OPTIMIZATION OF PLANT OPERATIONS & TROUBLE SHOOTING

B.L.Saini, S.Katiyar & B.P.Singh

Dalla Cement Factory

(A Unit of Jaiprakash Associates Ltd. India)

Introduction

Jaiprakash Associates Ltd. Acquired sick Dalla Cement Factory from U.P. Cement Corporation Ltd. In
the year 2006 and implemented a comprehensive rehabilitation & modernisation programme to revive
the Plant which had been out of operation for 10 years.

The existing Kiln K#4 1200 TPD capacity with 4 stage suspension Preheater, Ball Mills upgraded for
1700 TPD with installation of RPS-10 Roll Press for Raw Material grinding and Installed a new 4500
TPD brown field clinkerisation unit K#5 with 6 stage Preheater with Calciner & Vertical Mills, new
generation Polytrack Cooler supplied by M/s Polysius Germany / ThyssenKrupp Industries Ltd. India.
K-4 Unit I & K-5 Unit II commissioned in the year 2008 & 2009 respectively.

Effective planning, execution, monitoring and control, continual modification / improvements, quality
maintenance & team work made it possible to operate the plants at 100% capacity utilization since last 3
years & achieved significant reduction in Specific Heat & Electrical Energy consumption.

Dalla Cement Factory bagged the following National Awards within a short span of four years plant
operation.

i) 1st Prize National Energy Conservation Award 2011 from Bureau of Energy Efficiency &
Ministry of Power Government of India.
ii) CII National Energy Management Award 2012 & Certificate for Energy Efficient Unit.
iii) CII National Energy Management Award 2013 & Certificate for Excellent Energy Efficient Unit.

In pursuit of optimization of plant operation the methodology adopted has been by way of process
parameters measurement & diagnostic study, logistic approach, upgradation, modification/improvements,
energy conservation measures taken with innovative ideas making best use of the available resources &
infrastructure to proven down the cost, higher plant reliability, performance & productivity.

Up gradation / Modification / Improvement / Energy Conservation Measures Taken

1. K#4 Kiln (Line -I)

S.N. Modification / Improvement
K#4 ball mill up gradation with installation of KHD RPS-10 Roll Press for limestone grinding
1
to increase Raw Meal and clinker production.
2 In-situ surface grinding of Kiln Support Rollers and Tyres to increase stability of Kiln.
3 Hot Kiln Alignment of Kiln to improve stability and better operational efficiency.
Cement Mill No.2 up gradation with high efficiency hi-chrome shell liners, flow control
4
diaphragm & feeding system to increase mill output & reduce power consumption.
Installed MV Drives in K#4 Raw Mill ESP fan & Raw Mill Vent Fan to reduce pressure drop
5
across damper and power saving.
6 Installed VFD's for Vent Fans 541FN01, 541FN02 & 591FN1 Bag Filter Fans for power saving.
2. K#5 Kiln (Line -II)
S.N. Modification / Improvement
K-5 Raw Mill: In-house Installation of Raw Mill reject recirculation system to feed the reject
1
material back to mill feeding system to avoid the wastage of Lime stone.
Installation of conveyor belt in place of pneumatic conveying for Raw Meal transfer from K-4
2
Roller Press to K-5 silo feed Bucket Elevator for power saving.
Installation of LS crusher, Stacker & Reclaimer nearer to mines and plant to reduce
4
transportation cost by Rs. 35/MT of Raw Material.
In-Situ reconditioning of Raw Mill Cyclone fan (cap.7,40000m3/hr, 3300KW) shaft worn out
5
DE bearing seat area and operated at its original capacity.
6 Hot Kiln Alignment has been done to improve stability and better operational efficiency.
Installed slip power recovery system (SPRS) for K#5 Reverse Air Bag House Fan and Preheater
7
Fan for better process control & power saving.
Installed water spray gas cooling system in K#5 Polytrack Cooler to control ESP inlet gas
8
temperature at higher output and power saving.
Continuous 92 days running of K-5 kiln adopting better maintenance practices, process
9
optimization & control.
K-5 : Modification In Preheater top cyclones 6A1/A2/B1/B2 and cyclone 1A /1B gas ducts
10
horizontal portion to eliminate frequent material surging problem in PH.

Case Study-I
RAW MILL REJECT RECIRCULATION SYSTEM

In the original system

engineering K#5 VRM
(Raw Mill) feed
material (Limestone +
Additives) is
transported by an
inclined belt conveyor
& discharged through
rotary gravel gate &
feed chute in the
vertical roller mill for
grinding. During
running of the Raw Mill
whenever any foreign
material is detected by
the metal detector the
feed material is diverted
to reject bin.

The accumulated
material in reject bin
approx.50MT was
taken out & transported regularly for which a pay loader & Hywa were engaged for 2 Hrs. daily.
Installed a belt conveyor with Metal Detector at reject bin bottom to recirculate the reject bin material for
grinding in the VRM. As indicated the sketch.
Case Study-II
Modification of Raw Meal Transfer System

K#5 unit Raw Mill (VRM)

had not been performing at
its rated capacity due to
increase in Raw Material
(Limestone) hardness bond
index 13.5-14.0 KWH/short
T. Where as we have
additional capacity in K#4
unit after up-gradation of
Ball Mill with KHD RPS-10
Roll Press for raw material
grinding in Jan-2011.

To supplement this short fall

Raw Meal had been
transferred from K#4
Storage Silo to K#5 C.B Silo
via Pneumatic Conveying
system, which consumes high specific power (4.21 KWH/T of material), High maintenance cost
(Rs.2.51/T of material) and low TPH (80-90 TPH). Transfer rate due to location of silos at a distance.

Benefit / Saving:

1. Specific Power consumption has been reduced from 4.21 to 0.32 KWH/T of material.
2. Maintenance cost has been reduced from Rs.2.51 to Rs.0.50 / T of material.
3. Transfer rate has been increase from 85 to 115 TPH.

Cost of Modification = Rs. 50.55 Lacs.

Saving/ Annum = Rs. 85.71 Lacs
Pay Back Period = Total Cost of Modification (I) / saving per annum (II)
= 8 Months.
Case Study III

IN-SITU RECONDITIONING OF RAW MILL FAN SHAFT

In new clinkerisation K#5 Unit II for Raw Material grinding, M/s Polysius Germany (OEM) has supplied
Vertical Roller Mill RM-54/27/460 & Raw Mill cyclone fan of the Specification cap.740000 m3/Hr.
static pressure 105 mbar with HT motor rating (Kw/rpm) 3300/600-1000.

While the fan was in operation, the fan tripped two

times due to high vibration. The fan was stopped &
detailed inspection of Impeller, shaft, bearings
alignment was carried out. During inspection, it was
observed that drive end side bearing inner race slipped
on the shaft due to poor interference fit between shaft
& bearing inner race. However continued the Fan
operation adopting In-Situ cold repair of the shaft with
Loctite Steel Putty.
Since spare assembly of Fan Impeller with shaft was not available at site & to get it repaired after
dismantling the Fan in Heavy Engineering Workshop, transportation, reassembly will take about one
month resulting into long stoppage of the plant & heavy production loss.

Under these prevailing circumstances, it has become imperative to think out of box to find better
technique & methodology for shaft repair & reliability.

We planned & successfully completed In-Situ reconditioning of this critical Fan Shaft during planned
Kiln shutdown for refractory & other maintenance jobs in Feb.2013 adopting build up of shaft worn out
area with Electrode 680 CGS. Machining the bearing seat area & final grinding and polishing carried out
by M/s MPA Power Ltd. Gurgaon with special machine which performs grinding operation on stationary
shaft. After this repair the Fan was put back into operation & since Feb.2013 the Fan is operating with
normal operational parameter & vibration level of 1.20mm/Sec. DE & 1.15mm/Sec. at NDE bearing.

CONCLUSION:

The Indian Cement Industry had vibrant growth in last decade and has acquired technical competency to
operate and maintain large size plants efficiently comparable to best plants in the world adopting newer
technologies to improve productivity.

Process Optimization and Performance Improvement has become inevitable in Cement Industry not only
for reduction in cost of energy, maintenance and to improve quality, but also to preserve the Environment
and optimal use of fast depleting natural resources.