METHODS, PROCESSES AND

EQUIPMENT INVOLVED IN
MANUFACTURING OF
CEMENT
Introduction

Cement sector notably plays a critical role in the economic growth of the country.

Cement is vital to the construction sector and all infrastructural projects.

Occupies an important place in the economy because of its role in:

Construction
Transportation
Coal
Power
Introduction

Concrete is the second most consumed material after water, with nearly three tones
used annually for each person on the planet.

One of the basic elements for setting up strong and healthy infrastructure cement
plays a crucial role in the economic development of any country.
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). In an abbreviated notation differing from the normal atomic symbols, these compounds

are designated as C3S, C2S, C3A, and C4AF, where C stands for calcium oxide (lime), S for silica, A for

alumina, and F for iron oxide. Small amounts of uncombined lime and magnesia also are present,

along with alkalies and minor amounts of other elements.

Manufacturing process

Step 1: Mining

The cement manufacturing process starts from the mining of raw materials that are used in cement

manufacturing, mainly limestone and clays.

The limestone is excavated from open cast mines after drilling and blasting and loaded onto

dumpers which transport the materials and unload into hoppers of limestone crushers.
 There are three types of clay used in cement manufacturing, namely silty clay, Zafarana clay, and

Kaolin.

Other raw materials are used to control the kiln feed mix design, namely sand, and iron ore.

The sand and iron ore are transport from outside the plant (from different suppliers) by trucks and

unloaded into open yard piles, called sand and iron ore piles.

The clays are excavated from open cast mines and loaded onto dumpers which transport the

materials and unload into open yard storage. Then it is transported by trucks and unloaded into the

hopper of a clay crusher.

Step 2: Crushing, stacking, and reclaiming of raw materials

The limestone is crushed in the first crusher called a jaw crusher and then fed into the second

crusher called an impact crusher with mixing of clays to reduce particle size below 50mm.

The discharged raw mix (limestone 70%, clays 30%) is fed onto a belt conveyor and passed

across a bulk material analyzer. The raw mix is fed into a circular storage unit called a raw mix

storage.

Then, the mix is extracted transversely from the stockpile by reclaimers and conveyed to a raw

mill bin called the raw mix bin for grinding.

Step 2: Crushing, stacking, and reclaiming of raw materials

The other raw materials that are used in cement manufacturing, called additives, are high purity

limestone, sand and iron ore. The high purity limestone is crushed in a lone in jaw crusher and then

crushed more in a secondary crusher to reduce the size to completely pass through a 50mm sieve.

Then, it is stacked by a limestone stacker into a longitudinal storage unit called the limestone

storage stockpile.

Finally, the limestone is extracted transversely from the stockpile by reclaimer and conveyed to a

raw mill bin, called the limestone bin, for grinding.

Step 3: Raw meal drying, grinding, and homogenization

The raw mix, high grade limestone, sand, and iron ore are fed from their bins to raw mills, called

air swept mills, for drying and fine grinding. The raw mill contains two chambers, separated by

diaphragm, namely a drying chamber and a grinding chamber.

The hot gases coming from a preheater (preheater / kiln system) enter the mill and are used in raw

mills for drying. Then the drying materials enter the grinding chamber of raw mills for fine grinding.

The grinding chamber contains a certain quantity of ball charge in a different sizes ranging from

30mm to 90mm. The hot gas and grinding materials mill outlet feeds to a separator which separates

fine and course product.

Step 3: Raw meal drying, grinding, and homogenization

The latter, called reject, is sent to the mill inlet via an air slide for regrinding. The hot gas and fine

materials enter a multistage "cyclone" to separate a fine materials and gases. The fine material, called

raw meal, is collected from the multi-cyclone and then fed into an air slide for lifting called an

Aeropol.

The hot gases with very fine materials enter an electrostatic precipitator to separate the fine

materials from gases. The very fine materials called preheater dust or electrostatic separator dust is

collected from filters and fed into screw conveyors and are then mixed with the fine material in an air

slide and transported to an air lift vessel via air slide.

Step 3: Raw meal drying, grinding, and homogenization

In the air lift, the raw meal is lifted to the silo by compressed air to the air slide and then stored

and homogenized in a concrete silo. Raw meal extracted from the silo, now called kiln feed, is fed to

the top of the preheater via an air lift called the Poldos for pyro-processing.
Step 4: Clinkerization

Cement clinker is made by pyroprocessing of kiln feed into the preheater-kiln system. The

preheater-kiln system consists of a multi-stage cyclone preheater with five stages, combustion

chamber, riser duct, rotary kiln, and grate cooler. In the preheater, the kiln feed is preheated by hot gas

coming from the combustion chamber and rotary kiln.

Then the preheated kiln feed is partially calcined (made powdery) in a combustion chamber and

riser duct and then completely calcined in a rotary kiln as well as heated to approximately 1400 C to

form clinker components C3A, C4AF, C2S, and C3S. The main source of heat is natural gas.
Step 4: Clinkerization

Natural gas is fired as a main fuel (100 %) in the main burner rotary kiln and a 95% natural gas

and 5.0% heavy oil combination in the combustion chamber. The fuel is used to provide the heat

required to convert the kiln feed into clinker. Hot clinker discharge from the kiln drops onto the grate

cooler for cooling from approximately 1350-1450 C to approximately 120 C. In the cooler, the

quantity of cooling air required for clinker cooling is extracted from the atmosphere by different

cooling fans and fed into the cooler chambers and pressurized through the cooler plate and clinker

bed. The cooled clinker discharges from the cooler into the pan conveyor and it is transported to the

clinker storage.
Step 4: Clinkerization

The clinker is taken from the clinker storage to cement ball mill hoppers for cement grinding. Part

of the hot air extracted from the cooler is utilized as a secondary and tertiary air for combustion in

rotary kiln and combustion chamber, respectively.

Step 5: Cement grinding and storage

Clinker and gypsum for OPC (Ordinary Portland Cement), limestone for limestone cement, and

slag for slag cement are all extracted from their respective hoppers and fed to the cement mills. The

ball mill grinds the feed to a fine powder in two chambers, namely the first and second chambers. The

two chambers have a certain quantity of ball charge of different sizes from 17mm to 90 mm. The mill

discharge is fed to a bucket elevator which takes the material to a separator which separates fine and

coarse product. The latter is sent to the mill inlet for regrinding and the final product is stored in

concrete silos.
Step 6: Packing

Cement extracted from silos is conveyed to the automatic electronic packers where it is packed in 50

kg bags and dispatched in trucks.

Portland Cement

Portland cement is essentially a calcium silicate cement, which is produced by firing

to partial fusion, at a temperature of approximately 1500°C, a well-homogenized and
finely ground mixture of limestone or chalk (calcium carbonate) and an appropriate
quantity of clay or shale.

When first made and used in the early 19th century in England, it was termed
Portland cement because its hydration product resembled a building stone from the
Isle of Portland off the British coast. The first patent for Portland cement was
obtained in 1824 by Joseph Aspdin, an English mason.
There are four stages in the manufacture of Portland cement: (1) crushing and
grinding the raw materials, (2) blending the materials in the correct proportions, (3)
burning the prepared mix in a kiln, and (4) grinding the burned product, known as
“clinker,” together with some 5 percent of gypsum (to control the time of set of the
cement).

The three processes of manufacture are known as the wet, dry, and semidry processes
and are so termed when the raw materials are ground wet and fed to the kiln as a
slurry, ground dry and fed as a dry powder, or ground dry and then moistened to form
nodules that are fed to the kiln.
It is estimated that around 4–8 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
come from the manufacture of cement, making it a major contributor to global
warming. Some of the solutions to these greenhouse gas emissions are common to
other sectors, such as increasing the energy efficiency of cement plants, replacing
fossil fuels with renewable energy, and capturing and storing the CO2 that is emitted.
In addition, given that a significant portion of the emissions are an intrinsic part of
the production of clinker, novel cements and alternate formulations that reduce the
need for clinker are an important area of focus.
Types of Portland cement

Five types of Portland cement are standardized in the United States by the American
Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM): ordinary (Type I), modified (Type II),
high-early-strength (Type III), low-heat (Type IV), and sulfate-resistant (Type V). In
other countries Type II is omitted, and Type III is called rapid-hardening. Type V is
known in some European countries as Ferrari cement.
Cement testing
Various tests to which cements must conform are laid down in national cement
specifications to control the fineness, soundness, setting time, and strength of the
cement.
Cement testing

2. Soundness
After it has set, a cement must not undergo any appreciable expansion, which could
disrupt a mortar or concrete. This property of soundness is tested by subjecting the
set cement to boiling in water or to high-pressure steam. Unsoundness can arise from
the presence in the cement of too much free magnesia or hard-burned free lime.
Cement testing

3. Setting time
The setting and hardening of a cement is a continuous process, but two points are
distinguished for test purposes. The initial setting time is the interval between the mixing of
the cement with water and the time when the mix has lost plasticity, stiffening to a certain
degree. It marks roughly the end of the period when the wet mix can be molded into shape.
The final setting time is the point at which the set cement has acquired a sufficient firmness
to resist a certain defined pressure. Most specifications require an initial minimum setting
time at ordinary temperatures of about 45 minutes and a final setting time no more than 10 to
12 hours.
Cement testing

4. Strength
The tests that measure the rate at which a cement develops strength are usually made on a
mortar commonly composed of one part cement to three parts sand, by weight, mixed with a
defined quantity of water. Tensile tests on briquettes, shaped like a figure eight thickened at
the centre, were formerly used but have been replaced or supplemented by compressive tests
on cubical specimens or transverse tests on prisms. The American Society for Testing and
Materials (ASTM) specification requires tensile tests on a 1:3 cement-sand mortar and
compressive tests on a 1:2.75 mortar.
Cement testing

4. Strength
An international method issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
requires a transverse test on a 1:3 cement-sand mortar prism, followed by a compressive test
on the two halves of the prism that remain after it has been broken in bending.

In the testing of most cements, a minimum strength at 3 and 7 days and sometimes 28 days is
specified, but for rapid-hardening portland cement a test at 1 day also is sometimes required.
For high-alumina cement, tests are required at 1 and 3 days.