annual net saving (US$)
Annual net saving (TRY)
the comparable data from the trial with
Fosroc 360RM in Figure 2. There is a distinct
difference between the two samples,
as highlighted in the black circle. When
using Fosroc 360RM, a clear reduction and
elimination of very coarse particles can be
seen.
Furthermore, examining the
mineralogical composition of the size
fraction >125µm reveals that the amount
of calcite in this fraction is reduced when
Fosroc 360RM is used compared to the
blank sample. The X-ray diffraction (XRD)
analysis is presented in Figure 3.
The previous three figures clearly
show that the use of Fosroc 360RM
grinding aid has had a significant impact
Figure 3: XRD analysis of the >125µm-size fraction
INTERNATIONAL CEMENT REVIEW JANUARY 2018
The final step of the evaluation was
to determine the theoretical heat of
Value formation corresponding to the blank and
trial samples, by using thermal analysis
424 techniques. The calculated heat of
400 formation for the clinker was 424.16kcal/
kg for the blank sample and 400.22kcal/
6
kg for the sample using Fosroc 360RM,
15.00
which is around a six per cent reduction in
0.90 the amount of energy needed to form the
1,000,000 desired clinker minerals.
900,000
1.61 From improved burnability
to cost savings
1,610,000
The results from the industrial plant trial
0.55 clearly show that with careful optimisation
350 of the raw meal PSD via the use of tailored
0.1925 grinding aids, it is possible to improve raw
309,925 meal burnability. One of the key arguments
is that by using a grinding aid during raw
590,075
meal production plants could benefit from
2,165,575
significant cost savings. Therefore, the
question is whether the results from the
on the physical properties of the raw industrial plant trial actually demonstrate
meal. Consequently, it is necessary to a significant cost reduction. Based on the
understand what impact these physical reduction in energy needed to form the
changes have on the burnability of the raw desired clinker minerals, an economic
meal. A series of pellets were prepared evaluation of the potential savings is given
and subjected to varying temperatures in Table 4. There are clearly many factors
for a period of 30min, after which the that will influence the overall energy
residual amount of free lime in the sample reduction (eg gas volume changes and
was determined. The temperature range heat losses), but as a six per cent reduction
evaluated was 1000-1450˚C and the in the samples was noted, this figure was
results are given in Table 3. Across all used in the cost-benefit analysis. The
temperatures measured the sample that overall picture will vary from plant to plant
was produced using Fosroc 360RM gave based on the actual fuel mix and cost.
consistently-lower residual free lime However, even without taking into account
contents. This data reflects that the use of the electrical energy savings from increased
the grinding aid has indeed improved raw mill output or potentially improved clinker
meal burnability. quality, the reduction in thermal energy
requirements generate annual savings of
several hundred thousands of US dollars.
With careful selection and tailoring of raw
meal grinding aids, the PSD of raw meal
can be optimised resulting in improved
raw meal burnability and, therefore,
a reduction in the amount of thermal
energy needed to form the desired clinker
minerals. This improvement will result
in significant potential cost savings for a
cement plant.
REFERENCES
1
WHITEHEAD, M AND NGOPIL, F (2015) ’Grinding
Aids – Not just for cement: Optimisation of
petcoke and raw meal grinding’ in: GC, Nov, 22-23.
2
FLSMIDTH (2002) ‘Influence of the Qualities
and Properties of the Raw Meal and Dust’ in:
Proceedings of FLSmidth International Cement
Seminar, Valby, Denmark.
3
FLSMIDTH (2002) ‘Burnability of Clinker’ in:
Proceedings of FLSmidth International Cement
Seminar, Valby, Denmark.
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