Using heat to help out

A fluidised bed hot gas generator (bubbling type), known as the D-FBed Chamber, has been in operation since last year. It was designed by Dynamis for Votorantim Cimentos’ newest cement mill at its Pecém plant.

The D-FBed Chamber has the capability to work with sand as inert material to support combustion, which generates very high thermal inertia, providing a stable system, even with fluctuations in the fuel characteristics, due to moisture or lower heating value (LHV).

System characteristics

The fluidised bed system has significant flexibility in terms of the fuels the generator is able to use for combustion, such as coke, coal, or even lower cost fuels, such as biomass or alternative fuels.

This gives the customer multiple options with which to manage their fuel stock and carry out supply strategies, such as being able to buy the cheapest fuels available in a spot demand, or taking advantage of the seasonality of a specific fuel. Another main feature of the generator is that it is able to be fed fuels in high granulometry, without grinding them, which is very important for operational costs. Such features make it an attractive option in terms of OPEX and the competitiveness of the final product. Table 1 sets out some of the characteristics of the Dynamis D-FBed.

The system starts with a hopper located in the fuel yard that feeds the combustion chamber (Figure 1) by a belt conveyor, being monitored by a detector and metal separator. In the case of small plants, an alternative can be considered in terms of layout, where a bucket elevator is installed instead of the belt, thus providing a smaller footprint.

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