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Alternative Fuels How to Increase the Use of

Coarse Alternative Fuels in the Cement Industry
Karl Menzel Kathrin Rohloff
Executive Manager Senior Manager - Pyroprocessing and Environmental
Technologies
ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions GmbH ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions GmbH
Graf-Galen-Str. 17 Graf-Galen-Str. 17
59269 Beckum, Germany 59269 Beckum, Germany
karl.menzel@thyssenkrupp.com kathrin.rohloff@thyssenkrupp.com

Abstract -- Alternative Fuels are successfully used in the Cement Industry in order to reduce production costs, to preserve fossil
fuel resources and to minimize anthropogenic CO2 emissions. For co-combustion with standard equipment in cement plants the
waste derived fuels have to be prepared in mechanical fuel preparation plants. The fuel must be sized to less than 25/80 mm so that it
is entrained in the gas stream or flame and totally burns out within the short retention time in the calciner or in the kiln. To increase
the fuel input especially of coarse alternative fuels e.g. tires chips with dimension up to 150 mm, an adapted fuel handling and dosing
system is necessary. Alternatively to the direct dosing into the calciner, coarser fuels with dimension of up to 300 mm can be treated
in a specialized combustion system that is connected to a standard calciner system. The paper gives insight into the introduction of
tire chips to a calciner in Morocco and the arrangement of the first installation of the Step Combustor system in Germany.

Index Terms Alternative Fuels, calciner, combustion chamber, co-combustion, co-processing, combustion system, Step
Combustor, RFD, secondary fuels, TDF, tire chips

I. INTRODUCTION
It is common practice in an increasing number of countries and their Cement Industries to make use of a large variety of well
prepared (engineered) Alternative Fuels. The motivation for co-processing of Alternative Fuels and Raw Materials (AFR) is to
reduce production cost by substitution of primary fuels and raw materials, thus reducing the need for landfill and minimizing
the CO2 emission by using Residue/waste or biomass Derived Fuels (RDF).
What brings real benefit to Alternative Fuels and justifies the necessary investment is the importance of their quality
assurance and preparation. This is especially true when looking for high or higher Thermal Substitution Rates (TSR).
With this background the first case study demonstrates the maximized use of Tire Derived Fuels (TDF) in a Moroccan
cement plant, where more than 20 % of the total process fuel is substituted by chipped tires with a chip size of up to 150 mm.
Handling and dosing as well as long distance transport and continuous injection in calciner chamber is shown.
A second case study shows the newly installed Step Combustion System connected to the calciner in a German cement plant,
which is directly fed with very coarse RDF of up to 300 mm sizes. This concept saves at least one critical and costly
preparation step, the cost and maintenance-intensive, fine shredding of abrasive and wearing RDF. The principle of this design
as well as first results of production with the Step Combustor will be discussed.

II. TIRE CHIP FEEDING AT A MODERN CALCINER

Particularly in view of high substitution rates, stringent demands are imposed on the quality of the substitute fuels. Apart
from assuring continuously high calorific values, the characteristics and contents of the alternative process materials must not
negatively affect the operation of the burning process and above all must not impair the quality of the produced clinker and
cement. Regular monitoring of the constituents and of the production process with regard to chlorine, sulfur content, heavy
metals and other harmful substances is absolutely essential. Scrap tires are often used as a starting point for Alternative Fuel
use because their high calorific value and homogeneous chemical properties make them a very good substitute for regular
fuels. After a certain period of learning and gaining operational experience, the introduction of other, more complex, alternative
materials is much easier.
To start using Alternative Fuels in the kiln line installation built in 2010 in Morocco (with a nominal clinker production
capacity of 3600 tons per day), the handling and dosing system was first integrated in the plant layout as seen in Fig. 1. The
system was equipped with a modern calcining system and with a combustion chamber for petroleum coke firing.

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Fig. 1. Layout of tire chip handling system with preheater

Tire chips from the main store are fed onto a moving-floor system, which doses a set amount of material onto a chain belt
conveyor. The container unit of the moving-floor system is designed to permit future enlargement for a higher feed volume and
capacity for fuel handling. Also a safety screen for unacceptable particle sizes is included. This ensures that the fuel supplied to
the calciner complies with the specification and will not cause any disturbances in the further course of the process.

Fig. 2. Installed tire chip feeding and dosing system

After dosing by a weigh belt feeder, the material is fed onto the 240-m-long totally enclosed Air-glide belt conveyor up to
the injection position in the preheater/calciner tower of the kiln line. The Air-glide belt conveyor is characterized by very low
power consumption and minimal maintenance requirement. Instead of running on conventional belt idlers, the feed belt is
supported by an air cushion. The air cushion beneath the conveyor belt reduces kinetic friction to a minimum, enabling large
quantities of fuel to be transported over long distances at variable speed and low power. The belt runs inside of a tube, totally
enclosed, so nothing can be spilled or blown out. Thanks to the optimized, self-supporting construction, significantly less steel
substructure is needed than is the case of conventional belt conveyor systems. Fig. 3 shows the view out of the preheater tower
towards the belt conveyor and the tire main storage.

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Fig. 3. Picture of installed TDF handling system

In the preheater tower, the material is fed via a trough chain conveyor to a specially-designed screw conveyor, which like a
dosing device, packs the material into the fall shaft. The screw conveyor with its storage bin simultaneously forms the airlock
between material feed and kiln system. Thereby, the false air intake to the kiln system is minimized. This is very important to
avoid any negative influence on the production capacity and the heat demand of the kiln system. The gravimetric feeding unit
of the weigh belt feeder is synchronized with the volumetric feeding of the screw conveyor in order to ensure constant
compliance with the set fuel supply rate. The design and integration of this equipment into the calciner system is shown in Fig.
4.
Coarse RDF is frequently introduced by double or triple flap gate systems. Such systems can effectively reduce false air in-
leakage but have the disadvantage of discontinuous feeding. They operate on a cyclical basis and cause pulsations and
restrictions in the combustion and production process, particularly at high feed rates. A high-temperature shut-off gate at the
fall shaft improves the safety of the system even further.

Fig. 4. TDF/RDF Calciner injection system for a Moroccan cement plant

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Special attention has to be focused on the ignition of the fuel and on coating inside the calciner and preheater. Therefore,
process optimization is required during commissioning when there are significant changes in fuel composition. This is guided
by trained plant personal.
Now a thermal substitution rate of 20 % and an optimized heat demand of the kiln line system can be achieved. With this,
the first stage of using Alternative Fuels has been put into successful operation and is continuously supplying 3.5 tph of scrap
tire chips with a lump size of up to 150 mm. In future, the installed system will be able to achieve considerably higher
substitution rates without any conversion measures especially when lighter RDF materials are introduced.

III. CO-COMBUSTION OF COARSE ALTERNATIVE FUEL IN A SPECIALIZED STEP COMBUSTION SYSTEM

As shown in the first case, with a well-designed calciner of adequate retention time, (possibly also a combustion chamber)
and high calorific, well prepared AFR available, then the plant can burn a high proportion of relatively coarse fuels (TDF) and
has the chance to substitute an even higher amount of suitably prepared RDF. Nevertheless the RDF will always have to cover
the preparation cost of such high quality fuels as well as the costs of handling them at the plant level.
A. Philosophy of the step combustion system
Being permanently under pressure to cut energy costs, there is a strong trend to go for cheaper, lower quality and lower
calorific materials. This is where the philosophy behind the step combustor [1], [2], [3] system comes in: The specialized
combustor replaces the mechanical fuel preparation with a thermal treatment and comminution. The step combustor accepts
Alternative Fuels with a size of up to 300 mm that have undergone just a single-stage preparation. Therefore, roughly pre-
treated fractions with high heat value can be efficiently converted in the step combustion process.
The remaining char after leaving the step combustor to the calciner is entrainable in the gas stream. In combination with a
well-designed calciner, complete burnout will be achieved within a normal retention time. The process of the combustion
system connected to the calciner (see Fig.5) represents a significant simplification of the previously required mechanical
preparation of biomass or refuse. Due to this, a substantial reduction both in investment and operating costs of the fuel
preparation plant can be realized.
For an optimized and adapted combustion, the retention time in the combustion system is flexible and can be extended to
more than 15 minutes depending on fuel behavior and kiln process demands. Additionally, the air quantity and temperature is
controlled for an optimized burnout. The transport is controlled via air blast nozzles, thus no mechanical internal fittings or
moving parts are necessary inside the reaction chamber.

Fig. 5. Principle of the Step Combustor with connection to the calciner

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B. First installation
The first installation of the step combustion system went successfully into operation in a German cement plant. The
complete project including material reception, dosing and handling and integration of the step combustor into an existing
preheater/calciner plant (see Fig. 8) was finished and started hot commissioning in November 2013.
The 4800 tpd clinker plant with its integrated flash dryer, 3-stage preheater and calciner has successfully operated with
various Alternative Fuels for the past several years. The experienced operators are used to handling the conventional calciner
with 100 % AFR and are switching now to lower-calorific, less prepared and coarse (up to 300 mm) RDF materials with the
Step Combustor. Mainly coarse RDF is fed to the step combustor but also tar paper is burned (see Fig. 6). The combustion and
dosing system is designed for a tar paper substitution rate of up to 50 % of the coarse fuel.

Fig. 6. Fuels for Step Combustor (left: RDF; right: tar paper)

Two different fuels can be handled in parallel at the reception and feeding hall (see Fig. 7). Materials are fed to two moving-
floor hoppers by front-end loader. The moving-floors discharge to chain belt conveyor to safety vibrating screens. Oversized
pieces are rejected to the hall floor and removed. The correct material is conveyed and metered by weigh feeder before it is
collected on one common belt conveyor and moved outside the hall via a large, completely enclosed 130 m long Air-glide
conveyor which lifts the material to a height of approximately 45 m to the step combustor entrance (see Fig. 8).

Fig. 7. Installed RDF feeding and dosing system

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Fig. 8. Fuel reception hall, air-glide conveyor and preheater with Step-Combustor installation

The step combustion system itself is fed via a special designed two-way diverter to two large screw conveyors which are
continuously pushing the material to the first level of the step combustor without projecting into the combustion chamber itself.
Also, the drying and degasifying fuel protects the conveyors from direct contact with the fire inside the chamber. Therefore, the
screws are not stressed by thermal loads. Inside the combustor vessel, the fuel is ignited on the surface by hot tertiary air, while
it is slowly moved on the ignition table to the first nozzle-equipped step (see Fig 9). From there the material is control blasted
downwards from step to step. Through this continuous falling and blasting the fuel is burned, comminuted and releases its
energy for calcining.
The gas temperature in the combustor is controlled by regulating the feed of raw meal from the second lowest cyclone stage
of the preheater tower. The geometry of the combustor was analyzed and optimized using the CFD method, so that the velocity
profile is extremely uniform. This ensures that raw meal cannot fall out of the gas stream and the highest temperatures occur at
the end of the grate which assures rapid fuel conversion. Finally, the left over material (ash, meal and small unburned fuel
particles) mixes with the main calciner flow and finishes with complete burn-out.

Fig. 9. View inside the Step Combustor with part of the steps and screw conveyors

C. First experiences
After careful planning, the whole system consisting of the combustion system Step Combustor with coarse material
handling, dosing, conveying and injection went smoothly into operation at the end of November 2013. Fig 10 shows the
combustion system after installation inside the preheater tower and the connection to the calciner. By normal operation of all
fuel dosing around the calciner system, no harmful influence like higher CO levels were detected. After short kiln stops, the
time to restart can be decreased due to the thermal capacity of the installation.

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Fig. 10. Step Combustion system

Surprisingly the step combustor swallowed and digested whatever was offered to its feeding screws from the start. Not
surprisingly, however, the handling and dosing of the planned coarse and inhomogeneous material needed to go through a
certain learning curve: the fuel supplier had to learn to meet stable material specifications and the handling needed some
adjustment and optimization to cope with fluctuating material behavior and characteristics. In general the achievable capacity is
dependent on fuel quality and behavior. In the end, the plant operates an integrated handling and burning system for an
extremely large variety of different and coarse Alternative Fuels.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge for both mentioned contracts the contributions of all project members and employees
on side of the clients and suppliers and of all own colleagues belonging to the French and German company parts.

REFERENCES
[1] G. Kstingschfer and F. Ruoss, "Method and device for incinerating combustible material," EP 1 786 743 B1, Feb. 3, 2010.
[2] C. Beyer et. all., "Plant and process for manufacturing cement clinker," EP 1 783 448 B1, April. 8, 2009.
[3] H. Brinkschulte et. all., " Verfahren zur thermischen Behandlung von Zementrohmehl in einem Reaktionsraum," DE 10 2010 008 785 B4, Feb. 23, 2010.
[4] H. Baier and K. Menzel, "Potentials of AFR Co-Processing," presented at the 2011 IEEE conference.

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