Thermal energy consumption and its conservation for a cement production unit

Abstract

The manufacturing of cement is an energy-intensive industrial process which requires huge amount of heat to be supplied at a higher value of temperature. In this paper, use of the thermal energy at different sections of clinker manufacturing in cement industry, losses and thermal energy savings have been reviewed and presented. A detailed analysis of pre heater, kiln & clinker cooler was done and possible approaches of heat recovery from major losses have been discussed for technological opportunities to maximize use of waste heat recovery. The amount of CO2 emission reduction has been presented along with the payback period for energy saving measures. The energy efficiency during clinker formation was 58.67%. Unidentified losses of 5.74% were observed for the system. The energy of 16.34% was conserved by using the waste heat recovery system for electricity generation and 1.15% was conserved by using the pyro jet burner and gunning castable of 250 mm as per our design data for the cement production unit. Overall, 75.17% of heat was utilized during the process and 24.83% was lost through stack and other activities.