PRECALCINER KILN

SYSTEMS

DAVID BAIRD
UPDATE JUNE 2001

Technical Centre
 PRECALCINER KILNS
1.- WHAT ARE THEY?
2.- HOW DO THEY WORK?
3.- WHY INSTALL THEM?
4.- WHAT LIMITS KILN
PERFORMANCE?

Technical Centre
 1985-KK3- 2,500 TPD 1997-KK4 - 6,100 TPD

1993-KK3 Uprated 3,350 tpd 2000-OIP- 7,250 TPD Phase 1

Technical Centre
 Calciner vessel
35%
Back-end Fuel

7-8% 02_ Limit is flame temp if O2 is higher

65%
AIR THROUGH PRECALCINER

AIR SEPARATE PRECALCINER

Calciner vessel
Back-end Fuel 60%
Tertiary Air duct

2 % - 02
40%

Technical Centre
 DECARBONATION

CaCO3 + HEAT

CaO + CO2
LIME CARBON
DIOXIDE

Technical Centre
 PREHEATER KILN
Raw Material to Kiln-
- 20-30% Decarbonated - without auxiliary firing.
- 40% Decarbonated - with auxiliary firing.

PRECALCINER KILN
Raw Material to Kiln-
- 85- 94% Decarbonated - with 2-4 seconds gas
residence time

Technical Centre
 DECARBONATION VS TEMPERATURE
DECARBONATION %

100

80

60

40

20

800 820 840 860 880 900

TEMPERATURE IN CYCLONE AFTER CALCINER (C)

Technical Centre
 Precalciner Operating
Temperature
Normally 860 to 900 C. Use lowest temp
consistent with good decarbonation.
With low residence time Precalciners i.e.
(< 2 sec)-a higher gas exit temperature is
more likely (900 C).
Why not run at 1000 C to achieve 100%
decarbonation?

Technical Centre
 Preheater exit gas Preheater exit gas 440 C
360 C

Normal operation Abnormal operation

760 net kcal/kg clinker 830 net kcal/kg clinker

Calciner exit gas 880 C Calciner exit gas 1000 C

Back-end Fuel

Kiln fuel

High BET and risk of blockages

AIR SEPARATE CALCINER

Technical Centre
 FUEL CONSUMPTION VS GAS WITHDRAWN FROM RISER DUCT
FUEL CONSUMPTION
(KCAL/KG NET)
950

925 30% DUST LOSS

900

875
30% DUST LOSS
850
10% DUST LOSS 10% DUST LOSS
825

800

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

% OF KILN GAS TAKEN FROM RISER DUCT

Precalciner kiln Preheater kiln

Technical Centre
 BY-PASS GAS REMOVAL
PREHEATER
P.H.
PH VOLATILES
+ALL COMBUSTION GASES
+ 70% OF CO2

HORNO
KILN

PRECALCINER

VOLATILES
P.C, + 40% OF COMBUSTION GASES
PH
+ 15% OF CO2

HIGHER
CONCENTRATION
BYP/CPASS
OF VOLATILES

HORNOKILN
Technical Centre
 ADVANTAGES OF PRECALCINATION
Higher tonnage from given kiln tube
More stable operation
Lower refractory usage
Better average t/d on annual basis
Lower variability in clinker quality
Better with raw materials with high
sulphur/chloride etc-lower fuel penalty with
bypass
Better for NOx reduction
More flexibility with alternative fuels

Technical Centre
 Air Separate Pre-Calciner
(Prepol)

Calciner vessel

Back-end Fuel

Tertiary Air duct

Technical Centre
 RAW MATERIAL FROM CYCLONE 3

CYCLONE 4

Calciner vessel

Back-end Fuel
Tertiary Air duct

AIR SEPARATE CALCINER - FLS IN LINE CALCINER

ILC
Technical Centre
 FLS PRECALCINER-SLC

BOWMANVILLE - SLC
FEED 6200 TPD - 610 m3
=10.2 TPD/M3
Combustion in TAir
Rating excludes kiln riser

CEMENTO MELON-ILC
2040 TPD - 213 m3
= 9.6 TPD/M3
Combustion in Kiln gas and TAir

FUEL

PREHEATED COMBUSTION AIR

Technical Centre FROM CLINKER COOLER
 FLS Low NOx ILC
NO+C=N+CO
NO+CO=N+CO2
Exit Nox = 450-550
mg/Nm3 at 10% dry stack Stage 4 meal
gas O2-subject to fuel split to control
VCM Nox reduction
zone temperature Extended loop over
precalciner for CO
conversion to CO2
Main precalciner
zone for decarb.

Tertiary air entry

Reduction zone Stage 5 Cyclone

900-950 C

Calciner fuel entry

Technical Centre
 DESIGN OF PRECALCINERS

Residence time for fuel combustion

Lower grade fuels require more residence time.
Avoid raw feed short circuit
Good mixing :
Oxygen
Fuel
Raw feed
Residence time for decarbonation-tpd/m3

Technical Centre
 Decarbonation versus Precalciner
Loading tpd clinker/m3
18.00 180

calciner thermal loading 1000

calciner mat loading tpd/m3

15.00 y = -5.304x + 571.75 150

R2 = 0.9895
12.00 120

kcal/h/m3
9.00 90

6.00 y = -0.3071x + 34.887 60

R2 = 0.9178

3.00 30

0.00 0
75 80 85 90 95

Decarb st 4 cyclone
tpd/m3 net 1000 x kcal/h/m3

Technical Centre
 Some recent PC kiln problem
areas
KK3-Commissioned 1985- 2500 tpd
Tertiary Air duct blocked with dust
Kiln ran as an AT not AS system
Output limited by ID fan, pressure loss,
hearth velocity, cooler efficiency etc
How can we fix this and achieve target of
3,100 tpd?

Technical Centre
 KK3 UPRATING
2500 TPD TO
3350 TPD

New Stage
1 Cyclones

Modify Riser Duct

and Tertiary Air Modify Stage 4
Duct Entry Cyclone

New ducting
to new
Preheater fan
at ground level

Technical Centre
 MODIFICATIONS TO DEDUSTING TERTIARY- KK3

NEW DEDUSTING CYCLONE

TERTIARY AIR

NEW DEDUSTING CYCLONE

TERTIARY AIR

HORNO

N 3 KILN IMPROVEMENTS KANTHAN

Technical Centre
 CONVERSION N3
KILN - RAWANG
Before = 350 m3 for 4,000 tpd
After = 870 m3 for 5,250 tpd

TRUNK DUCT

CYCLONE 5

OUTLET

FLASH
FURNACE

VORTEX
CHAMBER

Technical Centre
 PROBLEMS OF BLOCKAGES IN KILN RISER
AND KILN BACK-END

UPPER STAGE 3 UPPER STAGE 3

MEAL FEED MEAL FEED

EFFECT OF LOWER
ENTRY FOR STAGE
3 MATERIAL

BUILD UP AREAS

Technical Centre
 MODIFICATIONS TO KILN BACK END

MATERIAL FROM CYCLONE 3

MATERIAL FROM CYCLONE 3

DISPERSION BOX
BEFORE
AFTER
MATERIAL

MATERIAL

ACCELERATOR FOR
TERTIARY AIR GASES IN RISER DUCT
FUEL FUEL

SHORT CIRCUIT

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 VIEW FROM CALCINER

AJUSTABLE ORIFICE ASSEMBLY

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 KILN INSTABILITY PROBLEM-STAGE 4 AREA

MATERIAL FROM CYCLONE 2 BEFORE AFTER 875 C

797 C
IMPROVE MEAL
DISPERSION

DISPERSION PLATE
BEFORE 918 C

AFTER 878 C
SHORT CIRCUIT
TO KILN

CYCLONE 4

CYCLONE 4 BEFORE 850 C

MATERIAL
Technical Centre AFTER 858 - 868 C
 FACTORS AFFECTING
PRECALCINER KILN
PERFORMANCE

Technical Centre
 KILN HEARTH DESIGN
Meal ex. Stage 3

(d) Kiln Hearth

Gas + (a) Gas flow over bed - dust pick-up velocity3.5
(b) Hearth area is smaller than kiln or riser
raw meal
- velocity increases - potential for dust pick up.
(c) Recirculation leads to heat penalty
(c)
and pressure drop - need to limit velocity
BUT (d) Must have sufficient velocity to lift
Stage 3 meal to Stage 4 or result is fall-through
(b)
(a) Design velocity
Combustion gas
30m/s
Meal ex. Stage 4
Technical Centre
 SHELL LOADING TPD/M2 PRECALCINER PERFORMANCE TPD/M2 VERSUS DIAMETER

TPD/M2 =2.6+0.556* DIAMETER

KILN DIAMETER (I/S) m

NEW FORMULA TPD/M2=1. 08 * OLD FORMULA
Technical Centre
 PRECALCINER KILN LIMITS
Kiln Hearth velocity-larger % area with bigger kilns-
CTC Paper Graph is being updated
Thermal load in kiln = 5 m kcal/h/m2
Kiln Shell heat transfer-BCTC New Formula
Tpd/m2 = 2.80+0.6*D or 5.3 tpd/m3 internal volume.
Kiln excess air level and CO2 ex kiln affects hearth
velocity limit. Plus 1% backend O2 reduces TPD
target by 5%.
Fuel Quality can be critical to small PCs

Technical Centre
 Kiln Hearth Area versus
Diameter
10

9
y = 3.8512x - 11.914
R2 = 0.8499
8

7
Hea rth a rea m 2

5
y = 0.0203x 3.6715
R2 = 0.8852
4

0
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5

Kiln Diameter IS (m)

Series1 Linear (Series1) Power (Series1) Linear (Series1)

Technical Centre
 PRECALCINER KILN LIMITS
Precalciner vessel/type - Spouted Bed
Ratings =10.8 tpd/m3 max
Can achieve higher loadings but lower
decarbonation results eg
85% at 9.7 tpd/m3
93% at 5.8 tpd/m3
Small PC vessel- kiln has to do more work
Fuel type, burn out rate, Nox reduction
limitations- all affect the tpd/m3 loading

Technical Centre
 AS PC KILN LIMITS
Cyclone loading min 85 max 150 tpd/m2. Ave
120 tpd/m2 subject to pressure loss and capital
cost
Cyclone inlet gas velocity 30 m/s
Calciner vessel- 5 - 12 tpd/m3-depending on
fuel/PC type-Use 10 tpd/m3
Thermal load in PC- 150 kcal/h/m3
practical limit for 90% decarbonation
Pressure
Drop subject to fuel type
-1100 mmwg
Kiln Shell Heat Tranfer limit
= 2.8+ 0.6*D tpd/m2 Clinker Cooler
Tertiary air 40 m/s 46 - 60 tpd/m2
Clinker temp?

Hearth
30 m/s

Kiln thermal load 5 m kcal/h/m2

Technical Centre
 PRECALCINER EXTENSION
CYCLONE 4 INLET ENLARGEMENT
213 TO 450 M3
1.5 TO 3.4 SECONDS

CYCLONE 4

Calciner vessel

Back-end Fuel
Tertiary Air duct

IN LINE AIR SEPARATE PRECALCINER

EXTENSION
Technical Centre
 CONCLUSIONS
The performance of Precalciner Kiln systems does
not depend upon Hearth Velocity alone
Consider all other kiln system limits
With Alternative Fuels-the performance of the
Precalciner Vessel becomes more critical. We have
some undersized/poor designs (Melon 9, Rawang
3, Langkawi 1)
We must modify several PC sytems to maximise
benefits from Alternative Fuels

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