Pyroprocessing 10.

Gas Firing

Pyroprocessing in cement kilns

10. Gas firing

In session 3 we have already talked about solid fuel delivery systems to the kiln.
In this and the next session we will talk about the equipment used to deliver other
commonly used fuels into a cement kiln.

Preheater Precalciner Rotary Cooler

Kiln

Cement kilns are fired on solid, liquid or gas, hydrocarbon fossil fuels, or the
fractions or bi-products from the refining of these fuels. Fuel for firing the cement
kiln is the largest single variable cost of cement manufacture and therefore the
choice of fuel for firing a particular kiln is based on the relative costs of the fuels
available locally to the cement factory.

The most commonly used solid

fuel is coal. Alternatively, in many
parts of the world cement kilns are
now fired on petroleum coke, the
solid residue from the refining of
crude oil. Firing a cement kiln on
solid fuel requires that capital
equipment for drying and grinding
the coal into a fine powder be
purchased and installed. The
technology of these solid fuel
grinding systems is described in
the Grinding & Milling course.

In this and the next session of the course we are going to talk about the
technology involved in firing a cement kiln with natural gas and fuel oil.

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Pyroprocessing 10. Gas Firing

Natural gas is a fuel with many attractions for firing

a cement kiln in situations where it is readily
available from public gas distribution networks. In
the terms of our course perhaps the greatest
advantage is that once the installation is in place
to deliver the gas to the main burner and
precalciner burners then there is little adjustment
required beyond regulating the flow of gas to
match the requirements of the kiln process. The
natural gas requires no preparation on the cement
factory before it can be fired in the cement kiln.

A further advantage is that natural gas flow to the burners has a very wide turn-
down ratio, from virtually zero to full power, meaning that it can be used for
warming up the kiln as well for normal operations. There are some special
considerations when using natural gas for warming up the kiln. Natural gas has a
higher ignition temperature, narrower flammability limit and slower flame speed
than coal or oil. In normal operations there is no danger of the natural gas flame
lifting off the main burner and going out due to the very high temperatures in the
burning zone. Flame stability is achieved by creation of an internal recirculation
zone just in front of the gas nozzle in the flame. Burning gas is carried back from
further down the flame to ignite the incoming fuel and anchoring the flame on the
burner tip. During warm-up of the kiln there is the danger of the flame lifting off
the burner and going out. There have been well documented cases of the kiln
system becoming filled with gas and subsequently exploding. For this reason
flame detection is normally provided with natural gas burners. Other safety
procedures have to applied when warming up a kiln with natural gas to guard
against such explosions.

We should also recognise at this point that there are some disadvantages
associated with firing a cement kiln with natural gas. We have seen in session 5
and will see in session 15 that the combustion product gas volume produced
when firing the kiln with natural gas is higher than when firing the kiln with coal or
fuel oil. Session 5 has demonstrated that this increase in combustion product gas
volume will increase the load on the induced draft fan of the kiln. Dependent on
the capacity of that induced draft fan this might, or might not, adversely affect the
production rate from the kiln. As a rule of thumb this increase in the combustion
product gas volume leads to a ~5% unit thermal energy consumption increase
when switching to natural gas firing.

A further disadvantages is that the emissivity of a natural gas flame is lower than
for a fuel oil or pulverised fuel flame. The definition of the emissivity (usually
written ε or e) of a material in Wikipedia is the relative ability of its surface to emit
energy by radiation. It is the ratio of energy radiated by a particular material to
the energy radiated by a black body at the same temperature. It is a measure of
a material's ability to radiate absorbed energy. In a cement kiln we are interested

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in the emissivity of the flame rather than a material. High carbon fuels such as
coal are preferred for kiln firing, because they yield a luminous flame. The clinker
is brought to its peak temperature mainly by radiant heat transfer, and a bright
(i.e. high emissivity) and hot flame is essential for this. In favorable
circumstances, high-rank bituminous coal can produce a flame at 2050 °C.
Natural gas can only produce a flame of, at best 1950 °C, and this is also less
luminous meaning that radiative heat transfer from the flame to the charge is
reduced, which can result in difficulty in combining the feed into the clinker and
attendant lower kiln output. A pure natural gas flame has an emissivity of only
~25% of a pure carbon flame, however, the dustiness of a cement kiln burning
zone means that the emissivity of a cement kiln main burner gas flame is much
higher than a pure natural gas flame and the penalty is nothing like as high as
this. (If it were no cement kilns would be fired with natural gas). Natural gas main
burners are also designed to produce a reverse flow zone resulting in a locally
reducing atmosphere, leading to agglomeration of hydrocarbons into longer chain
molecules and the formation of soot, which increases the emissivity of the flame.

A further disadvantage is that natural gas flames are longer than coal flames due
to the need to entrain more combustion air into the flame. This normally leads to
a longer burning zone of ~20% when a kiln is switched from coal to natural gas
firing.

These disadvantages combine to

make firing natural gas in precalciners
potentially more problematic.
Temperatures are much lower
increasing the danger of extinguishing
the flame. The need to deliver and mix
more combustion air means that
greater dimensions for the precalciner
vessel are needed when firing with
natural gas.

Natural gas is distributed through

pipelines at a pressure of 15~100
bars. This must be reduced to ~2bar at
the burners of the kiln (the exact
pressure will be one of the settings
regulated to adjust the combustion and
shape
of the
flame).
This
pressure regulation is usually accomplished by
expansion of the natural gas in two stages.

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Pyroprocessing 10. Gas Firing

In the first stage a transfer station reduces the incoming pipeline pressure to the
internal cement factory gas distribution system operating pressure of <10 bar.
This transfer station will include a remote controlled valve allowing the incoming
gas supply to be externally shut-off. There will be filters to trap any solids in the
incoming gas and prevent damage to the equipment.

The expansion and reduction in pressure takes place in pressure reduction

valves. It also has to be remembered that the Joule-Thompson effect means that
reducing the pressure of the natural gas from 100 bar to 10 bar will reduce the
temperature by 36°C. This will be more than the ambient temperature in many
parts of the world and therefore there is the likelihood of freezing. Electrically
heated thermal oil heating arrangements will therefore be required to prevent ice
formation. Redundancy of the equipment is likely to be built into this transfer
station to provide for security of supply when the station is undergoing
maintenance.

In session 3 we talked about the dangers of variation in the calorific value of the
solid fuels fired on a cement kiln due to varying ash content. There is a common
perception that the calorific value of natural gas is constant, but this is not
necessarily the case. (Of course it should be if the natural gas was composed of
pure methane, CH4, but that is not the case). If we look on Wikipedia again we
can see that the higher heating value of natural gas can vary from 33,320 kJ/m3
in the Netherlands to 42,000 kJ/m3 in Algeria. Were natural gas to be pure
methane then the higher heating value would be ~39,650 kJ/m3 therefore we
must assume that natural gas in the Netherlands contains some inert carbon
dioxide, CO2, or nitrogen, N2, and that natural gas in Algeria contains a significant
amount of higher hydrocarbons, i.e. has a high gasoline content. It is in fact
normal for natural gas to contain ~7% of inert CO2 and N2 and for the higher
carbon, gasoline fractions to be separated out from the gas as they are more
valuable. The natural gas from the Netherlands is therefore the more typical. As
a cement manufacturer and major natural gas consumer we would want these
variations to be reflected in the price we were paying for our gas.

From a kiln operational perspective the

important consideration is that there
should be no short-term variation in the
calorific value of the natural gas
delivered to the kiln. It is reported that
the calorific value of natural gas from
distribution pipelines can vary by +/-350
kJ/m3, or +/-1%. This variation is of the
same magnitude as the variation in
mass delivery from accurate solid fuel
feeders to cement kilns (where the
calorific value of the solid fuel might
itself be varying). Therefore, these variations in calorific value of the natural gas

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delivered to the cement factory and kiln can probably be ignored. From a cost
perspective we might feel that installation of an on-line calorimeter is justified to
monitor this variation, but our gas supplier would need to be willing to accept the
calorific value measured by that on-line calorimeter and adjust their prices
accordingly.

Within the cement factory further

natural gas pressure reduction will
take place at the points where the gas
is consumed, i.e. at the kiln hood and
precalciner. Again there will be shut-off
valves, filters and pressure reduction
valves, but heating will not be required
as the pressure reduction at this point
and the accompanying Joule-
Thompson cooling is unlikely to
exceed 3°C. The important task at this
point is to even out any supply
pressure fluctuations and provide a
consistent flow of gas to the kiln.

Certain safety considerations must also be incorporated. The gas is normally

delivered to the burner by flexible hoses. Any bursting of those hoses is
protected by gas pressure monitoring and the provision of safety stop valves
(with perhaps two such safety stop valves in series).

With natural gas there must also be consideration of the possibility of leaks and
their detection. This means that any buildings containing natural gas distribution
pipelines must have sufficient ventilation, which is not normally a problem on a
cement factory. One possible problem area would be the tunnel between satellite
coolers leading to the main burner of cement kiln provided with satellite coolers.
Gas detectors can be installed in these tunnels to detect any leaks of gas.
Detection of leaks is normally provided for by addition of a minute amount of an
odorant such as t-butyl mercaptan, with a rotting-cabbage-like smell, to the
otherwise colorless and almost odorless gas, so that leaks can be detected
before a fire or explosion occurs. Sometimes a related compound, thiophane is
used, with a rotten-egg smell.

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