Precalciner Kilns

Systems &
Operation
OBJECTIVES
 To be able to:

 explain the evolution of preheater & precalciner kilns

 as process improvement

 explain the typical issues related to precal operation

 participate in precalciner operation trouble-shooting

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 TOWER = Preheater
Dehydration

A STACK OF CYCLONES ...

A VERY GOOD COUNTER -

FLOW EXCHANGER

Decarbonation
at 40%

KILN Clinker

Clinkerisation
Thursday, February 17, 20
22
 The PRECALCINATION

Another possibility to increase the performance of a Rotary

Kiln installation is to add a SECONDARY HEAT SOURCE,
upstream, which will fulfil a maximum of reactions.

The secondary furnace dries

then Decarbonates

This is PRECALCINATION, that takes place in a cyclone tower.

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 TOWER as a
PRECALCINATOR

Dehydration

A STACK OF CYCLONES...

+ A SECONDARY HEAT SOURCE

Decarbonation
d ary e at 90%
econ ourc
S tS
a
He Clinker
KILN
Clinkerization Thursday, February 17, 20
22
 REVIEW
PRECAL KILNS
 Derived from preheater kilns
 decarbonization is higher

 Burning fuel in the tower

 chamber

 separate vessel

 Precal combustion air requirement

 air supplied from cooler (tertiary duct)

 through kiln

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 CLINKER THEORETICAL HEAT OF
FORMATION
 The heat required to form clinker from dry raw mix
 ZKG formula (German formula):

Qt = 4.11 Al2O3 + 6.47 MgO + 7.64 CaO - 5.11 SiO2 - 0.60 Fe2O3

 If no clinker analysis: assume Qt = 420 kcal/kg ck

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 HEATING TIME VS SIZE
 Time required for particle to absorb gas temperature
100

40 µm
80 µm
100 µm
80

160 µm
60

40

20

0
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15
Seconds

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 THEORY

 Heat transfer from gas to suspended solid

 less than 1 sec

 Disassociation or decarbonisation
 slower than pure heat transfer

 completed in seconds

 Conclusion: heat consuming reaction (calcination)

should be completed though gas suspension

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 PRECAL KILNS

 Tower is a heat exchanger

 Mixture of gas and material
 heated by combustion

 Material injected into vessel

 material is separated in a cyclone after precal exit

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 HEAT EXCHANGERS
COUNTER CURRENT FLOW
 Two fluids heat along paths which are parallel and
opposite

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 HEAT EXCHANGERS
CO-CURRENT FLOW
 Two fluids exchanging heat through exchanger,
while traveling in the same direction

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 COUNTER CURRENT vs.
CO-CURRENT FLOW
Hot fluid
Temp (gas)
Cold fluid
(dust)

Hot fluid
Temp (gas)
Cold fluid
(dust)
Thursday, February 17, 20
22
CYCLONES
Heat Transfer area

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
Cyclone 5

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 THERMAL EFFICIENCY

If:
 Tgo is the temperature of gas at cyclone outlet
 Tmo is the temperature of material at cyclone discharge

Efficiency = 1 - Tgo - Tmo

Tgo
 Typically >95%
 Useful heat dependant on cyclone trapping efficiency

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 TRAPPING EFFICIENCY

If:
 Di is the dust load of gas at cyclone inlet
 Do is the dust load of gas at cyclone outlet

Di - Do
Efficiency = x 100
Di
 Typically
 95% top cyclones
 80-90% bottom stages - dependant on design

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 DESIGN OF LP CYCLONE TYPES

**Note sloped inlet to prevent buildup

Thursday, February 17, 20
22
 FIRST PRECALCINER KILN
SYSTEM (1966)
Raw Mill

Raw Meal Feed

Oil Shale

2 Oil Burner

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 PRECAL TYPE I

 Tertiary air, mixing with, kiln gas before precal

Raw mix

Tower

Fuel 2 Material
Precal
Cooler exhaust
Tertiary air

Fuel 1
Kiln By-pass

Clinker
Cooler

Clinker Air Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 PRECAL TYPE II
 Tertiary air, mixing with, kiln gas after precal
Raw mix

Tower

Precal Material

Cooler exhaust Fuel 2

Tertiary air

Fuel 1
By-pass
Kiln

Clinker
Cooler

Clinker Air Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 PRECAL TYPE III

 No tertiary air (air through)

Raw mix

Tower

Precal Material

Cooler exhaust Fuel 2

Fuel 1

Kiln By-pass

Clinker
Cooler

Clinker Air Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 PRECAL TYPE IV
 Two towers, one with kiln, other with precal gases
Raw mix Raw mix

Tower Tower

Precal
Material
Cooler exhaust Tertiary air Fuel 2

Fuel 1
Kiln By-pass

Clinker
Cooler

Clinker Air Thursday, February 17, 20

22
Richmond
Precalciner

Fuller- SLC-D-NOX CALCINER

Thursday, February 17, 20
22
 Stage 5 Richmond
Exit Duct
to Stage 4
Meal from
Stage 4
Schematic
Representation
Fuel

Tertiary Air

Meal
to kiln
Fuel
90+% calcined
Kiln Exit GasThursday,
22
February 17, 20
15 Mins

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 AIR SEPARATE KILN SYSTEM
(TERTIARY AIR SYSTEMS)
Advantages:
 Reduced specific gas quantity through the kiln.
 Feasible to design production units of large capacity.
 The thermal load on the burning zone can be reduced.
 The lining life is substantially increased.
 More efficient, smaller bypass.

Disadvantages:
 Planetary coolers are ruled out.
 Some systems air flow has to be regulated (tertiary damper).
 Slightly higher pressure loss.

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 AIR THROUGH KILN SYSTEM

Advantages:
 System is very simple.
 Any type cooler can be utilized.
 Possibility of this system to cope with certain circulating
phenomena.
 Substantial decrease of the thermal load of the burning zone
 Improved lining life.

Disadvantages:
 Maximum fuel input in the precalciner is not practical.
 The bypass will be of same size as in conventional preheater kilns.
 Burning in excess O2.

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 PRECALCINER SYSTEM
AS vs. AT COMPARISON

Combustion air Combustion air

through through
rotary kiln separate duct (tertiary duct)
Precalcination KHD (Pyroclon 5) KHD (Pyroclon R)
is performed in Polysius (Prepol AT) Polysius (Prepol AS)
the preheater

Precalcination
is performed in FLS
a separate IHI, Fuller (SF)
vessel Kawasaki (KSV)
Onoda/Kawasaki,
Allis Chalmers (RSP)
Mitsubishi (MFC, GG)
Kobe (DD)
Fives-Cail Babcock Fives-Cail Babcock
Thursday, February 17, 20
22
 PRECALCINING
PERFORMANCE

 The gas temperature exiting the calcining stage

should be as low as possible (maximum heat
recovery).

 Burning should be complete (low CO).

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 SPECIFIC HEAT CONSUMPTION

 Modifying existing preheater kilns with

precalcination usually results in a slight increase of
the heat consumption.

 On new installations the heat consumption is

comparable with conventional preheater kilns.

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 PRECALCINER
COMBUSTION DIFFERENCES

Main Burner Precalciner

 1100-2000°C, 2000-3600°F  850-900°C, 1560-1650°F

 Cooler/Heat Recovery  Tertiary - Kiln Gas
 Bed of Material (Kiln Load)  Material Suspended
 Suspension allows for good
heat absorption
 maintain lower
temperatures
 sintering must be avoided
(build-ups)

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 1.5 s
4.5 s

3.5 s

2.5 s
3s

2s
4s
40

COMBUSTION 30

88 µ residue (%)
20

 Particle size 10

 Volatile matter
 Air temperature 0
1 10 100
Volatile matter (%)
 Unburnt material
 hot spots

 reducing condition

 SO3 volatilization

 buildups
Thursday, February 17, 20
22
 BUILDUP ISSUE
 Volatile elements
 SO3

 Cyclone design
 poorly designed discharges

 elbow, slope of cyclone, etc.

 Temperature level
 excessive calcination in bottom cyclones

 spurite (2C2S-CaCO3) @ 800C

 crystallization and compaction leads to buildup

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
BUILDUPS
SO3, VOLATILES
Reaction SO2 with raw mix
80

60
SO2 trapped (%of total)

40

20

0
400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Temperature (ºC)

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 CYCLONE PLUG DETECTION
 Early detection is important
 quicker = less material in cyclone

 avoid material solidification

 Gamma detectors
 Pressure taps
 Tower temp. profile

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 PREVENTING BUILD-UPS

 Fluidization
 Air Canons
 Dust Load Increases
 Colder Burning
 Reduce Air Inleakage
 Bypass
 Sulfur/Alkali Ratio
 Precal Fuel Percent

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
HEAT EXCHANGE EFFICIENCY

 Material bypass
 Gas bypass

 Air inleakage

 Dust trapping efficiency

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 Cricket
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Gas to stage
above

Material Bypass Feed from

Stage above

 material escapes suspension

Material
 overall tower eff. reduced
bypass
 gas temp. variations
Tipping
 critical for bottom cyclone Valve
 insufficient mat. in precal
 compare temperature profile
 explore riser with long
thermocouples
 adjust splash plate

Feed to stage below

Thursday, February 17, 20
22
Feeding into a riser

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
Feeding into a riser

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 Suspension Preheater
 Poor Heat exchange
 Generally due to poor dispersion or short circuit
of material
 Dispersion achieved by either
 Splash plate (adjustable but prone to wear)

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 Suspension Preheater
 Splash box (outside riser but not adjustable)
 Short circuiting can be a problem at start-up when
gas velocity is low
 Long term solution is to fit a constriction below the
box to accelerate the gas

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
Example of bad dispersion

Material Flow

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
New type of Splash Box design?

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 Gas Bypass
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Gas to stage
above
Feed from
Stage above

Splash
Plate

Tipping
Valve
Gas
Bypass

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
Feed to stage below
 Gas Bypass

 Tipping valve problem

 visual inspection
 repair wear
 adjust counter-weight
 Reduces cyclone eff.
 Material flow disturbed
 material stays in suspension
 induce cyclone plugging

Counter-Weight

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
Segmented type of
Vortex finder(dip tube)

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
Check the inlet to ensure its angled
Flat Inlets are prone to build up,
This can effect cyclone efficiency and in
Bad cases causes surging.

Modern designs have sloped inlets

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 ANALYZING (DOCUMENTING)
A PREHEAT TOWER
 Temperature measurements at each stage (gas-material)
 Pressure measurements at each stage (inlet/outlet)
 Kiln parameters (production, fuel rate...)
 Material sampling
 Volatile element
 Unburnt material (quenching)
 Decarbonization
 Gas sampling:
 Air inleakage
 Cyclone dust efficiency (dust content)
 Volatile element
 Combustion (raw material/precalciner)

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 ANALYZING (DOCUMENTING)
A PREHEAT TOWER con’t
 Temperature profile
 Bypass of material

 Splash plate efficiency

 Combustion efficiency

 Gas analyses profile

 Combustion efficiency

 Gas mixing

 Flow measurements:
 Tipping valve efficiency

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
Example of required measurements
Measured CCR
T(OC) 814 -35
P(mbar)

C3A C3add C3add

Measured CCR
T(OC) 780

Measured CCR
T(OC) 782

Measured CCR
T(OC) 628

C4
FF

Measured CCR
T(OC) 855
P(mbar)
Measured CCR
T(OC) 880

Measured
T(OC) 1045 875
P(mbar) -6 -5.6
O2 %
CO ppm
NOX

Measured CCR
T(OC) 1145 1025

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
 BALCONES CASE STUDY
AT PRECALCINER
 System modifications to improve ring formation
problems
 dynamic separator in roller mill

 new main burner pipe

 improved overall situation

 Sampling; O2, CO & temperature profiling

 Amount of C4 unburnt material increased with %coke
 Combustion distribution issue (unburnt mat.)
 Recommendation: increase fuel fineness with coke
Thursday, February 17, 20
22
Fuller/FLS
Designs

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
KHD Calciner designs

Thursday, February 17, 20

22
Thursday, February 17, 20
22
Thank You

Thursday, February 17, 20

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15 Mins

Thursday, February 17, 20

22