A member of the F.L.

Smidth-Fuller Engineering Group

UNCONVENTIONAL UNCONVENTION AL WISDOM

O. L. Jepsen and B.P. Keefe, Fuller Company and Duc Vu, Lone Star Industries, report on Lone Stars unique approach to environmental challenges at its Greencastle plant, Indiana, USA.

Preface
Annually in the USA/ 20 million t of cement clinker are still produced by wet process kilns. This amounts to nearly 25% of all clinker produced in the USA. Buoyed by record demand, the strategy of US cement companies continues to be the expansion of production capacity. For the wet process clinker facilities, conventional wisdom dictates that reinvestment will occur by replacing the old style wet processes with the modern dry processes - either by conversion of the existing wet kiln to dry or by the abandonment of the wet kiln in favour of a completely new dry process line. However, under increasingly stringent emissions requirements, this conventional wisdom is being challenged particularly if the raw materials contain significant amounts of organic carbon and/or pyritic sulfur, as at Greencastle. This article presents a case study of the Greencastle plant, Indiana, at which, it has been demonstrated that the plants increased clinker demands could be much more cost-effectively achieved by conversion of the existing wet kiln to a semi-dry process rather than a completely dry preheater/calciner process.

storage and a blending and storage silo. Consequently, it is not unusual for the required equipment (raw material store/raw mill department/blending/ storage silos) to cost up to one and a half times as much as a new preheater/kiln/cooler, on an installed basis. Therefore, a system with only partial conversion of the wet plant might turn out to be more costeffective, especially if the raw materials are inherently high in moisture (e.g. > 5-7% H2O). However, in the case of Lone Stars Greencastle plant, it was a completely new factor that caused them to decide upon a semi-dry conversion of the existing wet line rather than a new dry process line: emissions.

Technical discussion
The first step in undertaking a technical evaluation of any expansion programme, of course, is to analyse the raw materials. The complete chemical analysis for Lone Stars Greencastle Plant is shown in Table 1. Reviewing the analysis in Table 1, there is a large potential for SO 2, THC and CO emissions. This is because these components are normally evolved in the upper stages of a modern dry-process preheater and, as a consequence, advanced technologies (such as scrubbers and thermal oxidizers) may be required to remove these pollutants before the systems exhaust gases are released into the atmosphere. However, before this conclusion is drawn, a study of the behaviour of the kiln feed (and, in fact, each raw material component) is warranted. Fullers Research & Development Laboratory, therefore, carried out an off-gas analysis of the kiln feed, the results of which can be seen in Figure 1. As a result of this off-gas testing. Fuller projected the following emissions levels for a new 5-stage preheater/calciner system:

Introduction
Lone Star Industries previously operated a one-kiln wet process system at its Greencastle, Indiana Plant. During 1998, the need to expand the Greencastle Plant from 650 000 to 1.35 million tpa became apparent to Lone Stars management. Recognising that this expansion should be made through technological modernisation, a new dry process preheater/calciner kiln line was originally preferred by Lone Star, and also Fuller, when they were asked to bid on the project. In contemplating any wet-to-dry conversion, an entirely new system for the production of raw meal, should be considered. This is because only a small amount of the existing equipment is compatible with dry processing and, even when it is, the value of this existing equipment is usually less than the production that is lost during its conversion from wet-to-dry processing. Furthermore, it often is necessary to install a prehomogenising buffer

4.1 Ib/st of CO 10.0 Ib/st of SO 2

Such levels, if emitted from the Greencastle plant, would trigger the installation of an SO 2 scrubber as well as a thermal CO oxidizer. As a consequence, the project would have to absorb a very significant capi-

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tal expenditure for emissions equipment. In fact, the project could then be considered potentially non-viable. Recognising that, in a number of past conversion projects, a partial conversion of the wet plant turned out to be more cost-effective due to the need for a completely new raw meal production system, Fuller prepared a cost estimate for a semi-dry conversion of the existing wet kiln. Since the first industrial installation of the semi-dry process at Rugby Cement in 1982, six other plants have been successfully commissioned by Fuller Company and/or F.L.Smidth. Over the years, thoughts have been given to designing future systems in such a way that SOX, NOX, NH3 , CO, and even blue haze emissions are avoided. With precisely these thoughts in mind. Fuller put forth the process concept shown on the flow sheet in Figure 2. As shown. Fuller proposed a calciner with a disengaging cyclone only. The off-gas from this one-stage preheater is then used for drying the slurry in an ET Dryer-Crusher. Only negligible amounts of CO, THC, and S02 are formed during the drying process. The dried raw meal is fed directly to the calciner, where complete combustion of the organic and ammonia compounds takes place. Without such a system, pyrite and THC would distill off in the upper stages

of a preheater system or the cold end of the wet process kiln. Moreover, with a semi-dry system (just as for a fully-dry system), the thermal loading is shifted from the rotary kiln to the calciner. As such, more fuel (i.e. more volatile) is fired into the calciner which serves to destroy more of the thermal NOX generated in the rotary kiln while still suppressing fuel NOX from being formed in the calciner. To summarise, the idea of this semi-dry conversion is that the drying of the raw materials takes place at temperatures that are well below volatilisation temperatures, and calcination of the raw materials takes place at temperatures that ensure complete volatilisation and combustion of the organic compounds. Moreover, the S02 evolved

Figure 1. Laboratory off-gas analysis of kiln feed.

FUTURE

135C

COAL 890C CALCINER

COAL

FUEL KILN SLURRY ET DRIER CRUSHER CLINKER COOLER

Figure 2. Proposed process concept for semi-dry system.

WORLD CEMENT December 1999

A portion of the slurry may be mixed with dry solids in the screw mixer. The resultant mixture is then crushed and Drying Additive Bin Circuit dried simultaneously in the hammer Fan mill. The raw meal is entrained by the Dedusting Cyclone hot air flowing through the dryer crusher into the Sepax-type separator. The Sepax sends any coarse particles Baghouse Fan back to the hammer mill for further Screw comminution. The dry raw meal is Mixer separated from the exhaust gas by a cyclone. A portion of the dry product Coarse is directed back to the mixer by means Return Product of a diverter gate while the majority of Bin the dry material goes to the product bin. Various additives (e.g. calcined raw Dryer Crusher meal) can be metered into the screw mixer to simulate the effect of dust Hot Air Generator circulation in large scale where an increase in the pH of the slurry could potentially cause the expulsion of Slurry Feed ammonia compounds. The purpose of the test was to show that the Greencastle slurry could Figure 3. Pilot-scale test rig for projecting emissions from a semi-dry system. be dried to raw meal in a dryer crusher installation and to determine the emissions of from the thermal decomposition of pyritic sulfur in hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, ammonia, and sulfur the calciner is absorbed into the free lime as clinker: dioxide generated by this type of drying process. The system was fed with 1 m 3 /h of kiln feed slurry at S02 + CaO + 1/2 0 2 = CaS04 Lone Stars normal 31% H2 O. The inlet temperature to The end result, then, is very low gaseous emissions the dryer-crusher was around 800 C and the exit gas without the complexity or expense of a wet scrubber temperature from the crusher around 150C -both and/or thermal oxidizer. temperatures being very close to the expected Since there are no other plants operating under operating temperatures in the full scale plant. A separate these special considerations for emissions controls, test was run with the addition of calcined raw meal to Fuller undertook extensive pilot plant testing to the screw mixer to ensure that no ammonia compounds confirm the emissions that could be expected from a would be emitted. commercial installation. During the test series, gas measurements of THC, CO, S02 and NH3 were measured. Fullers initial Pilot Scale testing suspicions were proven: a system designed in such a All materials behave differently and, while laboratory way would prevent these pollutants from being formed/ off-gas analysis gives Fuller a means for characterising liberated. During the pilot-scale tests, no detectable the volatile behaviour of each component, it is difficult quantities of any of these pollutants were found. to calculate exactly how much THC, CO, S02 and NH3 would be emitted during the drying process of an Commercial discussion industrial system. Therefore, a rather large scale pilot On the basis of these semi-industrial tests and Fullers test programme was conducted at the FLS test facility commercial proposal. Lone Stars management opted in Denmark using actual Greencastle slurry material. to go ahead with the project on a semi-dry basis. This The flow sheet for the test equipment is presented in decision was based on the emissions projections Figure 3. presented in Table 2, the energy consumption presented As shown, the test set-up consists of the following: in Table 3, and the overall comparative economic Hot air generator. analysis between the semi-dry conversion and a fully-dry 5-Stage preheater conversion as presented Screw mixer. in Table 4. Hammer-type dryer crusher. As shown in Table 4, operating costs for a modern Sepax separator. fully-dry process, which would normally be expected De-dusting cyclone. to be 25% lower than a semi-dry process, are actually Baghouse. only 10% lower due to the need to install
Baghouse Venturi

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advanced pollution control technology in order to attain permitable emissions levels. On this basis, it would take 20 years to pay for the higher equipment and construction costs for a fully-dry conversion and another 28 years to pay for the advanced pollution control equipment required for use with the modern fully-dry system. Table 4 presents capital costs based on a conversion from 2000 to 3500 stpd. Ultimately, Lone Star opted for a capacity increase to 4000 stpd. In any event, similar results to those presented in Table 4 can be expected. This speaks well for the viability of semi-dry technology to play an important role in shaping the U.S. cement industry as expansion occurs or as the retirement of wet process kilns takes place.

Conclusion
In almost all situations when building a new cement plant today, a dry process preheater/cal-ciner system is the preferred solution. However, Fuller Company and Lone Star are working together to challenge this conventional wisdom by working on the project to convert the Greencastle Plant from a 650 000 tpa wetprocess to a 1.35 million tpa semi-dry process. Fullers semi-dry technology is proving to be an environmentally sound alternative for increasing clinker production of wet-process kilns, which may otherwise emit large amounts of CO, THC, S02, and even blue haze if converted to modern dry-process with calciner and multi-stage preheater. Such a system is currently being engineered for Lone Stars Greencastle, Indiana Plant in anticipation of an April 2000 start-up. This system will make use of the well proven technological building blocks of the semi-dry process (e.g. ET dryer crusher and de-dusting cyclone) with a special emphasis on environmental emissions. Operationally, the system will behave exactly like a precalciner kiln. Expected benefits for Lone Star include a significant increase in production, reduced operating costs (fuel consumption/ refractory), and general modernisation of the existing kiln and clinker cooler. Importantly, the project is being done cost-effectively: the existing slurry grinding and homogenising systems are being reused and the need to install wet scrubbers and/or thermal oxi-dizers is being completely avoided. This is in sharp contrast to several other new expansion projects which choose to employ fully-dry process technology for processing raw materials similar to those found at Greencastle (i.e. high in pyrite and high in organic carbon). Unlike these state-of-the-art systems. Lone Star and Fuller have seemingly discovered an unconventional means to avoid the installation of such advanced pollution control equipment while still achieving equally stringent emissions levels. Palladian Publications 2000
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