International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)

ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 3 Issue 5, May - 2014

Waste Heat Recovery in Cement plant

S. Nivethidha Priyadarshini1, D. B. Sivakumar2
1

Master of Technology Student, ANNA UNIVERSITY Trichy, INDIA

Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, ANNA UNIVERSITY Trichy, INDIA

Keywords-E n e r g y a u d i t ; H e a t l o s s ;
Preheater;
Cooler; Heat recovery; Clinker; Steam cycle ;

I. INTRODUCTION

Waste heat recovery from the hot gases in the

system can be considered as a potential option to improve
energy efficiency in industrial processes. The Waste heat
is heat, which is generated in a process by way of fuel
combustion or chemical reaction, and then dumped into
the environment even though it could still be reused for
some useful and economic purpose. The essential quality
of heat is not the amount but rather its temperature of the
waste heat gases and the economics involved. Large
quantity of hot flue gases is generated from Boilers, Kilns,
Ovens and Furnaces. If some of this waste heat could be
recovered, a considerable amount of primary fuel could be
saved. The energy lost in waste gases cannot be fully
recovered. Waste heat Recovery means allowing the waste
heat to leave the process, but converting into electricity
before it is discharged at lower temperature level to the
environment. Therefore, after the efficiency of a cement
plant has been driven to the economic optimum, the
remaining waste heat is converted into electricity. Waste
heat recovery system: The waste heat available in the
exhaust gases can be recovered and used for drying the
moisture in the raw material and coal or for generating
power. In addition to the plan of reducing of energy
consumption in cement production process, the recovery
waste heats can be achieved in order to produce the
electrical energy by utilization cogeneration power plant.
This means no additional fuel consumption and thus,

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reducing the high cost of electrical energy and the

emissions of greenhouse gases. In cement plant the exit
gases from Rotary kilns, pre-heater and Calciners are used
to heat the incoming feed material and gases are cooler
around 300 to 350 C in 4 stage pre-heater and then
exhausted to the atmosphere.

II. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION AND DATA SOURCE

The cement industry has an important role in
the economy based on its production. During the
production of Cement natural resources are consumed
in large amounts. The most important raw materials
for the manufacture of cement are limestone (CaCO3)
and clay or calcareous clay in which both Components
are already naturally mixed. The components are
milled and dried with flue gases from the clinker kiln.
Depending on the type of cement to be produced, the
following product may be added to the dried limestone
subsequently: Pyrite ash, fly ash from coal fired power
plants, sandy clay and filter ash from the electrostatic
precipitator present. The mixture obtained is ground
and subsequently fired in a rotary furnace to cement
clinkers. For heating, various fuels and other
combustible materials, for example coal dust,
petroleum coke, etc., are used. Depending on the type
of preheating of the material, it is differentiated
between grate and cyclone preheating, whereby the
starting materials are preheated to 700 to 800C. The
raw materials pass through the rotary furnace towards
the flame. In the hottest zone, the material being fired
reaches temperatures of around 1450C.The cement
plant considered is Dalmia CementUnit 2,
Trichirapalli, India. A schematic of the plant (Fig. 1)
shows
the flow of various streams and the
components of the plant. The plant runs on dry process
with a four stage suspension preheater and an inline
Calciners. The production capacity is 3018 tonne per
day. It is the pyroprocessing unit that includes the
preheater, the Calciners, the kiln and the clinker
cooler. The streams into the system are the raw
material, the air into the cooler and the coal fired into
the kiln and the Calciners. The streams leaving the
system are clinker out from the cooler, the exhaust
gases from the preheater and the hot air out from the
cooler.

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Abstract Cement production has been one of the most

energy intensive industries in the world. In order to produce
clinker, rotary kilns are widely used in cement plants. To
achieve effective and efficient energy management scheme,
thermal energy audit analysis was employed in the Dalmia
cement plant. Reduction of the production cost and
consumption cost is very much important because of
that waste heat recovery is implemented in the cement
industry. The waste heat recovery reduces the Green house
gas emissions and enhances the overall system performance.
The aim of this work is to determine the Power
Generation by utilizing the waste exit gases from the
Pre-heater, Grate cooler. By using the various Energy
Auditing
instrument the exhaust gas temperature, Dust
concentration , Surface temperature, Velocity were
identified. A detailed analysis of Grate cooler, Preheater
are done and the possible approaches of heat recovery
from some major heat loss sources.

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International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)

ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 3 Issue 5, May - 2014

capacity would declare an efficiency of 55% based on dry

process methodology. The overall efficiency of the system
can be improved by recover some of the heat losses.

III. MASSBALANCE AND ENERGY BALANCE

A. Mass balance
The average compositions for dried coal
are shown in Fig. 1 Based on the coal composition, the
net heat value has been found to be 30,600kJ/kg-coal.
The stream data obtained from the plant is used to
perform a mass balance over the system. It is usually
more convenient to define mass/energy data per kg
clinker produced per unit time. The mass balance of
the kiln system is summarized in Fig. 3. All gas
streams are assumed to be ideal gases at the given
temperatures.

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IV.WASTEHEAT
RECOVERY
AND
POWER
GENERATION
There are opportunities that exist within the
plant to capture the heat that would otherwise be wasted to
the environment and utilize this heat to generate
electricity. The most accessible and, in turn, the most cost
effective waste heat losses available are the clinker cooler
discharge and the kiln exhaust gas. The exhaust gas from
the Preheater is, on average , 361 C, and the temperature
of the air discharged from the cooler stack is 268C.The
B. Energy balance
hot gases from the preheater and cooler are passed through
the waste heat recovery boiler. Water is circulated through
In order to analyze the kiln system
the WHRB. Latent heat from the hot gas is transferred to
thermodynamically, the following assumptions are
the water and it is converted to steam. The steam is
made
expanded in the turbine and then it is condensed and the
1. Steady state working conditions.
condensed water is passed through the WHRG and the
2. The change in the ambient temperature is
process repeats.The electricity generated would offset a
neglected.
portion of the purchased electricity, thereby reducing the
electrical demand.
3. Cold air leakage into the system is negligible.
Power generation
4. Raw material and coal compositions do not
Generally the waste heat recovery efficiency is 22.7%.The
change.
total heat available for power generation is 9.92Mcal/hr.
5. Averaged kiln surface temperatures do not
Gross power generation
change.
= Total heat available for power generation*WHR
efficiency*1000
Based on the collected data, an energy balance is applied
= 9.92 * 0.227 * 1000/860
to the kiln system. The Datum Temperature is taken as
Assuming 8000h usage, we find
20C. Based on the collected data, an energy balance is
Energy saved = power generated * Hour usage
applied to the kiln system. The Datum Temperature is
= 2620 * 8000
taken as 20C. The pertinent equations used in evaluating
= 20960000 Kwh/year
the different Heat transfer components of the systems
energy balance are shown inTable1.The Relevant data and
Cost savings = Unit price of electricity * Energy saved
constants are obtained from on site measurements, plant
= 3.75 * 20960000
records Peray [8].The result presented in Table 1, shows
= 78,600,000 Rupees/year
that fuel combustion generate 97.3% (780 kJ/kg clinker)
of the total heat input to the unit. The sensible heats with
the raw materials, fuel and air entering the coolers heat
content are very small. The total sensible heats with
streams are about 0.2% of the total heat input to the unit.
Therefore, total heat input of 801.9 kJ/kgclinker is
required to maintain Clinkerization reactions temperatures
for the clinker formation. The total heat input is generated
from combustion heat and total sensible heat with the total
heat input to the unit. The total heat input is generated
from combustion heat and total sensible heat with the
material streams. During clinker formation, 413.2
kJ/kgclinker of heat is released, about 51.5% of the total
heat input. This percentage gives a measure of the thermal
efficiency of the kiln systems. The overall efficiency can
be improved by recovering some of the heat losses. The
recovered energy can then be used for several purposes,
such as electricity generation. There are few major heat
losses that would be considered for recovery. Theseare
heat losses by Preheater exhaust gas (24.4%), from cooler
Fig2. Mass balance of the system
stack (12.8%) and Radiation and convection losses
(6.1%).The overall system efficiency can be defined by
Q5/Qtotal input = 413/801.9= 0.515 or 51.5% which can be
regarded as low. Some kiln system operating at full

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International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)

ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 3 Issue 5, May - 2014

An additional cost will be required for maintenance of the power

generation unit. For the whole system shown in fig 3, based on
our calculations, we were able to determine a budget estimation
of 136400000 rupees/year. We can make a rough estimate for a
simple payback period.
Simple payback period = (Implementation cost)/(Cost savings)
= 136400000/78600000
= 1.73 years
Operational approach for thermal energy saving opportunities
Potential opportunities for improving energy efficiency of the
pyroprocessing unit could be achieved from the following
operational approach
- Upgrading existing equipments in the pyroprocessing unit
Fig 1.Composition of coal

Table 1 Heat balance of the kiln system

Heat Input
Equation used

kiln Feed

Q1=mCp(T2-T1)

Cooling air

Q2=mCp(T2-T1)

Coal
dust
sensible heat
From fuel(By
difference)
Total Heat

Q3=mCp(T2-T1)
Q4

Data
m=0.2155kg/kg clinker,
Cp=215kJ/kgC,T1=20C,T2=60C
m=1.816kg/kg clinker,
Cp=0.31J/kgC,T1=20C,T2=29C
m=1.816kg/kg clinker,
Cp=0.31J/kgC,T1=68C,T2=20C
-

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Description

Results(kcal/kgclinker)
15.1(1.9%)
5.1(0.6)
1.70(0.2%)
780(97.3%)
801.9(100%)

Heat Output

Description
Heat
of
formation

Equation used
Q5=
(4.11*Al2O3)+
(6.48*Mgo)
+(7.646*CaO)+(5.1165*SiO2)+(0.59*Fe2O3)

Kiln
feed
moisture
temperature

Q6=kilnfeed
rate*Moisture
in
kilnfeed*540/clinker
production
Q7=Fuel rate*moisture
in
coaldust*540/clinker
production
Q8 = mCp(T2 -T1)

Kilnfeedrate = 215TPH Moisture in kiln feed =

0.5%
Clinkerproduction =125.73TPH

4.6(0.6%)

Fuel rate = 15.3

Moisture in coal dust = 3.310%
Clinkerproduction =125.73TPH

2.2(0.3%)

m=1.621 kJ/kg clinker,

Cp=0.354kJ/kgC,T1=20C,T2=361C

195.7(24.4%)

Q9= mCp(T2 -T1)

m=1.621 kJ/kg clinker,

Cp=0.100kJ/kgC,T1=20C,T2=361C

12.8(1.6%)

Q6= mCp(T2 -T1)

m=1.307 kJ/kg clinker,

Cp=0.317kJ/kgC,T1=20C,T2=268C
m=1kg/kg clinker,
Cp=0.189kJ/kgC, T1=20C,T2=135C

102.78(12.8%)

Coal
dust
moisture
temperature
Heat through
Preheater
exhaust gas
Heat through
dust entrained
in
Preheater
exhaust gas
Heat through
cooling vent air
Heat through
Clinker
Radiation
and convection losses
(cooler,
kiln,
preheater,
Duct)
Total Heat loss

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Q7= mCp(T2 -T1)

Data
Al2O3 = 5.630
Mgo = 0.850
CaO= 64.870
SiO2 = 21.160
Fe2O3 = 5.340

Results(kcal/kgclinker)
413.2(51.5%)

21.7(2.7%)
48.8(6.1%)

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801.9(100%)

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International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)

ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 3 Issue 5, May - 2014

Table 2 Heat utilization

Description
Preheater heat
available from
exhaust gas
Cooler Heat
Available
from
Exit
Gases
Preheater
Heat
available for Raw mill
and Coal mill at
WHRS Outlet

Equation used

Data
m=0.34kg/kg clinker,
Cp=204 kJ/kgC, T= 380 C

Results(Mcal/hr)
26.36

Q1= mCp(T2 -T1)

18.97
Q2= mCp(T2 -T1)

m=0.34kg/kg clinker,
Cp=204 kJ/kgC, T= 380 C

Q3= mCp(T2 -T1)

25.04
m=0.34kg/kg clinker,
Cp=204 kJ/kgC, T= 361 C

Q4= mCp(T2 -T1)

m=0.354 kJ/kg clinker,

Cp=204kJ/kgC,T1=361C,T2=380C

1.32

Total
heat
from
Cooler mid tap for
boiler

Q5= mCp(T2 -T1)

m=99kg/kg clinker,
Cp=0.317 kJ/kgC, T= 400 C

12.29

Useful cooler heat

available at 120 c
exit temp for cooler
mid tap boiler
Unused heat
vented to atm
at 120Cfrom
cooler midtap
boiler
Total heat available
for power generation

Q6= mCp(T2 -T1)

m=99 kJ/kg clinker,

Cp=0.31kJ/kgC,T1=120C,T2=400C

8.59

Q7= mCp(T2 -T1)

m=99 kJ/kg clinker,

Cp=0.31kJ/kgC,T1=120C,T2=400C

3.69

Q4+Q6

Q4=1.32
Q6=8.60

9.92

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Preheater
Heat
available for boiler

Fig 3.Waste heat recovery power plant

- Combustion system improvement

- Adding multistage preheater with Pre-Calciners
- Adopting new pyroprocessing technologies
- Utilizing alternative fuel such as harvesting energy from
Biomass and waste fuel for kiln firing

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- Replacing high carbon fuel with low carbon fuel (i.e.

switching
From coal to natural gas)
- Applying a low clinker to final cement mixture ratio (i.e.
increasing the ratio of cement additives that do not require
Pyroprocessing)

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ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 3 Issue 5, May - 2014

V.CONCLUSIONS
A detailed energy audit analysis, which can be
directly applied to any dry kiln system, has been made for
a specific key cement Plant. According to the result
obtained the overall system efficiency is 51.53%.The
major heat loss sources have been determined as kiln
exhaust (19.15%), cooler exhaust (12.8%) Heat through
Preheater gas (24.4%) and combined radiative and
convective heat transfer from kiln surfaces
(6.1%).The
Preheater Exhaust gas temperature is (361C) and Cooler
Exhaust gas temperature (268C) which are used in waste
heat boiler for power generation. A waste heat recovery
steam generation system was selected showing the energy
saving potential of 2.62 MW from the waste heat streams
with simple pay back of 30 months.
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[2] G. Kabir, A.I.Abubakar, U.A. El-Nafaty, Energy audit and
conservation opportunities for pyroprocessing unit of a typical dry
process cement plant, Chemical Engineering Programme, Abubakar
Tafawa Balewa University, Energy 35 (2010) 1237-1245.
[3] Shaleen Khurana, Rangan Banergee, Uday Gaitonde, Energy
balance and cogeneration for a cement plant. Applied Thermal
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[4] N.A.Madlool, R.Saidura, M.S.Hossain, N.A.Rahim, A critical
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[5] M.G.Rasul, W.Widianto, B.Mohanty, Assessment of the thermal
performance and energy conservation opportunities of a cement
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[6] TahsinEngin, Vedat Ari, Energy auditing and recovery for dry type
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[7] Aly Moustafa Radwan, Different Possible Ways for Saving Energy
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[8] Peray KE. Cement manufacturers handbook. New York, NY:
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[9] N.A. Madlool, R. Saidur, M.S. Hossain, N.A. Rahim, A critical
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