A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE RECENT CEMENT GRINDING SYSTEMS WITH PARTICLE-BASED INFLUENCES ON CEMENT PROPERTIES

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

BY BERKAN FDAN

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN CEMENT ENGINEERING

FEBRUARY 2011

ABSTRACT

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE RECENT CEMENT GRINDING SYSTEMS WITH PARTICLE-BASED INFLUENCES ON CEMENT PROPERTIES

Fidan, Berkan M. Sc., Department of Cement Engineering Supervisor: Prof. Dr. etin Hoten Co-supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. mer Kuleli

February 2011, 95 pages

The conventional cement grinding system, the ball mill, has very poor efficiencies in spite of innovative improvements. For this purpose, development of new techniques, which allow proper size reduction and uniform particle size distribution with less specific energy consumptions, have become a necessity. The aim of this study is to make a comparative analysis of the fairly new cement grinding technologies,

COMFLEX

Grinding

System,

Roller

Press

and

HOROMILL , at the same cement production plant with the same raw materials. In this context, CEM I 42.5 R type cement was produced with a fixed Blaine fineness of 3600 (100) cm2/g at three different grinding units. The same raw materials, clinker and gypsum, and identical feeding ratios, 95% and 5%, were used to produce cement. Accordingly, these different grinding techniques were inspected with respect to the microstructural properties of cement particles, and the relative chemical, physical and mechanical properties of products. It was found that the main cement grinding parameters, specific surface area and sieve residue, do not show expected relation and change with each grinding system due to differences in the size reduction technique. Moreover, strength and other hardened mortar properties are directly affected by the liberation conditions of reactive grains at grinding stages.

High capacity and low specific energy consumption i.e. the breaking and cracking efficiency of the roller press and higher grinding performance of the ball mill promoted the COMFLEX system. On the other hand, the roller press was clearly advantageous at early strength performances with moderate specific energy usages during grinding. Nonetheless, it also had drawbacks like higher water demand and earlier setting times (which mean higher hydration temperatures). When the wideness and sharpness of classification results were considered, HOROMILL gave better results with high circulation and efficient air

classification design; although there were weaknesses of the system such as lower capacity and higher specific energy consumption rate.

Keywords: Cement Grinding, COMFLEX, HOROMILL, Roller Press, Size and Shape of Cement Particles