INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF

ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT

Volume 5, Issue 1, 2014 pp.45-52
Journal homepage: www.IJEE.IEEFoundation.org

Impact of kiln thermal energy demand and false air on

cement kiln flue gas CO2 capture

Udara S. P. R. Arachchige1, Dinesh Kawan1, Lars-André Tokheim1, Morten C. Melaaen1,2

1
Telemark University College, Porsgrunn, Norway.
2
Tel-Tek, Porsgrunn, Norway.

Abstract
The present study is focused on the effect of the specific thermal energy demand and the false air factor
on carbon capture applied to cement kiln exhaust gases. The carbon capture process model was
developed and implemented in Aspen Plus. The model was developed for flue gases from a typical
cement clinker manufacturing plant. The specific thermal energy demand as well as the false air factor of
the kiln system were varied in order to determine the effect on CO2 capture plant performance, such as
the solvent regeneration energy demand. In general, an increase in the mentioned kiln system factors
increases the regeneration energy demand. The reboiler energy demand is calculated as 3270, 3428 and
3589 kJ/kg clinker for a specific thermal energy of 3000, 3400 and 3800 kJ/kg clinker, respectively.
Setting the false air factor to 25, 50 or 70% gives a reboiler energy demand of 3428, 3476, 3568 kJ/kg
clinker, respectively.
Copyright © 2014 International Energy and Environment Foundation - All rights reserved.

Keywords: Carbon dioxide capture; Cement; Flue gas; MEA; Reboiler duty.

1. Introduction
The emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) need to be reduced in order
to reduce global warming. The main sources of CO2 emissions are power plants (coal and gas), the
transport sector (burning fuel) and chemical industries (cement and aluminium). The most well
established CO2 capture technology is chemical absorption, in which CO2 is absorbed in a solvent, such
as an amine solution. The weak base amines are reacting chemically with CO2 to form new chemical
compounds. However the bonds are relatively weak, and therefore quite easily broken in a heating
process [1]. Hence, the solvent can be regenerated in a desorber and then re-used in the absorber.
CO2 capture related to the power plants has been in focus for some years. However, capture of CO2 in the
cement kiln process has not been widely considered. A model was previously developed for cement kiln
flue gas CO2 capture by the current authors [2]. A simple flowsheet illustrating a cement kiln system with
CO2 capture is shown in Figure 1.
The present study will focus on the impact of variable flue gas composition, due to variable kiln process
energy demand and variable false air ingress, on the energy demand of the CO2 capture process, more
specifically on the required regeneration energy in the desorber.

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46 International Journal of Energy and Environment (IJEE), Volume 5, Issue 1, 2014, pp.45-52

Figure 1. Cement plant with CO2 capture unit

2. Model development
The schematic of a typical flue gas capture plant is shown in Figure 2. A detailed description of this
process is given in a previous publication [3]. The flue gas leaving the upstream process is around 80°C
and has to be reduced to 40°C before entering the capture process in order to improve the performance of
the chemical absorption.
The flue gas composition is calculated for a generic cement manufacturing plant producing 1 Mt clinker
per year and using coal as the thermal energy source (Table 1). The base case represents a typical modern
precalciner cement kiln system, with a typical specific thermal energy demand of 3400 MJ/kgclinker and
25 % false air ingress, giving a typical exhaust gas composition and flow rate.
However, the exhaust gas composition (and flow rate) will be different if the specific thermal energy
consumption of the kiln system is different. For example, the energy consumption may increase if the
raw mix reactivity is low, meaning that more fuel will have to be combusted in order to give the same
product quality [4]. Hence, to investigate the impact of the kiln energy demand on the CO2 capture
process, the specific thermal energy demand of the kiln system is varied from a very low value
(3000 MJ/kgclinker) to a value which is quite high (3800 MJ/t_clinker) but still within a range that can be
experienced in the cement industry.
The exhaust gas entering the capture plant will also be different if the the false air ingress in the preheater
tower (and possibly also in downstream process equipment) is different. The false air ingress is due to
the combination of under pressure operation (practically all modern kiln systems are operated with a
suction) and unwanted leakage points in the preheater construction or in other process equipment
units.Hence, in this study, the false air inleakage factor is varied from the base value via an intermediate
value (50 %) to a very high value (70 %).
Collected and calculated data related to the cement manufacturing process are given in Table 1.

Figure 2. Process flow diagram

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 International Journal of Energy and Environment (IJEE), Volume 5, Issue 1, 2014, pp.45-52 47

Table 1. Parameter values for the cement manufacturing process

Specific thermal energy

False air factor
demand
Description Unit Base 3000 3400 3800 25 % 50 % 70 %
case MJ/t_cli MJ/t_cli MJ/t_cli
Clinker production rate t/y 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000
Fuel heating value MJ/kg_fuel 27.7 27.7 27.7 27.7 27.7 27.7 27.7
Run factor - 85% 85% 85% 85% 85% 85% 85%
C in fuel wt% 71.8 % 71.8 % 71.8 % 71.8 % 71.8 % 71.8 % 71.8 %
H in fuel wt% 3.9 % 3.9 % 3.9 % 3.9 % 3.9 % 3.9 % 3.9 %
O in fuel wt% 5.9 % 5.9 % 5.9 % 5.9 % 5.9 % 5.9 % 5.9 %
S in fuel wt% 1.2 % 1.2 % 1.2 % 1.2 % 1.2 % 1.2 % 1.2 %
N in fuel wt% 1.7 % 1.7 % 1.7 % 1.7 % 1.7 % 1.7 % 1.7 %
Ash in fuel wt% 14.4 % 14.4 % 14.4 % 14.4 % 14.4 % 14.4 % 14.4 %
Moisture in fuel wt% 1.2 % 1.2 % 1.2 % 1.2 % 1.2 % 1.2 % 1.2 %
O2 demand kg/kg_fuel 2.18 2.18 2.18 2.18 2.18 2.18 2.18
Specific air demand kg/kg_fuel 9.3 9.3 9.3 9.3 9.3 9.3 9.3
(stoich.)
Specific air supply kg/kg_fuel 10.3 10.3 10.3 10.3 10.3 10.3 10.3
Run time h/y 7,446 7,446 7,446 7,446 7,446 7,446 7,446
Fuel consumption t/h 16 15 16 18 16 16 16
Air supply t/h 170 150 170 189 170 170 170
N2 Nm³/h 122,552 109,300 122,552 135,805 122,552 159,115 232,240
CO2 Nm³/h 59,708 57,109 59,708 62,306 59,708 59,708 59,708
H2O Nm³/h 7,200 6,353 7,200 8,047 7,200 7,200 7,200
O2 Nm³/h 7,374 6,816 7,374 7,932 7,374 17,093 36,531

The specific thermal energy of the kiln system, E [MJ/t_clinker], is the product of fuel flow rate (mfuelmix
[kg/s]) and fuel heating value (Hfuelmix [MJ/kg]) divided by the clinker production rate (mclinker [kgclinker/s]):

m fuelmix H fuelmix
E= (1)
m clinker

The false air factor, rfalse, is the ratio of the false air flow rate, Vnfalse [Nm³/h], and the flow of false air and
kiln flue gas upstream of the kiln, Vnkiln [Nm³/h]:

n
V false
r false = (2)
n
V false + Vkiln
n

Post combustion chemical absorption means using a solvent that has the capacity to absorb acidic gases
(CO2). The monoethanolamine (MEA) is the most prominent solvent that has been tested on pilot plants
and is often used for experiments. MEA is a primary alkanolamine, R-NH2, where R represents the alkyl
group. The rate of reaction as well as the required heat for regeneration are crucial factors for selecting
the solvent. The heat of absorption of CO2 by MEA is considerably high. At the same time, MEA is
characterized by a relatively high degradation rate, and it has a limited lean CO2 loading. Even though
MEA shows those drawbacks, it is considered as the reference solvent for CO2 capture process. The
reason for that is that a low partial pressure of CO2 in the flue gas (typical of power plants as well as
many industrial processes) can be handled due to the high reactivity of MEA towards CO2 [5, 6].
The solvent concentration and lean CO2 loading in the inlet solvent stream are selected as 30 wt% and
0.3 mol CO2/mol MEA, respectively. In the CO2 capturing process, typically primary and secondary
amines form carbamate species (RNH+COO-) while reacting with CO2. The basic reactions related to the

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48 International Journal of Energy and Environment (IJEE), Volume 5, Issue 1, 2014, pp.45-52

absorption and stripping process follow the common style given in equation 3-4 [7]. Here, R indicates an
alkyl group in primary amines.

CO2 + RNH 2 ↔ RNH 2+ COO − (3)

RNH 2+ COO − + RNH 2 ↔ RNH 2 COO − + RNH 2+ (4)

The type of packing and dimensions of packing material are important. Packed columns are used for the
model development according to the previous studies. The Mellapak-Sulzer 350 Y is selected for the
absorber, and Flexipak-1Y for the stripper, according to previous studies [8]. The most suitable column
specification for model development is given in the Aspen Plus documentation [9] and in a quite recent
PhD thesis [10].

3. Simulations
The Aspen Plus process simulation tool is used for the simulation studies. A base case model was first
developed in Aspen Plus using data given in the base case column of Table 1. Then, four more cases
were calculated, using data from the other columns of Table 1.
The absorber column configurations are selected according to the superficial gas velocity. By
maintaining a superficial gas velocity in the absorber column of 2-3.5 m/s, flooding inside the column is
avoided. The flue gas conditions that are used for the simulation studies are given in Table 2 (the
percentages are based on the flow rate values given in Table 1).

Table 2. Flue gas stream parameters used for the simulations

Specific thermal energy demand False air factor

Description Unit Base Case 3000 3400 3800 25 % 50 % 70%
MJ/t_cli MJ/t_cli MJ/t_cli
Preheater exhaust Nm³/h 196,834 179,578 196,834 214,090 196,834 243,116 335,679
gas
N2 vol% 62.3 % 60.9 % 62.3 % 63.4 % 62.3 % 65.4 % 69.2 %
CO2 vol% 30.3 % 31.8 % 30.3 % 29.1 % 30.3 % 24.6 % 17.8 %
H2O vol% 3.7 % 3.5 % 3.7 % 3.8 % 3.7 % 3.0 % 2.1 %
O2 vol% 3.7 % 3.8 % 3.7 % 3.7 % 3.7 % 7.0 % 10.9 %
Temperature °C 80
Pressure bar 1

The model is developed for 90% CO2 removal efficiency. The solvent flow rate is varied to achieve
exactly this removal efficiency for every case. The relevant flue gas composition and total flue gas flow
rate are inserted for each simulation according to Tables 1 and 2.
Table 3 shows the parameter values for calculating superficial gas velocity inside the absorption column.
For every simulation case, the diameter of the absorber column is maintained at 6m. Keeping the
absorber column diameter constant and changing the superficial gas velocity is equivalent to allowing for
a variation in the flue gas flow rate from the cement kiln while using the same (existing) capture
equipment. Anyway, the simulations showed that the energy consumption of the fan downstream of the
absorption column is almost negligible (< 1MW) compared to reboiler energy demand, even if the
superficial gas velocity is incresed ,so the effect of flow rate on the fan power is actually not necessary to
consider.
The regeneration energy demand and the solvent recirculation rate are given in Table 4. The required
reboiler energy demand per kg CO2 and per kg clinker is calculated.
Another set of simulations is performed for using a constant superficial gas velocity and instead adjusting
the column diameter (Table 5). The simulated results are given in Table 6. The main idea of maintaining
a constant superficial gas velocity is to obtain the same pressure drop over the absorber column in every
case. This approach is more relevant in a design phase, when the equipment is still not in place. The
column diameter is selected according to a superficial gas velocity of 2.52 m/s, which is within a velocity
range 2-3.5 m/s, which can be considered as a typical operational range of packed absorption towers.

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 International Journal of Energy and Environment (IJEE), Volume 5, Issue 1, 2014, pp.45-52 49

Table 3. Inlet gas conditions

Specific thermal energy demand False air factor

Description Unit Base 3000 3400 3800 25 % 50 % 70%
Case MJ/t_cli MJ/t_cli MJ/t_cli
Preheater exhaust Nm³/h 196,834 179,578 196,834 214,090 196,834 243,116 335,679
gas at 80°C m³/h 254483 232172 254482 276792 254482 314319 433992
Preheater exhaust m³/h 207671 189462 207671 225880 207671 256524 354226
gas at 40°C
Absorber diameter m 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
Superficial velocity m/s 2.04 1.86 2.04 2.22 2.04 2.52 3.48

Table 4. Regeneration energy demand with constant absorber packing diameter

Specific thermal energy demand False air factor

Description Unit Base 3000 3400 3800 25 % 50 % 70%
Case MJ/t_cli MJ/t_cli MJ/t_cli
Reboiler duty MW 107.7 102.5 107.7 113.2 107.7 110.2 113.1
Amount of CO2 kg/s 29.2 28.0 29.2 30.6 29.2 29.3 29.3
captured
Specific Reboiler kJ/kg CO2 3679 3655 3679 3700 3679 3753 3853
duty kJ/kg clinker 3399 3233 3399 3571 3399 3476 3566
Solvent flow rate tonne/hr 2770 2633 2770 2912 2770 2840 2927

Table 5. Inlet gas conditions and superficial gas velocity

Specific thermal energy demand False air factor

Description Unit Base 3000 3400 3800 25 % 50 % 70%
Case MJ/t_cli MJ/t_cli MJ/t_cli
Preheater exhaust m³/h 207671 189462 207671 225880 207671 256524 354226
gas at 40°C
Absorber diameter m 5.4 5.15 5.4 5.63 5.4 6 7.05
Superficial velocity m/s 2.52 2.52 2.52 2.52 2.52 2.52 2.52

Table 6. Regeneration energy demand with equal superficial gas velocity

Specific thermal energy demand False air factor

Description Unit Base 3000 3400 3800 25 % 50 % 70%
Case MJ/t_cli MJ/t_cli MJ/t_cli
Reboiler duty MW 108.7 103.7 108.7 113.8 108.7 110.2 113.2
Amount of CO2 captured kg/s 29.2 28.0 29.2 30.6 29.2 29.3 29.3
Specific Reboiler duty kJ/kg CO2 3710.3 3697 3710 3719 3710 3753 3855
kJ/kg 3428 3270 3428 3589 3428 3476 3568
clinker
Solvent flow rate tonne/hr 2795 2665 2795 2928 2795 2840 2925

The reboiler energy demand variation with those factors is shown in Figure 3. As can be seen from the
figures, the regeneration energy is increasing with in increase in both factors (specific thermal energy and
false air factor). However, the value of the regeneration energy demand increment with specific thermal
energy demand is more or less negligible; the reboiler duty increases with only 0.4 % when increasing
the thermal energy demand from 3000 to 3800 MJ/t_clinker. The reason why the impact is so small is that
the CO2 concentration in the flue gas inlet stream is almost the same in all cases. However, the thermal
energy demand of the kiln system will affect the size of the absorption column, and hence have an impact
on the investment costs.
The false air factor has more impact on the regeneration energy. An increase in false air from 25 to 70 %
gives a reboiler duty increase of about 4 %, which is not negligible. The reason for this more severe

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50 International Journal of Energy and Environment (IJEE), Volume 5, Issue 1, 2014, pp.45-52

impact is that the total gas flow rate drastically increases with an increase in the false air factor.
Accordingly, the amount of gas that has to be purified in the capture plant increases.

3730 3870

3840

Re-boiler duty (kJ/kg CO2 )

Re-boiler duty (kJ/kg CO2 )

3720
3810

3710 3780

3750
3700
3720

3690 3690
2800 3000 3200 3400 3600 3800 4000 0 25 50 75
Specific thermal energy demand (MJ/tonne clinker) False air factor (%)

Figure 3. Reboiler duty variation with parameters; Left hand side figure is Re-boiler duty variation with
specific thermal energy demand and right hand side is Re-boiler duty variation with false air factor

4. Conclusion
The simulations showed that a variation in specific thermal energy demand of the kiln process within a
relatively wide range, applicable to real cement kiln systems, does not give a substantial impact on the
operation of the CO2 capture plant. However, increasing the false air ingress in the kiln system preheater
from 25 to 70 % results in a 4 % increase in the reboiler duty. This indicates that false air ingress, which
is a well-known phenomenon in the cement industry, should be kept low in order to reduced the energy
consumption of the CO2 capture plant. If, alternatively, the dimension of the absorber column in the
capture plant is increased to allow for the higher gas flow rate resulting from an increase in thermal
energy demand or false air, then that will lead to increased capital costs when constructing the capture
plant. Hence, also for this reason, the false air ingress in the kiln system should be minimized.

Nomenclature
m mass flow rate [kg/s]
Vn normal volumentric flow rate [Nm³/h]
H lower heating value [MJ/kg]

References
[1] IPPC. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) special report on carbon dioxide
capture and storage, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2005.
[2] Arachchige U.S.P.R., Kawan D., Tokheim L.A., Melaaen M.C. Model Development for CO2
capture in the cement industry, 2013, submitted to the International journal of engineering and
technology.
[3] Arachchige U.S.P.R., Aryal N., Melaaen M.C. Case study for flue gas separation of a coal fired
power plant and parameters’ effect on removal efficiency, Proc. APCRE’11 chemical engineering
symposium, Beijing, China, 2011.
[4] Ariyaratne, W.K.H., Melaaen, M.C. and Tokheim, L.-A. The effect of alternative fuel combustion
in the cement kiln main burner on production capacity and improvement with oxygen enrichment,
Proceedings, 3rd International Conference on Environmental Pollution and Remediation (ICEPR
2012), Johannesburg, South Africa, April 29-30, 2013
[5] Gabrielsen J., Svendsen H.F., Michelsen M.L., Stenby E.H., Kontogeorgis G.M. Experimental
validation of a rate-based model for CO2 capture using an AMP solution. Chemical Engineering
Science, 2007, Vol. 62, 2397-2413.
[6] Bae H.K., Kim S.Y., Lee B. Simulation of CO2 removal in a split-flow gas sweetening process.
Korean J.Chem.Eng, 2011, Vol. 28 (3), 643-648.
[7] Freguia S. Modeling of CO2 removal from Flue Gas with Mono-ethanolamine. Master Thesis,
University of Texas, USA, 2002.
[8] Arachchige U.S.P.R., Melaaen M.C. Selection of Packing Material for Gas Absorption. European
Journal of Scientific Research, 2012, Vol. 87, No. 1, 117-126.

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 International Journal of Energy and Environment (IJEE), Volume 5, Issue 1, 2014, pp.45-52 51

[9] Aspen Plus. Rate Based model of the CO2 capture process by MEA using Aspen Plus. Aspen
Technology Inc, Cambridge, MA, USA, 2008.
[10] Mohammad A. PhD Thesis, University of Delft, Netherland, 2009.

Udara S.P.R. Arachchige received his B.Sc Degree (2007) in Chemical and Process Engineering from
University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and M.Sc degree (2010) in Energy and Environmental Engineering
from Telemark University College, Porsgrunn, Norway. He is presently pursuing his Ph.D in Carbon
dioxide capture from power plants- modeling and simulation studies at Telemark University College.
He has presented and published 14 papers in International Conferences and journals. His research
interests are CO2 capture, modeling and simulation, air pollution control and energy optimization.
E-mail address: [email protected]

Dinesh Kawan received his B.E Degree (2010) in Electronics and Communication Engineering from
Khwopa Engineering College, Purbanchal University, Nepal. He is presently pursuing his Master
degree in System and Control Engineering in Telemark University College, Porsgrunn, Norway. He
also working as a research assistant at faculty of Technology in same university college. Mr. Kawan has
research interest on carbon capture, modeling and simulation, and control systems in process industries.
E-mail address: [email protected]

Lars-André Tokheim has a PhD degree in combustion (Telemark University College (TUC),
Porsgrunn, Norway, 1999), a MSc degree in industrial environmental technology (TUC, 1994) and a
BSc degree in chemistry (TUC, 1992). He is associate professor at TUC since 2006, where he teaches
gas purification and heat & mass transfer, supervises MSc and PhD students, and coordinatesmaster
study programmes in Process Technology and Energy & Environmental Technology as well as a PhD
study programme in Process, Energy & Automation Engineering. He has industrial experience from
Norcem/HeidelbergCement since 1994: as a research scholar (1994-1998), as a process engineer in the
production department (1998-2001), and as head of department for process development and
environmental matters (2001-2006). Prof. Tokheim’s main research interests include use of alternative
fuels in cement clinker production, calciner technology and gas pollution reduction, in particular CO2
captureand NOx reduction.
E-mail address: [email protected]

Morten Chr. Melaaen is Professor in process technology at Telemark University College, Porsgrunn,
Norway. He is also the Dean of Faculty of Technology, Telemark University College and has a part
time position at the local research institute Tel-Tek. Earlier, he has worked as a research engineer in
Division of Applied Thermodynamics, SINTEF, Norway and as an Associate professor at Norwegian
University of Science and Technology (NTNU). He has worked on research projects as a Senior
research scientist in Norsk Hydro Research Centre Porsgrunn, Norway. He started to work as a
professor at Telemark University College in 1994 and became Head of Department, Department of
Process, Energy and Environmental Technology in 2002. He received his MSc in Mechanical
Engineering in 1986 and his Ph.D in 1990, both from NTNU. His research interests are CO2 capture,
modeling and simulation, fluid mechanics and heat and mass transfer. Professor Melaaen has more than
100 scientific papers published in the above mentioned related fields in international journals and
conferences.
E-mail address: [email protected]

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ISSN 2076-2895 (Print), ISSN 2076-2909 (Online) ©2014 International Energy & Environment Foundation. All rights reserved.