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Overcoming constraints on kiln construction

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World Cement,


Lisa Hartig and Sebastian Maibaum, IKN GmbH, outline the steps taken during the commissioning phase of a new pyro line at a German cement plant.

After 2.5 years of intense teamwork among Maerker Zement, a long list of important suppliers, and IKN, the new pyro line #8 was successfully commissioned in May 2022 at the Harburg, Swabia, cement plant in Germany. The plant was taken over by Maerker Zement after the acceptance test in August 2022. As part of the project, IKN installed a completely new pyro line from the preheater and its modern calciner to the pendulum clinker cooler with preheater exhaust fans and stack, cooler dedusting, and peripheral equipment such as raw meal feeding, clinker transport, and process ducting. This included all mechanical parts, steel structures, electrical installation, as well as a PCS7/CEMAT control system.

With the new pyro line, family-owned Maerker Zement replaced a 4-stage double string preheater pyro line with a satellite cooler from the 1970s. The new pyro line with a single string preheater and state-of-the-art calciner kiln, improved the company’s environmental footprint. The initial concept included an upgrade of the existing kiln to a modern calciner-based system. However, this approach was abandoned early on in the proposal stage due to the high investment and long kiln shutdown time. Since space next to the existing kiln #7 was available, the decision was made to construct the new kiln next to the old one eliminating a lengthy kiln shutdown as well as layout and design challenges associated with the existing line. Commissioning confirmed that the 5-stage preheater reduced the overall fuel input with a thermal substitution rate (TSR) of > 95%. The Harburg site is well-positioned for a new production era with the same nominal capacity (3000 tpd) with reduced emissions.

Maerker Zement contracted IKN for engineering, supply, and the mechanical installation of the new pyro line (EPC). Civil works were carried out by Maerker Zement. The project was complemented with additional projects: a ReGeNOx plant for NOx regulation, and a new storage, transportation, and dosing system for RDF and fluff.

The environmental objectives included an increase in TSR usage to > 95 % together with meeting strict emission limits regarding NOx, NH3 and dust as per regulations in Germany. The challenging part was the tight schedule with a minimal loss in production while tying-in the new line with the existing plant. Most of the equipment was installed whilst line #7 was operational. A short tie-in phase of 5 weeks took place during the winter shutdown in early 2022.


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Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/special-reports/18012023/overcoming-constraints-on-kiln-construction/

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