Waste Heat Recovery in Cement Plants By Fluidized Beds

Abstract

Not too many years ago energy costs and efficiencies were virtually ignored by corporate decision makers. The prevailing attitude was 'my business is manufacturing and my capital is best spent improving and expanding my manufacturing capacity.' With energy now contributing a significant fraction of the overall product cost in many industries, there is general recognition that control of fuel and electric costs is just as important to remaining competitive as is improving manufacturing methods. This is particularly true in the cement industry.

Cement manufacture consists of mining and grinding rocks, melting them to form clinkers, then grinding those clinkers to a powder. Through recovery of waste heat and inclusion of technology such as flash calciners, the industry has reduced the fuel requirement per ton of cement from about 7 million Btu per ton in old plants to less than 3 million Btu per ton in the most modern plants.