Guideline Separator Inspection
Guideline Separator Inspection
Guideline
Edition: 01
CONTENT:
1 OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE ..................................................................... 3
2 TERMS AND DEFINITIONS ..................................................................... 3
3 SEPARATOR EVALUATION GENERAL REQUIREMENTS ................... 3
4 CIRCUIT OPERATION REVIEW .............................................................. 3
5 RUNNING INSPECTION .......................................................................... 4
6 INTERNAL INSPECTION ......................................................................... 5
6.1 1ST GENERATION SEPARATOR .............................................................. 5
6.2 2ND GENERATION SEPARATOR ............................................................... 8
6.3 3RD GENERATION SEPARATOR .............................................................. 9
7 MATERIAL/CIRCUIT SAMPLING .......................................................... 11
8 PERFORMANCE CALCULATIONS ...................................................... 11
8.1 CIRCULATING LOAD ............................................................................ 11
8.2 CIRCULATING FACTOR ........................................................................ 13
8.3 SEPARATOR EFFICIENCY .................................................................... 13
8.4 TROMP CURVE................................................................................... 14
8.4.1 Slope D75/D25 – Slope of Curve ................................................ 16
8.4.2 Imperfection, Is – Sharpness of Curve ..................................... 16
8.4.3 D50 - 50:50 cut size ................................................................... 17
8.4.4 Apparent Bypass (ABP) ............................................................ 18
8.4.5 CER 60 Coarse End Recovery ............................................ 20
8.4.6 Acuity limit: ............................................................................... 22
8.4.7 Summary Criteria for Good Performance of Separators ........... 23
9 SEPARATOR DIMENSIONING AND APPLICATION ............................ 23
9.1 1ST GENERATION SEPARATORS .......................................................... 23
9.2 2ND GENERATION SEPARATORS .......................................................... 24
9.3 3RD GENERATION SEPARATORS .......................................................... 24
5 Running inspection
Inspection of the separator itself during typical operating conditions is
component of the overall evaluation. The following are components of the
running inspection.
Measure separator airflow to be evaluated versus design requirements
and in combination with separator feed/product rates to determine grain
loading at inlet and outlet (3rd Gen)
1st Generation
- Air flow is all internal to separator. No good way to measure.
If pulling vent draft, this can be measured.
Amount of vent air varies with separator size, but a 16’ separator
should have around 2800 m3/hper Sturtevant
2nd Generation
- Measure air flow on the negative side of the fan
- Measure vent draft
3rd Generation
- Measure air flow inlets and outlets
- 10%-20% vent air of total separator air flow.
- Verify speed of rotor/blades
- Visually inspect material flow into/out of the separator (surging, rate
estimation vs. control room indications, rate vs. equipment
limitations)
- Check process temperatures/pressures across the separator
6 Internal Inspection
Internal inspection of the separator when the unit is down provides opportunity
to evaluate the mechanical condition of the separator components. Differing
components among the various types of separator being evaluated (1st, 2nd or
3rd generation separator) will dictate inspection requirements. When
inspecting the wear, angles, gaps on the various internal components
reference should be made to both the separator performance and as-built
documentation to assist in determining the necessity for corrective action. As
with any operating unit, the system should be de-energized and local lock
out/tag out procedures adhered to prior to system entry. The following are
components of the internal inspection broken down by separator type.
Miscellaneous
- Make sure counter blade pattern is balanced.
- Control Valves
Ensure all valves are attached and moving
Compare external valve measurement with overlap of drum
cover e.g. outer measurement is 1”, but the valve is flush with
the drum cover
- Tipping Valves
If tipping valves are installed on the rejects or products ensure
they are functioning properly
- Return air vanes
Ensure all return air vanes are tight and aligned properly
It is recommended to remove return air vanes at the location
where the fresh air inlets pass into the inner cone due to the
potential for coarse product to build up and spill over to the
product side. A blank plate should be installed instead.
Counter blades
External fan
Air vanes Distribution plate
External cyclones
Rotor Seal
o important to minimize the gap between the rotor cage and housing
o Installed to avoid coarse Material (Reject) from outside to be sucked
into the inner Rotor (Air + Product Mix)
o Can be seen with magnifying glass in product (sometimes)
o Will result in an abnormal particle size distribution displayed by a
peak of coarse material found in product (called a “Camel-Back” in
PSD curves)
o Not adjustable
Example of “Camel-Back”
Density Distribution
100
90
80
Cumulative Distribution (%)
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 10 100 1000
-10
Paticle Size (microns)
7 Material/Circuit Sampling
Material sampling around the mill system gives valuable information about
grinding and separator performance
Sample materials around the separator during a stabile/steady state (at
least 2 sets) to determine separator efficiency, build a tromp curve, and
evaluate mass flow meter accuracy. The following samples are taken.
– Separator feed
– Separator rejects
– Separator product
Separator product may be different than Final product
depending on the circuit.
– Mill product
This may be different than separator feed depending on
system layout
– Dust Collector material (Mill sweep dust)
Review the fineness of the dust to determine optimum re-
introduction point
– If material is finer than product should re-introduce
into product stream
– If material is coarser than product should re-
introduce with separator feed
Analysis of the samples for Blaine and full PSD or at least critical size
fractions
– It is recommended to use a wet method laser analysis to
determine the most reliable/accurate PSD for further analysis.
Global experience with air jet analysis has shown that this
method is unreliable.
8 Performance Calculations
px f x f x px
CL CL
f x rx rx f x
f = Separator Feed fx = Separator Feed Residue
p = Separator Product px = Separator Product Residue
r = Separator Tailings rx = Separator Tailing Residue
Or Fineness = Blaine Value Fineness = % retained on size X
Separator feed
CF CL 1
x
px (fx rx) px 1
100 100
100 p x f x rx 100 px 1
x 100 100
fx (px rx) fx CFx 100 f x p x rx 100 fx CFx
The efficiency formula can also be applied over a range of PSD data using the
summation of the individual sieve sizes. The following data shows an average
efficiency calculation based on % passing across a range of sieve sizes.
A tromp curve is created using the PSD analyses from the separator feed,
rejects, and products and is another tool for analyzing a separator’s
performance. It is a curve showing probability of particle size ‘x ‘ going into
coarse fraction. Recommendation for highest accuracy is to use wet laser
analysis for PSD determination and development of the Tromp curve .
Criteria to evaluate a Tromp-Curve
– Slope D75 / D25: measures the slope of curve
– Imperfection, Is: measures the sharpness of separation.
– Cut size, D50: is particle size with 50:50 probability to go with
fines or with coarse product
– Apparent Bypass: minimum probability of the fines that goes to
separator rejects
– CER60: “Coarse End Recovery” at 60 micron (% material >60
micron in product – unwanted)
– Acuity limit: particle size at which selection is initiated.
100
90
80
70
% Recovery
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 10 100 1000
Particle Size, Micrometers
90
80
70
D75 = 30.6
% Recovery
60
50
40
30
D25 = 23.4
20
10
0
1 10 100 1000
Particle Size, Micrometers
D75 - D25
I=
2 D50
Separator inspection and optimisation Page 16 of 25
HeidelbergCement Group Guideline Edition: 01
- Is = 0 Perfect Efficiency
- Is up to 0.3 considered high efficiency
- Is up to 0.5 considered good efficiency
- Is up to 0.7 considered fair efficiency
34 22
Is Tromp Curve - Example
0.23
1
2 * 26
100
90
80
70
D75 = 34
% Recovery
60
50
D50 = 26
40
30
20
D25 = 22
10
0
1 10 100 1000
Particle Size, Micrometers
100
90
80
70
% Recovery
60
50
D50 = 26
40
30
20
10
0
1 10 100 1000
Particle Size, Micrometers
10
9
2nd Generation
8
Circulation Factor (c=A/F)
3rd Generation
7
5
1st Generation
4
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Bypass [% ]
By-pass also gives an indication of potential to increase mill output by either improving the
performance of separator or by modification of separator to an extent between by-pass/2
(optimistic) and by-pass/3 (conservative).
100
90
80
70
% Recovery
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
ABP = 5
1 10 100% 1000
Particle Size, Micrometers
100
CER60 = 96
90
%
80
70
% Recovery
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
60
1 10 100 1000
Particle Size, Micrometers
100
90
80
70
% Recovery
60
50
40
30
20
10
Acquity limit = 10
0
1 10 100 1000
Particle Size, Micrometers
Dimensioning
– Vary from supplier to supplier
– Rule of Thumb values:
Cement fineness Specific product load per Housing Cross Section
2,500 cm²/g 2.2 – 3.6 t/h*m²
4,500 cm²/g 1.0 – 1.5 t/h*m²
Specific load is related to finished product (t/h) and the cross section area (m²) of
the outer cylindrical casing (Separator diameter)
Applications
– Product: Separator efficiency is good for coarser products < 3500 cm²/g
Blaine
– Fineness range: 3000 – 5000 cm²/g acc. Blaine
– (Above app. 3500 cm²/g: Loss of mill capacity due to the bad
separator efficiency)
– Grinding plants (raw, cement)
The level of fines in the separator rejects can be seen if the rejects / grits are
checked for their Blaine value
– To produce cement with a 3500 cm²/g Blaine, the typical / good blaine value
of the rejects returning to the mill is approximately 1500 - 2500 cm²/g
Dimensioning
– Vary from supplier to supplier
– Rule of Thumb values:
Cement fineness Specific product load per Housing Cross Section
3000 cm²/g 8 t/h*m²
4000 cm²/g 5 t/h*m²
5000 cm²/g 4 t/h*m²
Specific load is related to finished product (t/h) and the cross section area (m²) of
the outer cylindrical casing (Separator diameter)
Applications
Product: Separator efficiency is good for medium fineness products < 4000
cm²/g Blaine
Fineness range: 3.000 – 5.000 cm²/g acc. Blaine
(Above app. 4.500 cm²/g: Loss of mill capacity due to the bad separator
efficiency)
– Grinding plants (raw, cement)
The level of fines in the separator rejects can be seen if the rejects / grits are
checked for their Blaine value
– To produce cement with a 3500 cm²/g Blaine, the typical / good blaine value
of the rejects returning to the mill is approximately 1000 - 2000 cm²/g
Dimensioning
– Vary from supplier to supplier
– Rule of Thumb values:
Cement fineness Specific product load per Rotor Cage Surface
3,000 cm²/g app. 12 t/h*m²
5,000 cm²/g app. 6 t/h*m²
8,000 cm²/g 2.5 – 3.0 t/h*m²
– Based on separator exit airflow the following grain loadings are tolerated
< 2.5 kg/m3 based on total feed to separator
<1.0 kg/m3 based on product
– Specific airflow >12500 m3 air/m2 cage surface area (gross)
– Pressure drop 2 – 2.5 mbar
– Separator motor ~0.5 kWh/t, fan 2-2.5 kWh/t.
Applications
- Product: Separator efficiency is good for finer products < 8000 cm²/g Blaine
- Fineness range: 3000 – 8000 cm²/g acc. Blaine
- Grinding plants (raw, cement, slag)
The level of fines in the separator rejects can be seen if the rejects / grits are
checked for their Blaine value
- To produce cement with a 3500 cm²/g Blaine, the typical / good blaine value
of the rejects returning to the mill is approximately 700 - 1200 cm²/g