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How to make cement-raw

material requirements
RUTH ALLINGTON

Ruth Allington
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Structure of the presentation

• What is cement and how is it made?
• Structure of the cement industry and relationship
to its main markets
• What is its chemistry and what is it made of?
• How much raw material do we need?
• How much of each raw material do we need?

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Cement manufacture
• Clay and limestone materials with a combined CaCO3
content at between 78% and 80% (and constraints on
Fe2O3, Al2O3 and SiO2), heated in a kiln to temperatures
greater than 1,200°C to produce CLINKER.
• Clinker ground finely in mills and with the addition of
gypsum and/or other materials to produce CEMENT.
• Cement clinker is predominantly calcium silicate.
Limestone is burnt, releasing CO2, and combined with
silica to produce calcium silicate (with iron and alumina
combined with calcium as minor constituents).

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The structure of the cement industry

and its relationship to its market
CEMENT WORKS ADJACENT CL INKE R GRI NDING PL ANT IMPORTS
TO RAW MATERIALS
RESERVES LASTING
20-30 YRS CE ME NT

200km
OTHER RAW MATERIALS
e.g. GYPSUM, IRON OXIDE,
SAND

COAL OR OTHER FUEL

DELIVERED TO CEMENT
WORKS VIA RAIL, ROAD,
OR (FOR GAS) VIA PIPELINE

RE ADY MIX ON-SITE MIXING BAG (MERCHANT) CONCRETE EXPORTS

DISTRIBUTED MARKET PRODUCTS
IN A 30km RADIUS

AGGREGATES (bulky commodity - high transport costs)

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Clinker chemistry
Example: Project “Grenze” (Poland)
SiO2 21%
Al2 O3 5.5%
Fe2 O3 3%
CaO 64%
SO3 0%
MgO 2.5% (must be less than 6% in cement)
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Cement raw material

requirements
• Raw materials required such that clinker chemistry and
key ratios are within the following target ranges:
– SR = 2.2-2.8 {S/(A+F)}
– LSF = 0.92-0.98 {(C-0.7SO3)/(2.8S+1.2A+0.65F)}
– AF = 1.6-2.2 {A/F}
– C3 S = 0.5-0.68 {4.07C-7.6S-6.72A-1.4F-2.85SO3}
– C2 S = 0.10-0.30 {2.87S-0.754C3S}
– C3 A = 0.08-0.12 {2.65A-1.69F}
– C4AF = 0.06-0.10 {3.04F}

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Relationship between raw

material chemistry and clinker
chemistry
When limestone is burnt in a cement kiln, carbon
dioxide is produced. The reduction in mass on
burning is known as the Loss on Ignition or LOI.
If LOI for a limestone were 40%, then an
alumina content in the dry limestone of 2%
would equate to an alumina content in the clinker
of 2% of 60% (i.e. 12%).
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Amount of raw material required

per tonne of clinker
The amount of dry raw material required per tonne
of clinker produced depends on the weighted average
LOI of the raw materials. The conversion factor is
given by 1/(1-LOI) and is typically around 1.5 - 1.6.
For chalk, the moisture content may be around 23%
(Ww/(Ww+Ws)).
On this basis, around 2 tonnes of as-dug raw material
is required per tonne of clinker.
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Equation 1 - Silica Ratio

Silica Ratio = SR = SiO2/(Al2O3 + Fe2O3)
Weighted average SR for three raw materials:
x% of limestone, y% of clay, and z% of oxide additives.
If:
Slmst = SiO2 content of limestone
Almst = Al2O3 content of limestone
Flmst = Fe2O3 content of limestone etc ……
SR of the raw mix is given by:

SRrawmat 
S lmst 
* x   Sclay * y  Soxides * z 
A
lmst 
* x   Aclay * y   Aoxides * z   Flmst * x   Fclay * y  Foxides * z 

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Equation 1 - Silica Ratio

Rearranging the equation:

 
SRrawmat *  Almst * x   Aclay * y   Aoxides * z   Flmst * x   Fclay * y  Foxides * z 

 Slmst * x   Sclay * y  Soxides * z 

SRrawmat * Almst   SRrawmat * Flmst   Slmst * x  SRrawmat * Aclay  SRrawmat * Fclay  Sclay * y 
SRrawmat * Aoxides  SRrawmat * Foxides  Soxides* z  0

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Equation 2 - Lime Saturation

Factor
Lime Saturation Factor = LSF =
(CaO-0.7SO3)/(2.8SiO2+1.2Al2O3+0.65Fe2O3)
Weighted average LSF for three raw materials:
x% of limestone, y% of clay, and z% of oxide additives
If:
Slmst = SiO2 content of limestone
Almst = Al2O3 content of limestone
Flmst = Fe2O3 content of limestone
Clmst = CaO content of limestone
SO3lmst = SO3 content of limestone etc ……
LSF of the raw mix is given by:

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Equation 2 - Lime Saturation

Factor

LSFrawmix 
C lmst  0.7 SO3 lmst x  C clay  0.7 SO3 clay y  C oxides  0.7 SO3 oxides z 
2.8S lmst  1.2 Almst  0.65Flmst x  2.8S clay  1.2 Aclay  0.65Fclay y  2.8S oxides  1.2 Aoxides  0.65Foxides z 

Rearranging:

LSFrawmat * 2.8Slmst  LSFrawmat *1.2 Almst  LSFrawmat * 0.65Flmst  Clmst  0.7 SO3lmst x
 LSFrawmat * 2.8S clay  LSFrawmat *1.2 Aclay  LSFrawmat * 0.65Fclay  Cclay  0.7 SO3clay y
 LSFrawmat * 2.8S oxides  LSFrawmat *1.2 Aoxides  LSFrawmat * 0.65Foxides  Coxides  0.7 SO3oxides z  0

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Equation 3

x+y+z=1

where:
x is the proportion of limestone in the raw mix
y is the proportion of clay in the raw mix
z is the proportion of oxide additives in the raw mix

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Spreadsheet for proportioning

cement raw material mixes
cement raw materials.xls
1. Enter raw material chemistries in first
worksheet. Worksheet allows for three grades
of limestone (high, medium and low), and later
calculations assume a mix of high and low
carbonate materials. It also assumes that the
fuel will be coal and that the coal ash will
combine with the clinker thus affecting its
chemistry.
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Spreadsheet for proportioning

cement raw material mixes
2a. Vary the bold italic numbers at the top of
page 2 of the ‘raw mix calculations’ sheet:
Vary raw mix SR until clinker SR is within
the required range
Vary raw mix LSF until clinker LSF is
within the required range

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Spreadsheet for proportioning

cement raw material mixes
2b. Vary the proportion of constituents in the
additive mix (in the example, ceramic clay
and iron oxide)
Vary the proportion of high carbonate
limestone in the high/low carbonate
limestone mix (if there are only two grades
of limestone, either enter 100% or 0% and
give the same analysis to both)
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Spreadsheet for proportioning

cement raw material mixes
2c. Whilst varying these values, have the
screen split so that the clinker chemistry
and ratios are displayed at the same time.
Continue varying the values until all of the
ratios and the clinker chemistry is within
the desired ranges.

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Skills and experience relevant to

cement raw materials evaluation
• Geological investigation and modelling
• Geochemical investigation and modelling
• Quality scheduling to meet defined chemical
targets for the raw material
• Quarry and mine design incorporating quality and
quantity release scheduling meeting the
requirements of the process

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Cement raw material resource

evaluation e.g. in a due diligence
study
KEY ISSUES
• Resource/reserve size and locations
• Resource/reserve chemistry
• Working/quality release constraints

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Data
• Published data - geological and topographic
maps, plans and aerial photography
• Official documentation
• Monitoring and site investigation data
• Data collected during site visits and in
discussion with Works staff

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Geochemical modelling
• Borehole records and geochemical
information availability
• Geological structure and relationship to
chemistry
• Approaches to modelling at the due
diligence stage

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Resource measurement and

classification
• Constraints on resource size
– Geology
– Geotechnics
– Hydrogeology
– Land ownership and permitting
– Working methods and existing mine layouts
– Quality release requirements

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Resource measurement and

classification
• Constraints on resource life
– Availability of balancing materials
– Expected clinker production rates

Ruth Allington