Chapter 5: Cement Industries

Cement
 The term cement is used to designate many different kinds of substances
that are used as binders or adhesives.
 Cement is a manmade mineral structure created at high temperatures,
mainly comprising lime (CaO), silica (SiO2) and oxides of aluminium and
iron (Al2O3 and Fe2O3).
 Cement is a hydraulic powder material, which reacts with water to
produce strength-bearing lattices.
 Portland cement is a hydraulic cement, i.e., it sets, hardens, and does
not disintegrate in water. Hence, it is suitable for construction of
underground, marine, and hydraulic structures.
 The mixture of aggregates, cement and water is concrete. The
strength and durability of concrete makes it one of the most useful
materials developed by man.
Cement - Types
Ordinary Portland Cement
 Is the most common types of cement. It is hydraulic types of cement.
Consists of 2/3 by mass (C3S + C2S) and 1/3 of iron, aluminium. This type
of cement use in constructions when there is no exposure to sulfates in
the soil or groundwater.

Rapid Hardening Cement

 As the name indicates, it develops strength rapidly and as such it may be
more appropriate to call it as high early strength cement.
 Used in road repair rock and in cold whether concrete.

Sulphate Resisting Cement

 To remedy the sulphate attack, the use of cement with low C3A content is
found to be effective.
 Used in marine condition, in foundation and basement, where soil is
infested with sulphates.
Cement - Types
Quick Setting Cement
 The early setting property is brought out by reducing the gypsum content at the
time of clinker grinding.
 It is used mostly in under water construction where pumping is involved.

Low Heat Cement

 A low-heat evolution is achieved by reducing the contents of C3S and C3A which
are the compounds evolving the maximum heat of hydration and increasing C2S.

Portland Pozzolana Cement

 Portland Pozzolana cement (PPC) is manufactured by the inter grinding of OPC
clinker with 10 to 25 per cent of pozzolanic material.
 In PPC, costly clinker is replaced by cheaper pozzolanic material - Hence
economical.
 Used in hydraulic structure and marine construction.
Cement – Physical Properties
 Cements are commonly characterized by their physical properties for
quality control purposes.
 Fineness
 Hydration
 Setting time
 Soundness
 Strength
 Fineness:- The reaction between the water and cement starts on the
surface of the cement particles.
 So the greater the surface area of a given volume of cement the greater
the hydration.
 A fine cement will develop strength more quickly than a coarse cement.
 The coarser particles may not be completely hydrated. This causes low
strength and low durability.
 For a rapid development of strength a high fineness is necessary.

 Fineness =

 It is usually in the range 350-380 m2/kg.

Cement – Physical Properties
Hydration:- The chemical combination of cement and water known
as hydration produces a very hard and strong binding medium for the
aggregate particles in the concrete.

The process of hydration in the cement can be determined by

the measurement of;
 Amount of Ca(OH)2 in the mixed cement,
 Heat evolved by hydration,
 Specific gravity of the unhydrated cement,
 Amount of chemically combined water,
 Amount of unhydrated cement.
Cement – Physical Properties
Setting of cement:- The time from the addition of the water to the initial
and final set are known as the setting times.

Setting time is affected by: cement composition, cement fineness, rate of

hydration, and the ambient temperature. The good grade of one cement have
30-60min

Strength
The strength of hardened cement is its most important property.
The rate of hardening of cement depends on the water to cement ratio
Soundness
Soundness is a physical property of cement paste, which determines the
ability of the cement paste to retain its volume after setting is completed.

The unsoundness is due to the presence of free CaO (lime) and free MgO
(magnesia) in cement.

The standard value of soundness for different types of cement is between

0.8-1%
Cement – Raw Materials
 Usually two types of raw materials are required: one rich in calcium,
such as limestone, chalk, marl, or oyster or clam shells; the other rich in
silica, such as clay or shale.
 The raw materials are naturally occurring mineral and basically all CaO,
SiO2, Al2O3 and, Fe2O3 bearing minerals can be used to manufacture
cement.
 Plants generally rely on nearby quarries for limestone to minimize
transport.
1)Primary Raw Materials
 Limestone (CaCO3) and limestone containing minerals,
2) Secondary Raw Materials
 Clay (Al2O3), sand (silica, aluminium and iron dxides).
3) Tertiary Raw Materials
 Gypsum
 Other "alternative" raw materials slag, mill scale, fly ash
 Probably 50% of all industrial byproducts are potential raw materials for
portland cement manufacture.
Cement – Raw Materials
Cement – Raw Materials
 Table below shows the approximate oxide composition limits of cement.
 The four compounds usually regarded as major compounds are listed in table
below
Cement – Manufacturing
Two main process routes are there for the manufacture of cement.

Dry Process
 In the dry process, the raw materials are ground and dried to raw
meal in the form of a flowable powder. The dry raw meal is fed to
the pre-heater or pre-calciner kiln or, more rarely, to a long dry kiln.

Wet Process (only 32.8% production worldwide)

 The raw materials (often with high moisture content) are ground in
water to form pumpable slurry. The slurry is either fed directly into
the kiln or first to slurry dryer.
Cement – Manufacturing
 Hydraulic cements are manufactured by processing and proportioning
suitable raw materials, burning (or clinkering at a suitable temperature),
and grinding the resulting hard nodules called clinker to the fineness
required for an adequate rate of hardening by reaction with water.

 The major process steps for cement manufacturing are:

1. Quarrying
2. Crushing
3. Proportionating/ Prehomogenisation
4. Raw Mill Grinding
5. Homogenization/Silo
6. Raw Meal Preheating
7. Kiln Operation
8. Clinker Cooling/Storage
9. Cement Mill and Gypsum Addition/Storage
Cement – Manufacturing
Cement – Manufacturing- Quarrying
 Rock blasted from the quarry is transported to the primary crusher where
large "run of mine" rocks are broken into pieces of approximately 100mm.

 Because calcium oxide comprises 65% of Portland cement, these plants

are frequently situated near the source of their calcareous material. The
requisite silica and alumina may be derived from a clay, shale, or
overburden from a limestone quarry.

 Such materials usually contain some of the required iron oxide, but many
plants need to supplement the iron with mill scale, pyrite cinders, or iron
ore.

 Silica may be supplemented by adding sand to the raw mix, whereas

alumina can be furnished by bauxites and Al2O3 rich kaolinitic clays.
Cement – Manufacturing- Quarrying
Cement – Manufacturing- Crushing
 Cement plant raw materials blasted in the quarry requires size reduction
for further processing, size reduction is performed in crushers and
grinding mills.

 Crushing is communition in the coarse range, where as grinding refers to

communition in the fine range.
 Primary crushing involves limestone rock fed through large capacity
crushers. This reduces the rock to a maximum size of approximately
150mm.
 Secondary crushing further reduces this to 75mm or under.

 Residue material is stacked and reclaimed with a bridge reclaimer in a

cross section so that the homogeneous limestone is fed further in the
process.
 Combination crusher-dryers utilize exit gases from the kiln or clinker
cooler to dry wet material during crushing.

 At the grinding mills, the constituents are fed into the mill separately,
using weigh feeders or volumetric measurements.
Cement – Manufacturing- Crushing
 Ball mills are used for wet and dry processes to grind the material to a
fineness such that only 15–30 wt% is retained on a 74 mm (200 mesh)
sieve.

 In the wet process the raw materials are ground with 30–40% water,
producing a well-homogenized mixture called slurry.

 Filter presses or other devices are sometimes used to remove water from
slurries before feeding into the kiln.

 Raw material for dry process plants is ground in closed-circuit ball mills
with air separators, which may be set for any desired fineness.

 For suspension preheater-type kilns, a roller mill utilizes the exit gas from
the preheater to dry the material in suspension in the mill.
Cement – Manufacturing- Proportionating
 To ensure high quality of cement, the chemistry of the raw materials and
raw meal is very carefully controlled.

 Materials are also homogenized to ensure consistency of product quality.

 Kiln exhaust gases are used in the raw mill to dry the raw materials. In
some gases with wet materials, additional heat sources are required for
drying.

 A blending system provides the kiln with a homogeneous raw feed. In the
wet process, the mill slurry is blended in a series of continuously agitated
tanks in which the composition, usually the CaO content, is adjusted as
required.

 These tanks may also serve as kiln feed tanks, or the slurry after agitation
is pumped to large kiln feed basins.

 Dry-process blending is usually accomplished in a silo with compressed air.

Cement – Manufacturing- Raw Meal Preheating
 A pre-heater is a series of vertical cyclones where the raw meal is
passed down through these cyclones it comes into contact with the
swirling hot kiln exhaust gases moving in the opposite direction and as
a result heat is transferred from the gas to materials.
 This pre-heats the material before it enters the kiln so that the
necessary chemical reactions will occur more quickly and efficiently.
 By retaining energy from the exhaust gases, energy is saved.
 Depending on the raw material moisture, a kiln may have 3 to 6 stages
of cyclones with increasing heat recovery with each extra stage.
 The calciner is a combustion chamber at the bottom of the preheater
above the kiln back-end.
 Up to 65% of the total energy needs of the kiln system can be
supplied to the calciner.
 Calciners allow for shorter rotary kilns and for the use of lower grade
alternative fuels. Calcination is the decomposition of CaCO3 to CaO and
CO2.
CaCO3 CaO + CO2
 These process emissions comprise 60% of the total emission from a
cement kiln. The combustion of the fuel generates the rest.
Cement – Manufacturing- Raw Meal Preheating
Cement – Manufacturing- Kiln Operation
 Raw meal, more accurately termed "hot meal" at this stage then
enters the rotary kiln.
 The kiln is the world's largest piece of industrial equipment.

 As the kiln rotates at about 3 - 5 revolutions per minute, the material

slides and tumbles down through progressively hotter zones towards
the flame.

 Fuel is fired directly into the rotary kiln and the heat is absorbed into
the material being processed.

 Burning Zone: The burning zone is where combination takes place

between the lime (CaO), and the silica (SiO2 ), Alumina ( Al2O3 ) and ferric
oxide (Fe2O3) to form the four basic clinker components (i.e. C3S, C2S,
C4AF and C3A).

 The basic chemical reactions taking place in the burning zone are
presented in the following slides:
Cement – Manufacturing- Kiln Operation
Cement – Manufacturing- Kiln Operation
Cement – Manufacturing- Kiln Operation
 Basic chemical reactions in the burning zone:-
 Tricalcium Silicate formation:-
3CaO + SiO2 ------> 3CaO.SiO2 (C3S)
 Dicalcium Silicate formation:-
2CaO+ SiO2 ------> 2CaO.SiO2 (C2S)
 Tricalcium Aluminates formation:-
3CaO+ Al2O3 -----> 3CaO.Al2O3 (C3A)
 Tetracalcium Alumino Ferrite formation:-
CaO + Al2O3 + Fe2O3 -----> 4CaO.Al2O3.Fe2O3 (C4AF )

 It is to be noted that for simplicity’s purpose abbreviated notations are

used. C stands for CaO, S stands for SiO2, A for Al2O3 and F for Fe2O3.
Cement – Manufacturing- Kiln Operation
1) Tricalcium Silicate (C3S):- hardens rapidly and is largely responsible
for initial set and early strength.

In general, the early strength of portland cement concrete is higher with

increased percentages of C3S.

2) Dicalcium Silicate (C2S):- hardens slowly and contributes largely to

strength increases at ages beyond 7 days.

3) Tricalcium Aluminate (C3A):- liberates large amount of heat during the

first day of hardening and together with C2S and C3S may some what
increase the early strength of the hardening cement. It does affect set time.

4) Tetracalcium Aluminoferrite (C4AF):- contributes very slightly to

strength gain. However, act as process flowing during manufacturing.
Contributes the color effects that makes cement gray.
Cement – Manufacturing- Kiln Operation
Cement – Manufacturing- Kiln Operation
Energy Sources
 Fuel oil, coal, natural gas, pet coke and other alternative fuels are energy
sources.
 The high temperature allows the materials to become partially molten as
the intense heat causes the chemical and physical changes that transform
the raw feedstock into a material called clinker.
 At the lower end of the kiln, the raw materials emerge as a new substance
red-hot particles called clinker.
Cement – Manufacturing- Kiln Operation
Cement – Manufacturing- Cement Mill
 The clinker is then ground with other mineral components to cement.
 Gypsum is used to control the setting time of the product;
 Traditionally, ball mills is used for cement milling.
 Portland cement is produced by inter-grinding cement clinker with a few
percent of natural or industrial gypsum (or anhydrite) in a cement mill.
Cement – Manufacturing process