Download - Ask Dr Clark Raw Materials
Cement Industry Expertise
Ask Dr Clark - Raw materials
Q: What is SO3 in clinker if SO3 in lime stone is 0.35%.
Sulphur in Petcoke is 6-6.5%.Petcoke is firing in kiln with a 40-45% of total
coal consumption per hour.if any direct formula/calculation is there for
getting SO3 in clinker.Please suggest.
A:
The contribution to the clinker SO3 from the limestone will be given by 0.35
x 0.8 x 1.55. The contribution from the fuel will be given by SO3 content of
fuel x kg fuel/kg clinker.
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Q: new cement plant to be built and needs expert advice
do you offer such a service in which you provide expert advice for newly
built cement manufacturers?
A:
Certainly. That is our main line of business.
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Q: High MgO limestone
We are in the process of doing sampling of limestone to check on their
quality before making a proposal to acquire the limestone hill for setting up
an integrated cement plant.We have taken random surface samples covering
about 10% of total hill area and found out that CaO/MgO reading as follows
55.3/0.22,
55.2/0.25,53.3/1.49,51.8/2.79,41.3/11.0,36.4/13.9,54.1/1.32,55.4/0.17,48.6/6.
16,55.5/0.24.We have now used jack hammer so that we can deeper sample
at the high MgO areas again just to retest the quality..Do u expect
difference in MgO level between surface sample and sample at 2 feet depth?
Is the limestone hill usable if we carefully mix it?What is the limit for MgO at
raw mix stage?Can we use the high MgO limestone as additive for cement
grinding? Appreciate your further advice on our next step.
A:
I know no reason to expect a difference in MgO content of the limestone
between surface samples and those at 2 feet depth. Based on the
information provided some of the limestone is high purity and therefore
certainly useable with careful blending. 3% MgO in limestone is the
maximum limit, dependent to some extent on MgO content of secondary
materials and your national standard for cement. The high MgO limestone
can be used as an additive for cement grinding.
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Q: Which slag is suitable for producing Portland slag cement ?
Which slag is suitable for producing portland composite cement? Air cooled
slag or Blast furnace slag? Tahmid
A:
Granulated blastfurnace slag that has been quenched in water when drawn
off the blastfurnace. Air-cooled slag has little or no hydraulic properties and
is not suitable.
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Q: How I can detect slag in Portland Composite Cement
Dear Sir, How I can detect Slag or quantity of slag mixed in portland
composite cement by chemical method? Tahmid
A:
That will be difficult because the slag will be composed mainly of lime, silica,
alumina and iron oxide therefore undistinguishable from the clinker minerals
by chemical methods.
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Q: Raw Mill Residue
Dear Sir, is there any effect of raw mill residue on the bag house bags either
we grind finer or coarser.
A:
No, I don't expect the fineness of grinding the raw meal will have any effect
on the baghouse bags.
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Q: How I can estimate flyash,slag,limestone content in portland composite
cement
How I can estimate of Fly ash, slag ,limestone in portland composite cement
A:
The best way would be by X-ray diffraction.
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Q: Dear Sir, we are using high sulphur coal. Clinker Lt. wt. is 1300 -1350. we
want to increase C3S more than 45%. Please advice for required liquid phase
in the clinker. Our kiln feed LSF= 112, SM= 2.24, Al2O3= 2.9, Fe2O3= 2.4.
Our clinker SO3= 2.6 to 2.8
A:
To achieve a higher C3S content in clinker you need to raise the lime
saturation of the clinker. Your kiln feed lime saturation is high but so is your
clinker SO3. The full analysis of kiln feed, coal ash and clinker would be
required to properly adtvise you this.
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Q: How to fix the raw mix ratio with following raw materials
Dear Sir, I have following composition of raw materials. LOI SiO2 Al2O3
Fe2O3 CaO MgO Limestone 42.58 3.24 0.79 0.38 50.01 1.24 Clay 5.87 74.98
8.80 6.20 0.98 0.24 Iron Ore 4.65 9.16 2.00 83.04 0.06 0.41 By using of these
raw materials I want to fix the raw mix with following modulus but I can't
success to get following target modulus in raw mix HM=2.3 SM=2.5 IM=1.5
Here, I am kindly asking what are the ratios of raw mix to get the above
modulus of the raw mix. If not, what kind of correcting raw mat should I
used to obtain above target modulus in raw mix? Your valuable suggestions
will be very appreciable for me Regard Dinesh Koirala
A:
T&he hydraulic modulus is an outdated concept. Better is to use the lime
saturation factor. In order to control 3 rations in the mix you need four raw
materials. You only have 3 so can only control 3 ratios.
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Q: Belite
What is the major difference between alpha-belite and beta-belite ? Higher
content of which crystal form of belite is preferable ? Explain.
A:
These are different crystal forms of the belite. beta-belite has the most
hydraulic reacttivity and this therefore preferred. It is what is normally
produced in an industrial cement kiln.
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Q: Laterite
Hello Dr., Can you suggest any material that would replace laterite and still
produce high strength cement ? If possible ,please state the chemical
composition of such material.
A:
Laterite is normally added to cement raw mixes to increase the Fe2O3
content of the mix. Therefore any source of iron oxide can be used instead
of laterite. Alternatively a higher alumina modulus mix can be prepared
which will reduce the amount of laterite used and still produce high strength
cement. The Fe2O3 containing clinker mineral (C4AF) does not make a major
contribution to cement strength.
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Q: Coating
Hi Sir, What is coating index ? what is its significance ?
A:
The coating index is an indicator the likelihood that a raw mix of a particular
chemistry will give rise to coating with the cement rotary kiln.
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Q: Clinker Burning
Hi Sir, What is the general expression for calculating burning temperature of
clinker ?
A:
There is no general expression for calculating the burning temperature of
clinker.
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Q: Coal Ash
Hello Dr., How do coal ash gets added to the kiln feed ? Please clarify with
explanation
A:
The fine coal burnt in the kiln contains some ash. That ash is predominatly
silica and alumina so the ash combines with the lime from the limestone to
produce the clinker minerals C3S, C2S, C3A and C4AF.
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Q: Effect of Ash
What is the effect of ash on LSF, SM, AM of clinker ?
A:
Coal ash is mainly composed of silica, alumina and iron oxide so the LSF is
reduced. The effect on silica and alumina modulus depends on the exact
composition of the ash.
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Q: Hydraulic Modulus
Hello Sir, What is the significance of hydraulic modulus in the present days ?
A:
The hydraulic modulus is the ratio of CaO to the sum of SiO2, Al2O3 and
Fe2O3. It was often used historically and for good cement quality, it should
be between 1.7 and 2.3. However, this is not a useful as the lime saturation
factor so it does not have major significance today.
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Q: industrial waste in cement
Sir,Can we use zinc metallurgical waste, jarosite in cement manufacturing
process either as raw material for raw meal preparation or as set retarder
by partial replacement of gypsum? anybody in the world uses hazardous
waste jarosite in cement manufacturing process?
A:
I am not aware of anyone using jarosite in the cement manufacturing
process. The first step would be to know the chemical composition of the
jarosite.
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Q: Online Analyser for Raw Mix
Hello Sir, Can you provide some information about online analyser used for
monitoring raw mix ? Nowadays what are the online analysers cement
manufacturer use for controlling the raw mix ? Please advice.
A:
The most widely used would be Gammametrics or the Scantech analysers.
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Q: Lime Saturation Factor (LSF)
Hello Sir, It is found that LSF of output of the Raw mill (Vertical Roll Mill) is
94% whereas the LSF of Kiln feed is 95%. Can you provide any possible
reason for this change ? Please advice.
A:
This might arise from how the dust from the kiln is handled. The kiln feed
will contain the dust. The raw mill product might not contain the dust.
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Q: kiln not giving rated production
sir our kiln with capacity 600 tonns per day is not going on rated capicity.it
is operating upto 60% of rated capacity.As soon as feed rate is increased
proper clinker formation does not take place also sometimes there is sudden
feed surge.It also accompanies decaoting and ball formation.What can be
the possible causes?
A:
There could be many causes. A technical audt is required to identfy the
possible causes.
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Q: what happend in kiln when latarite is not gone in rawmeal
A:
The laterite is presumably added for it's iron oxide content. Therefor if has
not gone into the raw meal for whatever reason there will be a deficiency of
iron oxide in the meal in the kiln. That will mean less liquid phase or flux and
changed properties of the remaining flux. The clinker will be more difficult to
combine therefore fuel consumption is likely to be higher. Coating tendency
will change and perhaps the coating will be stripped out of the kiln.
Potentially the clinker will be over 100% lime saturated and there will be
high levels of residual free lime.
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Q: Excessive Dust in Preheater
Sir our CF is 1.85 you said that it is caused by excessive dust loss from the
top stage of the preheater. So how do we reduce this dust loss from Pre
Heater Section?
A:
That depends on the wider situation. Things to be checked are the condition
of the internal fittings (dip tubes, feed distribution plates, feed flaps) in the
preheater. Also the drafting of the preheater, excess air, inleaking air, etc.
Also the fineness of the kiln feed. The give more specific advice a technical
audit would be required.
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Q: Excessive fines in raw material
Hi Sir I posted a question on excessive fines in raw material for which you
said that the fines can be added directly to the VRM separator Thanks for
your answer. If we do the above exercise will our clinker factor come down?
(now it is at 1.85). Is there any other plant where the above exercise is
successfully followed. Thanks
A:
There is no reason why the raw mix to clinker factor would reduce from it's
current value. 1.85 is a very high factor which must be caused by excessive
dust loss from the top stage of the preheater. How you handle the fines in
the raw milling circuit will not make any difference in the top stage of the
preheater.
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Q: Excessive fines in Raw Material
Hi Sir We are having excessive fines in our raw material. this is directly
grinded by Imapct type crusher and is carried to stacker reclaimer. My
doubts are 1. Since excessive fines are there it reduces the capacity of
crusher and when it comes to raw mill it is grinded excessively. 2. Our cooler
has IKN KIDS and we also are faced with Red river formation and spillage in
cooler due to which stoppages happen often. Our suggestion is to provide
screen in crusher area to remove excessive fines thereby improving the
capacity of crusher. I have a doubt on where can the fines be supplied either
to raw mill or after raw mill based on the size. Please suggest your valuable
inputs on how to get rid of this problem.
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A:
Certainly a screen to scalp the feed to the crusher seems to be a good idea.
Whether the fines can be added back to the raw mill feed or product will
depend on the sieve residues of the fines. One solution would be to add the
fines to the separator of the raw mill. Then any material already fine enough
will go straight to the product while the coarser material will be returned to
the mill for regrinding.
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Q: method of raw mix pile avg calculation according to hourly tonnage in
excel?
A:
This requires that the weighted average of each oxide in the pile be
calculated after each new sample using the analysis of the sample and the
wieght of material added to the pile. The composition to correct the pile to
target can then be calculated.
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Q: Sir, Why we multiply with 2.8 to Sio2, 1.18 to Al2O3 & 0.65 to Fe2O3 in
LSF formula i.e. CaO/(2.8SiO2+1.18Al2O3+0.65Fe2O3)
A:
These are the coefficients in the Lea and Parker formula for the maximum
combinable lime in Portland cement clinker. They are derived from the
phase equilibria of the CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-Fe2O3 system.
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Q: How 5 or more components raw mix design are calculated ?
it is too important for me please answer it to me
A:
By setting up 5 simultaneous equations with the 4 targets in the raw mix
that you want to control. Then solvng those simultaneous equations.
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Q: chemical and physical analysis for white cement (LSF- SIM -ALM & C3S -
C2S - C3A - C4AF)?
A:
LSF = 95%, SM = 4+, AM = 10+. C3S = ~60%, C2S = ~20%, C3A = ~15%,
C4AF <1%. Strengths higher than grey cement due to higher silicate
content.
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Q: lime stone is pure cristaline calcite @ 87% T.CO3 and in the same bench it
has very low T.CO3% as pegmatite or gniees with 16 % MgO , sir our raw mill
is 170 TPH VRM and is there any difficulty of raw mill fine grinding of this
calcite and gniees
dear sir , good evening. here in kenya we are going to instal 3000 TPD
clinker unit with 170 TPH VRM for raw mix and is there any difficult to get
fine grinding like 212 mic residue up to 2% and 90 mic residue up to 18%
with this lime stone pure calcite crystalline and bottom layer is very low
phlegmatic or genies with 2 to 16% mgo. one place we find low cao stone
with 56 silica and i came to know that this stone silica should not be good
reactive as it formed from calcite washed with water and cao is eliminated. i
think that in ball mill we can maintain finesse as we required. please give
me reply at the earliest thanking you RAO . Y . S NATIONAL CEMENT CO. LTD
NAIROBI - KENYA
A:
There is no reason to suppose that a VRM would not be able to grind this
material while a ball mill would.
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Q: Difference Between Limestone & Shale
How to Distinguish between Limestone & Shale with chemical compostion.
A:
Limestone is a form of calcium carbonate. Pure limestone has 56% CaO.
Shale is geologically altered clay so composed of alumino silicate minerals.
The CaO content of shale is very low. It's silica content is likely to be around
50-60%.
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Q: Why we set carbonates 77 or 76 per in pile formation ?
what happened when we increase the carbonates or decrease in pile like 70
or 80? why we set 80 or 70 per carbonates in pile formation?
A:
Because that level of carbonate will give you the required amount of CaO in
the pile. If you set lower then you will need to add high grade limestone at
the raw mill to bring the kiln feed LSF up to target. If you set higher then
you will have to add silica, alumina or iron oxide at the raw mill to bring the
LSF down to target.
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Q: crusher for kaolin
Hi sir What is the best crusher for Breaking kaolin? Also in our factory for
kaolin Breaking use of jaw crusher & Gyratory crusher.What do you think
about using impact crusher? Best regards
A:
Impact crushers are normally used for brittle materials. Kaolin is normally
quite soft. The only problems that might arise are if the kaloin is wet and
sticky.
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Q: low liter weight clinker and decrease product
LSF X- RAY : 90-92 SIM : 2.3-2.4 ALM :1.3-1.4 LSF CHEMICAL :88-90 SIM :2.4
ALM 1.3
A:
Well, it seems that you X-ray is reading high on CaO, if the chemical
analyses are correct. That does not explain the decreased productivity. My
suspicion that there is some other problem.
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Q: How to calcualate or simulate the alkali enrichment in the preheater
when alkali rich material is used as additive?
I am substituting Trass for Sand to get silica in the raw mix. The trass
contains 1.2% K2O and 3.2% Na2O. Consequently, the total alkalies in the
raw meal inceases from 0.34 % to 0.56%. How calculate or simulate the
alkali enrichment in the preheater circulation material?
A:
It is of course possible to do this with an Excel based model of the alkali
cycles, as I demonstrated at Cemtech in Dubai and Jakarta. However, it is
not just a question of calculating. That depends on yhe volatility of the Na2O
and K2O, which is dependent on the amount of chloride and sulphate
present. It is too complicated for a simple calculation and depends on a
model. However at 0.56% total alkali there should be no problems.
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Q: what is silica modules & alumina modules give me defination.
A:
Silica modulus is the ration of the %silica to the sum of the %alumin and
%iron oxide. Alumina modulus is the ration of the %alumina to %iron oxide.
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Q: LSF FORMULA
Dear sir,kiln feed is: Cao=42.3%, Mgo=2.7% ,sio2=12.90%, Al2o3=3.37%,
Fe203=2.23% .some plants do not consider Mgo in calculation of LSF and
they use the formula LSF=100*cao/(2.8*sio2+1.18*Al203+0.65*Fe2o3)is it
right?or they should add 0.75*Mgo in numerator. if we want to announce
kiln feed LSF with above analysis what should we say about LSF?
LSF=102(without Mgo)or LSF=105(with considering Mgo).
A:
Normally for kiln feed LSF the MgO is not included.
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Q: Finess of raw meal influenced snow man
Hi Dr Clarck, Can raw meal fineness(212) influenced formation of snowman?
A:
Only indirectly. This will not be the primary cause of snowman formation in a
cement kiln clinker cooler.
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Q: what is the essential raw materials to produce white cement
A:
Raw materials which give the required CaO, SiO2 and Al2O3 content with the
minimum of Fe2O3 contamination. No other first row transition elements can
be tolerated, but they are rare components on cement raw materials or
fuels.
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Q: Raw mix design of 4 components
How 4 components raw mix design are calculated and what are the LSF,SM,
and AM for the mix design?
A:
Proportioning 4 raw material components to LSF, SM and AM targets
involves setting up and solving 4 simultaneous equations. The LSF, SM and
AM targets are variables within those simultaneous equations. I suggest
that the enrol of the CemNet Cement Manufacturing Technology course.
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Q: Sweetner grade (High Grade ) Lime stone
Sir, Pls tell me, is it possible that CaO % 57 in High grade lime stone (Its LSF
aprox 1050)
A:
The maximum CaO content in pure limestone (calcium carbonate) is 56%.
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Q: The ingredients in ASTM C150....
Dear Dr. Clark, I have some questions on ASTM C150/C150m-11 Standard
Specification for Portland Cement revised in April 1, 2011. There are several
ingredients specified in Item 5. Ingredient of the specification, 5.1.1
Portland Cement Clinker 5.1.2 Water or Calcium Sulfate 5.1.3 Limestone (not
more than 5 %) 5.1.4 Inorganic Processing additions (not more than 5 %)
5.1.5 Organic Processing additions (not more than 1 %) 5.1.6 Air-entraining
addition Would you be more specific about the following aspects? 1. What's
the meaning of Water of "5.1.1 Water or Calcium Sulfate" ? 2. What's the
meaning of Processing additions ? What's the difference between 5.1.3 and
5.1.4 ? 3. What's the maximum addition rate ? Not more than 10 %? 4.
What's the meaning of 5.1.5 ? Does it mean grinding aids? 5. What's the
purpose the us government revised the specification like this? For the
reduction of CO2 emission? I really thank you for your help up to now! Best
Regards.
A:
Dear Obong, The short answer is I don't knnow exactly. I presume the
reference to water or calcium sulphate is saying that the calcium sulphate
addition might be gypsum with 2 molecules of water of crystallisation. I
think inorganic processing additions are pfa, gbs, etc. so the same as
limestone. As far as I I am aware the total additions are 10%, including the
gypsum. I think organic processing additions are grinding aids and organic
quality improvers. I don't know the motives of ASTM or the US Government
but this seems to be a move towards EN197 CEM I cements.
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Q: Intensity of kiln feed
Hi sir How we can get the analyze of material , from intensity of kiln feed?
Best regard
A:
I presume you mean the intensify of the fluorescent X-radiation from a kiln
feed sample in X-ray fluorescense spectrometer. These are calibrated so
that the SiO2, Al2O3, Fe3O3, CaO, etc.content of the kiln feed is correlated
with the X-ray intensity.
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