Project work on

Cement

For the partial fulfillment of requirement for the secondary level education NEB
(Grade XII)

Submitted by: Rhitu Bhatta Submitted to: Aarati Kafle

Fluorescent Secondary School

Baniyatar, Kathmandu

.………….. ……………………… ……………………..

Principal External Examiner Subject Teacher

APPROVAL
Rhitu Bhatta carried out the study entitled “Cement”. I approved the report for the partial
fulfillment of the requirements for Secondary Education.

……………………

Aarati Kafle

Department of chemistry

Supervisor

Fluorescent Secondary
School

Tokha-08, Kathmandu
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am indebted to all past and present chemist of Nepal; without whose remarkable effort and
literature this study would have never been possible.

I want to express my deepest sense of gratitude and regards to my supervisor, Mrs. Aarati Kafle,
Fluorescent Secondary School, Tokha-08, Kathmandu for learned guidance and all the effort he
put in to have my study work completed and documents prepaid on time.

I am also grateful to my friends for their recommendations.

Rhitu Bhatta

Fluorescent Secondary School

Kathmandu, Nepal
  Contents

• Introduction

• Importance

• Cement industries in Nepal

• Raw materials of cement producer

• Main steps of Producing cement

• Portland Cement (Flowsheet Diagram )

• Types of Cement

I. OPP
II. PPC

 Introduction
 The word cement traces to the Romans who used the term “Opus Caementicium”. Cement is a
material that sets, hardens and binds other materials like bricks together.
Joseph Aspdin, a British stonemason invented Portland cement in 1824.

 Cement is a fine powder when mixed with water sets to a hard mass as a result of hydration of
constituent compounds.

 Based on cement properties it is divided into two main categories:

 i.
Hydraulic cement: It is the cement which has the ability to set and harden after being combined.

ii. Non hydraulic cement: It is the cement which cannot harden while in contact with water.

 Importance of Cement

a) It is used in production of mortar (composed of cement and water) for plastering, masonry
work, pointing, etc.
b) The bonding of natural or artificial aggregates to form a strong building materials that is
durable and the face of normal environmental effects.
c) It is used for the water tightness of the structure.
d) It can be produced in large volumes in controlled condition, packed and transported.
e) When stored properly in ordinary atmosphere it does not deteriorate for reasonably longer
time (at least 3 to 4 months).
f) It is comparatively cheaper material.

 Cement industries in Nepal

• Cement industries began from 1950 but supply of cement was diversified in 1965. In
1975, the first cement plant Himal cement Company started manufacturing cement of 160
tons per day but it was shut down in 2002. It is estimated that Nepal has 1250 million
tons of good cement grade limestone and only 224 million tons of limestone has been
drilled and extracted so far. The number of cement industries have been increasing
rapidly in Nepal in the past few decades.
• Although a large number of cement varieties are produced in different countries of the
World, Nepalese cement industries produce only three types of cements:
I. Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC)
II. Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC)
III. Portland Slag Cement (PSC)

• About 70 % of Nepalese cement industries are of clinker based and motivated on

commercialization. Some of the cement plants in Nepal:

Group Name Company Name Facility Name City

Chaudhary group CG Cement Industries Dumkibas Dumkibas
Pvt. Ltd
Ambe Group Ambe Cement Pvt. Birgunj Ambe Birgunj
Ltd

Saurabh Group Jagadamba Cement Bhairahawa Rupandehi

Industries Pvt. ltd

Tayal Group Solapur Cements Pvt. Bijauri Dang

Ltd
  Raw materials for cement production
• Lime stone which supplies the bulk of lime

• Clay, marl or shale which supplies the bulk of silica, alumina, and ferric oxide.

• Other supplementary materials such as sand, fly ash/ pulverized fuel ash (PFA) of iron
stone to achieve the desired bulk composition.

 Main steps in producing Cement

 Crushing of limestone:

Small fragments of boulders are produced by drilling and blasting methods. Lime stones
produced are then crushed in suitable type of crushers.

 Grinding of raw materials:

Crushed raw materials i.e. limestone is further grinded to provide a raw materials for blending
steps. The obtained grinded material is blended with additional components required for the
cement such as clay, silica and iron ore in required proportional and mix homogenously to
produce clinker of desirable composition.

 Homogenization:

The raw meal ground in the raw mill is thoroughly blended. The moisture content of raw meal
powder is less than 1%. It is now ready for burning the same to produce cement clinker in
cement rotary kiln.

 Heating:

The blended raw materials are stored in the silos before fed into the kiln for pyro-processing
operations. The blended materials is then heated high temperature up to 1300-1500 C in a rotary
kiln to produce a clinker. The kiln is heated with the help of powered coal or oil or hot gases
from the lower end of kiln so that the long hot flames are produced.

 Final grinding

The clinker produced in rotary kiln are very heat. To bring down the temperature of clinkers the
air is admitted in a counter current direction at the base of rotary kiln. The cooler clinkers are
collected in the small trolleys. The clinkers are grinded into powder in a ball mill or tube mill
along with the 2-3% powered gypsum to produce cement. The grinded cement is stored in silos,
from which it is marketed either in container or bags.
  Types of cement
• Pozzolona Portland cement (PPC)
PPC a variation of OPC is produced when pozzolanas are used in the mixture. The term
pozzolana comes from the root word “pozzuolana” which is form of volcanic ash. PPC has 80%
clinker, 15% pozzolana and 5% gypsum and other materials. Pozzolana materials are added to
OPC cement in the ratio of 15-35% by weight. The addition of pozzolana improves the strength
and durability of cement and reduces cost of concrete production. It is used in constructions of
dams, building marine construction etc. PPC can greatly reduce the amount of OPC used in
concrete.

• Ordinary Portland cement (OPC)

OPC, popularly known as grey cement has 95% clinker and 5% gypsum and other materials.
OPC is the most common cement used in the world because of the abundance and low cost to
produce it. OPC is produced simply manufactured by grinding to a powder limestone and
secondary materials. It has been classified into 3 grades namely 33 grades, 43 grade and 53
grade. It is costlier and its initial strength is higher than PPC. It has the fast setting property than
PPC. It is widely used in general construction all over the world.

Difference between OPC and PPC

OPC PPC
It is more expensive than PPC. It is cheaper than OPC.

Better strength than PPC in initial stage. Better strength than OPC in long term.

Not favorable for aggressive weathers. Favorable for aggressive weathers.

Produces more of calcium hydroxides. Consumes calcium hydroxides.

High density. Low density.

Available in 3 grades. Available in specific grades .

  Portland Cement
Portland cement is made up of four main compounds: tricalcium silicate (3Cao.SiO 2 ), dicalcium
silicate(2Cao.SiO2 ), tricalcium aluminate (3CaO.Al2O3 ), and a tetra-calcium aluminoferrite
(4CaO. Al2O3Fe2O3 ).

This cement is made by heating limestone with small quantities of other materials (such as clay)
to 1450 C in a kiln (furnace used for calcining lime) in a process known as calcination (process
of converting ore into oxide) whereby a molecule of carbon dioxide is liberated from the calcium
carbonate which is then blended with other materials that has been in the mixture. The resulting
hard substance called clinker is then grinded with the small amount of gypsum in a powder to
make Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC).

Portland cement is the basic ingredient of concrete, mortar and non-specialty grout. The common
use of Portland cement is to produce the concrete.

 Portland Cement Manufacturing Process 

Quarrying raw materials:
Calcareous material (limestone) provides the required calcium oxide and some of the other
oxides, where argillaceous (clay, shale and other materials) provide most of the silicon,
aluminum and iron oxides required for the manufacture of Portland cement. The raw
materials are selected, crushed, ground, and proportioned so that the resulting mixture has the
desired fineness and chemical composition for delivery to the pyro processing systems.

 Crushing:

The quarried material is reduced in size by processing through a series of crushers. Normally,
primary size reduction is accomplished by a jaw or gyratory crusher, and followed by
secondary size reduction with a roller or hammer mill. The crushed material is screened and
stones are returned. More than 1.5 tons of raw materials are required to produce one ton of
Portland cement. Other raw materials such as clay, shale, sand, quartz or iron ore may be
added.

 Grinding:

After primary and secondary size reduction, the raw materials are further reduced in size by
grinding. The grinding differs with the pyro processing process used. In dry processing, the
materials are ground into a flow able powder in horizontal ball mills or in vertical roller
mills.
 Mixing:

After grinding, calcareous material and argillaceous material are mixed together in desired
proportion.

 Preheating:

After mixing fine powdered raw material, pyro processing is carried out. The modern burning
(pyro processing) system comprises of three important sections namely preheating and
precalcining, clinkerization and cooling. The preheating section is 90-100 meters tall and
comprises of battery of cyclones arranged one over the other in series.

 Precalcining

Precalcining of raw meal is carried out in a separate vessel vertically held and placed in
between preheating and clinkerization section. Here, lime stone is converted to lime (CaO).

CaCO3 ⇌ 𝐶𝑎𝑂 + 𝐶𝑂2 ↑

 Clinker production in the rotary kiln:

The clinkerization is carried out in a rotary kiln. The kiln is inclined at an angle of about 3-5⁰
from horizontal from preheating to the cooling end. The kilns are mounted on tuyers and
rotated at a speed of 2.5-4 rpm. The combustion gases generated from burning of pulverized
coal in clinkerization zone of the kiln flows from burning zone towards the inlet of fan after
passing through Kiln Precalciner – Preheater circuit. The high temperature combustion gas
transfers its heat to the finally derived raw meal and falls toward the bottom end of preheater.
The moisture and other volatile contents present are completely driven away. The burning
zone in rotary kiln receives complete decarbonized material, the part of which is transformed
into liquid after achieving appropriate melting temperature of some of the raw meal
components and powdery form of raw meal gets converted into nodulized clinker form. The
final clinkerization of raw meal is achieved between the temperature range of 1250-1450 ⁰C
depending upon the raw meal characteristics. The product obtained after calcination in rotary
kiln is called clinker.

2 Cao + SiO2 → Ca2SiO4 (Dicalcium silicate)

3CaO + SiO2 → Ca3SiO5 (Tricalcium silicate)

3CaO + Al2O3 → Ca3Al2O6 (Tricalcium aluminate)

4Cao + Al2O3 + Fe2O3 → Ca4Al2Fe2O10 (Tetra calcium aluminoferrite)

  Cooling and Storing:

Once the clinker is formed in the rotary kiln, it is cooled rapidly to minimize the formation of a
glass phase and ensure the maximum yield of alite (tricalcium silicate) formation, an important
component for the hardening properties of cement. The main cooling technologies are either the
grate cooler or the tube of planetary cooler. The cooling air is used as secondary combustion air
for the kiln. After cooling, the clinker can be stored in the linker dome, silos, bins, or outside.
The material handling equipment are used to transport clinker from the clinker coolers to storage.
 Final grinding (Production of cement):

After cooling and storing the clinker, it is ground in cement grinding mills along with appropriate
quantity of gypsum (usually 3-5%) and other additive materials for production of finely
pulverized cement with desired fineness.

3Cao.Al 2O3 + xCaSO4.7H2O → 3CaO.Al2O3.xCaSO4.7H2. After initial set

Gypsum Tricalcium sulphoaluminate (Insoluble)

 Storage and Packing:

The cement is then packed in 50 kg bags with the help of conventional rotary packs or electronic
packs, loaded on to trucks and finally dispatched to the required destinations.

 Portland Cement flowsheet diagram