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3. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The present chapter describes the technical aspects of the clinker grinding plant,
namely its capacity, imported raw materials, size and type of various equipment,
storage of raw material and finished product, systems design, the plant layout and
flow process.
The rationale leading to the site selection has been elucidated in Chapter 1, sections
1.3 and 1.4, and at section 2.9.1 of Chapter 2.
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Portland cement, sometimes also called Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is the most common type of cement in
general use worldwide. There are several grades of Portland cement that suit specific purposes.
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Table 3a indicates the general raw material requirement in tonnes per annum
(TPA), based on a targeted output of 1.0 MTPA of cement comprising the 3
aforementioned grades.
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All the raw materials required for plant operations will be sourced from the
company’s clinkering plants in China and India and will be transported overseas in
bulk cargo vessels.
The vessels will carry clinker, additives, slag and gypsum in the same proportion in
which they are expected to be consumed at the plant in Mauritius. Such dedicated
vessels have wide experience in the loading, transportation and destination
unloading of such materials, particularly with regard to pollution control
regulations of their destinations.
Each vessel will be equipped with three to four Grab cranes capable of operating
simultaneously during unloading operations (Ref. Appendix C on page 85).
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The vessels will have a transportation capacity of 40-50000 metric tonnes (MT)
equipped with four grab cranes of 30 MT capacities and a grab capacity of 12m3
each capable of unloading at a rate of 10-12,000 MT per day. Each vessel will thus,
on an average take approximately about 4 days time for emptying. The hourly rate
of emptying will be approximately 600 MT per hour.
Upon arrival of the vessel, four portable hoppers will be placed in position besides
the vessel along the length of the quay. Each of these hoppers will have a capacity
of 20 MT, suiting the grab capacity of the crane, and a gate at the bottom for
controlled discharge. 800 mm width portable belt conveyors will be placed under
each of these hoppers having a capacity of 350 MT per hour each.
The grab cranes will collect the material from the bulk cargo hold of the vessel and
discharge it into the hoppers on the quay, from where the material will be fed onto
the portable belt conveyors through the discharge gates. The portable belt conveyor
will in turn discharge on to one of a series of belt conveyors leading up to the plant.
Once the unloading operations of the vessel are completed, the hoppers and the belt
conveyors would be removed and stored at a suitable area so that the quay is
available for normal operations.
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Exportation
A 1.0 metre wide belt conveyor with a capacity of 800 tonnes per hour (TPH) will
be installed at one side of the quay. This belt conveyor which will be a permanent
structure on one side of the Quay will be fed by the four portable belt conveyors as
mentioned above and discharge onto another belt conveyor for takeoff to the plant.
The belt conveyor will be designed in a manner so as not to obstruct the normal
operations on the quay, whenever raw material of the plant is not being unloaded.
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The takeoff conveying system will consist of a series of belt conveyors with
transfer points in between, the route and elevation of which will depend upon the
alignment of the belt conveyor from the quay to the plant, ground space available
and possible obstructions and belt conveyor design considerations.
A preliminary study of the possible routes has been made and a possible route is
indicated at Appendix C on page 87. The existing road from Quay I to the site (300
m) is quite wide and presents one possibility for the conveyor route.
However a detailed survey will be carried out so as to finalize the feasibility and
design of the conveying system as there could be some obstructions on the
proposed route.
All belt conveyors will be 1.0 m in width, having a capacity of transporting raw
materials at the rate of 800 TPH and mounted on steel trestles and galleries. The
galleries will be fully enclosed and each transfer point will be dedusted with high
efficiency bags type dust filters (Ref. Appendix C on page 88 and 89)
The last conveyor in the series of belt conveyors will discharge into a steel hopper
located inside the plant. The hopper will be enclosed and dedusted with high
efficiency bags type dust filters. This hopper will have a gate for controlled
discharge and will load onto tippers which will transport the material to their
respective storage areas.
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The raw materials will be stored at two locations on the site; one for the clinker
with a storage capacity of around 40,000 MT, and one for gypsum, slag and
additives with a capacity of around 10,000 MT.
Pay loader
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The raw material will be stockpiled and a pay loader will collect the material from
the stockpiles to deliver it to the feeding hopper. The stockpiles would be around
6.0 to 7.0 metres high.
Whilst the raw material stockpiles will in the open, they will be covered with
tarpaulins duly secured so as not to be blown away with gusty winds. Since the
moisture content of the raw materials fed to the grinding mill must be controlled,
the stockpiles must be covered so as to protect them from rain. This also eliminates
windborne yard dust.
Additionally, a green belt cover will be developed around the periphery of the
plant, so as to aid in arresting fugitive dust.
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A feeding hopper will receive raw materials by pay loaders. A conveyor will next
transport the material to the mill hoppers. The latter will comprise three hoppers
handling clinker, gypsum and additive, in controlled quantities as shown in diagram
above. The conveyor will then transport this mix of materials to the cement mill for
grinding.
All hoppers and transfer points throughout the process will be enclosed and
dedusted by high efficiency bag type filters, as indicated in the drawings appended
to this Report.
There are several types of grinding mills, and based on the best technical and
economic options, for the present CGP a closed circuit ball mill has been chosen.
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The output from the mill produces both the required fine cement and partially
ground coarse particles. A system incorporating an air separator through a bucket
elevator and air slides separates the fine and coarse constituents. The coarse
product will be returned back into the mill for further grinding.
The air separator will be provided with a dust filter in series into which the fines
will be carried with the air stream, which will collect cement, the finished product.
The air from the cement mill will be dedusted in a bag filter before being vented
out to the external environment.
The cement from the mill will be transported by a series of air slides and belt
bucket elevator to the cement storage silos. As at the previous stages of the process,
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all the material transfer points and process venting will be dedusted with high
efficiency bags type dust filters.
A clinker grinding plant (CGP) for the production of cement is in fact a blending
process of finely ground clinker and additives. It is sometimes misunderstood for
an integrated cement plant which also manufactures the clinker. The integrated
plant process involves very high temperatures and the emission of high volumes of
particulates and gaseous effluent. This is not the case for a straightforward CGP as
in the present proposed project. The main energy input to the mill is the electrical
power to drive the motors that rotate it. And the bag filters, which are known to be
efficient, perform to the required emission standards.
One silo will contain ordinary Portland cement and the other blended cement.
Discharge points from the silos will deliver cement to the packing plant and to the
bulk discharge section. Dust emissions at discharge points are consistently checked
by filter bags.
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accuracy and consistency of weights in the individual cement bags (Ref. Appendix
C on page 95).
Cement from the silos will be extracted through a series of air slides to the packer
plant, where it will be fed to the packer hopper with an elevator and through a
vibrating screen. The cement from the packer hopper will be fed to the rotary
packer where it will be bagged into 50 Kg paper/HDPE bags.
For the export despatches, the 50 Kg bags will be stacked into 1.5/2.0 MT sling
bags by making a 5X6 high stack and wrapping the sling around the stack. Higher
or lower capacity slings depending upon market/customer requirement can also be
used in a similar manner.
The packing plant will be equipped with two high efficiency bags type dust
collectors for process venting and dedusting of all transfer points.
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Cement for the domestic market will be either packed in 50 kg bags or loaded
directly onto trucks for dispatch to warehouses/customers or will be loaded onto
bulkers for dispatch of bulk cement to domestic customers, depending upon
requirements.
It is envisaged that cement for the export markets will generally be required to be
shipped either in 50 kg bags, or 50 kg bags packed in jumbo bags of 1.5/2.0 MT
capacity or in bulk. All these modes of dispatch would require different handling
methods from the plant to the Quay.
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The sling bags, which will be packed in the plant and stored in a covered shed with
a capacity to store and handle about 10000 MT, will be transported by trucks to the
Quay and will be loaded onto the ships by their cranes.
Pipelines through which cement will be pneumatically conveyed from the plant to
the Quay 1 (or possibly Quay 3) along the same route as the conveyors has also
been considered and provided for.
All the handling operations of raw materials are proposed to be carried out on local
contract. These will include loading and unloading of raw materials and cement
into trucks/tippers, handling during storage, feeding from storage and transportation
within the plant and from the plant to the Port.
A broad description of the plant items to be used is listed in Table 3b. Their
selections are based on reliability and matching capacities between different
sections of the plant. Certain items are indicative and may be changed at detailed
design stages.
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Highly accurate weighing systems will be used for controlling input materials to
the cement mill, and for ensuring uniform and constant plant operations. These are
essential requirements for maintaining sound and uniform quality cement. The
laboratory will include the following equipment shown in Table 3d.
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The water requirement of the plant shall be met from the existing water supply
network of the harbour area. The water storage capacity at the plant will meet the
requirements for 3 days.
The power demand of the proposed plant is estimated at around 5.5 MW. The
Table 3f illustrates the power requirement for producing one tonne of cement.
General specifications of E&I equipment, machinery and systems are at Appendix
C on page 97.
Basically, the plant will have a total connected load of about 6.25 MW and an
average operating power of 4.5 MW. Fort George power station (Central Electricity
Board) has sufficient surplus capacity to meet the power demands of the proposed
plant, and arrangements will be made with the Central Electricity Board to finalise
the supply modalities.
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Dust collector of Mill circuit –No.2 24.48 7.
Bag house of Mill Vent 185 7
Bag house of Separator venting 185 7
Dust collector at Cement Silo Top – No.3 36.72 7
Water injection for Mill outlet 30 0.5
Bottom gate 1 7
Bottom gate 1 7
Packing plant 220 7
Margins 130.36
Total 900
The hours of unloading and storage of raw materials would be dictated by ship
arrival schedules, as in most similar industrial sectors.
The cement production would be dictated by local and foreign demands, and, by
the targeted 1.0 MTPA. Grinding operations would therefore necessarily be carried
out 24 hours a day through three eight hour shifts for 365 days a year.
The packing plant is planned to operate 24 hours a day through three 8-hour shifts,
365 days a year. Although this may vary according to market requirements, it is not
expected to fluctuate significantly. The port is manned 24 hours, 7 days a week,
and 365 days a year. Bulk cargo vessels operate on a 3-shift basis round the clock,
at the MPT from Monday to Saturday, and one shift on Sundays and public
holidays.
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