Cement blowers and compressors are vital in several cement plants operations. For instance, at the start of the cement manufacturing process, blowers convey materials both into and out of the kiln. Afterward, bulk transfer blowers convey the cement to various transport points, including loading the cement in and out of bulk containers, trucks, and railcars.
Depending on your cement plant’s operations, the specialists at AERZEN can tailor make a package offering you the solutions you need to address any challenges your system might be facing.
We understand how crucial cement applications safety is and how challenging it is to maintain. Fortunately, our engineers manufacture our blower systems, screw compressors, and rotary lobe compressors with the highest possible standards.
Doing so enables us to guarantee all our clients a safe and reliable operation that will not be limited, even in the high-demanding nature of cement applications.
There are two ways to manufacture cement. The dry method is the most common and popular cement manufacturing method. Here, raw materials like chalk, limestone, silica sand, clay, and slate undergo several crushing stages until they are three inches or less in diameter.
Next, other ingredients like iron ore are mixed with the crushed rock, and the mixture is put in a cement kiln, which, slightly tilted on an axis, heats them at an extremely high temperature.
As the mixture descends from the higher end of the kiln to the lower, the heat burns off certain materials as gases. The elements left behind then meld together, forming a material known as clinker.
The clinker exits the kiln, cools, and is ground into an extremely fine powder that you can load onto trucks and transport to concrete suppliers.
The wet method is similar to the first, with the only difference being that the limestone and other raw materials are mixed with water before being put in the kiln and the whole process consumes more energy than the dry process.
During the cement manufacturing process, blowers play crucial roles in the moving, mixing, heating, and cooling stages. Blowers are used in the following ways.
Pneumatic Conveying
Oil-free blower and compressor technology is utilized to transport raw materials and cement through the various stages of the manufacturing process, including:
Conveying the cement onto bulk containers, trucks, and railcars for final transportation The selection of a blower or compressors depends mainly of the type of method used in the system, there are two different methods to convey bulk materials and AERZEN manufactures equipment for both systems. For Dilute or Lean phase, the AERZEN oil-free blower is the most used technology as provides a higher volume flow at a medium pressure (up to 15psi or 1bar), both characteristics are essential to supply a reliable air flow into the pipeline system that allows the material to flow smoothly through the process. On the other hand, especially for high material rates, a Dense phase method is normally applied, allowing the customer to have a most efficient conveying rate and the capability to install longer pipeline systems, for this application, AERZEN oil-free screw compressors are the state of the art, the technology provides also high volume flows with internal compression ratio that assures the material to be transported through the bottom of the pipeline at a lower speed but it a considerable higher material rate handling.
Aeration
The blowers are essential in aerating the air cement soils and ensuring the raw materials to properly mix and stay in motion. Aerations include:
Combustion Air
Blowers are also responsible for feeding oxygen to the fire in the kiln, this is one of the most critical applications in the cement manufacturing process as a turbulent and large air flow is needed to transfer all the heat generated by the burner along the kiln and pre-heater tower. AERZEN equipment is largely used for this key application as reliability and heavy duty operation is required to keep the heat transfer.
Regardless of the cement manufacturing process you wish to optimize, AERZEN can provide you with specific blower systems and compressor solutions that will satisfy your needs, including:
Our specialists have the industry knowledge to offer you solutions that optimize your plant’s pyro-processing. Enjoy the benefits of innovative AERZEN technologies, such as:
Holcim Colombia plant, located in Nobsa, two and a half hours from Bogota, has a capacity of about 3Mt/year of cement and 12% of the country’s market share, with high growth expected after 2015’s Lafarge Holcim joint venture.
Though AERZEN began operations in Colombia in 2008, in 2014, the company’s Application Sale Team identified an opportunity to upgrade the plant's Pfister system—the coal pneumatic conveying transport to the main burner.
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