Available online at wwwsciencedirect.com nox Gomecr: APPLIED ENERGY ELSEVIER Applied Energy 74 (2003) 95-100 www elsevier.com/locate/apenergy Alternative fuels for the cement industry Eugeniusz Mokrzycki*, Alicja Uliasz- Bochenczyk Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Wybickiego 7 Str, 30-950 Krakow 65, PO Box 49, Poland Abstract One of the main methods for utilising waste is its use as an energy source. Waste is only suitable for use as a fuel if it has a chemical energy content. This energy content depends most of all on the size of the (organic) combustible fraction and on the moisture content. To better employ the chemical energy contained in wastes, alternative fuels have been developed which are mixtures of different wastes. Some of these alternative fuels are: RDF, BRAM, SIBRCOM, INBRE, PAKOM, ete. Research carried out for a number of years in cement plants all over the world has clearly shown the advantages of waste utilisation in clinkering processes and cement production. The decisive factors promoting the use of cement kilns for the utilisation of wastes are: the high incineration temperature, the large area of the furnace, the significant length of the kiln and the alkaline environment inside the kiln, © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Alternative fuels; Municipal and industrial waste; Cement plants 1. Introduction Highly-developed countries use low-waste or waste-free technologies as well as keep searching for waste treatment methods that would be (i) friendly to the envir- onment and (ii) helpful in recovering energy from waste. The cement industry also participates in the efforts to find a solution to the problem of waste management -intensiveness of cement production processes and increasing fuel prices, combined with fuel deficit, force the cement industry to search for technologies based on waste-derived and alternative fuels. Depending on local conditions, such as incineration technology, access to waste and economic calculation, cement plants use various types of alternative fuels. * Corresponding author. Fax: +48-12-632-35-24. E-mail address: mokrzy@min-pan,krakow.pl (E. Mokrzycki, (0306-2619/02/S - see front matter © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd, All rights reserved. PIT: $0306-2619(02)00135-696 E, Mokrzyeki, A, Uli Bocheiiczyk { Applied Energy 74 (2003) 95-100 2. Use of alternative fuels in rotary cement kilns The process of clinker burning in a rotary kiln creates favorable conditions for the use of alternative fuels. These include [1]: high temperature, alkaline environment, oxidizing atmosphere, the lack of incineration wastes as all metallic and non-meta lic incineration products undergo a complete absorption, large heat-exchange sur- face, good mixture of gases and products, and sufficient time (over 2 s) for the disposal of hazardous wastes Other advantages of a cement kiln are the following: * waste treatment does not require any additional source of heat (as in the of a traditional incineration plant), there is no increase in discharges to the atmosphere, it is much cheaper to adapt a cement kiln to waste incineration than build a new incineration plant, and © clinker burning process complies with all requirements of the EU Directive 92/C130/01 concerning hazardous waste incineration. se A diagram of temperatures of gases and materials (Fig. 1) shows the required time for waste disposal (over 2 s). The use of waste-derived fuel in the process of clinker production also has certain limitations, such as [2] * technological limitations related to the volume of waste-derived fuel, which may be at one time fed to the kiln. The waste volume depends on the eflective incineration surface, ie. the kiln’s length and capacity The use of waste-derived fuel must not have a negative impact on the kiln running or clinker quality [3]; © limitations related to environmental safety. Waste-derived fuels should be used in accordance with strictly defined rules so as to ensure that incineration products do not have an adverse impact on the process of clinker production, that is do not affect cement quality or cause pollution of gases discharged to the atmosphere. 3. Alternative fuels used in the cement industry Alternative fuels are the solid, liquid, municipal or industrial wastes used in industrial and power plants as a substitute for conventional fuels. Alternative fuels have been in use for more than 10 years now and are gaining an increasing share in the global energy market [3]. Alternative fuels used in the cement industry are usually classified according to the concentration criterion into [4,5] gascous (examples: landfill gas, pyrolysis gas), # liquid (examples: pasty wastes, solvents, waste oils, greases), «solid (examples: animal powder, bark, paper. tyres, ruber wastes, plastics, fluff).E, Mokrzyeki, A. Uliasz- Bocheticzyk | Applied Energy 74 (2003) 95-100 7 "GASEOUS (ANDSLLGAS ‘Gau (SouveNTs, O08 ee) A So, (GAS TEMPERATURE ——o* MATERIAL TEMPERATURE ‘TEMPERATURE fas] GASRETENTION TIME 10s, MATERIAL RETENTION TINE ‘20min Fig. 1. A diagram of the temperatures of gases and materials in a cement kiln [1, 12,18}. According to the classification by Cembureau, alternative fuels are divided into the following five classes [6]: © class 1: gaseous alternative fuels (examples: refinery waste gas, landfill gas), ® class 2: liquid alternative fuels (examples: low chlorine spent solvents, hydraulic oils),98 E, Mokrzyeki, A, Uliase: Bocheiiczyk { Applied Energy 74 (2003) 95-100 © class 3: pulverized, granulated or finely-crushed solid alternative fuels (exam- ples: sawdust, dried sewage sludge, granulated plastic, animal flours, fine crushed tyres), © class 4: coarse-crushed solid alternative fuels (examples: crushed tyres, rubber/ plastic waste, wood waste, reagglomerated organic matter), © class 5: lump alternative fuels (examples: whole tyres, plastic bales). Solid alternative fuels may be divided into four groups [7]: © group 1: solid, dry fuels of relative fine size, which do not adhere (dimensions: <2 mm, humidity: < 10-15%); for example: wood dust, bark powder, rice husk, © group 2: solid, dry fuels of coarse size, which do not adhere (dimensions: <20 mm, humidity: <10-15%); for example: plastic waste, wood chips, waste wood, © group 3: solid, dry fuels which tend to stick (dimension: < 10-15%); for example: animal powder, impregnated wood dust, © group 4:mixtures of different lumpy fuels (dimensions: <200 mm, humidity: <20%); for example: fluff, paper, cardboard. <20 mm, humidity: There is also another classification of solid and liquid fuels used in the cement industry. Solid fuels are divided into three categories [8] vegetable compounds or natural products (oil shale, peat, barks, sawdust, etc.), synthetic products (used tyres, rubber waste, waste plastics, etc.), others (parts of shredded cars, fuels derived from rejects, household garbage, ete). Liquid fuels are divided into: # liquid substitute fuels—easily decomposed, slightly toxic (acid tar, oil resi- dues, etc.), # liquid substitute fuels, stable toxic (polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), poli- chlorinated biphenyl (PCB), etc.) The burning of various types of wastes requires the detailed control and adapta- tion of technological processes to each type of waste. For this reason, alternative fuels are derived from wastes having similar composition and properti The following properties should be examined before the burning of alternative fuels is undertaken [6.9] physical state of the fuel (solid, liquid, gaseous), content of circulating elements (Na, K, Cl, $), toxicity (organic compounds, heavy metals), composition and content of ash,E, Mokrzyeki, A, Uliase: Bochericzyk { Applied Energy 74 (2003) 95-100 99 content volatiles, calorific value, physical properties (scrap size, density, homogeneity), grinding properties, humidity content, proportioning technology Asa mixture of various wastes, alternative fuels must be produced in conformity with certain rules [10] * the chemical quality of the fuel must meet regulatory standards assuring environmental protection, * the calorific value must be stable enough to allow the control of the energy supply to the kiln; the objective being to arrive at a fairly homogeneous composition, and © the physical form must allow easy handling of the material for transporation and a stable, adjustable flow of material in the cement plant. In Western Europe and in Poland, special types of alternative fuels derived from a mixture of wastes have been developed. These include [11-15]: RDF fuel (Refuse Derived Fuel), BRAM fuel (Brennsteff aus Mill), INBRE fuel (Industrial Brennsteff), PAKOM fuel, other fuels: oil-derived, alternative, hybrid, ete. 4, Conclusions While cement plants do not themselves produce wastes, they use wastes from other branches of industry as additives or alternative fuels. This is possible owing to the technological conditions in rotary kilns. Many years of experience have shown that the use of wastes as alternative fuels by cement plants is both ecologically and economically justified. The use of alternative fuels will help reduce the costs of cement production. The average energy demand for the production of I ton of cement is about 3.3. GJ, which corresponds to 120 kg of coal with a calorific value of 27.5 MJ per kg [16]. Energy costs account for 30-40% of the total costs of cement production. The substitution of alternative fuels for fossil fuels will help reduce energy costs, providing a competitive edge for a cement plant using this source of energy. Furthermore, thanks to waste manage- ment, less waste will have to be dumped or burnt, which will mean less dumping sites. Therefore, the use of waste-derived alternative fuels by cement plants will be also beneficial to the environment. The conditions in rotary kilns, such as high100 E, Mokrzyeki, A, Uli Bocheiiczyk { Applied Energy 74 (2003) 95-100 temperature, the high speed of the gas stream and the long particle-storage period, guarantee that the use of alternative fuels is ecologically safe. According to the European Cement Association, CEMBUREAU [17], the figures for the proportion of alternative fuels used in clinker kilns between 1990 and 1998 in particular countries were as follows: Belgium—18%; France—52.4%; Italy—4.1%; Portugal—t.3%; Spain—1%; Sweden—2%; Switzerland—25%; Czech Republic— 9.7%; Great Britain—20%; Germany—15%; Poland—1.4% References [1] Duda J. Energetyczne i ekologiczne aspekty wykorzystanie odpadéw przemystowych i komunalnych w procesie produkeji cementu. Midzynarodowa Konferencja “Wykorzystanie odpadéw przemysto- wych i komunalnych w procesie produkeji cementu”. Opole, Poland, 1998. [2] Kowalik T. Spalanic odpadéw w piccu cementowym. Srodowisko 1997:22. syrck H, Nowak E, Ekologicznie ezyste spalanie w cementowniach jako alternatywna metoda utyli- zacii produktéw odpadowych. Cz I Cement, Wapno, Gips 1993;5:153-8 [4] Jenkins BG, Mather SB. Fuelling the demand for alternatives. The Cement Environmental Year- book 1997:90-7. [5] Pizant J, Gauthier JC. 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