CEMENT – MANUFACTURING PROCESS & UNIT OPERATIONS

INTRODUCTION

Cement is a generic name for powdered materials which initially have plastic flow when
mixed with water or other liquid but forms a solid structure in several hours with varying
degree of strength and bonding properties which continue to improve with age.

Cement may be defined as a finely ground mixture of silicates and aluminates of calcium of
varying composition which when mixed with water forms a rigid continuous structure with
good compressive strength.

RAW MATERIALS

General
Minerals of natural origin as well as industrial products can be used for the production of
cement. Minerals containing the main components of cement are lime, silica, alumina and
iron oxide. It is usually necessary to select a mixture of high lime component (CaCO3 ) with a
component, which is lower in lime containing more of SiO2, Al2O3 and Fe2 O3.

Calcareous materials
Limestone, chalk, marl, oyster shell etc. belongs to a family called calcareous materials. The
most common form of CaCO3 is limestone. Limestone can vary from the soft marls and
chalk to the hardest of marbles. The hardness of limestone depends on its geological age. A
hardness of 1.8 to 3.0 on the Mohs scale of hardness is usually preferred.

Argillaceous materials
Clay, shale, bauxite, aluminium dross, pumice, volcanic material etc. belongs to a family
called argillaceous materials. These vary from soft and sticky nature to a dense laminated
material.

Siliceous materials
Sand, sandstone, quartz etc. c ontains considerable amount of silica and belongs to a family
called siliceous materials.

Ferrous materials
Iron ore, Pyrites, and other iron bearing material contain considerable amount of iron and
belong to a family called Ferrous materials.

Others
Apart from the above we require minor forms of gypsum, blast furnace slag, MgO in raw
materials.

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HISTORY

Cement dates back to antiquity and one can only speculate as to its discovery. A cement
was used by the Egyptians in constructing the Pyramids. The Greeks and Romans used
volcanic stuff mixed with lime for cement and a number of these structures are still standing.
A lot of Hindu temples in India dating back to before B.C. provide enough evidences for
cementitious materials used in ancient years.

PORTLAND CEMENT

In 1824 an Englishman, Joseph Aspdin patented an artificial cement made by the

calcination of argillaceous limestone. He called this “Portland” because concrete made from
it resembled a famous building stone obtained from the Isle of Portland near England. This
was the start of the Portland cement industry of today. The hard clinker resulting from
burning a mixture of clay and limestone or similar materials is known by the term ‘Portland
cement’ to distinguish it from natural or pozzolan and other cements.

TYPES OF PORTLAND CEMENT

Five types of Portland cement are recognized:

Type I : Regular Portland cements are the usual products for general construction. There
are other types of this cement such as white cement, which contains less ferric oxide, oil
well cement, quick setting cement and others for special uses.

Type II : Moderate heat of hardening and sulfate resisting cements are for use where
moderate heat of hydration is required or for general concrete construction exposed to
moderate sulfate action. The heat evolved from these cements should not exceed 295 and
335 J/g after 7 and 28 days respectively.

Type III : High early strength (HES) cements are made from raw materials with a lime to
silica ratio higher than that of TYPE I cement and are ground finer than Type I cements.
They contain a higher proportion of tricalcium silicate (C3 S) than regular Portland cements.
This, with finer grinding, causes quicker hardening and a faster evolution of heat. Roads
constructed from HES cement can be put in to service sooner than roads constructed from
regular cement.

Type IV : Low heat portland cements contain a lower percentage of tri calcium silicate
(C3 S) and tricalcium aluminate thus lowering the heat evolution. Consequently the
percent age of tetra calcium alumino ferrite (C4 AF) is increased because of the addition of
Fe2O3 to reduce the amount of C3 A. The heat evolved should not exceed 250 and 295 J/g
after 7 and 28 days respectively and is 15 to 35 % less than the heat of hydration of regular
or HES cements.

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Type V : Sulfate resisting portland cements are those which, by their composition or
processing resist sulfates better than the other four types. This is used when high sulfate
resistance is required like buildings in sea water. These cements are lower in C3 A than
regular cements. In consequence of this, the C4 AF content is higher.

OTHER TYPES OF CEMENT

For many corrosive conditions, Portland cement is unsuitable. Hence, many special
cements have been developed, some of which are listed below.

Pozzolona : This is manufactured by grinding 2-4 parts of a pozzolan with 1 part of

hydraulic lime. A pozzolan is a material which is not cementitious in itself but becomes so
upon admixture with lime. This is mixed with Portland cement as a cheap extender.
(Extenders are defined as materials which when used to partially replace portland cement
clinker under alkaline conditions generated to produce additional cementitious hydrates.
Two chief classes of extended materials are pozzolonic m aterials (e.g. pulverized fuel ash)
and hydraulic materials (e.g. blast furnace slag)). The early strength of such a cement is
lower than that of Portland cement but within a year the strengths are equal.

High Alumina : This is essentially a calcium aluminate cement manufactured by fusing

limestone and bauxite. This offers superior resistance to sea and sulfate waters.

Silicate : Silica filled, chemically setting silicate cements withstand all concentrations of
inorganic acids except hydrofluoric. They are not suitable at PH values above 7. This is
manufactured by mixing 2 parts by weight of finely divided silica powder with 1 part of
sodium silicate. Two typical applications are the joining of bricks in chromic acid reaction
tanks and in alum tanks.

Magnesium oxy chloride: This is produced by the exothermic reaction of a 20% solution of
magnesium chloride on a blend of magnesia obtained by calcining magnesite and magnesia
obtained from brines. This offers excellent high strength, spark proof, wear resistant flooring
and offers high bonding strength to wood fibers thereby useful in forming indoor
construction material. The product is hard but offers only fair resistance to water.

RELATIVE COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH CHARACTERISTICS

Cement when mixed with other ingredients such as sand and gravel is used for structural
purposes under compressive loading since it has very poor tensile strength. The following
data gives a general idea of comparative strength properties:

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Mortar composition : 1 Cement : 3 sand + water

TYPE COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH (KG/CM2)

1 DAY 3 DAYS 28 DAYS
PORTLAND CEMENT TYPE I 37 120 340
PORTLAND CEMENT TYPE II 28 83 260
PORTLAND CEMENT TYPE III 103 240 440
PORTLAND CEMENT TYPE IV 20 49 177
PORTLAND CEMENT TYPE V 28 88 214
HYDRAULIC LIME - 14 30
ALUMINOUS CEMENT 280 480 690

REACTIONS OCCURING DURING MANUFACTURE OF CEMENT

Before going into the reactions occurring during manufacture of cement, one has to
familarize himself on the following abbreviations the cement industry uses for clinker
compounds.

CaO = C SiO2 =S Al2 O3 = A Fe2O3 = F

MgO = M SO3 =S Na2 O = N K2O =K

CO2 =C H2 O =H

Thus, 3CaO.SiO2 is C3S (Tri-calcium silicate)

Chemical reactions

1. In the process of burning in the manufacture of cement, the raw mix is first heated to
about 100°C where the moisture present in the raw meal is removed.

MgCO3 + CaCO3 . H20 --------- --------------à MgCO3 .CaCO 3 + H2 0 ?

2. The dry raw meal is further heated and at about 400 - 500 °C, the combined moisture
present in the clay matter of the raw mix is dissociated and removed and MgCO3 if
present is dissociated.

MgCO3 .CaCO 3 --------- --------------à CaCO3 + MgO +CO2 ?

3. On further heating to about 900 °C, CaCO3 the main constituent of raw mix is further
dissociated and CO2 is evolved. Simultaneously, combination between CaO and SiO2 ,
Al2O3 and Fe2 O3 starts.

CaCO3 --------- --------------à CaO + CO2 ?

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 First all the Fe2 O3 present in the raw mix and a part of Al2O3 combine with CaO to form
C4AF at about 1200 °C. This point may be termed as the starting of the burning zone of
the rotary kiln.

4. C4AF being the liquid form, the loose powdery mass becomes coherent and the
movement of material in the kiln becomes more sluggish. The sequence of reactions
occurring are :

2CaO + 2SiO2 --------- --------------à 2CaOSiO2 (C2 S)

(Partly)

3CaO + Al2 O3 --------- --------------à 3CaOAl2O3 (C3 A)

3CaO + 3SiO2 --------- --------------à 3CaOSiO2 (C3 S)

(Totally)

CaO + 2CaOSiO2 --------- --------------à 3CaOSiO2 (C3 S)

The last two reactions may be called as the beginning of the clinkering zone which
extends to the point where practically all the CaO present combines with C2S to form C3S.
At this point, clinker leaves the burning zone and cooling of clinker starts. The cooling of
clinker must be rapid enough to ensure that there is no appreciable loss of C3 S which is
very important for the strength of cement.

5. The cooled clinker and gypsum in a ratio of 95% : 5% are then ground in ball mills or
roller mills to obtain fine cement. This is then mixed with sand and gravel at the
user’s end for construction purposes.

TYPICAL COMPOSITION OF PORTLAND CEMENT

C3S (%) C2S (%) C3 A (%) C4 AF (%)

PORTLAND CEMENT TYPE I 55 19 10 7
PORTLAND CEMENT TYPE II 51 24 6 11
PORTLAND CEMENT TYPE III 56 19 10 7
PORTLAND CEMENT TYPE IV 28 49 4 12
PORTLAND CEMENT TYPE V 38 43 4 9

SETTING AND HARDENING OF CEMENT

The practical utility of all cements depends on the power which they possess, when mixed
with water, forming a coherent mass which in course of time becomes hard and
mechanically resistant. Cements are employed in the form of a powder and when mixed
with an appropriate quantity of water and some suitable aggregate, yield at first a plastic

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mass, capable of being spread over a surface in the construction of brickwork and masonry
or of filling and taking the shape of some confined space as in concrete work.

The passage to the hard condition in cements takes place in two stages.

In the first, the mass loses its plasticity and becomes more or less friable, so that if it is
moulded or remixed with water, the plasticity is not restored or is restored only partially.

In the second, consolidation takes place with the mass increasing its hardness until a stony
texture is finally obtained. These two stages are distinguished as the process of setting and
hardening.

MANUFACTURE OF CEMENT

The cement manufacturing process is basically classified in to four based on the type of raw
material preparation.

1. WET PROCESS

In the wet process, raw mix is fed in to the kiln in the form of slurry with water content at
30 - 40%. The slurry is easy to blend and homogenize and is directly pumped into the
back end of a long rotary kiln. Steel chains are hung in the drying zone near the back
end of the kiln to assist in heat transfer between the feed slurry and the hot gases. Small
modules formed thus are further heated, decarbonated and clinkered before being
cooled in clinker coolers. This process becomes indispensable if raw materials have high
moisture content of more than 12 % and if relatively poor grade limestone has to be
enriched through the process of benefication requiring the use of water like froth
floatation process.

2. SEMI WET PROCESS

Since the wet process consumed more thermal energy for evaporation of water, semi-
wet process was evolved where the slurry from the wet raw mill is de-watered in a filter
press to form cake of 20 % moisture and fed directly in to the kiln back end.

3. SEMI DRY PROCESS

In this process the slurry from the wet raw mill is pumped in to a crusher drier where the
slurry is de-watered to form cakes and crushed in to pieces before being fed in to a one
or two stage preheater which subsequently gets clinkered in the kiln. The kiln length can
be substantially reduced and capacity enhancement is also possible. This process is
widely employed in places where the customer wishes to convert his wet kiln system to a
dry system.

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4. DRY PROCESS

This is the process which is currently preferred by the cement manufacturers worldwide
because of ease in handling materials and savings in power consumption (about 30%).
The raw materials in dry conditions are dried (utilizing kiln exhaust gases) and finely
ground in raw mills and homogenized in large silos. The homogenized raw meal is then
fed to the kiln through five or six stage preheaters. Fuel for the kiln and calciner is
usually coal and can also be from oil or natural gas.

STEPS INVOLVED IN MANUFACTURING

The cement manufacturing can be broadly classified in to five maj or departments. They are :

A. Raw material preparation

B. Pyro-processing
C. Fuel preparation - Coal grinding
D. Finish grinding
E. Cement storage, packing and transport

Raw material preparation

The raw material preparation comprises of the following operations:

- Crus hing
- Preblending (Stockpiling)
- Raw material proportioning, drying and grinding
- Blending and kiln feed

Crushing
Crushing can be defined as comminution (size reduction) to accomplish coarse grinding.
Crushing of limestone can be accomplished either by single stage or two stage which
depends on the physical, geological properties of limestone and the product characteristics
required for further processing. Crushing is usually accomplished by either compression or
impact.

Primary crushers can be Impact crushers, Jaw crushers or Gyratory crushers.

Secondary crushers can be Hammer crushers, Roll crushers, Cone crushers or Hammer
mills.

Fuller supplies EV crusher, Gyratory crushers and hydraulic roll crushers.

Pre-blending
Pre-homogenizing is necessary if the limestone shows large fluctuations in chemical
composition and when handling large quantities of raw material. Pre-homogenizing is used
primarily for the main components in cement production viz. Limestone and clay. Other
components of raw materials such as sand and iron-ore are nearly always homogeneous

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and therefore need not be blended. If granulated blast furnace slag is applied it may be
useful to pre-homogenize this component as well.

Different types of homogenizing stores are available.

- Circular homogenizing store with bridge scraper (CHO)

- Longitudinal homogenizing store with scraper chain excavator (SCE)
- Longitudinal homogenizing store with disc reclaimer (LDR)
- Longitudinal homogenizing store with bridge scraper (LHO)

A detailed description on the different types of stackers and reclaimers supplied by FFE
Engineering group is available in FLS catalogue titled ‘Stackers and reclaimer systems’.

Raw material proportioning

The homogenized limestone and clay along with other raw materials like sand and iron ore
must be proportionally mixed before being fed to the raw mill for subsequent drying and
grinding. The proportional ratio of the raw materials is fixed after determining chemical
analysis of the raw materials. The raw materials are stored in individual feed bins and are
proportionally delivered through weigh feeders at the discharge of the bins to a belt
conveyor or a feeder feeding the mill.

Raw material drying and grinding

The raw mix that is fed in to the mill has to be dried and ground to the required product
specification (normally 12% retained on 90 microns). This is accomplished by grinding
equipments known as mills.

Mills belong to a class of equipments that accomplish comminution of materials in the fine
range.

There are two types of mills which are used in cement plants for grinding raw mix viz. Ball
mills and VRM.

Ball mills
Ball mills are essentially fine grinding units capable of grinding material to a fineness say
90% passing 90 microns. The size reduction technique involved here is attrition and impact.
In ball mills, steel balls are used to grind the raw material. The ball mill is located
horizontally rotating about the horizontal axis. Material is fed through the trunnion, and
ground materials discharged through the other end of the ball mill. For drying the material,
hot air is introduced through the trunnion to remove moisture in the raw material.

Grinding can be in two ways viz. closed circuit and open circuit grinding.

In open circuit grinding, passage of material is only once through the mill. Consequently a
consistent product fineness is difficult to achieve. Installations having an hydraulic roll press
prior to mills are common.

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In closed circuit grinding, a high efficiency separator (O-Sepa or Sepax) is in operation in
tandem with mill which separates the material that is ground from the mill in to coarse and
fine. The fine material is the product while the coarse material is recirculated back in to the
mill for further grinding to the required fineness.

Verical roller mills (VRM)

Roller mills are being used frequently now because of low energy consumption when
compared to ball mills. Roller mills use pressure and friction for size reduction of raw
materials. Material in a rotating grinding table is crushed and ground beneath stationary
hydro-pneumatic rollers. Ground material spills over the edge of a lower retention ring where
it is carried by a rising gas stream to a classifier on top of the mill. Hot gases cause
immediate evaporation of the material’s moisture. The classifier rejects oversize particles
and returns them for regrinding. The desired product travels to a dust collector with the gas
stream. The material is separated in the dust collector or ESP and clean air is released in to
the atmosphere.

Blending and kiln feed

The basic principle behind dry blending process is aerating the material in the silo thereby
fluidizing it resulting in a complete homogenization of material. Blending is also improved by
differential extraction rate from different extraction points in a sequential manner. The
efficiency of blending system is calculated by collecting number of samples at feed and
discharge points of silo.

Blending effect = v [ (S i2 - Se2 ) / (So2 - Se2 ) ]

where Si = Standard deviation of feed sample either on CaCO3 or Lime saturation factor
S0 = Standard deviation of outlet samples either on CaCO3 or Lime saturation factor
Se = Measurement error

Different types of silos are available.

- Continuous Flow (CF) silos

- Fuller Random Flow (FRF) silos
- IBAU silos
- Air Merge Blending silos
- Ful-Klen Cement storage silos

Pyro processing

Preheaters
This is the heart of cement manufacturing process. In dry process technology, the
homogenized raw meal from the silos are heated to temperatures around 1000 deg. C in the
preheater and calciner to undergo partial calcination (about 90%) of raw material. Different
type of preheater are available.

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ILC - Inline Calciner
ILC-E - Inline Calciner with Excess air
SLC - Separate Line Calciner
SLC-I - Separate Line Calciner and Inline calciner
SLC-D - Separate Line Calciner - Downdraft
SLC-D-NOx - Separate Line Calciner - Downdraft Low NOx type

Kilns
Rotary kiln, in which the cement is burnt at 1300-1500 °C, is a long cylinder rotating on its
axis and inclined so that the material fed in at the upper end travel slowly to the lower end.
For dry process the rotating speed of the kiln is normally in the range of 2-3 rpm. The
complete calcination of raw meal occurs in the kiln to form clinker.

Fuller offers a full range of two support and three support kilns. The L/D of a typical two
support kiln is 10-13 and 16-18 for three support kilns. The inclination of rotary kilns is 3.5%
for short rotary kiln and 4% for three support kilns.

The diameter of kilns range from 3.3m to 6m while the lengths vary form 36m to 95m.

Cooler
Cooling of clinker occurs here. Material is cooled from temperatures around 800 deg. C to
temperatures as low as 65 degrees above ambient. The major coolers that are supplied by
Fuller are:

- CFG with RFT cooler

- CIS cooler
- SF-Crossbar cooler

Coal grinding
Coal is the fuel which is normally used as fuel for combustion in preheater, calciner and kiln.
The grinding of coal is done in ball mills or roller mills. Due to the high volatile nature of coal,
safety measures must be taken to prevent explosion in coal grinding circuits. This is
accomplished by the use of explosion vents and explosion doors which vents the pressure
build-up during explosion and by inertisation systems that immediately floods the system
with inert chemicals like carbon-di-oxide or Nitrogen.

Cement grinding
The clinker from the pyroprocessing area is ground in ball mills or roll press + Ball mill
combination or vertical roller mills to form cement. Two major types of separators are used
in closed circuit grinding viz. O -sepa and Sepax separators to achieve a finish cement
fineness of 3000 – 3600 blaine (cm 2 /gm).

Cement storage, packing and transport

Cement from the cement mills is stored in large silos and then packed in packing machines
before being sold out to the consumer market in standard jute/paper bags.

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Bulk loadout concept is fast catching up to meet the huge requirements at construction
sites.

Attachment

1. Fuller company catalogue on Cement Capabilities

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Summary

Cement = Silicates and aluminates of calcium

Raw materials

Calcareous materials - Limestone, Chalk, Marl, Oyster shell

Argillaceous materials - Clay, Shale, Bauxite, Aluminium dross, Pumice

Siliceous materials - Sand, Sandstone, Quartz

Ferrous materials - Iron ore, pyrites

Others - Gypsum, blast furnace slag, MgO

Portland cement

Invented by Joseph Aspdin in 1824

Types of Portland cement

Type I : Regular
Type II : Moderate heat of hardening and sulfate resisting
Type III : High early strength (HES)
Type IV : Low heat Portland cement
Type V : Sulfate resisting Portland cement

Other types

Pozzolana, High Alumina, Silicate, Magnesium oxy chloride

Chemical reactions in cement manufacture

100 °C - Evaporation of free water

400 – 500 °C - Evaporation of combined water from clay and

decomposition of Magnesium carbonate evolving
Carbon-di-oxide.

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900 °C - Decomposition of Calcium carbonate evolving Carbon-
di-oxide.

900 – 1200 °C - Main reaction between lime and clay.

1250 -1280 °C - Commencement of liquid formation.

1280 °C & above - Further formation of liquid and completion of formation

of cement compounds.

Setting and Hardening of cement

The passage to the hard condition of cement upon mixing with water.

Manufacturing methods

1. Wet process
2. Semi-wet process
3. Semi-dry process
4. Dry process – Preferred process (Low energy consumption and ease of
handling)

Steps involved in Cement manufacture

A. Raw material preparation

1. Primary crushing
2. Pre-blending
3. Secondary crushing
4. Raw material proportioning
5. Raw material drying and grinding
6. Blending and kiln feed

B. Fuel Preparation – Coal grinding systems

C. Pyroprocessing – Preheaters, Kilns and coolers

D. Finish grinding

E. Cement storage, packing and transport

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References

1. George T . Austin, Shreve’s chemical process industries, 5th ed., McGraw Hill, 1984
2. M. Gopala Rao and Marshall Sittig, Outlines of chemical technology – Affliated East-
West Press Pvt Ltd., 1971
3. F.M. Lea, The chemistry of cement and concrete, 3rd ed., Chemical Publishing Company
Inc., 1971
4. Miscellaneous, Various catalogues issued by Fuller Company, Bethlehem, PA, USA

The above is a synopsis of the seminar given to plant design group of Fuller India export
engineering group on 26 July 2000 at FIL Chennai offices by S. Ranganathan.

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