Cool It, Snowmen! Ejnar Jessen FLSmidth, APO Cement. compare generations Historical perspective ‘Since the 1970s, the prevailing pyroprocessing system fas bee the preci. rose cuert clear eee ere ee erereeey coolers rotating with the kiln do not allow a tertiary air flow through a bypass around the kiin to the calciner. Gan fae ba tamed by arco ‘grate cooler, including the inlet section, are as follows: Good quality cinker High thermal efficiency. Long serie ite and maintenance merase. Fgh mechanical rotabity High un factor between mantenarce stoppages. iiited dist retur ton oF caine Thee are ceria buil-n conficis between these requirements, and tis not possibe to optimise each of them individually thas therefor bean necessary to accept 2 number of compromises in the design of the grate cool: Each of the requirements mentioned above is important, but the ast few decades have seen a sharp increase in the demand fer high thermal efficiency dus to sing energy costs. This Has iso fad a derived effect on the cocler, because cement procucers are being forced into using lower-grade fuels and substituting an incroasing ~zrmount of alternative waste products fr tradiéonal fue's and raw materials. These atemative materials vary somewhat in toms of avaicbitty and chemical coeeee Soren Hundeboel, Gery Rota, contrast clinker coolers ABC inlet cooler. ‘composition. This in turn leads to potential variation in clinker granulometry and conveyance cheracteristics, ‘and jn come casos a far more unstable coating in the Kin burning zone. In practice, this means thatthe formation of ‘dead zones and agglomerations in the cooler, the so-called ‘snowmen, is 2 growing and unpredictable problem that most producers wil have to address in the future. Itis commonly assured that 2 snowman formed by 2 large chunk of coating falling from the ln, and unless this piece is caried away, red hot and sticky clinker wil ~zccumulate on it. This piece of coating will block the cooling air that might have prevented the agglomeration. ‘The formation of innocent’ minor agglomerates that cool ‘more slowly than loose cinker will aso have a negative effect on the thermal efciency of the cooler. The process and design variables available to the cooler designers in order to meet the main requirernerts in the best possible way are: © Cooling air low, distribution and regulation. © Layer thickness, convayance and cistrbution of the clinker © Choice of structural design and materias for the ar lstibution grates. © Process control The chalenge of continuowaly improving and optimising tte Cooler should aso be viewed ageinst he extreme conditions, particulary in the arate cooler inet section, where hot clinker (1300°C — 400°C) pours down into tho February 2007 WORLD CEMENT 117 ‘rw worigcemer: commachine, whist a strong blast of hot (100°C — 120°C) ‘and often dusty ar blows in the opposite direction. ‘The historical development of the grate cooler including the inlet section is outined in the following section, First generation First generation grate ecole are thote of tho reciprocating type, in which the clinker was conveyed sliding over or under rows of stationary grates. The cooing ar was led into large compartments and partially controled via the pressure 400 360-430 co. Flow, inlet cooling air | 40000 31 000 (m* per hour) Kiln downtime related | 110 (2004) | 0 (after 16 ‘to snowmen (hours per months) year) Time spent atiniet | 12 05 area (hours per 5)Modification. The historical data from the time before the. ‘odiicaton is basad on fiod log books and intevowrs with operators and operational siaf, Certain aspects make iticut to draw a drect comparison, because other pat of the kn system were also medited. Fer example, a now system of coal fecing to the calciner was installed curing tne same stoppage, and tis as aso improved ‘throughout and stability. The results after the modification aro based on measurements made jenty by FLS end APO Cement during the commissioning in May 2005 and ding a follow-up visit in August 2005 (Table 1). The figures in Table‘ ilusat the positive oft of the new ikt. Thee is ro dubs thal thas reduced, orn fact ‘@iminated, the problems arising from snowmen. There is ‘eveyindicaton thatthe effects ofthe now ABC hot - with its combination of batter cooing a contol va mechenica ‘tw reguletors and better cirkercstiouton anc conveyance va the pneumatic conveying system ~ incu asignicartty igh sacondar air temperature anc lower cinker temperature. Mechanical features and design ‘During the whote perad of commissioning, only arrinor ‘mechanical problem occurred in ‘connection with the new inlet. Aiter five days of operation, same of the grates were coming loose, and a ‘short stoppage was necessary 19 fix and secure all the grates. Apart from that, ator a fow days running, ‘Operators and supervisors generaly expressed the opinion that the new inlet was much easier to control and less time-consurring than the old one, since the air controls ‘and the cooler had generally become more stable. ‘An inspection of the init after five months of operation ‘showed that a few grates in the drop-down zone had suffered some damage due to temperature and physical impact and that they would not live up to the expected ‘minimum of two years of service life. FLSmidth and (CEMEX Philippines made a thorough review of the design. Itappeared that there were some obvious areas in which it could easily be improved. In the attempt to solve APO. ‘Cement’s primary ‘problem’ ~ snowmen - the step down to the first movable grate had been designed somewhat higher than the normal FLSmicth standard. Since the [pneumatic conveying system had proved very effective both with regard to snowmen and to distribution and ‘conveyance of the clinker, it was quickly agreed that this positive resut should be used to reduce the height of the Step in orcer to protect the grates. The new inlet grates were considerably reinforced in torms of material thickness end design and a row high-temperature afoy was used in the aciual impact zone. ‘These modifications have already been implemented at ‘ABO Cement, and it i expocted that the sorvco life will be increased to at least two years in the impact zone and ‘substantialy higher in the rest ofthe inet. Conclusion The new ABC inlet has been installed, tested and finalised at APO Cement in a joint effort between FLSmicth and CEMEX Philippines. APO Cement has successfully: © Eliminated the difficuties with snovimen in the inlet section. © By allindicatons, increased thermal efficiency and increased stability. © Reduced the workload of its operators. As is to be expacted with a prototype, certain ‘mechanical and process design features have required ‘dustment. These features have been identified, discussed, decided and implemented in exemplary ‘cooperation to the benefit of both parties. ‘The tangle result oF this innovative and constructive teamwork is the new ABC inlet. It combines the advantages of a stationary inlat section (long service life and good cooling air dstibution) with the advantages of a nor- contact pneumatic clinker conveying system (good clinker Mg) In this case Ms the mass ofthe clinker bed acros a grate area A OWA = HbA). ‘The equation can be used to cakeulate the minimum pressure buil-up that will ceate the desred exparsion and loosening of a clinker bed. ts importart to realise that the blaster airs most ‘effective when itis mostneeded (reduce porosity of the inkerbed). February 2007 WORLD vwawrericoement cor MENT 425