TXI Hunter Cement Plant

Introduction
The TXI Operations L.P. Hunter plant is located in the foothills
of the Edwards Plateau, in what is known as the beginning
of the beautiful Texas Hill Country. It is also in the middle of
two major metropolitan areas of central Texas: Austin and San
Antonio. The plant has excellent transportation links with the
Union Pacific Railroad and the Interstate Highway system on
IH35, which runs the entire length of the State from near the
panhandle to the border of Texas and Mexico.
Delegates will be able to see the construction of a whole new
production line, which will increase the cement capacity from
0.9 million tpa to 1.4 million tpa. The expansion project involves
the construction and installation of a raw material storage dome;
Quadropol raw grinding mill; a 5-stage, single string preheater;
Polro 2-support rotary kiln; Polytrack clinker cooler; and a
two-compartment ball finish mill. The major equipment was
supplied by ThyssenKrupp Polysius.

Raw materials preparation

The onsite limestone quarry has 100 years of reserves. After
drilling and blasting, 2 x 100 t CAT 777 haul trucks are loaded
by a single CAT 992 loader. Clay is mined about 8 miles from
the plant.
The existing primary crusher will service both plants. It
is a 1000 tph stationary impact-type crusher that reduces the
crushed material to <4 in. The crushed material is conveyed
to two separate buildings (not at the same time) for stacking
and reclaiming. The existing plant stacks 2 x 20 000 st of
material. The new dome structure, which was supplied by
CST Covers, formerly Conservatek, houses a 40 000 st circular
stacker/reclaimer. The discharge tunnel beneath the dome was
designed by Dome Technology. The other raw materials and
additives used at Hunter include sand, iron oxide, gypsum,
slags and catalysts.
All the raw materials are stored under cover. The existing
storage shed is 130 x 875 ft. (39.6 x 266.7 m). A Schade
300 stph bridge type reclaimer is employed in this building,
while a ThyssenKrupp Polysius 1200 stph circular stacker and
750 stph reclaimer will operate inside the new dome. Online
analysis is carried out by a Gamma-Metrics unit.
Both plants utilise buffer bins to provide constant feed

u r s
to the roller mills. The existing limestone bin (300 st) is

Plant To
fed through a bar gate onto a 30 in. wide Merrick model
weighfeeder. This has a capacity of 3.5 to 35 stph. The 200 st
limestone/clay bin is equipped with a NICO Model FD
445 apron feeder, 48 in. wide x 12 ft long. The capacity of
the feeder is 190 stph. The 100 t capacity sand bin is fitted
with a Vibra-Screw, which live vibrates the bin bottom. The
capacity of the iron ore bin is 100 t.

e th e o p p o rt u n it y to visit The new plant will incorporate a 250 stph limestone

tes will hav
This year, delega es. Here,
bin, a 250 stph sand bin and a 200 stph iron ore bin.

C e m e x B a lc o n
ement and
All bins feed onto weigh belts to control the percentage

both TXI Hunter C lk through

of materials used to reach targets established by the

o k p ro v id e s a w a
Paul Maxwell-Co
laboratory.

each plant.
[IEEE-IAS/PCA Conference 2012] Reprinted from World Cement
 In the existing plant, raw meal grinding is carried out
by a ThyssenKrupp Polysius two-stage 36/18 roller mill with
a dynamic separator. It is driven by a 1500 hp, 1200 rpm,
4000 V motor through a Renk STK 225 gearbox, which
provides a grinding table speed of 28.6 rpm. The new plant
will operate a Polysius 330 stph QUADROPOL QMR- 45/23,
with a SEPOL 410 separator of 330 stph capacity driven by
a 200 hp motor. The mill is driven by a 4700 hp motor with
4 x 7 ft., 6 in. dia. rollers, each entering from outside the mill.
The diameter of the grinding table is 14 ft., 8 in. The mill is also
equipped with a 72 MMBtu/h air natural gas heater.

Coal crushing
The existing plant has two coal mills. Mill ‘A’ is a
C-E Raymond 643 bowl mill system that operates as an pecan shells, wood chips and non-hazardous liquid fuels. The
indirect system utilised in the preheater tower. Mill ‘B’ is a new plant will utilise coal, petcoke, whole tyres and natural gas.
C-E Raymond 633 bowl mill system that operates as a direct A Claudius Peters 820/850 5 compartment grate clinker
firing system to provide fuel for the kiln. A ThyssenKrupp cooler serves the existing line, whereas for the new line, a
Polysius RMK 21/10 mill with a 22 stph SEPOL 175 separator POLYTRACK mid-cooler roll crusher (rolls) rated at 3850 stpd
has been installed in the new plant to provide indirect firing with dimensions of 11 ft. 6 in. wide x 78 ft. 7 in. long has been
through FLSmidth Pfister feeders for the kiln and the preheater. installed.
An electrostatic precipitator is used for dedusting in the
Pyroprocessing existing plant, but the new line dedusting will be effected via a
A 4-stage Polysius DOPOL precalciner/preheater has been 335 000 acfm baghouse that is composed of 2880 filter bags.
running in the existing plant since 1978, together with a Polysius
three-pier PREPOL kiln driven by a 400 hp DC motor. For the Clinker grinding and storage
new plant, a 5-stage, single string Polysius preheater will operate Two 12 x 36 ft. two-compartment ball mills are employed in the
with a two-pier POLRO kiln rated at 3850 stpd and driven by existing plant, whereas a Polysius two-compartment ball mill
2 x 335 hp motors. with SEPOL 330/0 separator driven by 2 x 5700 hp motors will
The fuels used in the existing plant include coal (brought be used in the new facilities. The capacity of the cement silo in
in by train from Colorado), petcoke (by train from Wyoming), the existing plant is 40 000 t, and for the new line the capacity of
natural gas (pipeline), shredded tyres (brought in by truck), the silo for cement storage will be 52 500 t.
The cements produced at the Hunter
plant are: Type I/II, class A oilwell and
masonry N/S.
60 years +
In 2011, TXI celebrated its 60th anniversary. Under the leadership of Ralph Control systems
Rogers, TXI began operations in 1951 with four lightweight aggregate plants The existing plant uses the following control
and five production plants in Texas and Louisiana. In August 1959, the company systems:
announced plans to build its first cement plant in Midlothian, Texas. By the end ll What is considered to be a hybrid
of the following year, TXI had achieved full vertical integration in every step of operating system, much like a DCS.
concrete production, from the quarry face to refining the finished product. In
ll Wonder Ware Software interfaced with
1967, the company commissioned a third kiln at the Midlothian plant, making it
Quantum PLCs.
the largest cement producer in Texas. By the early 1970s, TXI was fully focused
on three industries: cement and concrete products, real estate and steel. In 1978, ll Operator work stations using ACP
the company began to build a new cement plant near New Braunfels, Texas. Thin Clients interfaced with terminal
In the same year, Chaparral Steel, a subsidiary of TXI, became one of the most services running a 2003 server. As well
efficient steel mini-mills in the US. as using a server, the Wonder Ware
In 1980, TXI implemented the use of recycled fuel at the Midlothian cement Terminal Services Factory Focus allows
plant and continued to meet or exceed its environmental obligations. At the same Home display.
time, the Chaparral steel facility was expanded and moved into a wider range of ll InSql historian for reporting.
structural products.
Starting in 2000, TXI has made significant investments in its cement The control system in the new plant
production capacity to become among the most efficient producers in the US and, is comprised of Siemens SIMATIC PCS 7
with the commissioning of the Hunter plant, will be in the top echelon of modern distributed control system and the
cement production equipment in the country. ThyssenKrupp Polysius POLCID master
process control system.

Reprinted from World Cement [IEEE-IAS/PCA Conference 2012]