CEMENT MANUFACTURING

PROCESS
 Definition
• A material obtained by calcination of calcareous (a material containing lime)
and argillaceous (a material which contain silica) materials.
• According to specification stand as ASTM (American society for testing and
materials)
“Cement is defined as a product obtained by pulverizing (crushing
followed by grinding) clinkers to which no addition has been made except
H2O.”
 Composition
• Chemically cement is a mixture of silicates, aluminates like aluminoferrites
with some amount of MgO and gypsum.
• Various complexes which are contained in cement are
• (2CaO.SiO2) Di Calcium Silicate (C2S) 22-24%
• (3CaO.SiO2) Tri Calcium Silicate (C3S) 50-58%
• (3CaO.Al2O3) Tri Calcium Aluminate (C3A) 10-11%
• (4CaO.Al2O3.Fe2O3) Tetra Calcium Aluminoferrite (C4AF) 8-9%
• (6CaO.Al2O3.Fe2O3) Hexa Calcium Aluminoferrite (C6AF) traces
• MgO <5%
• Gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O) 4-5%
 Various oxides
Cement contains various oxides as follows
1) CaO 60-66%
2) Total silica 20-15%
3) Alumina (Al2O3) 3-8%
4) Fe2O3 1-5%
5) MgO <5%
6)Alkalies <5%
 Color
• The gray color in cement is due to presence of complexes of Ferric ions in
O.P.C. (ordinary Portland cement).
• White cement is produced from those raw materials which contain
extremely low conc. of Iron and even like low conc. of Iron is converted
from Fe3+ to Fe2+ and eventually the product appears to be white.
 Raw materials used in the production of O.P.C

1) Lime stone
2) Clay
3) Gypsum
 Lime stone
• Lime stone on calcinations gives CaO which is an essential component of all the
complexes (silicates, aluminates and aluminoferrites) present in cement. Lime stone is
available in two lime forms.
High lime
• High lime is that lime stone which on calcination gives CaO of greater than 90% purity.
The high lime contain Magnesia (MgO) less than 5% and rest of the impurities may be
alumina, Fe2O3, SiO2. High lime is available in Pakistan in the area of Banu District
Kohat, D.G khan, D.I khan and Salt area of Mianwali.
Low lime
• Low lime means the limestone which on decomposition yields CaO of less than 90%
purity. Alumina & MgO is present to an extent of greater than 10%.
 Clay
• The complexes such as silicates, aluminates and aluminoferrites all contain
SiO2, & Al2O3.These are added into O.P.C by clay.
• Ordinary clay found in the area close to the mines of lime stone have high
quality clay.
• The clay need for all production of O.P.C should meet the following
requirements.
1) It must be high in silica contents
2) Comparatively low in the amounts of Al2O3
3) Low in the amount of alkalis
• In case if clay doesn’t conform to the required specifications of oxides
then the clay has to be beneficiated before use.
 Gypsum
• When H2O is added into the cement and it is not thoroughly mixed then
tricalciumaluminate picks up H2O and rapidly hardens. This phenomenon
is called as flash setting.
• The flash setting in cement is retarded by the addition of Gypsum which
forms the following complex (3CaOAl2O3.3CaSO4.31H2O)
• The time of hardening of cement is increased. Thus the Gypsum
containing cement gets hardened in comparatively longer period of lime.
 Fuel
• Prior to 1971 the cement industry used furnace oil as fuel in cement
industry. As an higher energy consuming industry in which energy is
required for crushing, grinding, mixing & running of various units.
• Prior to 1971 most of the industries in Pakistan used furnace oil as a fuel.
However after 1971 the majority of the cement industries was switched
over to natural gas.
• In the past few years the importance of natural gas was realized for the
production of petrochemicals and the cement plants were converted into
furnace oil fired units now most of the cement industry is being switched
over to using coal as a fuel.Coal is available in Pakistan in Baluchistan,
area of Makarwal (Mianwali district)
• The indegeneous coal contains high % of organic as well as
inorganic sulphur which in some cases is as high as 6.8%.
• High sulphur contents make the Pakistan coal inferior as the S
compound lower the calorific value of coal.
• If coal contains high contents of “S” is burnt, proportional higher
quantity of SO2 or SO3 will be added into the exhaust of flue gasses.
 Water

• If cement is produced by wet process large quantity of H2O is needed. The

H2O should not be saline in nature.
 Various steps involved in the Production of
cement
• Cement production involves following steps

1) Crushing & grinding of clay and lime stone.

2) Mixing of ground raw material to obtain an almost homogeneous mass.
3) Transportation of material ground raw materials to rotary kilns & burning
of raw materials to clinkers.
4) Grinding of clinkers in the presence of CaSO4.2H2O
• Step no 3 & 4 are present in all cement plants however step no 1 & 2 may
be carried out in two ways.
a) The crushed materials is ground & mixed in the presence of H2O to
obtain slurry containing 40% H2O and 60% solids. This method is called
as wet method.
b) If the crushed material is ground & mixed in absence of H2O & dry
homogenized mass is fed into the kiln for burning. The process is called
as dry process.
 Comparison between wet and dry processes
Wet process
1. Soft raw material is used
2. The crushed material is ground in the
presence of H2O to form a slurry paste.
The slurry is than fed in to the rotary kiln
for the manufacture of cement
3. Grinding is done in rotary ball mills in
the presence of H2O to obtain slurry of
ground lime stone & clay.
Dry process
1. Hard or soft any type of raw material is used
for the production of cement.
2. The crushed material is ground in dry and the
feed given to the kiln is in the form of dry
powder.
3. The grinding is conducted in the roller mill
which combines grinding, drying as well as
classification. In that roller mills particles of
dried size are collected through a
classification.
4. Fuel consumption is 4. Since water has not to be
comparatively more as the slurry evaporated so less fuel
added in the rotary kiln is 30-40% consumption.
H2O and 60-70% solids.
Substantial amount of heat is used
in evaporation of H2O
5. Exposure to the effect of heat is
5. Exposure to the effect of heat is less & hence the operating life of
for a longer period and hence the the lining of the kiln is more.
operating life of the lining of the
kiln is less.
6. The length of the rotary kiln is 6. The length of kiln is usually about
more which may be between 300- 150 ft which may in some cases be
400 ft usually and it may be 250 ft.
sometime even as long as 500 ft.
4. The cost of insulation is high. 4. The cost of insulation of kiln is
less.
5. Thermal efficiency is higher as 5. Thermal efficiency in the kiln
the flue gases leave the kiln at is less as the gases leaving the
about 1000 °C. rotary kiln are about 300 °C.

6. The loss of raw material in the 6. The loss of the raw material in
form of dust contained in the the form of dust is much
flue gas coming out of the kiln is higher and about 15% raw
less. It amounts to about 1.5% of material is lost with the flue
the clinker produced. gas coming out of the kiln.
10.The dust particles leaving with 10.Dust contained in the flue gas is
the flue gas are recovered by recovered in the same way as in
installing scrubbers, cyclone wet process.
separators and by installing high
density electrical precipitators.
11.The recovery of heat from the 11.The heat recovery in dry process
flue gases is less. is 20% more in this process.
 Crushing & grinding of clay and lime stone
• The limestone and the clay needed for the production of cement as
excavated from the quarries are crushed to approximately a particle size
of 100mm using crushers which are called as the primary crushers.
• The secondary crusher installed in the same area crushes the limestone
and the clay to obtain a particle size of about 10mm.
• In the wet process, the crushed lime and clay is fed into a rotary grinding
ball mill in the presence of water.
 Mixing of ground raw material to obtain an
almost homogeneous mass
• The lime and clay obtained from the classifier is received in a correcting
tank where the composition w.r.t. limestone and clay is adjusted. The
slurry should contain 65-70% limestone and 30-35% clay in it. In case
any of the two is less in quantity, the difficulty is made up by adding
required quantity of deficient material.
• Then slurry containing corrected limestone and clay is pumped to a dark
thickener where excess of water of any is removed which in turn is reused
for grinding in the ball mill. The slurry obtained from the dark thickener
should contain 30-40% water and 60-70% of the solids. This slurry is
then introduced into the kiln for pyro processing (heat treatment).
 Transportation of ground raw materials to
rotary kilns & burning of raw materials to
clinkers
Construction and working of the rotary kiln:
• The pyro-processing of slurry obtained in the wet method and the dry
ground raw materials in the dry process is carried out in a rotary kiln. It is
made from sheets of plain carbon steel riveted together to obtain a shell.
• In the old versions the rotary kiln tapered towards the top. Now a days
large no. of cement industry is using rotary kiln of uniform internal
diameter.
• In the old versions the rotary kiln was placed in a way that it made an angle
of 15 degrees with the horizontal which facilitates the movement of
material from the feed end to the discharge end.
 Construction and working of the rotary kiln
• Now a days the inclination of shell with the horizontal has been reduced to
about 5-6 degrees. To facilitate the movement of the material from feed end
to the discharge end, chains are installed inside the rotary kiln.
• The kiln rotates in the clockwise direction by standing at the discharge end.
The revolutions of the kiln about its axis ranges between half to one rpm in
some cases, while in the others it may be 1-3 rpm.
• This depends upon the size of the kiln which may be 300-400 ft in case of
wet process and up to 150 ft in dry process. From the feed end to the
discharge end the total time taken for the movement of material is between
2-3 hours.
• The temperature maintained inside the rotary kiln ranges between
300-1400 degree Celsius in dry process and
100-1400 degree Celsius in wet process.
• At elevated temperature, calcium oxide behaves as a very strong
base and it can attach the material of construction of the shell of
rotary kiln. It is therefore necessary to take appropriate measure to
increase the working life of rotary kiln. For this purpose, lining is
provided on the interior of the shell of rotary kiln.
 Merits of Lining in rotary kiln

A lining provided in the rotary kiln has the following merits:

1. The chemical attack of calcium oxide leading to corrosion of material of
construction of shell be eliminated.
2. The lining used is of a refractory material which processes very low
thermal conductivity hence heat losses from rotary kiln to atmosphere
would be reduced.
3. The ordinary fire bricks which contain a very high percentage of silica
cannot be used for the purpose of lining as silica contained in it may
react with CaO to form CaSiO2 which may solidify inside the kiln
forming rings which may obstruct the movement of material inside the
kiln from the feed end to discharge end.
• Usually high aluminium bricks produced from bauxite are used for
the purpose of lining. In the old version of the rotary kiln the lining
of 9 inches were provided from first 100 ft staring from discharge
end where as the next 110ft was lined with 7 inches thick brick of
bauxite. Now a days the kiln usually processes a uniform lining.
 Temperature Zones of Rotary kiln

Temperature Range Working

1. 100-300 0C 1. Evaporation of water. This zone shall not be

existed in dry process.
2. (a)Evaporation of combined water means
2. 300-600 0C chemically bound water.
(b)Decomposition of carbonate starts.
3. Burning of organic matter.
3. 400-800/900 0C
4. 600-900oC 4. Volatilization of alkalis.
Volatilization of chlorides.
Evolution of CO2 from CaCO3
and the existence of free CaO
start.
5. 900-12000C 5. In this zone, main reaction
between lime and clay takes place
which is further subdivided into
the following:
a) 900-11000C (Formation of
tricalcium aluminate and
tetracalcium aluminoferrite.)
b) 1100-12000C (Max. formation of
tricalcium aluminate and
dicalcium silicate.)
6. 1250-12800C 6. Commencement of liquid formation.
7. Further formation of molten mass and the
7. 1280-14000C formation of main constituent of cement i.e.
tricalcium silicate. In this range most of CaO
from the decomposition of lime stone gets
associated to form various complexes.
 Clinker Formation
• The product obtained due to high melting temperature gets converted into
the form of circular balls called as clinkers which vary in this size between
1/8 to 3/8 inches, the clinkers are collected in a cooler where they are
cooled using a draft of cold air. Wet air gets heated to 700-8000C and used
in the burning of fuel in the rotary kiln.
• The flue gases leaving at the feed end pass through an integrated system of
scrubbers, cyclone separator and electrical precipitators to recover the dust
particles of the raw material.
CLINKER GYPSUM
 Grinding of the clinkers

• The clinkers are ground in the presence of 4-5% gypsum to obtain fine
powder which may confirm to the following specification:
• ASTM
The 78% of the ground material should pass through 200 mesh sieve.
 THE CEMENT MANUFACTURING PROCESS
quarry

dumper
loader

Quarry face

1. BLASTING 2. TRANSPORT

storage at
crushing
the plant
conveyor

3. CRUSHING & TRANSPORTATION

1. BLASTING : The raw materials that are used to manufacture cement (mainly limestone and clay) are blasted
from the quarry.
2. TRANSPORT : The raw materials are loaded into a dumper.
3. CRUSHING AND TRANSPORTATION : The raw materials, after crushing, are
transported to the plant by conveyor. The plant stores the materials before they are Next
homogenized.
 THE CEMENT MANUFACTURING PROCESS
Raw grinding and burning

storage at Raw mill

the plant
conveyor Raw mix

1. RAW GRINDING
preheating

kiln

cooling

clinker

2. BURNING

1. RAW GRINDING : The raw materials are very finely ground in order to produce the raw mix.
2. BURNING : The raw mix is preheated before it goes into the kiln, which is heated by a flame that can
be as hot as 2000 °C. The raw mix burns at 1500 °C producing clinker which, when it leaves the kiln, is
rapidly cooled with air fans. So, the raw mix is burnt to produce clinker : the basic material needed to
make cement.
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 THE CEMENT MANUFACTURING PROCESS
Grinding, storage, packing, dispatch

Gypsum and the secondary additives are added

to the clinker.
clinker
storage Finish grinding

1. GRINDING
silos

dispatch

bags

2. STORAGE, PACKING, DISPATCH

1.GRINDING : The clinker and the gypsum are very finely ground giving a “pure cement”. Other secondary
additives and cementitious materials can also be added to make a blended cement.

2. STORAGE, PACKING, DISPATCH :The cement is stored in silos before being dispatched either in
bulk or in bags to its final destination.
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