Ask Dr Clark - Cement Industry Help Desk Cement company personnel, or anyone involved in the cement industry, are

free to use this "Ask Dr Clark" facility. Dr Clark will do his best to answer those questions, calling on his more than 30 years of cement industry experience. Name: Email Address: Question: Previous Questions Question: We have thee kilns of same capacity (3000 TPD) Earliar we was using ptcoke (Sulpher -6.00 % )and getting 1.80 % in clinker but now we are using South afican coal (sulphe 0.80 % ) and getting .80 % in clinker. I want to now the impact on clinker properties i.e strength ,setting,grindability petcoke Vs South african coal . And how can i get more literature on this topic. Answer: There will be many affects on clinker properties. I expect that the nodulisation of the clinker will improve due to improved viscosity of the flux with lower SO3 content. The strength potential could also imporve as less CaO will be combined as CaSO4 and therefore be available for combination in the clinker minerals. In general petcoke is more difficult to grind than coal. Question: Dear Mr. Clark, What are the main causes of flushing of Kiln Feed in Kiln (Dry Process). Is the flushing is operational or material problem? Answer: Flushing can be both an operational and/or a material problem. Question: Dear Mr. Clark, What are the main causes of flushing of Kiln Feed in Kiln (Dry Process) Answer: Failure to combine the feed in the burning zone. This might be caused by variability of

the composition of delivery rate of the kiln feed, variation of the calorific value or delivery rate of the fuels to the kiln, or otherwise inadequate control of the kiln process. Question: What are the other reasons for declining in C.V of coal during grinding beside addition of dust coming with hot gas? Answer: Evaporation of volatiles during the drying of the coal in the grinding mill. Question: hello i have three question, many thanks for your answer before 1-which parameter(s) has(or have ) effect on liquid phase viscosity? 2-How can we calculate liquid phase viscosity? 3- what is the effect of liquid phase viscosity in cement production process? Answer: Clinker liquid phase viscosity is affected by the alumina modulus and the SO3 content of clinker. I am not aware of a calculation of a viscosity index. It is a qualitative consideration. Changes in clinker liquid phase viscosity will affect the tendency to form coating and also the nodulisation of the clinker. Question: As a consultant to government regulators, I note that some jurisdictions have established the same numerical emissions limits for particulate matter (PM)for the exhaust gas from kilns as the exhaust from clinker coolers when the latter are vented through a separate stack. Yet, when hot clinker cooler air is ducted to the raw mill of a in-line kiln/raw mill system and the combined gases exhaust through a common control device and stack, some jurisdictions adjust the PM limit allowing for the dilution by the clinker cooler air (i.e. this results in a higher PM emission limit value). The latter makes no sense to me. Your thoughts? Thank you. Answer: I've not come across this. However, most emission limits are quoted reference to a certain percentage of oxygen in the exhaust air to prevent reduction of the emission simply by dilution. As cooler exhaust is pure air then with a combined exhaust stack there is automatically a rise in the oxygen content. That would have to be allowed for. Question: For good quality clinker, how much the maximum size (in mm) of clinker. & How the colour defines the quality of clinker. Answer: Normally well nodulised clinker would be up to 20mm in size with not too many fines. Colour does not define the quality of clinker.

Question: Dear sir what r van der walls forces and where r these forces applying .thx sir Answer: Van der Waals forces are intermolecular forces so they are applying between molecules. They have no particular significance in the cement industry other than perhaps the tendency to cause agglomeration of powders. Question: Dear sir we r facing problams during last 20day our c5 cyln b side and its feed pipe chowke twoice we r using poultary waste and sugarcane mud as alternative fuel plz sir tell me whats reasons their r.thx sir Answer: That might be associated with the volatile content of the poultry waste or the sugarcane mud. But there is no reason why the problem should only be encountered in the B-side stage 5 cyclone. That needs on-site investigation. Question: DEAR SIR, PLEASE TELL ME THE RANGE OF So3 % FOR PPC & OPC CEMENT. REGARDS SPLAL JAGDAMBA CEMENT (NEPAL) Answer: Normally 2 to 3%. Question: Dear sir, our open circuit mill have three chember having capacity 250 mt per day. we want to know how much area of it should remain empty for suitable grinding/ out put. Regards splal Answer: Normally the volume filling of a cement mill is around 30%. Question: Dear sir, Thanks for ur reply.My open grinding cement mill is 250 TPD based on OPC but We are grinding ppc with this . Dear sir plz let me know regarding the max capacity of it in ppc. Warm Regards splal jagdamba cement Answer: That can't be answered without knowing more about the mill and the fineness of grinding of the OPC and the PPC. Question: What are the effects of NOX and SOX on kiln operation and also quality of product? Answer:

NOx and SOx don't themselves affect kiln operation or product quality. The formation of NOx and SOx can be caused by the cement kiln process and give rise to emission problems. Question: R/sir, if MgO conc.is high in lime stone than in what form it remains in clinker ( the limit of MgO is given 6% max. than if MgO exeed beyond this than what will happen. can we still use this cement) Answer: The MgO will be present as periclase in the clinker. This will potentially cause expansion and cracking of hardened concrete. Cement with MgO content greater than 6% cannot be used. Question: Dear sir, pls explaine reason for dioxin and furan emmission from cement plant. thank you Answer: This is a very rare occurence. I can arise from homogenous gas phase pyrolytic reactions of chlorinated organic compounds in the temperature range 200~800C. Alternatively by De Novo synthesis which arises from the chlorination of non-chlorinated organic compounds by inorganic chloride compounds (HCl or NaCl) via a suitable transition metal catalyst (usually Cu). This can take place in the temperature range 200~450C by heterogeneous reaction between combustion gases and particle surfaces. Question: respected sir, pls explaine.. where excess sulpher goes when using pet coke ..is this sulphur emmited in the form of SO2 and causing environment pollution Answer: No, it normally exits the kiln in the clinker either as alkali or calcium sulphate. Question: If the GYPSUM is heated above than 120 deg C then what are changes in Gypsum properties. Answer: The gypsum is dehydrated to hemihydrate and anyhdrite. These have different solubilities to gypsum and therefore the retardation of the cement setting is affected. Question: If the burner momemtum is very high,more than 10N/Mw then it will create any problem on kiln refractory.

Answer: No. Question: What are effects of high burner momemtum i.e around 2300 % m/s or 8.5 N/Mw. Answer: You should aim for a minimum of 10 N/MW to achieve good mixing of the fuel with the combustion air in the main burner flame. Question: what is the (return dust/kiln feed) ratio for Elex Filter in 3500 TPD FLS kiln with FIFEER VRM 350 TPH,in compound and direct mode? Answer: That depends on the collection efficiency of the top stage cyclones of the preheater. Typically 95% so around 15 tonnes per hour. Question: Dear Sir, In which temperature should gypsum dehydrates inside the mill and what is the maximum temperature to be maintained inside the mill? Answer: The rate of gypsum dehydration will become significant as the temperature in the mill rises above 80 degrees C. You should control the temperature to less than 120 degrees C. Question: Dear Dr. Clark, Thank you very for your support in advance, The plants using TDF as alternative fuel in preheater. Zinc present in TDF ,which retards setting time of cement. My question is 1: Maximum upper allowable limit of Zinc you will reccoment which will not distrub the setting time of cement? 2: Zinc Oxide only effect the setting time of cement or or it also effect other Properties ? Answer: The amounts of zinc added from the galvanising of the reinforcement of motor tyres will be insignificant. You should not expect any adverse affects on the physical properties of cement made from the clinker. Question: Dear Sir,I am just thinking to retain the residue of raw meal/Kilnfeed to 13% from 15% to see the change and improvement in the burnability. So, how to do that.Kindly, advice. Answer: By adjusting the separator of the raw mill.

Question: Respected Sir,If the alumina is more than the specified limit in the raw meal/kilnfeed, how can we minimise the content of same, so that it does not affect the quality. Answer: The only way is to use raw materials with lower alumina content. With correct proportioning of the kiln feed to lime saturation, silica modulus and alumina modulus targets the alumina content of the kiln feed will be controlled. Question: Dear Sir, One week back we start using pure sand as raw material to produce SRC after 3 days of operation red spot appear at 9.8 m n once we enter the kiln we found out that all previous coating has been washed out.Sand % was only 2 % and raw meal residue was 13 on 90 mic. Sand is the reason of coating wash out? Answer: Most probably. Question: what is theorticaly formula for secondary air calculation formula Answer: That relies on stoichiometric calculations from the elemental composition of the fuel. Question: What should be axial,radial,& stablize air. Answer: That depends on many things: (i) the capacity of the kiln, (ii) the amount of fuel delivered through the kiln main burner, (iii) the velocity of the primary air, (iv) the temperature of the primary air, etc. Question: Sir,thank you for reply my question to exceed MgO,if it is increased above 2% than remaing Mgo convert to pareclause after 2% Mgo and might be expension occur in cement.Can it possible to increase Mgo in clinker to change colour from gray to black as more mgo in cement also produced gray may I write sir. Please answer my question for which I am grateful to you. Regards .Iqbal Shaikh Answer: International standards limit MgO content of clinker to 5to 6%. There will be no problems of delayed expansion if the MgO content rises slightly above 2%. Increased MgO will not turn the cement black (nothing will), but it will darken the colour. Question: How to reduce coal consumption from 17.5% .kiln 54mts length,3.4 dia ,coal resdiue 212

& 90 micron as 3.5~4.0% & 20.0 ~22.0%,IM -5.8 TO 6.8%,COAL CALORIFIC VALUE AROUND 4910 Kcals.Clinkerproduction around 2650 ~2700 tpd coming ,coal mill o/l temp 58 ~ 63 deg maintaining ,hot air from cooler of 280 ~ 340 deg .please sugesst me how can we reduce to 15~ 16%. Answer: We need much more information to able to make such a suggestion. What is the excess oxygen in the preheater exhaust gases? What is the temperature of the preheater exhaust gas? What is the chemistry of the kiln feed? Question: Dear sir please let me know that what is the relation between residue & blaine value for ppc.And secondly what will be maintained value of these for ppc Thanking u sir Regards splal Answer: There is not a direct relationship between residue and Blaine. Both are related to particle size distribution so are indirectly related. Question: Dear sir i request u, please tell me the process/ methods in detail to find out blaine value of ppc. Thanks & Warm Regards splal Answer: Blaine is measured with an air permeability cell. These can be purchased from laboratory equipment suppliers. Question: Dear Dr.we are oprating a kiln 550tpd raw mix LSF-95+/- 2 SM-2.2+/-.1 AM 1.7+/-.1 but we are always facing ring formation in burning zone thats leading frequentstoppage of our kiln Dear DR, we are using natural gas for fuel Answer: There is no obvious reason that can be diagnosed on the basis of this information. Question: sir, what to do by the burner besides reducing kiln fuel when the kiln is about to melt or already have in melt condition of kiln feed ? Answer: You must reduce the fuel supply drastically. Question: sir, what should be the important actions w.r.t kiln operation that should be taken when the kiln shell temperature is very high or high above normal temp. ?

Answer: You can try the application of shell cooling fans to protect the kiln shell and try to build coating. If unsuccessful you will have to stop the kiln and repair the refractory lining. Question: dear sir, can you please give me the thumb rule of cooling air required in grate cooler ? Answer: About 1.8 kg/kg of clinker. Question: Dear Dr.we are oprating a kiln 550tpd raw mix LSF-95+/- 2 SM-2.2+/-.1 AM 1.7+/-.1 but we are always facing ring formation in burning zone thats leading frequentstoppage of our kiln Answer: There could be many reasons. But as you say the ring is in the burning zone I would suspect that the fuel is not being ground finely enough if you are firing the kiln with solid fuel. Question: We are using imported and local coal,with 22%ash,residue on 212&90micronaround 3.6&20.0 coming.IM 6.8% & CV 4910 coming. Kiln o/p sir,we are getting coal consumption 17.5%.kiln production,operating conditions normal.please send me how to reduce coal consumption. Answer: I presume the CV is kcal/kg? In which case the CV is low. I am not surprised that you need 17.5% of the kiln clinker output. Question: Dear Dr. Clark: We are considering to convert Raymond Coal Mill 923 into a raw mill. In this regard we seek your guidance that which of the parameters should be considered as the most critical to evaluate the technical viability. Thanks and Best Regards Answer: The potential output would be the main consideration. Raw meal requirements being much higher than fine coal requirements. Apart from that I know of mo technical reason why not. Question: What are all the factors that affect the setting time of OPC cement? Answer: Fineness of grinding. Gypsum addition rate. Gypsum dehydration in the cement mill. C3A content and reactivity.

Question: What happens if the % of Fe2O3 increases in OPC cement? Answer: There is more C4AF and less C3A present in the cement. Question: What happens if percentage of Al2O3 increases in OPC cement? Answer: There is more C3A present in the clinker and cement. Question: Sir, portland cement called gray portland cement because it has gray in colour of type1 which is natural colour,but now a days contractors like black in colour of same type with Fe2O3 content 3.0% to 3.5%.Sir kindly advise me how to improve its colour in black without changing chemistry. Iqbal Shaikh. Regards. Answer: Perhaps you need more MgO in the clinker. Question: what reason raw mill & cement mill chamber sample residue cheque in different sieve. Answer: Because cement is finer than raw meal. Question: In your opinion is possible to grind High Volatiles Content(ab. 52%)Coal, using a tubular ball mill and Electrostatic Precipitator? There is any relation between Blaine and Residue? It is possible to produce Fine Cement , with 4000cm2/ gram and residue 12% on 45 microns sieve? Please, I wait your opinion Thanks Answer: No, I would not favour that. There would be a danger of coal dust explosions in the electrostatic precipitator. Yes, there is a relationship between Blaine and residue. I see no reason why a 4000 Blaine cement could not have a 12% residue on a 45 micron sieve. This would be achieved by adjustment of the separator and the recirculating load. Question: cement temperature is high maximum 140c what effect in cement give me reson. Answer: The gypsum will be fully dehydated to anhydrite. This is likely to affect the setting and workability characteristics of the cement.

Question: Respected Sir, How to measure or calculate secondary air flow? Regards. Answer: It is difficult to measure. You need to calculate the combustion air requirements stoichiometrically to estimate the secondary air requirements. Question: sir, im chemical engineer and have experience of 2 year training at attock cement Pakistan my question is that how amount of air required to cool the clinker in grate cooler, can we calculate this by simple heat balance of cooler? or other parameters Answer: Yes, a mass and energy balance of the cooler is the way to do that. Question: Dear Sir, I wpuld like to know the fan capacities of our raw mill (Air swept ball mill double fan circuit).Mill effective dia 2.6m Circulating air fan(Separtator Fan) 69000 m3/hr @ 750mm wc, Bag filter fan 35000 m3/hr @ 250 mm wc, If I took velocity of air through mill is 2 m/sec, our air requirement will be 38232 m3/hr, I wanted to know how to determine the circulating air fan (Separator Fan) capacity, We have already 69000 m3/hr which is quite sufficient to handle bag filter, Shall we use single fan for the same Out put to reduce power consumption,Kindly give your feed back. Answer: This requires development of a mass and energy balance of the milling system to determine the actual volumes at different points. Then the application of fan equations to predict the fan capacity requirements. It is not something that can be done without a detailed understanding of the process. Question: Kindly explain mTBF & mtbr with example ???? Answer: Mean time between failure is the total operating time a period divided by the number of failures. I presume MTBR is the mean time between repairs. That would be the total operating time divided by the number of repairs. Question: Dear sir, what is KH and its relationship with LSF ? . Am just 1yr in cement industry and seeing KH for the first time. Answer: I've not seen it myself.

Question: Dear sir, At my Kiln plan, there is often got problem on Kiln Inlet (Draft), many articles said that it caused by alkali, actually what is the source of this alkali?, the fuel (coal) or from the raw material?, and what is the solving way to solve this problem recently....thanks so much before Answer: There will be alkalis and other volatile compounds in the feed and the fuel. These evaporate in the burning zone and recondense in the preheater building up into an "alkali" cycle between the rotary kiln and the preheater. These materials are sticky in the kiln inlet, causing build-up and loss of draft. The alkali cycle must be controlled by monitoring the alkalis in the hot meal and careful control of the temperature regime in the kiln. Question: dear sir how can we prove that kiln main drive current is the kiln torque or how can kiln torque is related with the kiln main drive amps waiting for your answer thanks Muhammad Arshad Answer: Torque is the moment or force required to rotate an object, i.e. in this case the kiln. The current drawn by an electric motor is a function of the force which must be ammplied to rotate of the machine being driven. In this case the kiln. As the weight of the kiln rises, i.e. with filling degree, so the resistance rises. Equally as the flux content of the material rises so the material adheres to the walls of the kiln and "climbs" with the rotation of the kiln. This means more force, or torque, must be applied compared with the material slipping in the bottom of the kiln. Question: dear sir, we have ball formation problem in our kiln from last two weaks.there is no variation in kiln feed.we also increase silica ratio in kiln but problem is no reactified.is any other problem instend of feed. Answer: What about the fuels used to fire the kiln? Are you using solid fuels? Is the fineness of the solid fuel constant? Question: Do I need to process the pyrolysis carbon black before can be used? It will have small quantities of steel, ash and maybe other impurities. V Answer: That depends on the other impurities. Small quantities of steel or ash should not cause any problems.

Question: Could carbon black from the pyrolysis of waste tyres/rubber be added to coal in the heating process of cement production? Or in any other way? It will be in powder form. Thank you for your time, Regard, V Answer: Yes, it can. Question: R/Sir, which material is suitable valconic pozzalan or granulated blast furnace slag ground with clinker in mill quality point of view and bulk usage if so why. Regards M.I.Shaikh Answer: Both are suitable supplementary cementitious materials. Question: Dear sir, What is the basic difference b/w inline and off-line calciner ? Answer: The fuel in a in-line calciner is burnt in the presence of the vitiated gas exiting the kiln, while in an off-line calciner the fuel is burnt in pure tertiary air. Question: Dear sir, what are the advantages and disadvantages of dynamic separator over static separator ? Answer: A dynamic separator will cut at a lower fineness than a static separator. Question: Dear Dr. Clark, in our kiln that burns natural gas, we have mainly found spurrite in the tertiary air duct coating samples. How could we explain that and how could we prevent it? In addition, in one of the samples-that was grayish-black-we have found a high TOC content(~6%) and no spurrrite. Any ideas about that? Thanks in advance, Dimitris Answer: This is strange. For spurrite to form there usually needs to be a mixture of uncalcined CaCO3 together with partially combined clinker. I can understand combined clinker being in the dust carried in the tertiary air, but not how uncalcined CaCO3 would be there? Unless there is some dropout of feed material entering the calciner into the tertiary air duct? The high TOC is even more strange unless some of the calciner fuel is dropping into the tertiary air duct? None of these things should happen as the air velocity through the tertiary air duct should be too high. Unless there is variable draft at some stages of the kiln operation?

Question: sir, what could be the possible effects of increase in residue in kiln coal besides the high fuel consumption ? (i mean on quality of clinker or anything else) Answer: Reducing burning conditions, heavy sulphur circulation, dusty clinker, ring and build-up formation, inhomogeneity in the clinker, etc. Question: Dear sir, Could you please tell me all the major or important reasons of hogh free lime in clinker ? Answer: There are many: (i) too high lime saturation of the kiln feed, (ii) insufficient temperature in the burning zone of the kiln, (iii) breakdown of calcium sulphate due to reducing burning conditions, etc. Question: what are the reasons for ring formation inside the kiln? and solutions for the same problem? Answer: I suggest you read my article in the October 2011 issue of International Cement Review. Question: what are the advantages of automatic fan control for cooling the kiln shell? what are the disadvantages of of manual control of the fans from a plant field panel? Answer: Automatic control linked to an infra-red shell scanner will give more reactive control and better kiln shell protection. Question: Dear Sir, please guide me, what is the acceptable criteria of water inj., cement mill? which is maximum limit as well as minimum limit? Answer: Water injection of up to 5% of the total mass flow into the mill should create no problems. Only maximum of 40% of the total should be injected into the first chamber. Question: Dear Sir, please explaine me,what is the reactions in the finall product(silo feeding cement)temperature is less than 90 celsius? Answer:

At 90 degrees celcius there is the possibility of continued gypsum dehydration in the silo and lump formation. Question: dear sir, what is the acceptable velocity in tube mill? which is designed for 75tph Answer: The air sweeping velocity over an end-discharge mill is normally limited to 2 m/s. Question: Resp.Sir.. Thank you For your kind answer. sir pls explaine which kind of cement mill is better , Ball mill type or Vertical mill and why so. Answer: A vertical roller mill will have a significantly lower unit electricity consumption. Question: Dear Sir, Normally, we maintain OPC blaine to 3500cm2/gm but of late blaine of same has rose to 4000 plus which is beyond control and despite cleaning slots inside the mill did not work. Please suggest how to get back to normal. Answer: The normal method would be to increase the feed rate to the mill or reduce the speed of the separator. Question: resp.sir. . .pls reply m . .is it possible that LSF in -ve value or zero. .and very high value. 3000- 5000 Answer: This is just maths. LSF cannot be zero as the %CaO, SiO2, Al2O3 or Fe2O3 cannot be zero. A pure limestone with high %CaO and low %SiO2, Al2O3 and Fe2O3 could have an LSF in the thousands. Question: is opc the type of hydraulic cement? Answer: Certainly ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is a type of hydraulic cement. It reacts with water. Question: dear sir Recently i joined a cement co as a ccr operator in production dept. Please guide me . Answer:

This forum can only answer specific questions. I suggest you enrol in CemNet Training, http://training.cemnet.com/, on-line training courses. Question: Dear sir, What are the effect/influence of clinker quality, process operation, and mechanical aspect for directly water contact on hot clinker? (if it installed/sprayed on section 1/2/3 of grate cooler)....by the way thanks a lot for your attention sir. Answer: That depends whether the water actually comes into contact with the clinker, in which case there will be some prehydration. Most likely the water is fully evaporated before reaching the clinker and is just used for evaporative cooling. If the evaporated water vapour enters the kiln then the overall thermal energy consumption of the kiln will rise. If it is drawn through the cooler exhaust then there should be no adverse affect on the process. Question: Dear Sir, What is the optimum size of clinker to maintain the temperature for Waste Heat Recovery (AQC Boiler)? Best regards Anwar Hussain Answer: There is no direct relationship between clinker particle size and waste heat recovery. the relationship is with the volume and temperature of the cooler excess air. That will be to some extent affected by clinker particle size distribution. Question: Dear Sir, The % Analysis of Kiln Feed: SiO2=13.940, Al2O3=3.672, Fe2O3=2.232, CaO=42.875, MgO=1.023, MA=1.660, MS=2.369, LSF=0.953 Residue on 90Micron sieve=13% We are using coal in PC and Main burner. Is it hard or soft material? Best regards, Anwar Hussain Answer: It is typical, neither hard nor soft, burning kiln feed. Question: We are experiencing high so2 values inside our rotary cement kiln which is fed by lepol grate system, is there anyway of reducing it Answer: High SO2 in the kiln suggests that you have reducing conditions at some point in the kiln. This will be associated with the fuels burnt in the kiln and the settings of the kiln main burner. Question: Dear Sir, Does the ASR happen only with aggregates or also with all types of reactive silica , for example Fly Ash? If ASR does not take place with fly ash then why? Does the

fineness of the fly ash have any role in avoiding / limiting ASR? Answer: Alkali silica reaction derives from reactive silica in aggregates. The silica in fly ash is pozzolanic and reacts with the calcium hydroxide from hydration of clinker to form additional hydrated calcium silicate. Question: Can we grind 100 % flyash in standerd ball mill which is design for OPC cement grinding which is design for 70 Tons FLS mill for 3200 blaine Answer: You can but why would you want to? Fly ash is normally already sufficiently fine and is delivered to the separator of the mill and passes straight to the finished product without ever going through the mill. Question: Sir,What is the role of Insoluable residue(IR)If is is mor than the limit prescribed in opc cement, can it be possible to affect the compressive strength, Regards. Answer: The insoluble residue has no role. It is inert material. That is why it is limited in international specifications. If it is higher than the allowed limit then it can reduce compressive strength due to dilution. Question: Dear Sir, we are using HFO for kiln firing, our raw meal LSF is 89-91 while clinker LSF is comming 93-96 How this is possible with OIL firing and also our bag house return dust LSF is only 75-80 and it is going to homo silo not mixing with kiln feed. Looking for your guidance Answer: That can only be explained if the baghouse dust is being mixed with the raw mill product before the sample is being taken. Question: Dear Dr Clark, Please, what is the meaning of 'curing time of the cement'? 2. What is the different between setting time and curing time? Answer: Curing time is the time required before the formwork can be removed from concrete, i.e. the length of time required for the concrete to develop enough strength to be selfsupporting. Setting time is the time required for concrete to stiffen and begin to develop strength. It is shorter than the curing time.

Question: Dear sir what is mean degree of atomization,whats ideal velocity of primry fan(kiln) Answer: The degree of atomisation is the fineness of the droplets of heavy fuel delivered into the kiln through the main burner. The ideal velocity of the primary air depends on the capacity of the kiln and the fuel consumption. Question: sir,what is the difference between vdz specification and iso specification of the refractory. which one is the best for kiln lining Answer: ISO are bigger than VDZ so heavier to install. Both have their advantages. Question: sir lime stone me high sio2 , high so3, high chloride , & high mgo ka Kya effect kiln mai hoga. Answer: The effect on the kiln will be to cause process, operational and product quality problems. Question: Sir cement mill chamber sample cheque in 45 micron, 90 micron , 212 micron what reson , And 45 micron sieve is main give me reson. Answer: Because the residues would be too high on 45 micron at the beginning of the mill chamber. The 45 micron residue is most important for the finished cement because it is the fine particles that develop the strength of the cement. Question: sir,i have two silly questions.(1)WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF WE ADD FLYASH INSIDE KILN OR COOLER OR AT DBC? WHAT IF WE ADD FLYASH ALONG WITH KILN FEED? o(2) WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF WE ADD LIMESTONE,IRON ORE AND KILN FEED ALL TOGETHER INSIDE PREHEATER PRECALCINER ROTARY KILN? Answer: These are not silly questions. What is DBC? (i) There are cement factories where fly ash is used as a component of the kiln feed instead of clay. The fly ash will act just as clay. (ii) There are also cement fatories that add raw material components at the precalciner. This is normally done to avoid emissions of SO2 or CO due to sulphides or organic materials in the raw material.

Question: Sir , what is the typical ratings of fans used in a cement mill like Raw mill ( Circulating fan , filter fan , Raw mill fan) , Pre heater fan , Clinker cooler fans, Primary air fan , clinker cooler exhaust fan, Coal mill filter fan , cement mill filter fan etc.. for a dry 5-6 stage cyclone PH with pre calciner , 5000 tpd clinker production plant ? Answer: That requires the calculation of a mass and energy balance for the whole process and then calculations using the volume of gases and the fan equations. Question: CAN YOU GIVE ME REASONS FOR CYCLONES JAMING IN CEMENT INDUSTRY Answer: There are many, but they are often associated with the recirculation of volatile materials between the rotary section of the kiln and the preheater. Question: please tell me exact % component of set point of iorn and silica to maintain lsf 106 Answer: There is not exact setpoint. That depends on the chemical composition of the raw materials being mixed to form the kiln feed and the targets for LSF, silica modulus and alumina modulus. Question: sir can you please explain the exact difference between clinkerization factor & raw meal to cliker ratio ? Answer: The raw meal to clinker factor (and I presume the clinkerisation factor) allow the amount of clinker to be produced from the raw meal to be calculated using the loss on ignition of the raw meal. The kiln feed to cliner factor also takes into consideration the dust losses from the kiln feed to the kiln. Question: Sir,gnetised water enhance strength. i used magnetised water for casting mortar cubes of opc cement.The compressive strength of 3 and 7 days dicreased by 3% against normal water the pH of normal water and megnetised was 7 and 7.8 respectively.why it has happen. regards. Answer: 3% is not a significant difference in my experience of physical testing.

Question: dear sir, Thank you for the answer about cement mill motor Kw (99% nominal Kw).I would say this motor Kw is unusual for our cement mill because in past 6 month with the mentioned process condition ,motor Kw was about 5000(+-100 kw) and before that kw was even less and we never saw kw>5200 for our mill in different condition. suddenly after changing 50% intermediate diaphragm liners(between chamber 1,2 which blocked and worn)and replacing mill vent fan impeller with new one ,motor Kw went up to 5390 kw(at the same time mill feed increased from 120t/h to 140t/h).according to fls instruction for our cement ball mill,in nominal condition with parameters defined for us(present parameters in mill),main motor kw must be 5000 and for at least recently 2 years (untill changing blocked diaphragm ...)our motor kw was so(5000kw).we want to know when mill charge and mill feed are constant why has Kw been increased about 300kw. Answer: You are saying that the mill feed went up from 120 t/h to 140 t/h so the mill feed is not constant. The greater throughput of the mill will mean more weight and the mill motor drawing more power. Question: we have 3.5% residue of Raw meal on 212 Micron. How to find what would be the % residue on 90 Micron. Answer: You need the residue at two different sieve sizes to be able to predict the residue at any sieve size using the osin ammler distribution. Question: Sir! Already discussed with you that we have the quenching facility at the outlet of the kiln,our burner pipe tip is just above this area, due to water showering in this area steam generates and damages the castable of the burner pipe tip from bottom with in 20-25 days and after that the burner pipe tip metallic plate started wearing, we have to change the whole tip area of the burner pipe after one and a half month,we have used High alumina castable, silicon carbide castable there at tip area but the life of the tip remains same. Your precious suggestions required for any improvement of the life of the burner pipe tip. Regards Answer: You could try steel fibres in the castable, but this sounds to be a very demanding application. Question: Sir! We are using Hunter scale apparatus for measuring the whiteness of the clinker and cement, the L value is the whiteness of the sample and the b value is the parameter showing how yellowish shade is there in the sample,normal B value for the white cement clinker is between +1 to +2. If it goes towards -ve then the sample has bluish shade.

Answer: This will be dependent on the trace elements in the clinker. Question: Dear Sir, Thank you for the answer,the C3S content 52~58% calculated by XRF, SM=2.25%, AM=1.6%,LSF=96.5% ,liq. phase 27% , free lime 1.45% but litre wt.1100 ~1150 (low) , how i can increase the litre wt.and improve the C3S , Also how i can decrease the dust ( S03 in clinker 0.6 , Total Alkali 0.7%),We added 0.3% SO3 in raw mix to control the Alkali(0.65% in raw mix) where S03 IN COOL is 0.3% also i have problem the shell temp increased to 395 C FROM 320C in kiln in 30 m ( kiln is 104 m), please advise Answer: XRF does not tell you anything about the actual C3S content of clinker. You need XRD for that. To increase the LSF calculated from the oxide analysis you need to increase the lime saturation factor and the silica modulus.What do you mean by COOL? Question: Dear Dr Clark, Please could you advice for the reason of a very dusty clinker in a wet process when adding more coal sludge. Sulfur are saturated by alklaine and the ratio is close to 1. The free lime is around 1.2 to 1.5 as usual. Could it be related to the Oxygen level in the kiln, around 1. 2 to 1.5% ? Thanks for yoru answer, Best regards, Sylvie G. Answer: Certainly it could be associated with the coal sludge and the low excess oxygen content in the kiln if either is impairing the combustion in the main burner flame. Question: Dear sir,we have cement ball mill 2 chambers, nominal capacity=145t/h(ums50*14 fls company).liners condition and charge percent in both chambers are ok. we are working with following parameters :feed=140,separator reject=170,inlet and outlet press=-1,-8 mbar but motor Kw is high(99% rated Kw ,0.99*5450=5390Kw).can it be a process problem and how can we decrease Kw by changing process parameters? Answer: Why is that a problem? It is normal for a mill main motor to draw it's nominal power if it is charged to capacity with grinding media. Question: Daer Sir, Thanks for your prompt reply. Now advise us how can we increase 1 day and 28 day strength of cement with same quality of clinker and how can we reduse residue ? By applying grinding pressure or by increasing RPM of classifier ? Answer: Increasing the speed of the classifier.

Question: Dear Sir, While reply to my question you mentioned the term "False Surface".Would you please elaborate the meaning false surface and how it is generated in the mill as ours is VRM. Answer: The prehydrated calcium silicate and calcium hydroxide in the clinker will provide a very high surface are in any type of mill, be it a ball mill or a VRM. The actual clinker will remain coarse resulting the high residues. The prehydrated clinker is giving the "false" impression that the cement has been ground finely enough, when in fact it has not. Question: SIR EXPLAIN CONTROL THE C3S BY PRIMARY AIR AND GRATE COOLER ALSO HOW TO INCREASE THE LITRE WT. OF THE CLINKER AND DECREASE THE DUSTY INSIDE THE KLIN Answer: The first step is to monitor the actual C3S content of the clinker. How are you doing that? By X-ray diffraction or microscopy? The temperature profile in the kiln is critical for controlling the C3S mineral form. This is adjusted by the main burner flame, which is turn is adjusted by the primary air and the recuperation of energy to the secondary air in the cooler. A dusty kiln can have many causes. Excess sulphur circulation caused by the main burner flame can be one of those causes. Question: Sir! Our experiment to fire carbon black in our white kiln is successful, Thanks to God & after that our seniors especially our GM (Works) & DGM (Process) who has guided & motivated the white plant team to make the process successful. Thanks you also for making you available for everybody in this profession. We are getting enough whiteness for clinker to make the production acceptable under production targets. Sir can you explain the B value of clinker & the parameters effecting B value? What would be the side effects of high B values? Regards Answer: Good news Wahab and thank you. Please explain what you mean by "B value of clinker"? Question: Dear Sir, we are a grinding unit and in rainy season we receive some what wet clinker from our main plant.What impact the wet clinker will put on our quality ? Does in wet clinker chemical composition remains the same and only physical properties is affected ? Will it increase the redidue on 45 and 90 micron seive ? Answer: The wet clinker will reduce the quality of the cement you produce due to partial prehydration of the clinker. Chemical composition will remain the same but the mineral

composition will change with some hydrated calcium silicate and calcium hydroxide being present. It is very likely to increase the residue of the ground cement because "false surface" will be generated in the cement mill. Question: Earlier we were maintaining the blaine 380 m2/kg and residue on 45 micron was 12 14%. Now we are maintaining the blaine 400 or 410 m2/kg ,but the residue on 45 micron is 20 to 25%. How is it possible when we are grinding more but the residue is more. Is it possible that if baline is incresed residue also increases ? Kindly give your comments. Answer: It is possible. My suspicion is that the clinker is partially prehydrated and that that is causing some "false surface" to be generated in the mill. You should control the mill to residue targets rather than Blaine. Question: Dear Dr. Clark please advice me about the formula to be use to calculate the electrical power saving when increasing the amount of additives from 5 to 25% Regards Sayed Answer: Dear Sayed, The electricity consumed in manufacturing clinker is diluted by the amount of additives ground with the clinker in the cement mill. So the formula is: kWh/t cement = kWh/t cement milling + kWh/t clinker x (1 - %additives) However, there are many other considerations. Will the cement be ground to exactly the same fineness with 25% additives compared with 5% additives? Question: Blaine relationship with KWh in the cement mill?( graph or table) Answer: There will be a direct relationship with kWh/t of cement rising with Blaine. But there are other variables such as the type of mill, the grindability of the clinker and the recipe of the cement. A graph or table cannot be produced without more information. Question: Dear Sir, We have 5 stage preheater, the velocity in the Cyclone inlet & outlet are in the range of 18-22 m/s, where as the Twin cyclone inlet raiser duct velocity is around 7 m/s because of higher duct area. Is it the cause of excess dust generation in PH fan, high power consumption in PH fan & low pressure developed by the fan?. Shall we reduce the size of the duct to match 18 m/s? Answer: I need to know more about the design of the preheater. Is it a Polysius Dopol preheater? I doubt that low gas velocity in a riser duct can cause the problems you describe with the preheater fan.

Question: Dear Dr. Clark. INTRODUCTION. We have two cement mills dim 4,2x14,5m. Cement cooling is with water injection is into 2nd chamber and with fresh air in separator circuit. Set point of water injection is at 105C. What means diction: ''The water vapor-dew point temperature in the mill air must not exceed about 70C, otherwise cement quality will be affected above this level''? For cement stored in small steel and concrete silos additive Iron-II Sulphate (always monohydrate) is added between the mill and classifier. Metering point of chromate reducer for cement stored in three big silos from concrete is before cement loading. QUESTION: In last two years in cement storage silos increased problems with worse cement discharging and lump formation. As you can read above monohydrate is not in all cases mixed with cement in storage silos. What could be the reason for problems in silos? Maybe water injection, moisture from air for aeration and cement cooling, monohydrate, clinker property or combination. We still havent bypass kiln dust extraction. With best regards Boris Benedejcic Answer: I doubt that the ferrous sulphate monohydrate is the cause of the problems. All clinker contains some alkalis and those can react with moist air forming syngenite which causes flow problems with the cement. The dew point of the air is the temperature at which condensation of evaporated water from the air will take place. That depends on the amount of water injection in the mills and the volume of air sweeping the mills. Do you know those quantities? It is also an important consideration for the type of dust filter fitted to the mills. Is this a baghouse or an electrostatic precipitator? Most likely the problem is caused by the high storage temperature of the cement and the incomplete dehydration of the gypsum ground in the cement with the clinker in the cement mills. This will cause the gypsum to continue to dehydrate in the silos. At the walls of the silos the dehydrated water will condense reacting with the cement and forming lumps. There are two potential solutions: (i) cement should be cooled to less than 65C before storing in the silos, or (ii) the calcium sulphate added to the mill for setting control should be in the hemihydrate form rather than as gypsum. Question: pl. help me out from material having mgo, alkalies(Alkali Expansion) but need strength give the suggetion on use of coal firing in kiln & maitaining litr. wt. of clk Answer: MgO content of cement is limited by international specifications to avoid unsoundness in concrete made from the cement. You must select raw materials that will limit the MgO content to below these specifications. There is no such phenomena as "alkali expansion". There is an alkali-aggregate reaction but that is not expansion. Many cement kilns are fired with coal. The technology is well documented. Maintaining litre weight is achieved by consistent kiln operation and combination of the clinker. Question: Dear Sir, Thank you for the answer. In continuation of the earlier question, How do we reverse the affect of high Alkali sulfates and high C3A (Al2O3)in the clinker. Due to this,

the gain in compressive strength over a period of 3,7 & 28 days is less. Answer: The only way to change these fundamental aspects of the chemistry of your clinker is to change the raw materials so that there are less alkalis, sulphate and alumina in the clinker. This clinker with its high early reactivity should be ideal for producing blended cements with pozzolanic additions such as fly ash. Question: Sir Please explain details and difference between following(in kiln or pyro section) 1. False air 2. Cooling air 3. Dosing air 4. Primary air 5. Secondary air 6. Tertiary air with respect to their source of generation, location , purpose of use, quantity, necessity and temperature. Answer: False air is ambient air being drawn into the process through gaps in seals, etc. Cooling air is ambient air blown or drawn into the cooler to cooling the clinker. Dosing air is the ambient air used to transport solid fuels or sometimes kiln feed into the process. Primary air is ambient air blown into the kiln through the main burner with the fuel. Secondary air is preheated cooling air drawn into the kiln from the cooler. Tertiary air is preheated cooling air drawn into the precalciner from the cooler via the tertiary air duct. Question: sir main reason of boulder formation in kiln. Answer: The main reasons are high sulphur recirculation in the kiln, variations in the flux content and properties or misadjustment of the kiln main burner. Without knowing more information it is impossible to say which one applies in your case. Question: respected sir, where High Pressure cyclones are used and where Low Pressure cyclones are used ?, please tell me. Answer: Low pressure drop cyclones are used in preheaters to reduce the resistance to drawing the exhaust gas out of the kiln. Question: respested sir, what are the basic differences between High Presuure and Low Pressure cyclones ? Answer: The pressure drop across the cyclones due to the dimensions and geometry of the gas inlets and outlets.

Question: Does wet process kiln possess any advantage as regards quality and cost effectiveness over a dry process kiln?? Answer: Some minor advantages: lower alkali content of clinker; lower electricity consumption in grinding. But these are far outweighed by the disadvantage of the higher kiln fuel consumption. Question: Sir,how much air requried for combustionof coal in clinker burning in normal cubic meter per kilogram of clinker and its calculation for refrence. Regards Answer: About 1 Nm3/kg clinker. The calculation relies on stoichiometry. Question: Dear Dr. Clark. We have a high sulfur load in our kiln. The hot meal SO3 is at 1.5%. This resulted in dusty kiln & high free lime. By increasing the A/F ratio to 1.6, we have reduced the effect of sulfur, with good nodulization. What could be the reason? Has liquid viscosity any role in it? Answer: For sure liquid viscosity has a major role to play. Calcium sulphate melt reduces the viscosity and surface tension of the flux leading to smaller particle size distribution and high dust content in the clinker. Increasing the A/F increases the viscosity so combating the effect of the high SO3 in the flux. The high free lime is caused by late breakdown of CaSO4 to CaO and SO2. Question: Dear Sir,Thanks for your reply.Now I want to ask another question.We are a grinding unit and receive clinker from our mother integrated plant. The problem is that when we test clinker for 1 day or 28 days strength, the results are lower than the PPC made from the same clinker with 25% addition of Fly Ash. Is it possible that the strength of 28 days is lower than the PPC?If yes then why and if not then what could be the possible mistakes we are committing? Answer: It is possible that the early reactivity of the cement due to the high coontent of alkali sulphate is activating the pozzolanic reaction of the fly ash in the PPC and boosting the 28-day strength of the PPC. Particularly if the fly ash is a high calcium fly ash. Question: Sir, we are using magnetite as Iron input in raw mix for our kiln. Is it that reactivity of magnetite is poor compare to hematite? If magnetite is used (used in % 1.0), what will be the effect in kiln. As tested magnetite contains Fe2O3 above 88%.

Answer: I am not aware of any difference between the reactivity of magnetite and hematite. Question: With respected Sir, I have a question for you, about saving electricity and energy consumption in cement plant, especial cooler fans. In my cement plant, I dont know why they used damper for adjusting the flow rate into cooler chambers, maybe the cheaper costs than inverters. And I dont know if I want to retrofit them by replacing inverters for dampers(which used to use specific for pumps such as ABB inverters ACS550, ACS310) If have a similar project in some cement plants you know, pls share me some pros and cons or any your experiment about that.Or the procedure of this project, now I just think and did something, such as collect electrical consumption of fans in three months with highest capacity of kiln... Pls give me some advices about replacing inverter for damper Answer: Certainly there will be electricity savings by replacement of damper controlled cooler fans with variable speed drives. I suggest you contact Urban Scheupp, urban.schueepp@ch.abb.com. Question: Question: Dear sir, We have 2 FLS Kilns- 5000 TPD each.The burner used is douflex burner(Oil fired).The maxm brick life here is only 3 months. The coating is unstable & the brick always gets damaged only between 10-13 m area (that to only 3-4 lines). The increase in retraction (inner pipe movement)& free silica problem was sorted out which showed some improvement. What could be the major reason?. Burner is kept 400 mm inside from the kiln tip, aligned in the centre of kiln c/s. Answer: It is unusual to have such a localised refractory lining problem. The mechanical situation regarding the shells of the kilns needs to be considered. Where does the problem area lie in relation to the riding tyres? Sir, Both are new kilns, one year & five year old. Shell is perfectly alright. Answer: Why do you say the shell is perfectly alright? Do you know the stiffness of the shell? Do you know the magnitude of the deflection forces acting on the shell at all points along the shell? Question: Give standard heat balance data for 1700tpd and 2500 tpd cement kiln with SLC Answer: Whitehopleman can provide such a service, but there would be a charge made. Question: When we analyse cement for prticle size distribution by using Particle size Distributor Analyser, the results is appx.30% but by doing wet seiving it is 20%.Why?

Answer: The wet sieving causes some reaction with the cement affecting the residue. Question: Thanks Dr clark,can u please give me the average cost of a wet kiln drive that has a capacity of 400000tonnes/yr....and what is the density of LPFO at room temperature? Answer: Whitehopleman does not supply drives for wet kilns. I suggest you contact rban Scheupp, urban.schueepp@ch.abb.com. Question: Does carbon black give same heating ( temperature ) in cement plant instead of coal and gas? Answer: Certainly carbon black will burn in a cement kiln relaesing thermal energy. Question: Dear Sir, Thanking you for the answer. Our initial compressive strength is good but the gain over the remaining periods is not appreciable. Our clinker SO3 is 1% & total alkalis at about 1.5%. We are maintaining the cement SO3 at 2.6%. What could be the reason for less gain in compressive strength? Answer: It is a well known phenomena that high alkali sulphate content in cement promotes early strength but means that strength growth to later ages is reduced. The soluble alkali causes the hydration of the cement clinker minerals to be speeded up, but there is no increase in ultimate strength. Question: Dear sir, In recently days we have clinker ball formation in our kiln so there are two or three times a day. Those clinker ball have about 1 to 1.5 m diameter.Sometimes in these days, material leakage from kiln inlet has been seen.It's interesting,that event cause just after refractory maintenance.The pile that has used before and after maintenance was the same. Thank you. Answer: Both sound to be symptoms of heavy sulphur cycling in the kiln. What is the sulphur input levels in feed and fuel, output in clinker and sulphate content in hot meal? It is interesting that this has arisen just after refractory maintenance. The new refractory lining will be retaining more heat within the kiln therefore the internal wall temperatures will have changed.

Question: what is the use of carbon black in cement plant? which type of carbon black is used in cement plant? Answer: There is no use of carbon black in a cement plant to my knowledge. Residues from carbon black manufacture could be used as an alternative fuel. Question: Is there any realtionship between dusty clinker and the degree of calcination. In addition please describe how the dust retured of a grate cooler impedes on flame shape. Thanks in advance Answer: There might be some indirect relationship between dusty clinker and degree of calcination but more likely they are both symptoms of some other underlying process problem. Dust returned from the grate cooler in the secondary air can affect the efficiency of mixing of that air into the flame therefore impeding the flame shape. The dust will also need to be reheated which will absorb some energy from the flame. Question: Hello,whats qty of Lpfo will give the same energy output as a litre of natural gas?? Answer: A litre of natural gas is not very much natural gas. The LPFO equivalent would be 0.8 to 0.9 millilitres. Question: Please,whats the energy content of LPFO Answer: Typically 40,000 MJ/t of LPFO, net. Question: Dear sir plz tell me why some time kiln back come out with great velocity and kiln &cooler chamney remain very dusty about 20 to 30 minute.thx sir Answer: I'm sorry I don't really understand this. The kiln back come out with great velocity? The kiln and cooler chimneys remaining very dusty implies that the process is disturbed and the dust filters are not doing their job. Question: Dear sir plz tell what is differential pressure &how it works in raw mill operation.thx sir. Answer:

The differential pressure is the gas pressure at the outlet of the mill minus the gas pressure at the inlet of the mill. As the load of material in the mill rises the pressure differential will rise. Therefore the differential pressure across the mill is a measure of the loading on the mill. Question: Dear sir, We have 2 FLS Kilns- 5000 TPD each.The burner used is douflex burner(Oil fired).The maxm brick life here is only 3 months. The coating is unstable & the brick always gets damaged only between 10-13 m area (that to only 3-4 lines). The increase in retraction (inner pipe movement)& free silica problem was sorted out which showed some improvement. What could be the major reason?. Burner is kept 400 mm inside from the kiln tip, aligned in the centre of kiln c/s. Answer: It is unusual to have such a localised refractory lining problem. The mechanical situation regarding the shells of the kilns needs to be considered. Where does the problem area lie in relation to the riding tyres? Question: Dear Sir, Our kiln feed has a residue of 3 to 6% with sandstone as one of the additives for silica. We are balancing hot meal molar ratio where the SO3 & chloride are about 1.5% & 1.2% respectively.The kiln feed chloride is 0.15% max with bypass system. The clinker SM is 2.5, AM is 1.6 with 5.8% Al2O3, 3.5% Fe2O3 & SO3 at about 1.0%. LSF is 0.90 to 0.93. What would be the role of increased Al & low Fe in clinker on the early compressive strength of cement & possible deterioration of concrete? What should be done to increase 1 day strength? Also what should be done for stable liter weight & free lime. Regards, Ajay Trivedi Answer: Increased alumina content and lower iron oxide content will have virtually no affect on early compressive strength. Higher alumina content impies higer C3A content and therefore more susceptibility to sulphate attack on concrete, but this should not be a problem except in acid ground waters. Increasing 1-day strength can be achieved by finer grinding, increased silica modulus, real clinker mineralogy control or fluoride mineralisation of the clinker. Question: Sir, what is the max; percentage of sulphur cycle(sulphatisation of alkalies)for the un interepted operation ofkiln, and at what percentage the sulphur ring formed in kiln and or buildup in preheater Answer: The rule of thumb is that the alkali:sulphate ratio should be between 0.8 and 1.2. You cannot state a %sulphur that will cause rings or build-up in the preheater because it depends on many factors. Mosst important is to avoid reducing burning conditions at any point in the kiln.

Question: dear sir,we have douflex burner and inside the kiln in length of 7-22m we have stable coating .some times part of brick liner in the length of 24-25m became week(decrease on brick thickness) and we want to protect this zone by creating coating on it and keep the kiln running further(increasing kiln refractory lifetime).what is your suggestion to increase length of coating(about 2-3 m)? Answer: I suggest pushing the burner into the kiln by 0.25m. You should do this in small steps and carefully observe the effects on the kiln and clinker. Question: cause of snowman formation in cement kiln Answer: Snowmen are caused by the presence of some liquid phases in the clinker entering the cooler from the kiln. In part they are a consequence of the higher secondary air temperature achieved by modern grate coolers. ou can try to combat these by adjusting the kiln burner to create a cooling zone within the kiln and reduce the dust content of the clinker. Question: Dear Sir, In a previous question I have briefed about our raw mill, Dia 2.8x7.32L,Our feed size on -10mm sieve is 50-60% & -15mm sieve is 70-80%, and also we are feeding 5-10% on +20 to 25mm, we don't have secondary crusher arrangement. Our separator return residue is 25-40% on 212 mic & 50-60% on 90 mic,Product residue is also higher 18-20% on 90 mic, Suppose if we close the separator blade 45 -60 Deg our residue improves but TPH drastically comes down by around 4-5. My question is to improve our mill potential 45-50 TPH which is bottleneck for our kiln requirement, and also to improve product residue. 1. Is it essential to change the mechanical Grit separator to higher size or to change with other separator. 2. Is it essential to put secondary crusher with vibrating screen arrangement to reduce & keep feed size 100% below 10mm. Kindly give your valuable suggestion. Answer: My suggestions would be to add precrushing ahead of the raw mill and also to replace the grit separator with a dynamic separator. Question: Dear Sir,I wanted to brief about our raw mill, our mill potential is 45 TPH & we are getting around 30 to 34 TPH. We have air swept ball mill having Dia 2.8*7.32L having Dia 3.2 grit separator & 3.2 dia cyclone separator,CA fan capacity 70000 m3/hr & 650mm wc & Bag filter fan 35000 m3/hr & 250mm wc.In previous few months we have operated our mill by disconnecting Bag filter fan by making exhaust opening above Bag filter at that time we are getting around 28 to 30TPH & later this month we have again connected the bag filter fan to the circuit, operated for one month our TPH remains same

TPH.We have fully opened the separator blade our TPH increase to 32-34, parallely residue on 90 mic increases from 16-17% to 18-19%.My question is whether we need to operate with/without bag filter fan due to increase in KWH,as we are getting enough volume & pressure on Circulating air fan. Answer: I presume the filter fan is required to keep the filter under negative pressure? If the filter fan is not running then I imagine the filter must be pressurised by the mill fan? Question: dear sir,our kiln dimension is 4.8*75 m with ILC ,4 stage. arrangement of brick in the first 36 meters of kiln is as follows: 1) Ring 1-36(7.2 meters length) in lower transition zone ,magnesite-spinel bricks 2)Ring 37-136 (19.8 meters length)in central burning zone ,chromite-magnesite bricks 3) Ring 137-182(9 meters length) in upper transition zone magnesite-spinel bricks whenever we go inside the kiln to do some repairing activity,we see burning zone coating up to 23 meters length from kiln outlet and about 4 meters of kiln length in burning zone have no coating.can we replace this 4 meters length of kiln(or part of it) by magnesite-spinel bricks and increase the upper transition zone length?(lifetime of magnesite-spinel bricks against heat of flame is more than chromitemagnesite bricks) . Answer: Coating formation should be better on magnesite chromite bricks. However, magnesia spinel bricks are often used throughout the burning zone of the kiln so there should be no problems extending the zone over which they are installed. Ideally magnesite chrome bricks should be phased due to the health implications associated with their use. Question: Thenk you sir for king help, pls tell me sir what are the main differences between dry and wet process of cement manufacturing. Answer: In the dry process of cement clinker manufacture the kiln feed is a dry powder. In the wet process the kiln feed is a slurry containing 30 to 40% water. This means the fuel consumption of a wet process kiln is much higher because the water must be evaporated in the kiln. Question: effect of alkali in kiln operation Answer: There are many affects on kiln operations and clinker and cement quality. I suggest you enrol on the CemNet Kiln Chemistry course. Question: how can we decide coal mill residue target . .and othr raw mill kiln feed residue target?

Answer: The coal mill residue target should be less than 50% of the volatile content on a 90 micron sieve and less than 2% on a 150 micron sieve. The kiln feed residue target depends on the mineral content of the kiln feed and the free CaO content of clinker after burning. Around 13% on a 90 micron sieve would be a median target. Question: Respected Sir, We want to increase the addition of fly ash from 18% to 22%.We tried to increase the LSF in clinker from 91.5 to 93 but at the same time Free CaO also increased from 1.80% to 2.80%.We have also tried to replace sandstone which is having high quartz with marl around 2.0%.Is it the raw meal residue on 212 mic below 2.00% from 3.5% can help? Please suggest the way of increasing of clinker LSF by keeping same free Cao at same cement strength. Regards Answer: Finer grinding of kiln feed should help, but that is not necessarily the solution. There can be other causes of high free CaO in clinker. If the kiln is hot enough and there are oxidising conditions then there should be no problems combining a kiln feed with lime saturation of 93%. I suggest you investigate the combustion conditions and the recirculation of sulphur in the kiln. Question: Dear Sir, Would you tell me about how important of flow or volume gas/air in Operating, which pros and cons when you know these parameters inlet or outlet from a VRM ( Vertical Roller Mill)? Thank you so much! Answer: A vertical roller mill is normally controlled via the gas inlet and outlet temperature and also the pressure drop across the mill. These are related to the gas volume and flow, of course, but you don't need to know the actual flow to control the operation of the mill. Question: How we can used followin fuel combination at opc and src clinker coal A containsash12%v matters39.6%sulphur1.81% cv 6670kcal/kg and coal B contains ash 24% v matters38.95% sulphur 6.67% cv 5570kcak/kg without any problem in burning in kiln Answer: You will need to blend the coals to have a constant ash content and adjust the kiln feed chemistry accordingly to give the required clinker composition. Both coals have similar volatile content so you can grind to 18% residue on a 90 micron sieve, less than 2% on a 150 micron sieve. ou must ensure there is sufficient excess oxygen due to the high sulphur content of one of the coals.

Question: Dear Dr.Clark, How to control C3S phase by kiln operation? Answer: First you must monitor it's real content in clinker by XD or microscopy. Then you have to adjust either the chemistry or the combustion conditions. Chemistry can be adjusted by additions of corrective materials at the kiln inlet. Combustion relies on adjustment o[f the primary air and the grate cooler. Question: Dear sir plz tell me What afct of ALM in kiln feed if his ratio is low and what is standard of ALM in kiln feed. Answer: Low alumina modulus can lead to heavy coating and ring formations in the kiln. An alumina modulus of 1.60 is typical. Question: Hello Sir, i have a query about VRM our mill capacity is 75 tph recenty we are facing problem in increasing its feed, when we increase the feed to 65 dp and mill kw attains to 460 and 360 res. all of sudden dp and kw inc to 490 and 400 but the feed is constant also rest of the parameters are constant and we also facing high residue kindly help us. thanks reg Sarav Answer: Your question is not clear. The mill capacity is 75t/h. When you increase the feed to 65 dp?......what do you mean? Question: What is tromp curve and it's effect on cement quality. Regards Answer: The Tromp Curve plots the particle size recovery to the rejects of a separator. It is a means of assessing the efficiency of a separator in a grinding circuit. Question: Sir!We have succeeded to transport carbon black to pfister feeder bin after passing it through coal mill. Carbon black residue after mill is 1.5 % on 90 micron. At start we used 1.3 tph carbon black along with gas to achieve 95 % production with clinker whiteness 88.5 %. Now we have increased the carbon black to max. with no gas firing, but clinker whiteness dropped to 86 & we have to take kiln production to reject side. Clinker has brown shade on it. What could be the reasons?is it ash?can we use full carbon black to achieve full production with acceptable whiteness? Regards Answer: Have you determined the ash content of the carbon black and the ash composition?

Question: I am a landowner looking to build earth-sheltered some architecture from limestone I will quarry from my land. I am looking to build a hoffman kiln. I was wondering if you knew of a corporation that builds these or could build them. HOFFMAN KILN: http://collections.infocollections.org/ukedu/collect/ukedu/index/assoc/h2385e/p120.gif EARTH-SHELTERED ARCHITECTURE: http://radioweblogs.com/0119080/images/Gallery/wells2.gif Answer: That is an unusual question Jared. The short answer is that I don't know a corporation who builds these kilns. My brother is involved in heritage projects in the North of England. I will ask him if he knows of an organisation. Question: Dear Sir, Can we design a cyclone immersion tube (dip tube) with its bottam closed & give the opeings by vertical slots to improve the collection efficiency.This is for twin cyclone Preheater cyclones. Answer: The critical factor will be the pressure drop across the cyclone. Hurrivanes supplied bt ATEC sound similar to this. Question: Dear Sir, In a PH cyclone, what is the relation between 1. cyclone collection efficiency vs cyclone discharge opening(diameter). 2. Pressure drop vs cyclone discharge opening(diameter). Will the wrongly designed (more or less than the required)cycone discharge opening makes any difference? Thanks. Answer: The cyclone discharge dimensions are critical for determining the pressure drop across the cyclone. The power drawn by the induced draft fan will be releted to the square of the pressure drop which must be achieved across the fan. Therefore, yes, a wrongly designed discharge opening will make a huge difference. Question: Respected Sir, Thank you for your answer, but i dont understand more. You can explain the way you answer me more detailer, "calculating the volume and flow of exhaust gas using stoichiometry and the Ideal Gas Laws". You can share me an examples about this calculation. I will wait your answer, many thanks. Answer: You need the calorific value and ultimate analysis of the fuel used to fire your kiln, i.e. the carbon, hydrogen, sulphur, nitrogen and oxygen content. Also the amount of fuel burnt per tonne of clinker produced. Also the composition of your kiln feed. If you can tell me those then I will make a calculation.

Question: About flow meter in duct, especial cement industry, Dear Admin, Your answer always help me to increase my knowleadge in cement industry. Now i want to ask you some question, pls help me: I wondering about the importance of gas/air flow in operating cement plant. In Vietnam, i know some cement plant but i cant find a flow meter in any cement plant (besides some equipments in cement procedure). If ferfect diffirent, you know, the temperature of gas exhaust recovery for cement grinding has low (about 100oC) so i can find many flow meters for collecting data. But in clinker producing, that be ignored. I dont know the reason, pls help me to understand more clearly about that. I see, we must depend on the temperature and volume of gas/air (m3/h) for optimise or normal operation. Why some cement plant only depend on temperature, sensible, the volume is not important for producing a high quality clinker or cement, and saving energy, so on. Now if i want to know about some equipments for monitoring gas flow in high-temperature duct ( which temperature more than 600oC), could you help me find a or more solutions for carrying out that. Thanks much for your support! Kindly! Answer: You are right that the gas flow and volume is very important in cement kilns. It is also very difficult to measure due to the high temperatures. For that reason the normal method is to calculate the volume and flow of exhaust gas using stoichiometry and the Ideal Gas Laws. Question: Dear Dr Clark, please tell me the difference between refractory life for white cemen kiln and OPC kiln, beacuse there is a diference in thermal load. Answer: Yes, the thermal load on white cement kilns is usually much higher than grey cement kilns due to the higher unit thermal energy consumption and the small diameter of white kilns. You could refractory life to be reduced by 50% compared with grey cement kilns. However, there are many contributing factors beyond thermal load. Question: Dear sir plz tell me why cyclone chowke Answer: There could be many reasons. Most likely connected with the circulation of alkalis, sulphates and chlorides in the kiln. Question: Dear Sir, In a VRM of 75 TPH (380-420KW main motor and 480 to 500 kw fan), recently table liners were replaced after facing huge power consumption in mill main motor. now we are starting and increasing feed gradually to mill. but residue is very high and not able to control. could you help on this?

Answer: I am not sure that I can help. It sounds as if you have mechanical problems with the mill. Question: sir,In our kiln 3.4*54 ,coal ash 24%,lsf 1.08-1.12 varies,sm 2.65,al2o3 2.7, kf residue 1922 and 2.9-3.6, sulpur % in coal 3-4.5% varies .due to these resons fuel varies.small ring present at 25mts and heavy coating from outlet to 18th mts,dia approx.2.0 .kiln inlet and orfice area coating coming and pc u bend area also coating forming. problem is ltwts have to maintain 1220-1280,fcao 1.3-2.5 variations coming ,kiln condition is normal,but dust generation is higher side,higherfaco,and unburnt showing inside clinker.please give me suggestion for control of FCao,dustgeneration. Answer: You must consider the total alkali, sulphur and chloride inputs to the kiln and also their concentration in the hot meal. I suspect your problem is the high sulphur inputs but we must know the Na2O, K2O, SO3 and Cl content in the hot meal. Question: thanks for your answers, her is several time (mor than 5 time)killn stop for ballring problem and condition of material is:LSF of killnfeed=91-95 ,SM=2.55-2.60 ,AM=1.151.20 ,liquid phase=25.5-26 .if any information else need to say exactly what is the reason of ballring formed ,i will write . thanks a lot. Answer: You must consider the alkali, sulphate and chloride inputs to the kiln and their concentration levels in the hot meal. Also the detailed adjustment of the main burner of the kiln. Question: Respected Sir, We are using high grade,feedable grade and low grade total three grade of lime stone.We are finding difficulty in making longitudnal lime stone pile. What should be the blending efficiency of the pile? What is the method of calculating blending efficiency of pile based on LSF. Regards Answer: The blending efficiency is the ratio of the standard deviation of the material stacked on the pile to the material reclaimed from the pile. You should expect a blending efficiency in excess of 5. Question: What is the effect of high residue of coal to burning and thermal efficiency.What is the recommended residue levels on 90micron sieve. rgds kibii Answer: The recommended target for coal finess is a 90 micron residue of less than 50% of the

volatile content of the coal. High residue can lead to many problems due to incomplete combustion of the coal in the main burner flame of the kiln. Question: Sir! At our white plant, We are trying carbon black as fuel at main burner but facing lot of problems in its transportation especially after grinding mill because of its very light weight. We are not getting enough carbon black in the pfister bin to fire in the kiln & check its effects on our product parameters especially whiteness. Please suggest us something which can help us in this task & can carbon black can be used in white kilns as a main burner fuel? Regards Answer: Carbon black should cause no problems when used to fire a white cement kiln. However, nothing can be done about its density. Question: hi, what reasons cause inform ballring in killn of cement factory. Answer: There are many potential reasons. The causes are usually unstable operation, variation in the quantity and properties of the liquid phase in the kiln, dust return from the cooler, or a poorly adjusted main burner flame. Question: We are using high VM coal (Indonesian coal) VM 47-48%. SOme times during shutdown of coal mills ,explosions also occured. We are maintaining following parameters. Residue 22-27% on 90 micron ,2 % on 212 micron Mill outlet temp 54 deg C ESP inlet temp 58 deg C O2 at ESP outlet 13-16% based on condition. we are mixing 25% south african coal with 75% indo with separate feed tables. FIne coal VM around 40%. Pl suggest standard operating procedures for high VM coal grinding with safety. Answer: There are many preventive and protective measures that have to be employed when grinding coal. My comments on the data you have sent would be that (i) the coal mill exit temperature seems to be low - I suggest you construct a coal dewatering curve, (ii) the O2 content at ESP outlet is high enough for coal dust explosions to occur - you should have <12%. Question: Dear Sir I want to know about benifits and losses by using petcoke in kiln having high alkali in Raw Mix ( Na2O= 0.40 & K2O = .85) also send me some literature related to topic Regards Dilip Yadav Answer: The benefit would be that the sulphur content of the petcoke would balance the alkalis in raw mix. Whitehopleman is not a distributor of literature.

Question: At present we adding 18% fly ash in PPC.How we can increase the proportion of fly ash from 18% to 22%.? Answer: By increasing the reactivity of your clinker by control of the real mineralogy. Question: Respected Sir, What is the method of determining quartz in raw mix without XRD.? Is it equal to acid insoluble residue on 45 micron? Answer: That would give an approximation. X-ray diffraction is required for mineralogical analysis. Question: Thanks for the answer below. Another question would be what options are available to improve the 28 day strength if the clinker has high alkali i.e. used grinding aid with functional gps like silane, amine?? Can we neutralise the alkali? Answer: I do not think that you can neutralise the alkali, but of course there are a range of options to enhance the 28-day strength. Addition of quality improvement chemicals would be one option. My belief is that you must focus on control and optimisation of the real clinker mineralogy. The first step is to monitor the real clinker mineralogy by X-ray diffraction. Question: Dear Sir, In the previous week I have asked you the question regarding pre heater fan pressure drop & excess material return,as I told our preheater return material % is 20-22 & our cyclone raiser duct velocities are at kiln I/L raiser duct 32.4 m/sec,Cyclone 5 raiser duct 31.3 m/sec, Cyclone 4- 28.5 m/sec,Cyclone 3- 26.9 m/sec,Cyclone2- 24.14 & Cyclone I raiser duct - 19.16 m/sec.Our dip tube height of cyclone ST I is almost 1 meter below the cyclone inlet raiser duct opening,How we can control/minimize the amount of return material please help us. Answer: Preheaters are normally dimensioned in order to achieve a gas velocity of around 18 m/s in the ducts. This suggests that either (i) your preheater is under dimensioned, or (ii) the gas volume is too high, perhaps because of a high volume of excess air? Increasing the dimensions of the preheater would be a massive job. If the excess air is low then the volume could be reduced by oxygen enrichment of the combustion air. Question: Sir,since 2-3 days we are facing problem of low litre weights in kiln 1000-1080 gms/lit.Our raw materials having chloride and sulphate rich. In hot meal SO3 2.0% and chloride 0.98%. In clinker SO3 1.1% CaO 64.5% SiO2 22.74% Fe2O3 3.7% Al2O3 5.2

COal Ash 10-12% in kiln and calciner Poor nodulization and some times high free lime is our problem. We are using clay and sand stone partly with varied ratio. As a solution to maintain Al2O3 we have increased laterite ratio. To reduce SO3 we have reduced sulphate rich material to feed. Please suggest action is in right direction or not?? Answer: Most likely the problem of poor nodulisation and high free CaO content of clinker is caused by the high sulphur content. Sulphates reduce the viscosity and surface tension of the clinker flux leading to difficulty forming nodules and a fine particle size distribution. CaSO4 present in the clinker can break down late in the process to form CaO and SO2 too late to be recombined leading to high free CaO content. You must make sure there is sufficient excess oxygen at the kiln inlet and that the combustion air is efficiently mixed into the main burner flame. It will also be better to balance the SO3 with alkalis. Question: Hi, what can I do to improve the 28 day strength of my cement if the alkali is high due to high alkali in limestone? What is the difference between alkali bounded in the crystal lattice and alkali sulfates? Which is better for the strength of the cement? Answer: Alkali bound in sulphates will rapidly dissolve when the cement is mixed with water in concrete leading to higher early strength but depressed 28-day strength. K2O bound in the crystal lattice can bring problems with combination of the clinker to low free CaO content. Question: Sir! Can we permanently divert Raw Mill EP dust towards CF Silo? Our Raw Mill LSF setpoint is 94.5 % & SM is 5 %. LSF of EP dust is 161 % & SM is 2.1 %. Answer: Yes, you can do that. The important factor in the mass balance of your kiln is the inputs in the raw materials and the fuels and the outputs in the clinker. The EP dust is recirculating within the system and does not affect the inputs and outputs. Question: give me cement mill chamber sample collection method with resion. Answer: You must dig down into the media to take a sample because the cement mill ventilation fan will strip fines from the material lying on the surface of the media. Question: what effect in kiln high so3 @ high mgo in lime stone. Answer: Both will have profound effects. Is the sulphate balanced by alkalis in the kiln? The MgO

in cement is limited by international specifications. In the kiln the MgO will make some contribution to the flux, but beyond 2% will be present as solid periclase. Question: sir my both raw mill lsf =91.12, s.m.=2.23, a.m.=1.27 but my kiln is not feed taken 400 tph why resion. Answer: There could be many process and equipment related reasons, besides kiln feed chemistry as represented by the ratios of the major oxides, for low kiln output. Question: We have 2500tpd plant and operating with 1700tpd. Our raw materials are enriched with chloride and sulpher. I want to know effect of coal chloride on clinker burning and what should be max allowable range of coal chloride? Pl give details.... Answer: If your raw materials are enriched with chloride then the coal chloride should make difference. I presume you have to operate with a bypass at the kiln inlet and the chloride from the coal will be extracted from the kiln system through te bypass just as the chloride from the raw materials will be. It does not make any difference where the chlorides are input to the kiln, either in the raw materials or the fuel. Question: Dear Sir, We have 5 stage suspension preheater with Designed Preheater fan Volume 80000 m3/hr,Pressure -750mm wc & temp-300 Deg C.But in actual running we are getting volume with full speed but the fan developing only maximum pressure of 400mm (Designed pressure is 750mm wc),what is the effect of high volume & low presure on our Kiln production performance,Inspite of increasing diptube height of Cyclone ST I our return material drop test showing 22%, what is the maximum return% from preheater outlet & how to overcome this problem ,Kindly suggest. Our Kiln size 3mx42.5m & Preheater effective diameter 3.54m Stage II to V & 2.6m in Stage I. Answer: If the volume is correct then there should be no problem. The pressure is the resistance of the system to drawing the exhaust out of the kiln and therefore provided the exhaust volume is correct then a low pressure is a good thing. The dust return of 22% is excessive. This should be less than 10%. What are the pressure drops across each cyclone? Question: Sir! We have started the white kiln after one week stoppage because of some power issues. This time we are facing problem that the kiln is not getting full feed even ID fan speed approches to 99.5%.What would be the reason behind that? Even i adjusted the burner pipe position to control the free lime, & reduced the SM setpoint down to 5 % from 5.3 % & raw meal residue to 3.2% from 4 %. Regards

Answer: There could be many reasons for this: change in burnability of the feed, change in fuel characteristics, restrictions in the preheater, etc.. The kiln feeder might even need to be calibrated. Question: Dear Sir In our Clinker %Na2O & K2O is 0.50 & 1.05 respectively due to this we get low 28-days in clinker as well as cement is there any mean ( Except alkali bypass) to increase ultimate strength Answer: Is the high alkali content in the clinker balanced by high sulphate content? The form of the alkali in the clinker is important, i.e. whether it is bound with sulphates or whether it is present in the clinker minerals. Question: Sir Please tell me if i increase or decrease so3 in cement what should be done in SO3 percentage. i.e is there any relation in cement fineness and SO3 Answer: Yes, there is likely to be a relationship between fineness and SO3 content. The SO3 derives from the gypsum added to the cement and that gypsum is easier to grind than clinker. Question: Due to the political situation in Yemen we are forced to keep our cement factory totally shutdown. Would you please let us know what machinery and how frequently we have to keep them turning to avoid deformation of soft "White" metal bearing deformation and other forms of damage by leaving heavy equipment more than 6 months may be up to 2 years. Is there a standard practice / guideline for turning the machines regularly. Stephen. Answer: That is a difficult question. I think should should seek the equipment suppliers advice on their recommended procedures for a prolonged mothballing of the factory. Question: Dear Sir, I am a researcher from Thailand. I would like to ask you about the effect of SM (silica module) on compressive strengths of OPC cement type I and type III when we produced clinker in same LSF and AM but various SM value. Thank you very much Answer: Higher silica modulus means there will be more silicates (C2S and C3S) in the clinker and therefore the compressive strengths should be higher.

Question: sir, what is the reason of cement (O.p.c) silo coating(stone).. how to resist this... Answer: The most common cause is continued dehydration of the gypsum in the cement. The way to avoid this is to cool the cement to c.65 degrees C before it is sent into the silo. Question: we have a limitation of raw meal . Can we extract the seperator reject of VRM which is coming on table centre via reject cone out side the mill to increase the mill out put and extract material can be grind in ball mill as it is very hard in grinding. Answer: Yes, that can be done and should increase the production rate of the raw mill. However it will be a major modification. Also the fines on the table of the vertical roller mill do contribute to the stability of the bed of material. Question: Dear Sir i would like to know the lowest power consumption of a cement plant in world and in India also. a) Lowest power for OPC b) Lowest power for PPC Answer: The way to find this out is to enrol in Whitehopleman cement factory benchmarking. Question: What is co controlling parameters in kiln Answer: There are many CO controlling parameters: (i) there must be sufficent oxygen available to burn the fuel, (ii) that oxygen (air) mist be efficiently mixed into the burner flame, (iii) the fuel must be adequately prepared (finely ground, atomised, etcc.).......etc. Question: What is the method of determining quartz in raw mix? Is it equivelent to acid insoluble residue on 90 mic sieve. Regards Answer: The only way to accurately determine the quartz content of raw mix is by X-ray diffraction. However, the acid insoluble residue is an approximation. Question: What will be the reason for frequent excessive coating and ring formation in kiln between 18 to 21 mts of a precalciner 4 stage kiln having a length of 75 mts and a dia of 3.75 mts when only south african coal used as a fuel having 0.75% sulphur. Answer:

There could be many reasons. It will be caused by a local cooling of the charge of material in the kiln and stiffening of the flux. This might be caused by the condition of the refractory lining. Question: Respected Sir, Is it right to balance alkali to sulphur molecular ratio in hot meal. If we calculate input put of sulphur and alkali from raw meal and fuel and out put from clinker. Which one is more accurate? Answer: They are both accurate and both important. It is in the hot meal that you might have process related problems. Question: Dear Sir, Some time we test cement its Chemical analysis is Ok, but its cocsistency is on higher side our normal consistency is 28 and it increases up to to 30 and 32 % and also its setting time is decreased although SO3% is 2.50 Please we need your expert comments on this unusual change. Best Regards Answer: This is probably caused by changes in the mineral form of the gypsum in the cement, different rates of dehydration changes in the processing temperature history of the cement. Question: Dear Sir, our kiln is 4.8*72 m long and we have developed a ring at about 28 m almost at the end of burning zone how i can break this ring.? regards, Sheikh Answer: You could adjust the position ofthe burner or the shape of the flame via the axial and swirl air. Question: Sir, I am from India. To dedust kiln exit gases, which one is better: Reverse air bag house or pulse jet bagfilter. I heard that in European countries, the Pulse jet Bagfilter is preferred over RABH. But in India there is apprehenson about the use of Pulse Jet Bag filter. Answer: In my experience pulse jet is better. Question: Good sir, may you be blessed & may God keep strengthen you in all your daily endeavor. Sir here in GBOKO the raw mill ball mill reject belt is transporting the reject material at rate of 246.2t/h and feed rate is 146t/h the ball mill is having auxiliary crusher, the crushed material is separate with the static separator and only the reject material enter the

ball mill. Please sir why the reject feed rate is higher than that of the fresh feed rate? Answer: The reject rate is higher than the feed rate because the circulation factor is greater than 200%. Question: Sir, if you pls define what are all the major process changes require to introduce 20% Petcoke with presently use South African Coal. As it is earlier mentioned, we like to increase Sulfur content to match Sulfur/Alkalies ratio. We are mixing it in ball mill fine grinding and keeping 6-7% residue on 90 microns. 40% front charging and rest in P.C. Very thankful for all your valuable suggestions. Regards Answer: The problem you will face is differential grindability of the coal and petcoke and differential burnn-out of the fuels. My suggestion would be to separately grind the coal and petcoke and to burn the petcoke on the main burner only. Question: 2000tpd kiln from a long time boulder formation is there .got many changes n operational parameters,chemistry and residue of raw meal but no solution was found to avoiad this boulder formation.this is an Alkali bypass system Answer: I am currently conducting an investigation into the causes and potential solutions to this problem. Would your company be interested to participate in this investigation? Question: Dear Dr.Clark, Thank you very much for your help. Slow cooling or Quenching/ rapid cooling of clinker, which cooling you recommend is good and in both cases how it will effect Quality of cement with respect to early and final strength of cement? Answer: Rapid cooling of clinker is best as it results in smaller, more strained and reactive, crystals of the clinker minerals. This results in higher early and later strength. Question: we have ball mill with roller press ckt.for cement grinding. we have separator sks-3750 in ckt.if we install one more separator in parllel with sks-3750.how much % of feed increased and how. Answer: That is impossible to answer. It depends on the current circuit and the material loadings within that circuit. A technical audit would be required.

Question: Sir, please tell me the formula for calculating volume of false air? Some relevant data is Opening size= 20* 10 inches,Pressure= 13 mbar in cyclone ,Atm temp= 40 deg c ,Inside air temp.= 1000 deg c Answer: You can calculate the velocity of the inleaking air from 14.15 x SQRT(Pressure/Air Density) in m/s. The volume is then the velocity times the cross-section of the opening in m. Question: Sir, excessive coating and ring formation is happening very frequent in our 3x45 M kiln. Sulfur/Alkali ratio is too low as it calculated 0.35. If introduction of Pet-Coke (having 7% Sulfur) in a small quantity can help ? Regards Answer: Yes, balancing the alkalis and sulphur should help. However, is your process adapted to burn petcoke? Question: What is ideal free lime in clinker and what are the factors affecting this. We are facing problem with our kiln.when litre weioght is above 1300 free lime is below 1 and when we reduce slightly to about 1240 it is 2.What may be the reason. Answer: That is exactly as would be expected. As you reduce the degree of burning the litre weight falls and the clinker free CaO rises as the degree of combination falls. Up to 2% free CaO in clinker should present no problems. Question: Respected Sir! Can we use a steel jacket on high temperature area of the kiln to get hot air for the primary air fan? And will this hot air from primary air fan help us to reduce the fuel consumption in the kiln? Answer: No. The radiation from the shell of the kiln is critical to maintain the temperature profile across the refractory lining in the kiln. If you enclose the kiln in a steel jacket then the kiln shell temperature will rise, the refractory lining may fail and the kiln shell may be irrepairably distorted by overheating. Question: Dear Sir Assume one of the shaft of roller broken off suddenly and we couldn,t have a normal shut down because we couldn,t turn the kiln .In this case many damages may be occured for the kiln.what could we do for decreasing this damages ? Regards Taghdiri Answer:

That depends whether any damages have actually occurred. It is possible that a crank has developed in the kiln. Also the refractory lining may have been melted out from the bottom section of the kiln. You must make a full internal inspection. If a crank has been created then it may be possible to straighten the kiln by the application of heat. However, it may be necessary to replace kiln sections. Question: I would like to ask you something about the effect of SM (silica module) of clinker on compressive strength of cement mortar. For example, if clinker produced by controlling at high or low SM (LSF and AM are constants), wil it affect compressive strength of mortar or not? Answer: Yes. Higher silica modulus means more C3S and C2S in the clinker. This will mean higher compressive strength. Question: Respected Sir, What is the effect of high alkalies and low SO3 in precalciner dry process kiln having a length of 75 mt and adiameter of 3.75 mt.The sulphur to alkali molecular ratio is 0.77.Problem of excessive coating from 18 mts to 21 mts in kiln.What would you like to suggest? Answer: You can balance the alkalis and sulphate by the addition of gypsum or anhydrite to the kiln feed. Question: We are facing problem of excessive coating in dry process precalciner kiln. 4 Nos of stoppages of kiln due to excessive coating and ring formation. Minor constituents like SO3,Na2O,K2O and Chloride checked and found ok. What may be the reason regarding raw mix point of view? At present kiln is in operation but again Kiln shell temperature at 18 mts to 20 mts are low. Answer: What is the situation with the refractory lining in the troublesome area. Has any recent replacement work taken place there or further uphill from that point? Question: Respected Sir! What is the normal range of specific heat consumption (kcal/kg clinker ) for white kiln? Answer: There is a very wide range. For a dry process then 1000 to 1500 MJ/t clinker. Question: Respecetd Sir! What are the burner pipe adjustments according to the fuels & fuel

compositions? Is there any effect of burner pipe adjustment on flame during natural gas firing? Here we have Douflex burner. Regards Answer: Adjusting the burner makes a major difference to the operation of the kiln. Pushing the burner pipe into the kiln by 0.5m will increase the length of the flame by 3m. (That is not a good thing to do). Question: Good sir, we are using IKN COOLER to cool the clinker inside the cooler there is spray water. My question will spray water affect the C3S Dehydration process. Because there is a 8 high capacity FAN that draw the atmospheric air inside the cooler Answer: There should be no affect on the C3S provided that the sprayed water is completely evaporated. The only affect will be to cool the clinker exhaust air. Question: dear sir, in some of your comments stress is on the burner position in the kiln and The insertion distance of the main burner into the kiln is a critical adjustment.in our plant, burner tip is 600 mm inside the kiln and we want to know in what conditions we should push the burner a bit more (say 100 mm or so)inside the kiln(please tell us some example or cases that show pushing burner inside the kiln is necessary? Answer: You could expect pushing the burner into the kiln by 100mm to increase the length of tje flame by more than 0.5m. The only reason you would do that would be to change the coating behaviour in the kiln. Question: dear sir in some cement plant because of some problem ,tertiary air duct damper can not be opened(jamming)or duct inside is clogged(full of clinker dust)and in fact TAD is not in circuit but in this case kiln is running and oxygen for calciner burner is providing from kiln inside.we want to know how much decreasing in kiln output and increasing in KCal/Kg.Clinker will be predicted and what will be the bad consequences for kiln operation? 9 damaged Answer: The main burner flame will be cooled by the excess air drawn into and through the kiln. Fuel consumption cann be expected to rise and clinker quality to deteriorate. I would expect that around 30% clinker output would be lost. Question: hello sir i do hope you will fine... sir i have a question about kiln ring formation and heavy coating. we have 72m long kiln with 5m dia.now we ahve ring from 16m to 22m. sir during running what are the best ways to wash this ring... and in future how to avoid

such ring formation. Answer: Ring formation arises from some change in the properties of the flux at a particular point in the kiln. This might be a phase change or a cooling of the charge through the shell. When the kiln is running the only adjustments that can be made are to reduce the cooling of shell by turning off shell cooling fans or adjusting the position of the kiln burner. Question: Dear Dr.Clark, Clinker temperature after the cooler discharge is 220 deg C . Which is very high, my question is ,What type of Quality issues will appear and will it effect Grindibility of this high temperature clinker in cement mill ? Answer: I expect that there will be quality problems and also problems with the operation of the mill. Either gypsum will be completely dehydrated or if water injection is used to control the cement mill exit temperature then the injection rate will be excessive. Question: how to calculate burner pipe tip velocity,coal pipe venturi calculations,coal conveying velocity. Answer: You need to find the volume being delivered by the primary air fan and the crosssectional area of the primary air outles inthe burner tip. Question: Good Sir, i just happy bairthday to Mr James. Sir with all due respect my question is that in Dangote GBOKO plant we are using LPFO to fire our kilns but before the firing the LPFO wil pump to thermic fluid section where the viscosity is reduce using oil called thermic fluid to heat LPFO this oil has abily to retain heat up to tempt of 300C without evaporation. Sir what is the real name of this oil? Answer: Its is "thermal" oil Nathaniel. Question: dear sir for kiln feed with sio2=12.55% Al203=2.33% Fe203=2.87% Ca0=42.00% MgO=2.95% SO3=0.24% K2O=0.46% Na2O=0.32% CL=0.040% LOI=36.2% what will be the problem of kiln from view point of alkali-sulphur ratio? Answer: You must also consider the alkali and particularly the SO3 input in the fuel before you can assess the alkali sulphur balance. This alkalis are in excess of the SO3 in this kiln feed, but that is not necessarily the case in the ho meal or clinker as sulphur may enter the kiln system in the fuel(s).

Question: Sir, with your suggestion we have increased the coal fine and this change is giving us a better performance of kiln. Our is a 1000 tpd (3x45 M ILC) kiln but presently we are producing 1250 tpd from the same. Our kiln feed composition is LOI 35.70 CaO 43.0 SiO2 12.8 Al2O3 2.85 Fe2O3 2.1 MgO 1.6 Clinker analysis as CaO 64.4 SiO2 21.8 Al2O3 5.7 Fe2O3 3.2 MgO 2.3 Total Alkalies 1.1 SO3 0.55 f-CaO 1.85 Coal used Ash 20% VM 22% Primary Air Fan 1800 Nm3/hr, tip velocity as calculated 250 m/sec. Pr. 0.2 kg/cm2. If any change in R/Mix is needed to reduce excess coating formation keeping quality unaffected ? Regards Answer: The silica and alumina modulus are in the normal range. However, alkalis and MgO are relatively high meaning the flux content will be high at the burning temperature. If heavy coating is a problem then the silica modulus could be raised. Question: Respected Sir! At our white cement plant, the kiln inlet pressure remains +ve, even at maximum ID & EP fan speed, & because of this we have to face continuous dust emission & puffing from inlet seal. During every kiln shutdown we inspect the inlet rotary & stationary segments but every thing there was found ok. what are the other factors which could cause this serious problem. & thanks sir for this type of precious guidance. Answer: I suspect the problem is the steam from the clinker quenching passing through the kiln. The volume of gases will be raised and exceed the capacity of the ID & EP fans. Question: Respected Sir! with reference to my last question about the whiteness of the clinker by quenching the clinker at nose ring area by spraying water on it,There is an adverse impact on the thermal energy consumption of the kiln & has a bad effect up to 15 meters refractory due to steam formation in the quenching area. is there any other arrangements replacing this clinker quenching arrangements other than dryer? Answer: A dryer is not the correct term for a decoloriser, which is a rotang drum with water sprays at the inlet. There are other arrangements. Onoda use quenching baths with screws which lift the quenched clinker out of the baths. Question: sir plz tell me all reason for kiln inlet jamming we are using mixture of coal & petcoke. ratio is coal (70%) + petcoke (30%) Answer: There could be many reasons. One likely cause is excessive recirculation of sulphur in the kiln.

Question: Sir, Thank you for your early response to my enquirery, its highly appreciated. Sir, if you wouldn't mind, I still wants to bother you further. Here are some technical data on Obajana plant:- 5 stage double string preheater cyclones on each production line (two), innitial rated capacity of each line of 5000TPD( 350TPH), but now at 6500 to 7400TPD( 405 to 500TPH), inline calciners,natural gas as fuel, but when the pressure goes down LPFO is used, raw meal chemistry is LSF 99%, SM 2.5,A/F 1.5, clinker litre wt. is 1.25-1.3, while freelime is 0.5-1.5%. Sir, what, in your candid opinion, is the expected kiln performance vis aviz the frequent dusty nature of clinker being experienced here? kind regards, Omaga samson Your former student at Obajana. Answer: Dear Samson, The Obajana kilns perform very well. They have shown they can produce at the high rates to satisfy the huge demand for cement in Nigeria. Question: effect of kiln feed reactvity Answer: Increases clinker productivity and reduces thermal energy consumption of the cement kiln. Question: what is kiln feed reactivity formula Answer: There are various formulae based on the potential clinker mineral composition and the granulometry of the kiln feed. Question: Sir, I am a staff of Obajana cement industry, Lokoja, kogi State, Nigeria. we have nagging problem of dusty clinker coming up on our two kilns. Sir, if you wouldn't mind, what are the possible causes of dusty clinker. Now that we are having it more frequently, what steps can we take to combat it? Thanks in anticipation for your kandid explanation. Answer: Hello Samson, Dusty clinker is usually caused by changes in the viscosity and surface tension of the flux in the kiln. That might be caused by changes in the recirculation of sulphur in the kiln. That in turn might be caused by reducing burning conditions. Question: What will be the cement maket whithin 6 months Answer: How could I know that B.R.? In what part of the world?

Question: Respected Sir, I am a Chem. Engg. final year student. I would like to know the cause and consequences of ring formation in cement kilns. I underwent a training at a cement firm in India and this problem was quite frequent in occurence. If any solutions exist to this problem, I would be pleased to know. Thank you. Answer: You are right that ring formation is a common problem in cement kilns. It is caused by some change in the flux content or flux properties at a particular point in the kiln. That might arise from some phase change or a cooling through the shell and lining of the kiln. Question: Respected Sir Clark! At our white cement plant, we are using Furnace oil for reduction purpose and pet coke for kiln firing, We have achieved the clinker whiteness up to 90.5 % on hunter scale (Day Avg 89.7 %). In the near future, company is planning for the dryer. Now we are washing/quenching the clinker just before nose ring by making a water bath between two dams. Can we improve our clinker Avg. whiteness above 90 % on hunter scale before dryer installation? We are operating the kiln at 500 tpd clinker production & KF LSF 96.5, SM 5.4. Answer: It will be difficult Wahab. I think you are doing well to achieve the whiteness you are with these clinker quenching arrangements. There must also be an adverse impact on the thermal energy consumption of the kiln. Question: Respected Sir Clark! I am working as Dy. Manager (Kilns) at white cement plant, Our main issue here is the wearing of refractory of burner pipe tip & nose ring of kiln, before it we have made a water bath (washing area). Wearing of burner pipe tip and nose ring area along with washing area is due to water and steam. Is it possible that we increase the life of burner pipe tip & nose ring? Please guide if it is possible. We have used silicon carbide castable at burner pipe tip but the life was not more than 1.5 months. At nose ring we are using 45 % Alumina bricks. Answer: You could try higher alumina content bricks for the nose ring. Also the incorporation of steel fibres into the castable refractory at the burner tip. Question: Sir, we are using low V.M. Coal in the range of 20-22% V.M. Residue of coal fine is maintained between 11 - 13% on 90 microns. We face extended burning zone and more coating length. If reduced residue of coal fine can help ? Answer: Yes, reducing the fine coal residues might well help. Otherwise adjustment of the mass or velocity of the primary air.

Question: Dear sir because of the importance of kiln refractories lifetime we want to know if the kiln is supposed to be stop for 24 hours which option is better? 1-flame on - keeping temperature of kiln inlet in the limit that we can barring continuously(auxiliary drive)during 24 hours? 2-flame on- kiln is rotating by auxiliary drive according to special scheme (for example 200 degree every 15 min)during this time. 3-flame off - kiln is rotating by auxiliary drive according to special scheme (for example 200 degree every 15 min) Answer: For a 24 hour stop I would turn the flame off to save energy. Question: how can we calculate the effect of lsf variation on burning energy consumption in rotary kiln? how much is the effect of one unit variation in lsf in burning energy in actual condition in rotary kiln ? Answer: There are models which relate the kiln feed composition (and therefore LSF) with the thermal energy consumption of the kiln. These suggest that 1% increase in LSF results in about 8 MJ/t aditional energy required for the conversion of the kiln feed into the clinker. You must also expect that the thermal energy losses from the kiln will also rise therefore the impact would be around 15 MJ/t dependent on how thermally efficient your kiln is. Question: Good day sir, i am one of your trainees you have just trained in obajna last month. How your family and Mr James,Mic. Please sir with all due respect i want ask you what are the paremeter to determine quality LPFO Answer: Hello Nathaniel. My Family, Matthew and James are fine, thank you. The quality of the LPFO would be determined by its calorific value which can be measured in a bomb calorimeter. Question: Dear sir, i found my one month old lining in burning zone and safety zone worn out badly bricks i installed were Mg Chrome in burning zone while in safety zone high alumina. Coating analysis are S- 2.45 K2O-2.51 and Cl-1.76.what could be the reason for so earlly errosion of bricks. Answer: I am surprised that there was such high volatiles in the coating on the burning zone bricks. The problem may therefore be alkali infiltration but it is impossible to say for sure without carrying out a refractory lining failure investigation.

Question: Sir, What are the other factors for ball formation in the kiln except raw material & coal ash? Dose burner pipe & cooler have any role, if yes, than how? Answer: Yes, certainly. Because adjustments of the burner pipe and the cooler affect the combustion of the fuel in the main burner. Incomplete combustion can lead to heavy sulphur cycling which can be the cause of ball formation. Question: dear sir,sometimes we have heavy snowman( rhino horns) on the burner pipe.one day when we had snowman on burner pipe, kiln feed analysis was as follows: sio2=12.55% Al203=2.33% Fe203=2.87% Ca0=42.00% MgO=2.95% SO3=0.24% K2O=0.46% Na2O=0.32% CL=0.040% LOI=36.2% (MgO in our kiln feed is always more than 2.8%). burner pipe was 1 meter inside the kiln and the secondary air temp. was normal and CO=0.03% (no reducing condition).in this case we want to know what is the reason of rhino horns on burner pipe?one week ago when we had rhino horns on burner pipe we took a piece of coating(snowman) on burner pipe and its analysis was as follows:sio2=21.80% Al203=4.85% Fe203=3.75% Ca0=63.80% MgO=3.95% SO3=0.45% K2O=0.84% Na2O=0.42% CL=0.009% LOI=0.1% free CaO=0.40 IR=0.2 do you think the source of rhino horns formation in two different cases are the same? Answer: I think the formation of rhino horns is a combination of the physical flow of the secondary air from the cooler to the kiln and also the partial liquid content in the dust carried from the cooler to the kiln with the secondary air. The only solution is likely to involve a change in the geometry of the kiln hood to affect the air flow patterns. Question: sir, is there chances of release of Dioxins & Furons from kiln stack when we using polythene wastes for co-incineration in kiln Answer: There could be a very remote possibility. It depends on the temperatures in the different equipment items in the gas flow path from the kiln. Also whether complete combustion of the polythene waste is achieved in the kiln. Question: Dear sir, How will arrive the stack height from the nearest buiding top Answer: That depends on the physical geography around the factory also. If in a valley then the stack height must be higher to overcome any temperature inversions in the atmosphere. Question: Hello Sir. It me (X RAK white cement ) again after very long time. I lost your mail ID.

What is the ideal % of K2O, Na2O, SO3 & Cl in the hot meal for a kiln configuration of 3.8D,57L,with ILC. We are getting K2O 2-4%, Na2O 0.2-0.5%, SO3 0.3-0.8% and cl 1.5-2.6% I want to fix this target to get smooth operation, by insisting of fixing the kiln TPH. Answer: Good to hear from you after this long break. You can expect that the K2O is in stoichiometric balance with first the chloride then the sulphate. I have not done the calculations but I expect that the K2O rises with the Cl. Then the remainder of the K2O and Na2O are in stoichiometric balance with the SO3. You should insist on the chloride being <2% in hot meal and the alkalis and SO3 be as close to stoichiometric balance as possible after correction of the K2O for combination with Cl in KCl. Question: Dear Dr.Clark, We have ball mill for cement grinding. Our cement blaine is 2900 to 3000, but its residue is increased from 5 % to 15 % , please advise how to drease its residue on 90 microns. How it will effect its Quality? Answer: You need to increase the separator speed to increase the rejects from the separator and recirculating load. I expect that the higher residues will lead to lower strengths. Question: Reasons for low C3S (40-45%)in clinker whose kiln feed LSF is 90-92%. Answer: There could be many reasons. How is the C3S measured? If by the Bogue calculation the the most likely cause is high free CaO content in clinker. Question: is there any thumb ruale for primary air in kiln and coal consumption in kiln? Answer: The rule of thumb would be 10 to 12% primary air and 40% of the fuel fired in the kiln. Question: sir, can i have any heat and mass transfer caculation sheet of any clikerisation plant. i will be thankfull to u. i m a engg. trainee in a cement plant Answer: No, that is too complicated. Question: sir, wwhat is the optimum liquid % in kilns ?, is it varies with feed composition? Answer:

20 to 25%. Yes it does vary with Fe2O3, Al2O3, MgO, K2O, Na2O and SO3 content of clinker. Question: We have 4.75 X 75 mtrs long kiln at Hirmi in India producing 8200 tpd clinker. Occassionally, we are facing the problem of boulder formation in side the kiln resulting in stoppage. In kiln feede, we have alkalies in the range of 0.8-0.85%. Boulder analysis: SO3 is 0.35% alkalies are 1.6%. What can be the reason for intermittent ball formation. Answer: This is a common problem. Is there any variation in the MgO content of the feed? Question: difference between residue and blaine in cement grinding Answer: Residue is the percentage of mill product over a certain size. Blaine is an estimate of the total surface area of all the particles in the mill product. Both should be conrolled to targets. Question: Dear Sir, Clarification with 7500 tpd plant...Problem with high clinker temperature (avg basis 165 Deg C plus, with all fans with full volumetric flow). Like to know about effect of nodulisation (Felspar addition in raw mix) with respect to clinker temperature. Regards - Vinish Answer: I don't think there is a direct relationship between clinker temperature and nodulisation. Question: what is the effect on c3s if clinker is watered by rain. Answer: It is partially hydrated to calcium silicate hydrate and calcium hydroxide. Question: why is there no change in the C3S content before and after clinker hydration. Answer: There is a change. It is partially converted to calcium silicate hydrate and calcium hydroxide. Question: sir, please suggest for better clinker nodulisation, presetly we are oprerating with AM 1.1 SM 2.1 & LSF-1.15: KILN RPM 4.8,KILN SIZE 60 MTRS DIA 4.O MTRS ,KILN FEED -270 TPH( MAIN PROBLEM IS VERY HIGH BLACK DUST IN T.A

DUCT,WITH THIS WE ARE FACEING PROBLEM IN DUST HANLING . Answer: The kiln rotational speed is very high. Have you tried reducing the speed? Question: Dear Sir, (1) What is the reason of lumps formation in cement silos? If VRM for finish product and outlet temp range 85 to 90 degree centigrade and cement temp. before going to silo 55 to 60 degree centigrade. (2)How often cement silos to be cleaned to avoid this problem? Answer: The reason is continued dehydration of the gypsum in the cement in the silo. I am surprised you have this problem if the cement is cooled to 55 to 60 degrees C before entering the silo. Question: dear sir we have a 4000 TPD kiln(ILC)and at the nominal capacity of kiln we use 10800 Nm3/h(68% of fuel )in calciner burner and 5200Nm3/h(32%) in main burner and sometimes because of fluctuation in kiln feed and being easy to burn we have to change the fuel .for example feed is the same but LSF comes down and we can decrease the fuel 5% to prevent the kiln hot.(for keeping kiln stable) for decreasing 5% fuel some kiln operators decrease the fuel amount in calciner burner and reach to ratio less than 68% and another operators believes that decreasing of fuel in main burner is better because of refractory lifetime . we want to know which option is better? are we allowable to consume 70% OF total fuel in calciner in ILC kiln. Answer: The problem with only 30% fuel on the main burner comes if there is a disturbance. There is then not enough energy input to the rotary section of the kiln and the kiln can quickly black out and flush. I think the practice of reducing the fuel on the calciner is a good one as this will mean the degree of calcination of the feed entering the kiln is lowered and that will indirectly cool the kiln. Question: Dear Sir, our plant capacity is 7000tpd and presently using fuel mix of bituminous coal and petcoke and there is very high specific heat consumption i.e. around 740 k.cal/kg cl , we are experiencing increase in NCV of coal the specific heat is increasing (with fuel mix)what is your openion? Regards, V. Vijay Bhan Answer: I don't think 740 kcal/kg clinker is very high, but I presume you mean it is higher than normal. The first question would be why is the net calorific value of the coal rising? Are you sure that it really is rising?

Question: Dear Sir, can we maintain PC temeperature up to 920Deg.C & COAL RATIO OF 45:55(kILN &PC).Is there any impact on sp.heat consumption. kindly give your valuable openion. Answer: 920 degrees C in the calciner is high. There must be the chance that the preheater exit gas temperature will rise and with it the specific thermal energy consumption of the kiln. Question: Dear sir if the kiln is supposed to be stop for 6 hours from view point of refractories damage which option you suggest? 1-flame on - kiln is rotating continuously by auxiliary drive during this time 2-flame on- kiln is rotating by auxiliary drive according to heating curve (for example 1/4 turn every 15 min) during this time. 3-flame off - kiln is rotating by auxiliary drive according to heating curve Answer: For 6 hours I suggest keeping the flame on to maintain the temperature in the kiln and continuous rotation via the auxiliary drive. Question: Dear/Dr.clark This is my third qustion about continuous formation of CO -(carbon monoxide) during kiln operation cosequenses?.your answers were covenient, in relation to expectation of heavy bolder formation,build ups ,coating,but you always mention also sulpher recirculation. How do you relate CO (carbon monoxide) formation to Sulpher excessive recirculation in the kiln? Thanks. Answer: It is because the presence of CO and reducing conditions in the kiln leads to break down of sulphate (SO3) in the material to sulphur dioxide (SO2). This is a gas and is carried back to the preheater where it is reoxidised to calcium sulphite and sulphate and re-enters the kiln in the hot meal. In this way it builds up into a heavy cycle of sulphur compounds in the kiln. Question: dear sir what is the criteria to push the burner inside the kiln further?if the burner is inside the kiln more than appropriate limit what may be the bad consequences? Answer: The bad consequence is that there will be inefficient mixing of the secondary combustion air into the flame. That could lead to many process related problems. The insertion distance of the main burner into the kiln is a critical adjustment which should only be changed with great care and attention. Question: What is the effect or chemical reaction of hydrated clinker to clinker free lime? It is

become high clinker free lime also? Answer: No, it doesn;t have higher free CaO content. But there is some Ca(OH)2 present from the prehydration of the clinker. This is taken into solution by the glycol extraction method of free lime determination and titrated as free CaO. So the test result says the free CaO is higher but really it is Ca(OH)2. Question: We are using VRM for finish grinding of clinker. Gypsum is used as the source of sulphate. The outlet temperature is around 85C. Recently we are observing the cement produced is not compatible with admixtures, specially when we use retaders in concrete set delays. where as when doing the setting time of cement paste with admixtures, initial setting is quicker than blank. What will be the main cause of this problem. your advise on this is greatly appreciated. Answer: It is because the residence time of gypsum in a vertical mill is insufficient for dehydration of the gypsum to hemihydrate or soluble anhydrite. You need to adjust the gypsum addition rate to find the optimum strengths and setting time. Do you also encounter problems with lump formation in the cement silos? Question: Dear Dr.Clark, I've done fire-proof performance tests(Rrefractoriness) several times for the concrete of 80 MPa using granite and limestone aggregate respectively. The results of the tests showed that the concrete with limestone aggreate were inferior to the concrete with granite. What do you think reasons were in making such difference between two kinds of concretes? Of course I really thank you for your kind help and your advices up to now. Best Regards. Answer: Dear Obong, I can only assume that it is because granite is a metamorphic rock while limestone is a sedimentary rock. So the granite has already been exposed to heat and pressure. Question: Respected Sir: Practically, how much whiteness of white clinker is achievable? Answer: 92 to 93% on the Hunter scale. Question: Dear Sir, i would like to ask u "why the 100% use of pet coke creates the cyclone jamming problems,mostly? Is there any relationship to know the % increase in cement strength (1,7,28 days) due to 1 % increase in c3s,c2s,c3a,c4af?

Answer: 100% use of petcoke does not necessarily lead to cyclone jamming problems. That depends on the grinding and combustion of the petcoke being properly optimised to avoid such problems. You can perform multiple regraession between cement strength and clinker mineralogy. However, if the mineralogy is calculated by the Bogue method then I do not expect that the correlations will be very good. You need to monitor the real clinker mineralogy. Question: I would like to ask Dr. Clark about continuous generation of CARBON MONOXIDE (CO) during kiln operation and its effect on coating building in the kiln? Before you were confused when I asked same question but I wrote (co generation)and you understood (co generation)I am sorry. Answer: No problem for my/our misunderstanding. I expect continuous CO formation will lead to heavy recirculation og sulphate in the kiln and problems with build-up and ring formations in the back of the kiln. There may also be clinker quality problems. Question: dear sir sometimes because of some problems we have to stop the kiln for 60-70 hours and we want to know during this stoppage time which option is better ? 1-stop the burner(flame off)for about 60 -70 hours 2-during this 60 -70 hours stoppage , burner is on(flame on) and we keep the back end temperature around 800 degree centigrade so that the kiln is turning continuously by auxiliary drive during this time 3-during this 60 -70 hours stoppage ,burner is on(flame on) and we keep the back end temperature around 500-700 degree centigrade so that the kiln is turning according to warming-up curve by auxiliary drive (for example 1/4 turn every 30 min). Answer: For that length of kiln stop I think you should turn off the the burner to conserve energy. Question: under my present assignment I am conducting field survey to locate White cement raw materials in the known potential areas of Sultanate of Oman (country in middle east). The chances of getting from country's geological formation (iron free) white limestone and Quartzite (Silica sand ) as two raw mix component are very bright. However (aluminorocks) for mix component are not found within geological resources. The option therefore rely upon import the required material from outside the country. Although Kaolin deposits are known to exist as substitute source but restricts its use due the presence of Fe - Ti. Could you please advise me on alternate source of Almino component that could be used in the raw mix of white cement. How could raw mix calculation be done to get the clinker of desired chemical composition in case of white cement Thanking you Best Regards Answer:

Dear Rashid, White cement manufacture was the subject of my chemistry PhD. I conducted the research for that while being the Production & Quality Control Manager for Ras Al Khaimah White Cement factory in the neighbouring UAE to the Sultanate of Oman. I know the UAE very well and have visited the Oman on 3 or 4 occasions. Certainly the limestone for white cement manufacture should be available. Possibly also the silica sand. However you will need to import kaolin or pyrophilite for the alumina components. At Ras Al Khaimah we used to import kaolin from Turkey. It can also be found in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt or India but these sources tend to have chloride contamination. This means that your white cement kiln would need to be provided with a bypass if those sources are to be used. Question: Respected Sir: As per fuel crises, is there any other fuel which could be used in place of Petcoke. We are using petcoke for the production of white clinker with natural gas. Please suggest any other option... Answer: You must use a low ash fuel such as petcoke, fuel oil or natural gas. If you can find a very low ash coal then that would also be OK. There is a white cement kiln in Colombia that is fired with low ash coal. Question: dear sir. sometimes because of some problems in raw mill and shortage of raw material in silo we have to choose one of the two following options to run the kiln. 1)decreasing kiln feed for 4 days so that in these 4 days kiln is running with 70% of nominal capacity 2)running the kiln with nominal capacity for 3 days and stop the kiln for 24 hours (burner is on with minimum consumption of fuel 1500 Nm3/h during 24 hours) from view point of refractory lining life time which option is better ? Answer: Probably option 1 is the better option. You need to find the way to boost your raw mill output. Until that time it would be better to always run the kiln at 90% of nominal capacity. Question: dear Clark, which flam-shape is recommended during heating-up ? short flame or long flame ? regards Answer: Logic says a short flame. You want to retain the heat at the front of the kiln and a short flame will be best for that. Question: Dear Dr. Clark, what is the reaction when clinker is high moisture to clinker free lime? do you have any chemical reaction for this? thanks.

Answer: I do not understand? If clinker has been exposed to moisture there will be som prehydration. That will cause some formation of calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2. This will be titrated as free lime in the gycol extraction and acid alkali titration method. Question: I would like to ask respected Dr. Clark about:the effect of co generating during kiln operation on coating building ? Answer: I don't understand. Cogeneration of electricity from the exhaust gases of a cement kiln will have no effect on coating building. Question: Dear Dr. Clark I would like to ask about the consequences of running the kiln continuously under reducing condition ,actually, cyclone- 5 gas analyzer showing: O2=1.1-0.8, CO=0.03-0.05 Answer: I expect there will be heavy cycling of sulphate in the kiln. Build-up, ring and ball formation problems. Poor clinker quality and hydraulic performance. Question: we have arranged water spray in clinker cooler to reduce temp of inlet ESP gases and also we arranged water spray in DDP conveyor to reduce cliker temp befor clinker storage tank to avoid bags damage due to over temp of clinker tank top bag filter. sir , due to the water spray in DDPC WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS IN CEMENT QUALITY LIKE STRENGTH ,SETTING TIME etc. Answer: There should be no problem with the water spray in the clinker cooler. However, the water spray on the DDP conveyor will cause prehydration of the clinker and reduction in cement quality and strength development. Question: what is the effect of high chlorides at cement? Answer: International standards for cement limit the amount of chloride that can be present as chloride will lead to attack on steel reinforcement in concrete. Question: why residues of cement becomes high when clinker treated with water like rain? Answer: Because the prehydrated part of the clinker very quickly yields high surface area in

cement grinding with the majority of the clinker remaining in coarse particles. When clinker has been exposed to rain the fineness of grinding should be controlled to residue targets. Question: why water demands increase with high Blaine? Answer: Because the cement reacts more quickly with water. Question: In Vertical mill sizing what does "25-3" mean? I know that 3 is for three rollers.. Answer: In a Loesche mill it is the diameter of the grinding table in decimeters. Question: To the question asked by Gboko about more air draw by pre-heater and cooler exhaust ID fan, My concern is whether gas expansion is taking in cooler by ideal gas law PV=RT? Answer: The Ideal Gas Laws can be applied to the gases in a cement kiln with less than 1% inaccuracy. Question: what are the positives and negatives of not having cyclones for product collection in a ball mill circuit. We want to collect the product directly through a bag house handling all the separator gases. Answer: The positive is that the pressure drop across the system will be lower and therefore the induced draft fan capacity requirements will be lower. The negative is that the dust loading in the gases entering the baghouse will be sifnificantly higher. The baghouse may be overloaded leading again to increased presure drop across the baghouse. Question: dear sir we have atox 50 raw mill and some parameters are as follows .dam ring hight =270mm mill fan damper=87% inlet temp=180 inlet press=-6 mbar outlet temp=90 outlet press=-65 grinding press=135 bar layer thickness=60-90 mm vibration=1.7-2.4 feed=360t/h humidity=2% circulation damper=0% we have problem in reaching nominal capacity because when we want to increase feed the winding temperature of main motor goes up to 95 centigrade degree.please comment how can we increase the capacity and if we are allowable to increase grinding press to 150 bar? 5 Answer: I suggest you raise this with the vertical mill supplier.

Question: dear sir we have atox 50 for raw mill and humidity of material is low(2%)we want to know if the aim is increasing the velocity of gas in nozzle ring to decrease of external circulation which option is better?higher or lower inlet gas temperature. Answer: How will the gas inlet temperature be varied? If lowered by increasing recirculation or a cold air bleed then the volume will be raised. That will result in higher velocity which should reduce external recirculation. Question: Again I convey my regards, Sir, in my questions I have mentioned bricks failure at kiln Outlet (sintering zone of the kiln) but not at kiln inlet area. If Alkali bursting can occurs at high temperature zone? Our Sulfur/Alkali ratio of hot meal comes below 0.5. Will it be advisable to add a calculated quantity of gypsum in kiln feed so to neutralize Alkali effect in kiln ? please comment. Answer: At the kiln outlet there are more potential failure mechanisms of the refractory lining. Abrasion is a further possibility. I certainly think addition of some gypsum to the kiln feed to bring the alkalis and sulphate into balance would be a worthwhile trial. Question: Dr Clark, what will be the effect on the cooler's fans if the I D fan & ESP fan draft air more than the air suppling to cooler? from Gboko Answer: There is some talk of my visiting Gboko to provide some training. If the preheater and cooler exhaust ID fans draw more air than is blown in through the cooler fans than additional excess air will be drawn into the kiln through the kiln inlet and outlet seals. Also around the clinker breaker of the cooler. Question: Dear Sir, At White Cement Blaine 3800& F.CaO 3.0&C3A 7.0&So3 2.1& MgO at Limestone 0.02 , Expansion more than 30.Why? Answer: The free Cao at 3% is high and may be the cause of the expansion. Question: Dear Sir, What will be the excess air % in preheater fan Inlet & Kiln inlet ? Our measurement with portable oxygen analyzer shows that 60-70% at PH fan inlet & 3540% at Kiln inlet. Answer:

Those are very high percentages of excess air. I would expect perhaps 10% at kiln inlet and 20% at preheater exit. Question: Dear sir, what are the key parameters to be considered for design of a vertical mill for raw mix and clinker grinding? Answer: The required production rate, the grindability of the material, the table diameter, the number of rollers, the speed of the table, the hydrualic pressure on the rollers, etc. Question: Dear Sir, As we know, grindability, the ease of grinding a coarse material, how is it measured and what are the normal grindability values for vertical mill and ball mill used for clinker grinding? Answer: The grindability would be measured by the kWh/t. The grindability is a function of the material being ground, not the equipment used to perform the grinding. Question: What is the significance of the degree of calcination test? What is its range? Thank You. Answer: The degree of calcination tells you how much of the total CO2 contained in the kiln feed has been driven off. It ranges from 0 to 100% dependent on where the samples are taken from the kiln system. Question: Dear Sir,Is it possible that an induced darft fan (raw mill fan) can give more flow than design value? Like my raw mill fan is designed for 630000 m3/hr,-1003 mmwg static pressure,982 rpm.Can i get more than 650000 or 660000 m3/hr flow at fan inlet? Answer: Yes, it is possible. There will be a margin allowed for in the design of the fan. Question: what is the effect of high Blaine at initial setting time of cement? Answer: If anything it would make the setting faster. Question: why K2O will enter into the C2S clinker mineral preventing its conversion into C3S.

Answer: Because that is the high temperature chemistry of the combined systems. Question: Dear Sir, in our Lime Kiln, we renewed chain section and feed screw recently.After that our feed is coming back through Kiln's body, can u say what is the problem. our feed is mud filter cake 52% dryness and raw lime shell. Ratio is 75 and 25 %. thanks with regards, S.M.Basha, Hindustan Newsprint Ltd, India Answer: I'm sorry. Whitehopleman are cement industry specialists rather than lime. Question: why Blaine of clinker is high when treated with water like rain on clinker? Answer: Because the clinker is partially hydrated containing Ca(OH)2. Question: what is the effect of high and low liquid phase? Answer: It will affect the coating tendency in the kiln and the ease of combination of the clinker. Question: what is the reasons of ball formation? Answer: It is connected with amount and properties of the liquid phase in the kiln. Question: Previous answer regarding SAND use as raw material. Here I am submitting the major oxides of the same as - SiO2 (as free) = 53.5 % SiO2 (total) = 64.0 % Na2O = 1.5 % K2O = 1.8 % Cl = 0.004 % Please give your valued opinion if same Sand can have any adverse effect on kiln lining and if it is used what shall be the residue for kiln feed on 90 microns. Warm Regards A. Sen Answer: Certainly this sand could be the cause of alkali bursting of a high alumina kin lining in the inlet section of the kiln. The alkali content is high. Question: what is the effect of high alkali sulfur ratio in kiln and also on clinker? Answer:

Alkalis in excess of sulphates can lead to problems combining the clinker as K2O will enter into the C2S clinker mineral preventing its conversion into C3S. Question: what is the role of alkali sulfur ratio? Answer: The alkalis and sulphates need to be in balance to avoid problems of heavy build-up in the preheater and ring formations in the inlet section of the kiln. Question: Sir, is there any effect on clinker if the materials experienced short-circuit? Answer: There should be no effect on clinker quality provided that the clinker remains fully combined. The effects will be on kiln productivity and energy efficiency. Question: Dear Dr clark, I knew if pressure of the hot air drop in the preheater riser duct, material will experience short-circuit. how can this be prevent? Answer: It can only be prevented by keeping the preheater ducts clear of build-up and maintaining the pressure profile in the preheater. The negative pressure profile is created by the iinduced draft fan therefore the speed of that must be adjusted to maintain the pressure profile and draw just sufficient excess air into the kiln. Question: Dear sir, Do you think the formation of snowmen can be prevented(rather than be blasted using an air cannon)?If yes what would you suggest is the best way to do that? Answer: It is difficult because you want a high secondary air temperature to recover as much thermal energy from the cliker in the cooler as possible. Unfortunately the high secondary air temperature means the formation of snowmen is more likely. Question: Sir, Has any study been done on the frequency distribution of crystals in a cement clinker?Has it been extensively studied?Could you suggest any sources which you feel are good? Answer: There is a huge body of research on clinker microscopy and crystallography. You just need to Google these.

Question: Thanks for the reply. This is in continuation of red spot at 4th meter as the bricks life obtained only 3 months as 70% Al203 of 200mm thick bricks insulation was done in Feb 2011. Recently we have introduced River Sand as Raw Materiel (individual % is 1213%) if it can contribute in bricks damage ? Answer: 3 months is only a short refractory life for 70% Al2O3 bricks in the inlet zone of the kiln. It is possible that alkalis could attack such bricks by "alkali bursting". Whether the river sand is to blame depends on the minor components in the river sand. I doubt that the alkali content is high as it would wash out of river sand. Question: I understood. Well Mr. Dr.Clark, How much money packet excel programs about grinding and kiln system? Answer: I am currently delivering a 2 week training programme in Nigeria for 60 people. I am assisted in this by my 2 assistants. The trainees make Excel exercises about grinding and milling and kiln systems. We can send a quotation for such a training programme if you would like. Question: Why? Answer: Because they cost money. Question: Sir, How can I download exercises excel spreadsheet about all of cement's calculation (grinding and kiln system) ? Answer: I'm afraid you can't. Question: Our's is new kiln under erection and the supplier has not provided the ventury below the coal rotary air lock. Coal is being conveyed by blower to the bin. Whether the the ventury is required for transporting the coal or not. Answer: I cannot answer this without knowing the detail of the fine coal transport system your supplier is installing. Question: What should be the percentage of primary air and how to calculate the % primary air.

Answer: The primary air percentage is normally 10 to 12%, although this depends on the velocity of the primary air to some extent. You need 10 Newtons impulse per MW of the burner for efficient mixing of fuel and secondary combustion air. If the velocity is high then a lower mass (%) of primary air can give the necessary momentum. The primary air percentage is a percentage of the total combustion air required to burn the fuel. Question: Presently we are using S.African Coal of Cv 6200 K.Cal/Kg. Recently a Red Spot appeared at 4th meter from kiln I/L. While redoing the brick work we found from 3rd meter to 8th meter length from kiln O/L, bricks are badly worn out. Also coating formation starts at 22 to 25 meter as our kiln is 3x45 meters. Please give your comments. Regards Answer: How long had the worn bricks from 3rd to 8th metre been in the kiln? Question: Dear Dr, What is the safest way to evacuate material from a tertiary air duct line for a 5m/80m ILC kiln system. There are only two access doors at the damper lower end and at the upper end close to the calciner. Answer: There is no safe way to do this. You must take the utmost care. The system and the material must have cooled before anyone enters. Do not use any flammable materials such as duck-boards to create a walkway in the duct in case they catch fire. Question: Sir,I have read that during Clinker formation in kilns,'fines' are formed.Could you please explain what theses fines are and why are they formed?What is their composition?(The patents that I have read say that these fines are responsible for snowmen formation.'They gradually accumulate in the grate cooler thus causing snowmen formation'.) Answer: Clinker will always contain a range of particle sizes from "fines" to coarse nodules and balls. The aeration of the clinker bed in a cooler can cause the fines to be blown from the bed and form snowmen. That is what I think was being referred to. Question: what is the effects of high and low blaine at cement quality? Answer: High blaine will cause the cement to react more quickly with mmixing water leading to higher early strengths of concrete.

Question: I discovered a difference of 10% in LSF between Kiln feed & Clinker. When I dried the kiln feed before analysis, I also discovered about 10% difference between dried and undried kiln feed. I have adjsted my procedure to take care of this moisture. My question is how does the moisture affect the XRF analysis as regards the scenario above? Answer: Your XRF should be on dried samples. What type of kiln do you have? The feed to a dry process kiln should be dried in the raw mill. Question: WHAT ARE THE REASONS WHY FREELIME IS VERY HIGH (ABOUT 5%-7%), LITER WEIGHT OF ABOUT 1250-1320 AND LOW C3S OF ABOUT 43-47%? (kiln feed LSF>100%). THANK YOU. Answer: There could be many reasons. Is the C3S determined by the Bogue calculations? if so the high free lime explains the low C3S content. What is the sulphate content of the clinker and the hot meal? Question: Dear Sir, what liquid content we need to maintain in clinker. Our MgO content in clinker is 4.5 to 5%. We plan to use constuction sand in raw mix to maintain kiln feed silica content>12.5 %. We need your comments. liquid contenT in clinker=? and use of construction sand? Answer: The construction sand should be no problem provided there are no harmful trace components in the sand (there shouldn't be). You should aim for 22 to 24% liquid content including 2% from the MgO and the alkalis. Question: what is the effect of raw mill fluctuations on burnabilty Answer: Burnability varies with varying kiln feed granulometry and chemistry. If raw mill fluctuations are causing fluctuations in kiln feed granulometry or cheemistry then they will cause fluctuations in burnability. Question: what is the effect of raw mill composition fluctuation on the clinkering process Answer: It increases variability demanding higher fuel consumption and resulting in lower production rate.

Question: what are the causes of high fCaO in clinker Answer: There are many: too high lime saturation of the kiln feed; too coarse grinding of the kiln feed; insufficient burning temperature; high sulphate content in hot meal; high K2O content of clinker; etc. Question: sir, why we check coal fineness on 90 mic. and raw mill 90 mic and 212 mic. Answer: You should check coal fineness on both 90 and 212 micron sieves. Question: Has a permanent solution been found to the snowmen problem? How are the manufacturers taking care of this problem currently?In what stage are the researchers in this regard? Answer: No, there's no premanent solution. People install "pushers" or air cannons. I'm not aware of any reserach going on. Question: Dear Sir, How do we decide / distribute the grinding media/balls sizes in a single chamber closed ckt ball mill? Like if we would like to fill 250 MT grinding media,then how much balls of 12 mm,17 mm ,20 mm & 25 mm should be filled inside the media? Answer: This depends on the residues of the feed to the mill and the type of lining. Whether it is classifying or not. If there is a high residue on a 1mm sieve of the feed to the mill then more 25mm balls would used. Typically equal tonnages of 12mm, 17mm, 20mm & 25mm balls would be used. Question: Our kiln diameter is 3000 mms*42000 mms long. We have 5 stage preheater with secondary firing arrangement, Bottommost cyclone material temp.=820 Deg.C. We have 6/30 grate cooler with first 5 row as CFG(static). Our preheter fan flow is 35000 nm3/hr. Our kiln production varries from 300 TPD to 380 TPD. Our coal ash is varrying from 26 to 28 %. Our preheater cyclone dia=3500 mms(inside bricks) . Our clinker MgO is 4.5% to 5 %. What could be the reasons for such wide varriations of kiln output? Answer: It is a very small kiln. That doesn't explain the wide variation in output though. Perhaps the coating thickness varies a lot due to the high MgO content.

Question: Could you please make an animation on snowman formation in grate coolers? Answer: I don't understand what an animation would be? Snowmen are caused by liquid content remaining in the clinker after it falls from the rotary kiln into the cooler. They are a consequence of high thermal energy recovery by modern coolers and the attendant high secondary air temperatures. Question: Dear Sir, Our limestone contains on an average 5 % MgCO3. Our kiln feed MgO =3%. We are using coal as fuel with ash=28%. What alumina modulus we need to maintain sothat our clinkerisation temperature is optimum? We are not able to maintain more than 63.5 % CaO in clinker. What could be the reasons? Answer: The MgO in clinker must be approaching 5%? This is at the upper limits as allowed by international specifications. This will lead to high liquid content in clinker and might lead to problems of clinker ball formation. Regarding the inability to maintain more than 63.5% CaO in clinker I presume you mean that there is free CaO present at higher levels? MgO will substitute in the clinker minerals to some extent. The rule of thumb is up to 2% with the remainder being present as free MgO (periclase). The actual levels of solid solution would need to be verified by scanning electron microscopy. I suspect there will be other explanations. What are the K2O, Na2O, SO3 and Cl levels in hot meal and clinker? Question: DearMr clark Thank you very much for your prompt reply SO3in hotmeal 2-2.2% chloride 1.1-1.2% running by pass 20% kiln feed CHLORIDE 0.15-0.20% FINE CLINKER GENERATION IS very high -1mm 30-40 give solution kilnfeed residue on 90micrn 24-25%on 212Micrn 1.2-1.8%freelime of clinker under control is this can be a reason for high generation of fines in clinker Answer: We need to know the K2O, Na2O, SO3 and Cl levels in hot meal and clinker in order to determine whether the SO3 is in excess of the alkalis after taking into consideration combination with chloride. Question: what is bottom dead centre of kiln tire? what is its significance?? Answer: I suppose it is what it says it is. When in position the bottom in the centre of the tyre. When the kiln is turning it would have no significance at the tyre would be moving through it continuously. However, when standing the weight of the kiln would be borne by the bottom dead centre of the tyre.

Question: Dear Sir, What will happen if we paint the outer surface of preheater cyclones by black coloure. (black body absorption law) What abt the heat losses in this case? It could b a funny question but creating some confusion in mind. Answer: The heat losses would rise because the radiation is greatest from a black body. Preheater cyclones are normally painted silver as the emissivity from a silver body is lowest. That is also the reason why some rotary kilns are coated with lime wash, which has a lower emissivity than rough oxidised steel. Question: we are facing problem of fine clinker generation of clinker in our kiln some time we get less clinker littreweight free Cao under control quality parameter kiln feed Lsf 103-104 S/m 1.9-2.2 clinker liquid 30-31% kf residue on 90micron 16-17% please send your comment Answer: The clinker liquid phase is very high. I suggest raising the silica modulus. The situation might be made worse by a heavy recirculation of sulphate in the kiln. What is the sulphate content of the hot meal and the clinker? Question: Dear sir, We are having open circuit cement mill with three chamber having size 2.4m Dia X 9.57 m Long. We are grinding mixture of clinker and granulated slag. slag 40 % gypsum 3 % and clinker 57 %. We have planned to conver the three chmaber cement mill to two chamber cement mill. By this any advantages? prouduction improvement ? better residue control? any other improvements do you anticipate? Answer: I doubt that there will be any improvement. You need the long path length through the mill because it is open circuit. It would only make sense to convert to two chambers if you are also introducing a separator and a classifying lining. Grinding such a mixture on an open circuit mill will be very inefficient. It would be much better to separately grind the clinker and granulated slag and then to blend them together in whatever ratios you want. Question: Hi, we have a problem with our tertiary air damper tongue on our cement kiln not lasting the full year between shut downs. We have recently installed a new design tongue to see if it will last but i am also looking in to changeing the tongue in a mini mid year shut down. Is there any pointers you can give as to the best cooling down and warming up processes? what is the main effect the loss of the damper tongue will have on the kiln effeciency? Cheers! Answer:

For the rate of warming up the first guide would be the refractory suppliers data sheets. For the rotary kiln usually 25 to 30 degrees per hour up to 900C then it can be faster, perhaps 50 degrees per hour. For preheater, cooler then it depends how much castable work has been done and how much curing is required. The problem with the loss of the tertiary air damper tongue will be balancing the draft between the rotary kiln and the tertiary air duct, particularly at times when the feed rate is reduced. Question: Dear Sir, We are mixing power plant fly ash(silica=55 %) in south african coal to maintain kiln fired coal ash=27%. South african coal has ash=15 %. Calorific value of south african coal =6400 kcals/kg of coal. After mixing power plant ash with soth african coal the calorific value of as fired coal in kiln =4900 kcals/kg. The power plant ash mixed is to tune of 20 %. This is being practiced to reduce the heat intensity of as fired coal so as to safeguard the alumina bricks used in the kiln. Is this correct practice? Any advverse effects w.r.t to coal consumption in kiln? Any effects on kiln production?Any effects o clinker quality? Answer: I don't like this practice. There must be problems of inhomogeneity in the clinker introduced by having to combine the extra ash with residual lime so late in the process. The best clinker is produced by a short intense flame. Deliberately degrading the flame must be detrimental for clinker quality. A more refractory lining should be used for the burning zone of the kiln. Question: dear dr.clark, what are the factors that may lead to very dusty clinker from a coal (imported coal from indonesia) fired cement kiln? the kiln is also producing a low freelime clinker 0.5 to 1.1 with litreweights not exceeding 1150-1220. regards. Answer: I would suspect that dusty clinker arises from a high sulphate content in the hot meal. Do you have any hot meal analysis? Question: Dear Dr. Clark I would like to ask about the possible reasons of clinker ball formation ( boulder )because we are suffering from this phenomena . Here the chemical analysis for a sample taken from one boulder (1.5 m Di. ) LSF=94.76, SM=2.7, AM=0.9, Fcao=1.09, C3S=53.6, C3A=2.77 , regards. Answer: Clinker ball formation is usually related to premature flux formation and formation of balls of meal in the inlet of the kiln. These then grow like a snowball due to the rotation of the kiln. The premature flux formation can be caused by excessive temperature at the kiln inlet or heavy recirculation of sulphur in the kiln. Clinker balls can also be caused by increases in the MgO content of the kiln feed.

Question: Is there any equipment or device to measure the hight or range of jamming occurd inside the cyclones?? and how to reduce power consumption of kiln, preheater section??? regards Answer: Question: Dear Dr. Clark? What does the word "recarbonation of calcined meal" mean? Answer: The CaCO3 in the kiln feed is calcined to form CaO and CO2 in the lower preheater stages and precalciner of a cement kiln. Poor collection efficiency of the lower stage cyclones can lead to the calcined meal, i.e. the meal containing free CaO being carried back up the preheater. There it can recarbonate - the CaO recombines with CO2 to once again form CaCO3. This is an exothermic reaction and liberates energy raising the temperature in the upper stages of the preheater and the thermal losses in the preheater exhaust gas. The recarbonated meal then has to be calcined again when it passes down the preheater wasting energy. Question: Dear Dr/ Clark, Would you please tell me if there are limits for free silica in both Kiln Feed and Clinker as a criterion to assess the burnability. Thanks Answer: The limits are not on the amount of free silica but the grain size of the free silica. The silica content of the residue on a 45micron sieve is one of the variables in the FL Smidth burnability equation. Question: First of all I would be sincerely offering my thanks to you for all your prompt and perfect answers to my questions raised earlier. I have acted on your suggestions and taken actions suitably. I am glad to state that my all problems got solved by your help. To state a few 1) Kiln inlet build up disappeared 2) Kiln inlet draft reduced to below 10 mms 3) all undesired build ups/coatings inside kiln eliminated 4) Kiln production restored to normalself 5) Clinker quality improved after adjustment of liquid content 6) Lastly my tensions eased out and life is cool. I am feeling proud to have good assocition with a fantastic process engineer i.e Michael Clark Answer: Nice to be able to assist! Question: Dear Sir, ihad a problem in my kiln , kiln look very bright ,but clinker liter weight normal around 1050 , Kiln feed LSF is 100.9 ,AM 1.38 , Mgo : 1.49 Kiln feed residue is 23 % on

90 mic ,6.4 % on 212 mic, tell me reason for low liter weight Answer: The kiln feed residues seem to be very coarse. Question: This is related to my previous question about boulders formation,and your question, if there is uncombined material when the boulder is broken? My answer is yes, there is brown coulor inside. It is observed also boulder formation starts from the area of kiln inlet,develops and proceeds forwards. I hope what I sayed is usefull for complete diagnosis ? Just today kiln is stopped 5-hour to break boulders stuck at cooler crusher inlet. best regards. Answer: This must be connected with early flux formation in the kiln. How long is the kiln? What fuel is being used to fire the kiln? Question: In our kiln -5000t/d clinker-76mx4.8m diameter-5 stages cyclones with precalciner,gas fired , It is started after shutdown without cyclone -5 dip tube as its damaged and removed.we can not go up to nominal feed as before and excessive dust is arriving at the cooler, causing under cooler pan conveyor to trip with over load fault and tertiary air duct dedusting cyclone-just after intake area- is jamming with dust material. Wil you pl;ease Dr. Clark explain such relation between cyclone -5 dip tube and execessive cooler dust? Answer: That is difficult to explain without more information. I would expect the gas consumption to rise due to heavy recirculation of hot meal around the bottom stage cyclones and recarbonation of the calcined meal. How long has the kiln been gas fired? Are these new problems or have they just arisen? My suspicion is that the problem is poor mixing of the combustion air and the gas at the main burner. Question: In our kiln-56m x 3.8m-2000t/d clinker, 5-stages cyclones with precalciner,gas fired and equipped with bypass system , we are facing the problem of continuous boulders formation sizes 1.0-1.5m , rolling to cooler and stuck at cooler crusher inlet.This leads to kiln stoppage for breaking boulders manually. Will you please, Dr. Clark suggest/give the expected causes/reasons for this phenomenon ? Answer: Clinker boulders formation is normally associated with heavy recirculation of sulphates in the kiln. The cause of that is usually the combustion conditions at the main burner. Sometimes it can be secondary firing at the kiln inlet. When you break the clinker boulders are they uncombined raw meal inside?

Question: Dear Sir, We have secondary firing in kiln inlet riser duct. PD blower with 0.2 kg/cm2 air pressure is used for secondary coal conveying. The temperature at kiln inlet is widely changing/is not stable. Is there any other way to make secondary firing more effective. Answer: It sounds as if some of the secondary fuel is falling into the charge at the kiln inlet and burning there. What type of secondary fuel is it? If solid is it a powder or in lump form? Question: Dear Sir, In our kiln kiln inlet draught is widely fluctuating from 10 mms to 40 mms. This is creating kiln disturbances quiet often.Kiln inlet spillage problem is observed. Our preheater fan flow is 2.2 nm3/kg clinker. Please suggest. Answer: It sounds as if you have a ring in the back section of the kiln causing the feed to be dammed up behind the ring. Question: Dear Sir, we are currently experiencing problems of high Litre weight(Ranges of 1400 and above) and very low FCaO (0.45). We recently shifted to coal as fuel but before, we were using HFO(Heavy furnace oil). Our strengths are though very good(OPC 2days=1518mpa). Our ball mills sometimes experience hard grinding and so we are thinking that we r overburning or hard burning. Please help me sort out the issue coz i think am confused. Regards Answer: All the symptoms are consistent with over-burning the clinker. Presumably the burner has been changed with the fuel switch? You need to either: (i) increase the feed rate to the kiln and/or the rotational speed, (ii) reduce the coal supply to the main burner. Question: dear dr.i have two question : 1-why reducing condition at rotary kiln caused to dusty clinker. 2-caused to limitation C3A<8, RAW MEAL MODULS ARE AM=1.35 ,SM=2.45 , LSF=96 ,LP=28 AND LEAD TO DUSTY CLINKER HOW WE CAN INCREASE CLINKER PARTICLE SIZE. Answer: In extreme circumstances reducing conditions can lead to dusting of the clinker as the C2S phase inverts to the gamma polymorph with a reduction in volume. If that is the case then you must adjust the burner to provide more primary air momentum. Question: I am making a kiln to dry the food grains by using dry air of temp. 85-90 deg. C. Incidently the walls are already constructed with 9 Inch. thick brick in cem mortar and plaster on top. I would like to know what lining material can I use to safe gaurd the

existing walls. Answer: We are cement specialists and not experts in food processing. I would suggest acid fireclay bricks but atever you use you must check that there will be no contamination of the food grains. Question: Dear Sir,We have 450 TPD Plant & 5 Stage Preheater system with CIF MFR Cooler. My question is what could be the ideal velocity for the burner pipe tip, At present we are supplying primary air qty of around 4000 m3/hr at a discharge velocity of around 40 m/sec. Answer: To give a proper answer would require much more data and a combustion audit. However, preliminary calculations suggest 110 m/s. Question: Dear Dr. Clark yes you are right, we have preheater with 5 cyclones. From the analysises I've made, around 51.875% is already calcined when it enters the kiln. can you check the results again and estimate them into four zones again please.I also have sent u the corrosponding LOI from cold end to hot;-19.08, 19.09, 9.38, 11.89, 6.83, 14.12, 5.01, 6.11, 1.37, 0.5, 0.2. I have tried to analyse them interms of graph(result vs sample number) and there are some pikes which seems to be wrong to me.Tell me if u have any coments on the results of the analysis too. Thank you for your fast reply! Answer: I wouldn't worry too much about the spikes. It will be difficult to take completely representative samples. I suggest that the first 2 samples are from the remainder of the calcining zone. As the free lime content reduces from 9.38% to 14.12% is the transition zone. 5.01% to 0.5% is the burning zone. The last few metres will be the outlet or cooling zone. Question: Dear Dr. Clark I was doing research on our kiln(42 * 2.4)and i took 11 samples(coating) each 4 meters starting from the cold end to the hot end,and got free lime values for each as followed;- 3.766, 7.28, 16.044, 13.48, 16.24, 15.162, 10.696, 2.66, 2.52, 4.242, 2.072. Can you estimate which one is which temperature zone? Thank you. Answer: Your's is a small kiln in terms of length and diameter. Does it have a preheater? I am surprised by the free lime values peaking in the middle of the kiln. I would say this is the calcining zone. Question: Dear sir, howto determine the burner tip diameter? Is there any corelation between the

velocity of primary air through burner on clinker production & coal consumption ? Answer: Normally the burner supplier provides a drawing from which the cross-sectional area of the primary air outlets can be calculated. There is a direct correlation between primary air velocity and momentum. Momemtum determines the mixing efficiency of the fuel and combustion air and therefore the combustion efficiency. That will be directly correlated with clinker production and coal consumption, so yes there is a correlation between velocity and primary air and clinker production and coal consumption. However, there are many factors which determine clinker production rate and coal consumption. There are multiple relationships and therefore a straight line correlation might well not be found. Question: reasons for low litre weight of clinker Answer: Uncombined clinker would be the most common cause. Question: Dear sir,interested for me to know is there any formula that explain related between LSF and Titration? regard Answer: Acid-alkali titration gives the %CaCO3 in the kiln feed. From that you can calculate the %CaO which is the numerator of the LSF equation. However, the full LSF equation has the %SiO2, %Al2O3 and %Fe2O3 in the denominator. You also need those to calculate the LSF. Question: What may be the maximum LSF OF the limestone Answer: A pure limestone would have an LSF of infinity as there would be no silica, aluina or iron oxide. %CaO is a better way to rank limestones. Question: What is relation between LSF &TC Answer: What is TC? Question: Dear Sir, How much primary air is required to burn the coal in the kiln ? Our Kiln capacity is 1600 TPD, 4.2 MT fine coal ( 25 % ash) fired to kiln & 6.6 MT fine coal firing to PC. Kiln diameter 3.0 meters and static burner using for kiln. Pl give the primary

air volume m3/hour, Pressure mmwg and tip velocity m/sec? Answer: You need 10 N/MW of momentum in the primary air to mix the secondary air into the flame. I therefore need to know the calorific value of the coal. However, my initial calculations suggest 6000 m3/h of primary air with a tip velocity of 155 m/s. Question: Dear Sir, How to calculate Net Calorific value from Gross Calorific value(determined by bomb calorimeter) of coal, if ohter parameters is unknown Answer: The net calorific value of coal is typisally 96.2% of the gross calorific value. Question: Afternoon Sir .i would like to know whether there's a relation between clinker FCao and Clinker litre weight in a dry process kiln and if there is what is the relationship and how often i am likely to experience the relationship. Answer: Yes there is. That is why litre weight is used as a quick check on the combination of the clinker. When litre weight rises it indicates that the burning is harder with more flux in the clinker leading to denser clinker and terefore higher litre weight. The free CaO of the clinker should fall with the harder burning so the relationship is inverse. However, this relationship with only apply if all other parameters such as clinker chemistry, kiln rotational speed, burner settings are constant. The relationship is a multiple relationship with many factors determining the clinker free CaO content. Question: Dear Sir, How to calculate Net Calorific value from Gross Calorific value(determined by bomb calorimeter) of Heavy fuel oil, if ohter parameters is unknown? Answer: The net calorific value of heavy fuel oil is typically 94.8% of the gross calorific value. Question: dear sir , we frequently facing the brick lining problem for our kiln Answer: Many cement companies do Muralidhar. You need to conduct a root cause analysis, which might be related to many factors: (i) refractory lining materials, (ii) quality of refractoey lining installation, (iii) process conditions such as feed and fuel chemistry or variability, (iv) the consistency of the operation of the kiln, etc. Question: how we design rawmix ppc

Answer: The raw mix for PPC cement is designed in the same way as for OPC. You decide the required clinker mineral composition. Then work back to the raw mix required to produce that taking into consideration the ash content and composition of the fuel used to fire the kiln. Question: Reason for wornout of coal conveying channel in coal firing burner pipe Answer: Most probably abrasive components such a silica in finely ground coal. If the coal mill is swept with cooler exhaust gas then these abrasive components could be clinker. Question: how to calculation flame impluse mommentum Answer: Flame impulse momentum is quoted in N/MW of the burner. So you first need to calculate the MW rating of the burner, i.e. the MJ/s delivered by the burner. The Newtons is then the kg/s of the primary air delivered through the burner multiplied by the velocity of the primary air is m/s. Question: Visited your site for first time and is impressive. We are having 2 OK mill 39-4 and rated for 235 tph OPC at3200 blaines. when we try to increase the blaines from 3200 we find a drastic reduction in prodution. Also when we tried first time pozzolona (natural) 25% grinding with 4300 blaines the production rate was 120 tph. For a OK mill what is the realation between production rate and blaines. Also suggest a few ideas to come out and increase our production. Thanks in advance. Answer: My suggestion would be to increase the pressure on the grinding rollers when tryng to raise the Blaine. Question: Dear Sir, We have coating formed beyond burning zone nearly 16 meters inside kiln. We have C3A in clinker 9-10 % and liquid content in clinker 35 %. Our raw mix composition CaO =43%, SiO2=11 %,Al2O3=3.8 %,Fe2O3=2.8 %,MgO=2.6%. Our coal ash= 27% (mixture of indian coal &imported south african coal is used)Coal fineness 2 to 3 % retained on 212 microns. Regards Answer: The liquid contentt of 35% is very high. I suggest the silica modulus should be raised.

Question: Sir, I am looking Quality control. Earliar we was using Petcoke in kiln having Ash % 0.5 to 1.00 in raw coal and we was getting 4.0 to 5.0 Ash % in fine coal . But from last one month we have changed over to USA COAL having Ash % 11-12 , but we are getting 8.0 to 12.00 Ash % .Is it possible or it may be our sampling error, please give your valuable comments. Answer: The increase is ash content when firing pet coke would be caused by entrainment of kiln feed into the fine petcoke from the preheater exhaust gases used to dry the petcoke in the mill. The same elevation in ash content between the raw and fine coal should be experienced. Question: In white cement clinkerisation what are acceptable variation level of LSF,SM and AM in clinker ,raw mix and pet coke quality Cv & ash. Answer: +/-2% for LSF, +/-0.1 for SM. AM not so important as the Fe2O3 content must be minimised meaning a very high AM. There should be virtually no ash in petcoke. Question: vertical mill out put 215 tph and what is input feed of vrm Answer: There must be a mass balance between then inputs to the mill and the outputs from the mill. Some inputs such as moisture will be volatilised so the feed will be the output from the mill plus the moisture content of the feed plus any other volatile species. Question: Sir, What is the reason for coating ring formation ( approximately 200 mm thickness ring) inside the kiln pre-calcination zone?, Why? Answer: This will be associated with a phase change of one of the components of the kiln charge at that position and temperature in the kiln. Question: Hi Dr.Clark.Is there a relationship between ability of material to flow and existing temperature or pressure in the preheaters? Answer: Certainly there is a relationship. The temperature of the material will affect the amount of the volatile materials which are present as liquids and that will change the stickiness of the material and its ability to flow.

Question: we are manufacturing white cement clinker by rotary kiln+5 stage PH our nodulisation is very poor.Clinker composition having LSF range is 92 to 89,SM is 4.5 to 5.0 AM is 17 to 19. how we can improve nodulisation in kiln Answer: Which fuel is used to fire the kiln. Poor nudulisation is often caused by high sulphate content in clinker from using petroleum coke as the fuel for firing the kiln. Question: Dear Mr.Dr.Clark, We are facing kiln ring problem.After start the kinlfeed we observed temperature down trend at 32 to 42 mtrs we increase LSF-95 to97, SM-2.10 to 2.0 and AM-1.5 to 1.7. Ring zone shifted to 27 to 37 mtrs and become hard. Shale, Sand,bauxite,Iron ore are our additives and Pet.coke as a fuel. Sulfur in petcoke is around 4.0%.Residue in rawmix at 90 mic is 10%. We are using low purity iron ore from Iran. What could be reason for these type of rings. High alumina Modules? or Shale? or Low pure Iron ore?. We increase the flame momentum. Even than no positive improvement. Pl suggest us. Answer: My suggestion would be to raise the silica modulus in order to have a lower flux content in the kiln. Question: Sir, We two cement mill OF KHD humbolt wedag with SKS 3750 SEPARATOR with roller press . earliar we was using SKS 3250 seperator ,from last one year it was not in circuit(SKS 3250) we want to to take both SKS 3250 &3750 SEPERATOR in circuit then please tell us what may be the impact on cement mill production or on residue on 45 mic Answer: I need to know more about the configuration of the roll press and mill circuit before I can answer. You can send a diagramn to mcc@whitehopleman.com. Question: Sir, we have six indentical kiln of 3000 tpd . we are using petcoke with NCV 7800 KCAL/KG & Sulphur 6.00 % now we are going to change our coal from petcoke to USA COAL having NCV 5800 kcal/kg sulphur 3.00 % VM 39 % .WHAT precaution we should take & what will be the impact on clinker quality. Answer: There are many potential affects. There will be greater danger of coal dust explosions therefore the protection devices need to all be checked. More coal will be required but it should be easier to grind than the petcoke. It will also not need to be ground as finely. The alkali:sulphur balance in the hot meal and clinker will be changed perhaps leading to

better (larger) granulation of the clinker. Less alkali sulphate in the clinker might lead to lower early strengths but higher 28-day strength of the cement. Question: Dr Clark What should be the average speed of air inside the Cement Mill? Are we looking for a specific air to cement ratio? Thanks. Answer: The speed should not be more than 2 m/s to avoid stripping material out of the charge before it has had chance to be ground. Question: Respected sir,please tell me that why litre weight of clinker is taken on selected screens of 5 & 10 mm. Answer: Just for standardisation of the method. Question: sir we are using Municipal waste as alternative fuel in kiln. Moisture of this waste is about 50 % & GCV 3000 cal/g. Please tell me that steam generated will affect the kiln enviornment & how? Answer: The steam generated from the municipal waste will increase the volume of the exhaust gases from the kiln. It will also absorb thermal energy from the fuels thereby further increasing the exhaust gas volume. Potentially this will reduce the output from the kiln. There will be no affect on the kiln environment as the exhaust gases already contain gaseous H2O. Question: Respected Sir, please tell me the increase in heat consumption (K.Cal/Kg) of clinker when litre weight increased from 1200 g/l to 1300 g/l keeping all other parameters constant. Thanks Answer: There is no absolute correlation. This will depend on the individual kiln, raw materials and chemistry. The typical increase might be 5%. Question: Dear Sir, Are yo takeup the jobs of process optimisation for petroluem coke oparations Answer: Yes, certainly. Send an email to admin@whitehopleman.com.

Question: Dear, Mr Clark, I need the usual recirculation rate (% of fresh load (Clinker+Additives)) we have in a cement mill plant when we have outlet finished cement II-B/32.5R or I42.5R at fineness 3000 blaine or 4000 blaine (my flow sheet is a closed circuit without pre-grinding and the ball mill inlet is the tailings from the separator). Thanks Answer: The recirculating load is more typically related to the residue than the Blaine. Typical might be 100% at 3000 Blaine and 200% at 4000 Blaine. Question: Hi dear Dr.Clark We have very bad coating problem in our marl silo in abyek cement co.The matrial is wet and we can't solve this.So i want to know if there is some advice for us to solving coating problem in marl silo. Thanks Answer: The beest solution would be to dry the marl before storing in the silo. Alternatively an acoustic horn continuously sounding in the silo may solve the problem. The internal walls of the silo could also be coated with a non-stick material. For any of these solutions to work the silo must first be completly cleaned out. Question: D/Sir, we have 4 stages pre-heater, at present in our kiln forming less nodulisation clinker, plz suggest what we should do to form nodulisation Answer: This is most likely associated with the hot meal chemistry. What are the alkali, sulphate and chloride contents of the material in the stage 4 cyclone? Question: Dear Dr. We are presently running our 5m/80m, ILC with TAD kiln and have not had any issues so far.Some red spot(not so glaring during the day)was observed in the night along the TAD about 3m from the damper and area covered is about 0.2 square meters.Temperature of flowing gas in the TAD is 900-1100 DEG.C Normal temp. is around 280 deg.c temp. at red spot is higher. We are not sure if to shut down and spend maybe 1 week rebricking or hold on since there should be a PMR some three weeks later in March. Very gratefull for your time. Answer: I suggest that you either shutdown and repair, or prepare a section of tertiary air duct to insert in the damaged part when you do your planned PMR. Question: Hi dear Dr.Clark We have very bad coating problem in our marl silo in abyek cement co.The matrial is wet and we can't solve this.So i want to know if there is some advice for us to solving coating problem in marl silo. Thanks

Answer: Question: why is cement seive, done on 32 micron very important on quality analyses Answer: All the particle size distribution of cement is important. Because cement is finer than raw mix the 90 and 45 micron residues will be low. The most reactive particles giving strength development are in the 3 to 32 micron size range. Question: Dear Dr. Clark we experience lower stage preheater buildups quite frequently, lately. XRF showed SO3~5%, Cl~1%,K2O~1.5% and Na2O~0.4%. Spurrite(10-25%), sulfospurrite(10%), some langbeinite(2%) and probably ellestadite?(10%) were detected by XRD,as buildup constituents. Any suggestions to improve preheater operation and minimize clogging? Are there typical (or minimum)allowed concentrations of the above compounds? Thanks for you time Dimitris Answer: Dear Dimitris, The K2O and Cl are roughly in balance, which says to me that the SO3 will be combined with Na2O and also CaO. I don't know the SO3 inputs to the process, but my question would be why is the SO3 concentrating? Might be better to send me emails direct to mcc@whitehopleman.com. Question: Dear Sir, We are maintaining upto 4 % residue on 212 microns in kiln feed raw meal. Pl. let us know your comments about any effects on clinker quality and coal consumption and kiln production. Answer: Kiln feed fineness is normally controlled to residues at 150 and 90 micron. I would normally expect ~1% residue at 150 micron. 4% at 212 micron seems far too coarse. I imagine the effects on clinker quality, coal consumption ad kiln production are dire. Question: Dear Sir, We are having 3200 mms diameter static separator in raw grinding section(limestone). Our mill size is 2800 mms dia * 7500 mms long. Our mill is air swept ball mill with circulating fan of 65000 m3/hr.The grit separator returns contain 30 % fines passing 90 microns. We are not able bring down amount of fines in grit returns. Heavy fines re circulated back into mill are reducing mill grinding performance. Mill motor HP=800 & bond index of limestone= 11 KWH/SH.TONNE. The mill feed size is 12 mms (80 %passing) and mill product fineness is 18 % passing 90 microns. Pl suggest what is mill capacity/potential. Also pl.suggest how to improve static separator performance and reduce fines in grit returns.

Answer: Static separators are fundamentally limited in their separation efficiency. It seems to me you need to plan torepalce the static separator with a dynamic separator. Question: Dr Clark Can you please explain the relationship between blaine and residue. In our experience when using grinding additive the 45 micron residue starts to drop, milloutput increases but the blaine also drops. Answer: There is a broad, inverse, relationship between Blaine and residue. But this broad relationship would not necessarily be adhered to when a fundamental change such as the addition of grinding aids was made. Question: Hi sir, What does AW for Coating Index (AW) stands for ? Answer: I am not aware of this formula. Please give the complete formula. Question: Dear Dr.Clark What could be the cause of spurrire buildups in the lower stage of the preheater one day and a spurrite/sulfospurrite builup the next day? Thanks Answer: It is unusual to have spurrite build-ups in the preheater. Normally these are found in the inlet section of a kiln with preheater. This suggests to me that temperatures are high in the lower stage of the preheater. The variation between spurrite and sulphate spurrite wil be connected with variations in the cycles of volatile materials between the kiln and preheater. Question: Sir, The burner pipe tip of our rotary kiln get punctured in many areas,what could be the reason for that... since we have used 10mm thick SS material for the tip and coated with LC 80 castable refractory we are mentaining a secondary air temperature of around 850 to 950 Deg C. Answer: The tip of a cement kiln burner would normally have many orifices to allow control of the velocity and therefore the momentum of the primary air. I cannot recommend any particular refractory for main burners other than one with sufficient refractoriness for the application. Question: Dear Sir, We are having grate cooler with static CIS-MFR. We are facing feed rush

problem in kiln whenever secondary air crosses 1000 Deg.C. Please let us know the reasons. Answer: Do you mean crosses 1000 degrees C downwards or upwards? My thoughts are that this will be due to the mixxing of the secondary combustion air into the flame. Question: Sir, What could be the reason of higher 1 day strength in cement produced from alternative fuel(SO3-8-9%)fired clinker. In Our plant when we are going for petcoke firing the OPC 1 day strength is 29-30Mpa, where as the in case of coal fired it is 2527Mpa. The 3,7,28 day strength in coal fired cement is higher then the pet fired one. I have done the XRD, XRF and Microstructural analysis of the produced clinkers. The only difference is the crystal size distribution in alite, belite and the most important is that the proportion of C3A in case of coal fired clinker is 6-7%, whereas 2-3% in case of pet fired clinker(XRD). Can you please brief me the mechanism of C3A formation in both case and the reason of 1 day strength variation. Regards, Dr.Sahu Answer: It is well established that clinker with higher alkali sulphate content exhibits higher early strength. The initial hydration reactions of the cement are speeded up. It is also known that the later strength is often lower due to less stable hydrate gel formation. The change in C3A content is interesting and not widely reported. This will also be associated with the combination of alkalis with sulphate in the pet coke fired clinker while more alkali is combined with the clinker minerals in the coal fired clinker. Question: The mill inlet in my cement plant is the tailings from the separator. The average surface area on the mill inlet is approximately 85 m2/kg. If the target blaine for the cement i produce is 360 m2/kg, what should the mill outlet blaine be? Should it be around 220 m2/kg, 200, 180?? Answer: That depends on the recirculating load. If you have 100% recirculating load then the mill outlet Blaine should be 85 + (360 - 85)/2 = 223 m2/kg. If you have 200% recirculating load then the cement mill outlet Blaine should be 85 + (360 - 85)/3 = 177 m2/kg. Question: What is the mathmatical relation to estimate cement mill output (TPH) at different Blaine when it is known that the same mill produces say 100 TPH at 3000 Blaine ? Answer: The relationship is: Energy Consumption (kWh/t) = Wsa x (Surface Area).Power(1.5) where Wsa is the grinding constant and the surface area is in m2/kg. Typical grinding constant would be 0.0067 so if the surface area is raised to 350 m2/kg then the mill output could be expected to reduce to 79 t/h.

Question: To measure the flow through tertiary air duct, pitot tube was used but as it was sustainable up to 800 oc, hence it start bending. therefore could not find out the result. Now what can i do for measuring the flow through TAD. Answer: You will have to work it out stoichiometrically from an air/oxygen balance around the cooler, kiln and precalciner. Question: Dear Sir, WE are having grate cooler with CFG AND KILN CAPACITY 450 TPD. Some times we get hot clinlker. Our cooler size is 6/30 . Cooler fans pressure 850/750/550/450 mmwg.We feel to install water spray inside cooler. We wish to know best techinques for water spray if necessary any effect on clinker quality. Answer: Provided that you have sufficient atomisation of the water that no water contacts the clinker then there will be no affect on clinker quality. However, the water will not cool the clinker. This will allow you to exhaust more excess cooling air from the cooler provided that your cooler exhaust fan has sufficient capacity. Question: Hi Dr.Clark.What could be the cause of material hold-up in cyclone 3,riser duct and kiln back-end in a 4-stage pre-heater system when using coal?The ASR in cyclone 3 is in te range of 0.9-1.2.We never experienced this blockages while using Heavy furnace oil. Answer: It wil be connected with the alkali cycles in the kiln. Most likely the sulphur cycles which will be determined by the combustion conditions in the kiln. Question: Good morning Sir, we have just opened up the splash box to the reduction zone of the calciner (in a 4 stage precalciner kiln)and we discovered a massive build-up. Though another burner for oil has just been installed whose nozzle tips are being cooled by air in this location while the gas nozzles(new burner) are in operation.The build-up also extends to the kiln riser and upward above the nozzles area. Also, before the opening up we noticed high pressures along the cyclones and fluctuation in cyclone 4 top air temperature sometimes during kiln operation.What can be the cause of this massive build-up? In addition, can this lead to production of high freelime clinker? Answer: This will be connected with the alkali cycles in the kiln and coould lead to high free lime clinker. Question: Our cement ultimate strength at 28Days seem to almost be the same with the value at

7Days, for e.g. we have 7days of 34MPa and 28days of 38MPa. please what is responsible for this even when the clinker C2S and C3S are within range and the Blaine is approx 5000cm2/g since we are producing CEM II/B-L 32,5R. thank you. Answer: How are you determining C3S and C2S content of clinker? By the Bogue method? If so that means nothing. You need to measure and control the real mineralogy of the clinker by microscopy or XRD. Question: Please Dr Clark, I'm a quality manager in my plant and we want to change from the LPFO we have been using for our kiln to gas. so please i will like to know in case of high H2S content of gas (impact on raw mix, refractory, preheater blockages)? Answer: There will be sulphur input to the kiln from the H2S. You must assess whether that will be moe or less than the sulphur input in the fuel oil. Then you must consider the alkali to sulphur ratio in the inputs to the kiln. My greater concern would be the toxicity of the H2S and whether sufficient safety measures were in place to burn sour gas on the kiln. Question: Good Day Dr Clark Being a Mill Process Engineer, i see alot of variability of the hardness of clinker and hence grindability. What methods can i take to manage and in future reduce it. What type of conversations should i have with me Kiln Process Engineer.? How i can properly measure the clinker grindability? Answer: Dear Shastri, Grindability of clinker is determined by the belite, C2S, content, degree of burning and also the storage conditions of the clinker. Your colleague, Alonzo, has asked me about the causes of dusty clinker on one of the two kilns. This means there is variability between the clinker from the two kilns and I would suspect varying free lime and belite content. It seems likely that this would be a source of the variation in clinker grindability that you experiencing. Question: Good day Dr Clarke. I have 2 wet process kilns. They are both fed the same chemistry. LSF 96; SR 2.07, AR 1.2; MgO 0.8% We notice that whenever the MgO is high in the raw meal, normal operating at 0.6% and it increases to 0.9% one of our kiln become dusty. While the other kiln does not even show any major difference in operation. This is empirical evidence. The 2 kilns have the same dimensions. The major difference is the burner. The dusty kiln is operating at 600%m/s while the other kiln is operating at 3000+ %m/s on the primary air momentum. Do you have any ideas why this can possibly happen.Dusty conditions I understand to be as a result of chemistry or a very hot kiln, however MgO has never been described as a component causing accelerated C3S formation and a short nodulization zone. I consider myself well read and I cannot explain this phenomenom. When I burn this material with a higher MgO my burning zone is

barely visible and the modulization in teh kiln is non existent. Answer: Dear Alonzo, I can rationalise the dustiness of the dusty kiln being associated with the low momentum of the burner. This would suggest to me increased sulphur recirculation leading to changes in flux viscosity and hence the nodulisation in the kiln. The link with MgO content is more difficult to rationalise, other than MgO being also a contributor to the flux and affecting its viscosity and the clinkering range in the kiln. Is the onset of dustiness in the low moomentum kiln always associated with an increase in MgO content or is the kiln always more dusty and just gets worse with rising MgO content? I think you are right to associate the dustiness with the lack of momentum of the burner. Question: Good afternoon Sir,what is the effect of flame adjustment on clinker chemistry especially free lime. What is the best way of managing clinker dust,because the quantity being generated is not consistent and also we are having a challenge with the freelime (high freelime) Answer: Flamee adjustment will affect the redox reactions in the flame and thereby the recirculation of sulphate within the kiln. In turn that can affect the clinker combination ( and hence the free lime content of clinker). It can also lead to excessive dustiness of the clinker. It sounds to me as if you have excessive sulphate recirculation. The adjustment of the flame will be critical for controlling this. Question: Coal mill inlet outlet temperature remains 185 / 73 oc respectively but coal C.V dropps by 500 K.cal/Kg. Is it because evaporation of volatile & short chain hydrocarbons. While at another unit of coal mill no such drop of C.V. Answer: Thaat could be possible. It depends on the volatile content of the coal. Also any dust in the gases sweeping th coal mill will be incorporated into the coal reducing its calorific value. It is possiblle that there is more dust in the gases sweeping the coal mill in one plant than the other. Question: Good morning Sir,today's night shift was highly challenging, At 12am kiln feed of LSF=96.18%,SR=2.37,AR=1.59%,C3S=61.36%,SO3=1.05%Residue on 100micron=11.12%,200micron=1.81%,TPH=180t/hr while clinker Freelime=3.25%,LSF=97.05%,C3S=49.69%,temp.=195*c,litre wt=1.12%with At 2am clinker Freelime=7.28%,LSF=100.70%,C3S=40.06%,temp.=185*c,litre wt=1.14% At 4am kiln feed of LSF=96.29%,SR=2.33,AR=1.61%,C3S=61.55%,SO3=0.94% Residue on 100micron=10.91%,200micron=1.78%,TPH=160t/hr while clinker Freelime=13.44%,LSF=99.40%,C3S=13.20%,temp.=170*c,litre wt=1.03% Due to this challenge the kiln feed was gradually reduced from 180tph to 160tph with kiln speed as

low as 2.40 r.p.m with cyclone 4 temp. of 839*C,846*c,860*c,870*c and Backend temp.as high as 905*C,high kiln torque,secondary air temp. not stable but good clinker bed,burning zone btw 1100*c and 1303*c but the free lime is still high, big outer kiln ring,(Kiln type 4 stage preheater precalciner kiln with grate cooler. what can be the problem sir? Answer: It is difficult to diagnose the problem from afar. Is there any information available on the alkali and sulphate content of the hot meal at the base of the preheater where the feed enters the rotary section of the kiln. Question: complements of the new season.sir im doing my project on how to reduce ring formation.can u please assit me whith what can be done to the raw mix. Answer: You must attempt to achieve a stoichiometric balance between the alkali and sulphur inputs to the kiln. The most important is to have a balance in the hot meal at the bottom of the preheater as the feed enters the rotary section of the kiln. Question: Why C.V of coal reduces during grinding? Answer: Because some of the volatile, short chain, hydrocarbons with calorific value are vapourised and lost during the drying of the coal in the coal mill. Question: Dear Sir, Recently we have faced a problem in our kiln which is,balls formation inside kiln. Suddenly the kiln I/L draft became high & Balls were found inside the kiln. Plz give some reasons for this happening and how to overcome by this problem/future guidlines for operators. Answer: The formation of large clinker balls is usually associated with excess sulphur recirculation in the kiln. The solution for the operators is to increase the excess oxygen at the kiln inlet. Question: Dear Sir, How do the polarity (positive & negative charges)developed inside a cement grinding ball mill? Do have any idea abt the earthing of ball mill for reducing polarity. i know that grinding aid can reduce polarity and agglomeration but somewhere i read that there is an alternate way to reduce this charging & agglomeration,instead of using grinding aid. What is the future of grinding aid in cement industries, if we will go for ultra fine grinding?

Answer: The alternative method of ground the static electric charges created by the breaking of the clinker particles during grinding is by the ECOFOR device, which is fitted to the shell of ball mills. With ultra fine grinding the use of grinding aids will become more important. Question: Hello Sir,what is the effect of storing clinker in an open space( effects on the chemistry of the clinker)and ability of the mill to grind this type of clinker i.e mill performance Answer: There is likely to be some prehydration of the clinker by moisture from the atmosphere or rain. The moisture content will increase and the cement mill will then have to evaporate that moisture. It might also mean that the cement must be gorund finer to achieve the same strength performance. Question: Good evening Sir, how would you best discribe the functions of Filter fan,I.D fan, excess air fan and the cooler fans in clinker kiln.then can reducing airflow in all compartments of cooler chambers(Grate cooler)in order to prevent Filter fan from going positive(+ve pressure) during the sudden opening mill fan damper in close circuit system cause snowman inside the cooler. Answer: The cooler fans blow the air for clinker cooling and combustion into the kiln. The other fans draw the exhaust gases out of the kiln. There must be balance between the amount of air blown into the system and the ability of the fans to exhaust the combustion product gases from the system. I presume that is the reason the cooler fans are reduced when the mill fan damper is opened - the draft on the kiln is reduced and therefore less air must be blown into the system to maintain the balance. I do not think this will be directly related to snowman formation in the cooler. Question: Good evening Sir, what is the effect of excess ring formation in the kiln on oxygen, co, NOx and CH4 and clinker quality.what are the causes of excess dust return from the cooler back into the kiln. Answer: Excess ring formation will increase the pressure drop across the kiln system and reduce the draft on the main burner. That will reduce oxygen at the kiln inlet, lead to increased likelihood of CO. The CO will lead to degradation of NOx. There should be no affect on CH4. Clinker quality might be adversely affected. Dusty clinker and recirculation of dust from the cooler is often associated with excess sulphur recirculation in the kiln. Question: Sir, what are the main causes of excess vibrations in a vertical roller mill,during lime stone grinding? What is significance of H-Factor calculation in case of raw mix cf-silo

efficiency ? Answer: The main cause of vibration in a vertical roller mill is an unstable bed of material on the table beneath the rollers. There must be a mixture of coarse and fine material. If the feed to the mill is too fine or small then the vibrations will rise. I am not familiar with the HFactor calculation but presume it is the homogenisation factor. That tells you how well the silo is mixing the material. Question: Dear Sir, Is there any relationship between seal air pressure of vertical roller mill and mill D.P? Also let me know how can we reduce the preheater returen dust (3200 TPD Clinker production,ILC Plant) Answer: I am not aware of a relationship between seal air pressure and pressure drop across a vertical roller mill. That does not mean there isn't one as I'm unsure what you mean by seal air pressure. Reducing the dust loss from a preheater involves improving the collection efficiency of the top stage cyclone, and to a lesser extent the lower stage cyclones. That will mean adjusting the dip tube or geometry of the cyclone. Question: Dear Dr.Clark, I have suffered from the quality variation of fly ash in making clow heat concrete with the ternary binder system of OPC, slag powder,fly ash. So I'd like to get something about the difference of characteristics between the fresh fly ash and the weathered fly ash under the weathering conditions such as moisture or high humidity. Is there any differences of the characteristics of superplasticizer adsorption and of fluidity, compressive strength etc. ? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! Answer: Dear Obong, the compliments of the season to you also. Certainly the weathering and moisture content will affect superplasticiser absorption characteristics of fly ash. Successful use of cement improvement agents with fly ash cements is known to be difficult. Question: Dear Dr.Clark, I have suffered from the quality variation of fly ash in making clow heat concrete with the ternary binder system of OPC, slag powder,fly ash. So I'd like to get something about the difference of characteristics between the fresh fly ash and the weathered fly ash under the weathering conditions such as moisture or high humidity. Is there any differences of the characteristics of superplasticizer adsorption and of fluidity, compressive strength etc. ? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! Answer:

Question: Good morning Sir,what are the causes of snowman in kiln. Thanks Answer: Snowmen at the inlet of the grate cooler are caused by residual liquid content in the clinker after it has left the kiln and fallen into the cooler. They are a consequence of the high secondary air temperature achieved by modern grate coolers. Question: Good morning Sir,recently we have a crack in the bearing housing of our I.D fan, it was discovered after dropped on Non drive end high 2.Looking forward for your reply, thanks. Answer: Dear Abayomi, My specialities are the cement manufacturing process and chemistry. I am sorry to hear about the crack in the bearing housing of your i.d. fan, but am not sure what you are asking me? Dr Michael Clark Question: HIGHER THE SO3% IN KILN FEED,WHAT HAPPENS IN CLINKER QUALITY AND IN KILN OPERATION Answer: That depends on the form of sulphur in the kiln feed and then the burning conditions in the kiln. Sulphides are likely to oxidised in the preheater and lost to some extent in the exhaust gases. Sulphate will pass into the kiln and may enter into a cycle between the kiln and preheater dependent on the burning conditions in the kiln. Heavy sulphate recirculation can lead to problems of uncombined clinker, dusty clinker, ring formations and preheater blockages. Question: Dear Dr. I have been working as a shift production engineer for a 6250 t/dy clinker cement plant for over 2 years now. There is an opening for a process engineer, and i might be drafted in because i have a degree in chemical engineering. (1)What are my chances at climbing up the career path to a production manager by this swap? (2)What tools(training,software,info e.t.c) do i need to become an excellent Cement process engineer. Thank you for your time. Answer: I believe you should have a good chance of climbing your career path. Experience on the job is very valuable. I would recommend studying the CemNet on-line training courses. Particularly the grinding and milling, pyroprocessing and kiln chemistry courses. Question: Dear Dr.Clark, As the results of a lot of tests on the workability and fluidability of the cement mortar and concrete, our cement proved to have better adaptability with

naphtalene-based super plasticizer than with polycarboxylate super-plasticizer. But recently most of concrete makers are not willing to use dnaphtalene-based super plasticizer any more. So I'd like to know what kinds of properties of cement we should control for good adaptability with polycarboxylate super plasticizer. Best Regards. Answer: My speciality is cement rather than concrete. However, I would expect that the C3A reactivity and the soluble sulphate availability would need to be controlled, i.e. the amount and dehydration of the gypsum in the cement. Question: what are the causes of ring formation inside the kiln? Answer: They are caused by a change in the liquid (flux) content or the properties of the flux at a particular point in the kiln. Question: ways of minimising ring formation Answer: There are many ways dependent on the root cause of the ring formation. First you have to determine the root cause. Only then can you devise a way to minimise the formation. Question: (1)What is the standard volume of air required to lift the material in VRM for raw material grinding? (2)What could be the reason for air coming out from casing of a fan (Reverse air air fan at bag house with reverse air cleaning system? Best Regards. Nasir. Answer: It is normal for the entire preheater exhaust to be directed through a VRM for raw grinding in order to lift the material through the mill. Air escaping from the casing of a fan must indicate positive pressure within the casing. Question: Dear Dr Clark, We have mini lab mill (ball mill)to check grindability material. Can this equipment be used to check grindability material that will be ground by vertical mill (exp. Limestone)? due to different principle between Ball Mill and VRM. Is there any proper equipment/method to check material grindability that will be ground by Vertical Roller Mill? Best Regards, Satrio Answer: Yes, the laboratory mill can be used to check grindability. This is not an exact measurement anyway. Any test method only gives a comparative indication. Most the major equipment suppliers (FLS, Polysius, etc.) have their own laboratory scale vertical mills. They may be prepared to test the material for you.

Question: Dear sir, 1) I have new assignment to collect technical advices & support to enhance cement kiln through put by enhancing the quantity of oil firing (present approx. 12000l/hr to min. 15000l/hr) and enrichment of oxygen supply. I would like to know that how to proceed ahead and whom should i contact to get full support. Please provide me the details of contact person. 2) Present kiln supplied by IHI, Japanese company and producing 2400t/d clinker. 3) I expect your reply a.s.a.p. 4) please provide me free web site links to make me to understand more of this new assignment. Answer: You have obviously looked at www.whitehopleman.com. We would not recommend anyone else other than ourselves. Question: dear dr clark ;what is INFLUENCE increasing of fe2o3 and liquid phase for creating ring and ballring Answer: It can make ring formation and balling of the clinker more likely. Question: for a kiln feed ;so3=0.58 ;cl=0.025;na=0.65;k=0.23 ;is this kiln creat blocking and what is solve way; our burner oil is mazut and momentom of perimery air is sofficiant . analyz of inlet coating is s=18.7% .cl=1.85% and for calciner coating is s=6.7% ; cl=1.88% so we have dustclinker and ballring Answer: From the analysis of the inlet coating you have too much recirculating sulphate. On what basis do you claim the momentum of the primary air is sufficient? What are the N/MW? Question: Dear Sir, What is the max limit of free slica(Quatz) above 90micron for the Kiln Feed.We are using Coal as fuel(GCV.6300Kcals/Kg) and Residue on 90 micron at present in kiln feed 12-13%. Thanks With regards Answer: There isn't an absolute limit, but it should be as low as possible. The FLS burnability method uses the quartz content of the residue on a 45 micron sieve rather than a 90 micron sieve. Question: for a kiln feed ;so3=0.58 ;cl=0.025;na=0.65;k=0.23 ;is this kiln creat blocking and what is solve way Answer:

Such problems are normally caused by insufficient momentum of the primary air of the main burner leading to inefficient mixing of the secondary air and fuel. Question: what is reason of creat clinker dust and smal size of clinker Answer: See below. Question: Hi Dr. Clark, My name is Ken Wiltshire and I am the Operations Manager at Caribbean Cement in Jamaica. I don\'t know if you remember me we participated in your industry benchmarking some years ago and I also help setup some training you did for us for our most recent Expansion and Modernization Programme. I am writing because I need the most recent benhmarkng report that you have completed for the cement industry. Can you advise me how to get this urgently. Regards, Ken Answer: Dear Ken, Certainly I remember you. I spent a week at Claxton Bay with Kenneth Anglin back in 2005 or 6, but unfortunately you were travelling at that time and we didn't meet. We would be very happy to benchmark Caribbean Cement again. Whitehopleman benchmarking is participatory. You need to provide your performance data (in full confidence) and we then give you a comparison of your performance against the Whitehopleman database of worldwide cement industry performance. I will also send you a private email. Best regards, Dr Michael Clark Question: Hi Dr. Clark, My name is Ken Wiltshire and I am the Operations Manager at Caribbean Cement in Jamaica. I don't know if you remember me we participated in your industry benchmarking some years ago and I also help setup some training you did for us for our most recent Expansion and Modernization Programme. I am writing because I need the most recent benhmarkng report that you have completed for the cement industry. Can you advise me how to get this urgently. Regards, Ken Answer: Question: Dear Dr. Clark, How to avoid kiln rings caused by spurrite?. Because we are foreced to consume the Limestone from the same sources. Pl. advise me. Answer: Sulphate spurrite rings are normally associated with high sulphate recirculation arising from insufficient momentum and mixing at the main burner of the kiln.

Question: Dear Dr.Clark, I am working on reducing variability on a couple of KPIs at our cement plant: 1.For a prescribed range of 1-2.5%, free lime in clinker consistently moves close to the LSL (though mostly within specs), with a standard deviation of 0.4. What could be causing this skew towards LSL?This also shows that I may have to shift the mean free lime value towards higher side.But what will be the specific benefits of doing that?Is there any ball-park linkage with some key KPIs (e.g. every 0.1% increase in free lime results in xx reduction in coal consumption?) 2.On LSF of limestone stockpile, what can be a few quick-win ideas to reduce the standard deviation (currently it averages 8.5)? Again, is there a direct linkage of LSF stability to throughput/cost? Thanks in advance, Vivek Answer: 1. Free lime would be expected to be skewed towards the lower limit as you cannot combine the feed to a negative residual free lime content, but there is no limit at the top of the range beyond the CaO content of the clinker. 2. You can use FL Smidth's method to estimate the heat of reaction for formation of your clinker. Then calculate the same at +1 standard deviation in LSF. This will give you a higher heat of reaction. You must multiply that by 3 and then by the ratio of the total energy consumption of the kiln to the heat of reaction (3100/1700) to arrive at an estimate of the impact of variation on thermal energy consumption. Question: Dear Mr. Clark, We are facing problem of Kiln rings at 25-33 mtrs but it is very strong at 31-33 mtr. Our Feed LSF-97.0 SIM-2.35 ALM-1.60. Fineness +90Mic-9.5%. Petcoke as fuel and fineness 2-3% on 90 mic. Raw materials Limestone, Sand, Shale , Bauxite and Iron ore. S03 in Clk-1.0% Hot meal-1.3 to 1.5. What could be the reason for this kind of rings. Regards, Balasubramanian Answer: Dear Balasubramanian, Most likely the problem is excess sulphur recirculation due to the main burner of the kiln not having sufficient momentum or impulse to mix the secondary combustion air into the flame efficiently. Best regards, Dr Michael Clark Question: Dear Mr Clark, In our kiln (4 stage SP-kiln) we have unstable coating problem and ring formation, especially at the upper-transition zone (27mt-40mt). The frequency of the coating change sometimes increase up to 48 hours. Sometimes there occur a ring formation in that zone and lives for one week, as a result the velocity within the kiln increases. More dusty kiln condition results in lower production rate. Here I can give some data about the kiln. Kiln has 2400 tpd production capacity. (because of the unstable coating it is 2250 tpd) The raw materials are limestone (almost pure), clay (marl 38%Si02 and 22%CaO), bauxite, iron ore and volcanic trass (1,5% has been added because of the possibility of decreasing the fuel consumption). Raw Meal fineness: 7% 90um residue. The feed LSF standard deviation is 0,5. this value is 0,04 for SM and 0,02 for AM. Clinker has 97-98 LSF with 2,3 SM and 1,65 AM. SO3 content of the clinker is 1,2%.

MgO content is 2%. ASR is 1,0-1,1. Fuel: 100% petcoke DOC for the hot meal is 5457%. Kiln inlet O2: 0,9-1,5% CO:0,2-0,6% Burner has been positioned to outlet of the kiln while it is cold with an 2,7% angle. Flame momentum= ~7 N/MW. Bricks used there have the composition of MgO: 85% Al2O3:10-15% Fe2O3: 0,8% CaOmax: 1,4% and SiO2max:0,9 We've tried to shorten and more intense flame however nothing has changed. We have tried longer flame to avoid ring formation it doesn't work. I hope data will be sufficient in order to your comments. Best regards, Answer: Dear Firat, The profile and data you have provided is very comprehensive. You have obviously tried many things to solve this problem. My observation would be that the burner momentum is too low. You should have a minimium of 10 N/MW. If not then thre is always the danger of excess sulphate recirculation. In turn that may cause sulphate spurrite ring formation in the areas where you are experiencing problems. I would increase the amount of primary air. In the short term you can do this with compressed air. If that proves successful then you can increase the capacity of the primary air blower. Question: we have three identical units we are using 100 % petcoke we are facing ring formation problem in one unit only at inlet side .give your suggestion Answer: Rings at the kiln inlet are most commonly caused by heavy sulphur recirculation. That is often caused by the main kiln burner. I would chenck all the burner settings. Question: Sir, may chance to pre heater fan rotating in unbalanced condition, if yes what are the reasons? Answer: This is often caused by build-up of material on the impellor of the fan. Question: Sir,In our Plant In Preheater fan at the Drive end the Bearing temperature gets increased regularly but we are maintaining the lubrication properly.. what is the actual reason Answer: It could be caused by vibration of the impellor? Question: sir,In our plant,in 4th cyclone always get jam,if any method is there to control it. Answer: Lower stage cyclone blockages are caused by stickiness of the raw meal. This arises from the alkali cycle in the kiln. Volatile materials (alkali chlorides and sulphates) evaporate in the burning zone and condense on the cooler feed in the preheater. In this way a cycle and

concentration of the volatile species builds up causing the stickiness in the hot meal. There are a number of ways blockages can be controlled: (i) by an alkali bleed or bypass, (ii) by controlling the volatile inputs and the cycle, (iii) or automatic and manual preheater claening. Question: I'm a business reporter in Allentown, Pa. We're writing about a new cement terminal on Staten Island, NY that will be importing up to 800,000 tons of cement per year to NY ready-mix cement companies, replacing trucked-in deliveries from local cement plants in Pennsylvania. Are U.S. plants already under pressure from foreign imports? How much do you think will this terminal hurt plants in Pennsylvania? Was something like this inevitable, or will this significant accelerate pressures on domestic U.S. cement? Answer: Most imports into the USA are controlled by existing players in the market. Some of those are multinationals who can bring in cement from their lower cost operations elsewhere in the world. Many such import terminals have been lying dormant but could be reactivated at any time. Pressure on domestic U.S. cement companies is likely to mount. Question: Dear Dr.Clark, Ambient temperature is going down and women's clothes are getting thicker. I can feel winter is coming around the corner.... About manufacturing the fireresistant concrete. We,in korea,put pp-fiber into the batcher plants directly with other materials like cement, aggregates, additives etc. I recently visited several remicon plants in Japan, but they put pp-fiber into the mixer trucks (not into the batcher plants)leaving the frontgate of the plants by hand. What do you think the difference is? Maybe, they feel concern about quality problems caused by separation effect by air suction system like the filter bags? And what is the situation in Europe? Please put your thicker clothes not to catch cold. Best Regards. Answer: Dear Obong, Sorry for being slow to respond. I was travelling in Slovakia last week. The weather was quite warm there still, but back in the UK it is very windy today and Autumn has certainly arrived. I'll make sure to look out my warm clothes! I am no expert on production of fire resistant concrete. Fire resistant concrete blocks are available in Europe and use of these seems to be the practice where fire resistance is specifically required. Question: whatis atmosphere pressure.relation between mmwg and atmosphere pressure. Answer: Dear Nand, There is a direct relationship between preheater cyclone pressure drop and kiln feed rate as the higher the feed rate the greater the volume of exhaust gas passing

through the cyclones. mmWG (millimetres of water gauge) is a unit of pressure measurement. Question: they have been a problem of red spot on our kiln. several times, we have changed the bricks.how can this be managed best? how long will u expect the kiln to be fired/lit before feeding of materials, expecial when new bricks are layed? Answer: Is the red spot always at the same place Daniel? If so then there must be some recurrent problem. Perhaps with the burner? Or a mechanical issue with the kiln itself? If the red spots are at different places then it depends how long between the incidences. Wear and tear on the refractory lining is a normal characteristic of cement kilns. In the short-term you can try to coat over the area by applying shell cooling fans. Much more information and investigations are required t answer this question properly. Question: Dear Dr.Clark, Our products are cement, dry mortar and ready-mix concrete, and I have now some quality problem of flooring dry mortar. That is, we have faced a lot of cracks and have spent a lot of money for fixing those cracks after placement. So if you have some information on the causes of cracks and some countermeasures for preventing cracks, please let me know of your thoughts. I'm looking foward to hearing from you sooner. Thank you. Answer: These are probably shrinkage cracks, which is a characteristic phenomena of the hydration of Portland cement. One solution would be to add a small amount of calcium sulphoaluminate to the mortar which would confere shrinkage compensation to the mix. Question: Dear Dr.Clark Thanks for prompt response. The analysis of ring at different points is : LOI 2.27 4.23 3.80 2.48 SO3 0.71 1.57 0.94 1.24 Na2O 0.28 0.26 0.23 0.25 K2O 1.12 1.30 0.93 1.35 Cl 0.02 0.025 0.025 0.02 The operating temperature in this area is 10501100 deg.C Answer: The volatile composition of the ring is not high, therefore we can rule out recirculation phenomena. The likelihood is that the ring is caused by the formation of a transient intermediate compound such as spurrite. The temperature profile in the kiln needs to be changed to try to dislodge the ring. Perhaps by adjustment of the burner or its position. Question: We are operating a 900 TPD wet process cement kiln at Kota, Rajasthan (India). The plant utilizes waste calcium hydroxide sludge generated during manufacturing of acetylene gas from calcium carbide when reacted with water as one of the raw material. This sludge constitute about 15% of total raw mix and contains about 2.0 2.5 % SO3.

Kiln is 3.75 meter diameter and 120 meter long. From quite some time, we have been facing ring formation in the zone from 34 to 40 meter from discharge end of the kiln. Presently we are using Kronal 60 AR anti coating bricks in this area. How to eliminate this ring formation. Chemical analysis of raw mix is CaO 47.06 SiO2 12.48 Al2O3 2.89 Fe2O3 1.96 MgO 1.29 K2O 0.46 Na2O 0.14 Cl 0.07 SO3 0.3 Answer: Do you have an analysis of the material from the ring? What is the typical temperatures in the zone of the kiln where the ring is forming? Question: (1)is it advisable to start repetability test on XRF after it was stopped long ago without recalibration of the XRF equipment? 2) running this repeatability test will be on a perticular calibration curve,thus this have any coresponding effect on other callibration curves? Answer: Yes, it would be advisable to recalibrate the XRF equipment for all materials and calibration curves. Question: In our TPD lime kiln problem of erequent feed end jamming is occuring.We have to done air lancing to reduce the inlet draft.Our ESP inlet ducting and chimney is also chocking with sludge after every week.However,our sludge composition has not changed. Answer: Whitehopleman are specialists in cement manufacturing rather than lime kiln operation. We are not experts on lime kilns. However, it sounds as if the moisture content of the sludge exceeds the drying capacity at the feed inlet of the kiln. Also that the temperature of gases entering the ESP is below the dew point of the exhaust gases. Question: Dear Dr Michael Clark, In a article, there was a data of free lime at different temperature 1400 deg 3.2 % 1450 deg 2.2 % 1500 deg 1.4 % and they calculated Burnability Index from the above free lime data : 92 Please I want to know with which formula / Equation they have calculated the Burnability index and Burnability class,( BI : 92 and Class Normal) (How we will decide that material is Very Soft burned,Normal or hard burned? At the end thank you very for your valueable help. Best Regards Answer: This sounds like the Polysius method of establishing the burnability of kiln feed. The normal way of establishing whether a clinker is soft or hard burned is to consider the free CaO and litre weight of the clinker. Question: Sir,my question is on analysis of raw meal using XRF.LSF is a major quality control

parameter used by me.In the absence of XRF, Total carbonate(TC) is also used as a control parameter. What is the relationship between LSF and Total carbonate, is there a relating formula or analytical equation relating this two parameters, such that knowing the %TC you can aswell determine the LSF? Thanks Answer: Daniel, total carbonate gives you a measure of the (CaO + MgO) content of the raw meal. This means it gives you an estimate of the denominator of the LSF equation. It tells you nothing about numerator, which is dependent on the SiO2, Al2O3 or Fe2O3 content. However, if you are using your normal raw materials and proportions of those raw materials then switching between XRF & total carbonate should not present any problems. Question: Dear Dr.Clark, It's been a long time since my last question. I'd like to supply a construction company with premixed cement for constructing a skyscraper that has 123 stories and is 555m height. The premixed cement is composed of OPC 13%, slag powder 61.5%, fly ash 25% and anhydrite 0.5%. But someone is apprehensive about the durability and chemical resistance etc of the concrete, and says the OPC content is too low. He insists that OPC content be above 30%. What do you think about the possible minimum OPC content? As the reference, the specification of concrete is 20(aggregate Size)-40MPa-650(slump flow). And they are planning to use limestone aggregates because of its better elasticity instead of the existing granite aggregate. What's your opinion about that? And if you have some references on the OPC content and the advantages of limestone aggregates, please let me read.... Thanks. Answer: Dear Kwon, It's good to hear from you again. I agree that the cement content of the premixed cement seems low, but I would not be concerned about durability and chemical resistance as the pozzolanic reaction of the slag and fly ash will ensure a very low porosity concrete. My concern would be the compressive strength. That will be determined by the concrete mix design and how much of the premixed cement is used per cubic metre of the concrete. That is the critical consideration. Regarding the aggregates, granite is generally considered to be a superior aggregate to limestone. Limestone can be excellent but there is significant variability between aggregates produced from different limestones, so it depends on the limestone. I see no advantage in using limestone instead of granite aggregate. The elastic modulus of the concrete will be determined by the properties of aggregate-paste interface. Question: Dear sir, Iwould like to know thay our kiln coating is unstable . Answer: Dear Shaikarif, There are many reasons why the coating might be unstable in your kiln. This might be caused by variable feed composition or erratic operation. You need to provide more details.

Question: HELLO MR.CLARK I WOUDLD LIKE TO KNOW THAT OUR KILN IS FACING MUCH PROBLEM DUE TO REFRACTORY LINING FAILURE WHY IS IT SO AND ALSO SNOW MAN FORMATION IN COOLER IN STATIC GRATE IS ALSO VERY FREQUENT. WHAT IS THE REASON FOR THAT. Answer: There could be many reasons for frequent refractory failure ranging from poor technique in the installation of the kiln to unstable operation of the kiln. Much more information is required to make any diagnosis. Snowman formation in the cooler is caused by high residual liquid content in the clinker after it passes into the cooler. Question: Our kiln feed rate is 230 tons/hr, five stage RSP (Re Suspension preheater).we use coal at PC and main burner.We are also using TDF at 3rd stage preheater and TDF size 6" *12". From last few months our feed rate is reduced to 200 to 215 Tons/hr. We have changed, LSF, MS , MA, Residue only kiln opperation become stable and liter weights improved but kiln feed not increased. We started imported Indonesia coal again opperation was stable but Kiln feed was not increased.We are very much distrubed please give your expert comments on this? Answer: It is impossible to diagnose the problem of reduced feed rate to the kiln on the basis of this information. What criteria are you using to determine the required feed rate to the kiln? What is stopping you from increasing the feed rate to 230 t/h? Question: Sir I mean to ask the cause for jamming on preheater with reaction Answer: Preheater blockages are most often a result of the recirculation of volatile species from the rotary section of the kiln to the preheater known as the "alkali cycle". Volatile species evaporate in the burning zone of the kiln and recondense in the colder preheater. This can cause stickiness and lead to blockages. Question: Dear Dr Michael Clark, Thank you very much for your techical support. Im looking for an instrument for free lime analysis in clinker for our Quality control Lab. Answer: Most cement companies use the glycol extraction and acid titration for free lime analysis. If you are looking for an instrument then X-ray diffraction (XRD) is the technique to use. Phillips or ARL supply combined XRD and XRF spectrometers. With XRD you can also monitor the real mineralogy of your clinker, which opens many possibilities for enhanced quality control. Bear in mind that these spectrometers are expensive and require calibration.

Question: cause for jam in cement plant Answer: You must be more specific Ravindra. What do you mean by a "jam". Question: what could possiby cause a crack of the refactories made of basic bricks in the uper transition zone of the kiln. if it is sulphur how Answer: No, sulphur would not normally be expected to cause a crack in upper transition zone refractories. Most likely this would be cause by some deficiency in the installation of the refractory lining. Question: Thanks Dr Clark, Plz fined the requested information: 1-Whether this will lead to an increased rate of production will depend on the capacity of induced draft fan. Ans: our Fan design is 460,000M3/hr at temp: 450 Deg C and total design pressure: 640mmWG. 2. Is the fan operating at full speed, or with its flow control damper fully open? Ans: At present operation PH fan is operating at about 80% speed and fan inlet damper opening is 90-100 %. 3. What is the installed motor capacity in kW and what kW does it draw at full production rate? Hoping to hear from soon.Dear Dr. Clark Best regards Ans: Installed PH fan motor power is 1250KW and Fan operating power at present @ 1460 tpd clinker production (drawn power) is 800 KW. 4. Secondary firing in the current situation is only likely to increase the preheater exit gas temperature and thermal energy losses from the kiln. Ans: Our actual measurement indicated the CO formation in kiln inlet: 8000 to+10,000 ppm and No oxygen is available. PH outlet CO traces is: 3000-4000 ppm and Oxygen is 3-4.5 %. Answer: OK Hussein, There seems to be spare capacity in the induced draft fan, but a problem drawing sufficient combustion air into the kiln. The problem with a counter-current shaft kiln is that increasing the draft is likely to result in greater recirculation/residence time of the feed in the preheater shaft. Water injection at the top of the preheater will create more draft in the shaft and kiln, but is likely to lead to the feed holding up in the shaft. For this reason I am doubtful that it will be effective. A also don't think secondary firing will be effective because of the lack of oxygen at the kiln inlet. Dependent on where you are in the world I suggest you consider oxygen enrichment or slag addition at the kiln inlet. Question: We are operating dry process rotary kiln, with double-strings preheater ( SKET /ZAB Shaft preheater technology, made up of 3 shaft stages , one technological cyclone one dedusting cyclone- East Germany)of rated capacity 1600 TPD, dia.4.6 m x L69 m We are trying to push the kiln up to 1600 TPD, However, we were not successful, and the exhaust gas temperature goes up to 450 deg C. 1- Can water spray system, at the top

cyclone reduce the gas temperature and increase the rate of production? 2-Can secondary firing improve the production rate, and what the technological consequences? Thanks Answer: Water sprays with appropriate atomisation nozzles can certainly reduce the gas temperature. It will also reduce the volume and increase the mass of exhaust gas. Whether this will lead to an increased rate of production will depend on the capacity of induced draft fan. Is the fan operating at full speed, or with its flow control damper fully open? What is the installed motor capacity in kW and what kW does it draw at full production rate? Secondary firing in the current situation is only likely to increase the preheater exit gas temperature and thermal energy losses from the kiln. Question: Dr.Clark,is there a relationship between LSF and rawmeal temperature?Our LSF range is 0.910-0.930.Whenever this is exceeded,more fuel is pumped in the system to attain the required rawmeal temperature of 815 degrees and burning in the kiln is harder leading to reduction in the kilnfeed to the kiln. Answer: Certainly there is a relationship between the LSF and the thermal energy consumption of the kiln. Higher LSF means more CaCO3 and more CO2 that must be calcined off the kiln feed. Calcination of CaCO3 is a highly endothermic (energy consuming) reaction. I presume you mean the precalciner temperature when you say raw meal temperature of 815 degrees? I am surprised that this is sensitive to the LSF. Question: Thanks,for your reply on the Rings question.But can you please tell me any procedure to quantify the cement in the crumbled ring sample? So, I can actually go back time to the process that lead to the crumbling of the ring. Abiola Answer: Well the only thing you can do is analyse the failed concrete chemically and thermally to see at whatb temperatures there is loss of weight. Interpreting the results will be tricky and you will need to also characterise the aggregates used. Question: A friend recently had a problem with his ring construction.Rings are usually used in the construction of well.He discovered that after 24 hours the ring was niether strong enough nor had attained good setting thereby leading to crumbling of the rings and the attendant loss.He brought the crumbled "ring" sample to me to help him find or deduced the cement quantity that mght have been used for its formation. I do you think I can go about this? and what do you think is the likely cause of this problem. Thanks Abiola Answer: Well, the problem is likely to be not enough cement used in the original mix, or too much water being added. Beyond that there might be some exotic reason such as some sugar

getting into the concrete mix or other contaminant. Most likely not enough cement or too much water. Question: Respected Sir, Is nittrile rubber based insulation is used in cement Industry? Regards Arun Joshi Answer: Not that I am aware of Arun. Question: Sir, I am very much interested in the subject of XRD. We have been trying our best to see the best use of XRD in prediction of our Kilnfeed behaviour,our clinker propertises and even the reaction going on in the hotmeal.Maybe this will help us to optimized our Energy profile since we are always stock with frequent ring formation in the Kiln and Kiln inlet jamming.Kindly furnish us with the best practise to balance the above questions. Answer: XRD can certainly be used in all these investigations. The amount of quartz in raw materials will have a direct impact on the kiln feed reactivity. However, you must ensure that you are differentiating between quartz and silica in clay minerals. In hot meal you should be able to see different intermediate compounds being formed. If you find sulphate spurrite that is likely to be a cause of your kiln inlet ring and jamming problems. The hydraulic reactivity of the clinker will also be directly related to the real mineral composition. Remember that XRD is only one technique. You should combine that with other techniques to build an understanding of the behaviour of your raw materials and the performance of the kiln. Question: Sir, During my recent XRD Quantification of our Kilnfeed material below are the Phases result as determined using the Virtual Crystal Softwares, C3S -0 C/Graphite - 9.8 CaO/Lime -61.6 SiO2-/Quartz - 28.6 Sir,What can you really make out of this? and will this likely affect our operation. Regards, Saka Abiola A Answer: Well Abiola, I will be very surprised if there is 9.8% carbon as graphite in the kiln feed. This would cause CO and unburnt hydrocarbon emissions from the kiln. I think that must be an error in the software. The lime and silica are also much too high for kiln feed. It seems to me that there needs to be some calibration of the XRD. Question: We are looking to set up some KPI's about the reactivity of the clinker. We have some ideas, however, we would like to use some relevant indicators. Can you help us ? E.Lalancette Canada

Answer: Ultimately this has to relate to the real mineralogy and the polymorphs of the clinker minerals that are present in the clinker. Do you have XRD? Or do you use microscopy on a regular basis? For many years Whitehopleman has been involved with Cementaren Povazska in Slovakia where they place great emphasis on real clinker mineralogy and clinker reactivity. They use XRD to monitor the real mineralogy of every clinker sample taken on shift and adjust the kiln operation to meet mineralogy targets. In the past they have used Dr Chromy's techniques to predict real clinker mineralogy from the oxide composition with the predictions being calibrated by microscopy performed on day shifts. Question: Sir, My question is regarding job.I have completed my B.E with ECE in 2009 and i want to make my career in cement industry.so i just want your suggestion regarding job..waiting for your reply Answer: Dear Peeyush, In which country are you located? The way to make your career in the cement industry would be to seek employment with one of the cement companies in your country. Best regards, Dr Michael Clark