Cement, Energy and Environment

' .... Sustainable Productivity Improvement with Low Capital Cost P L Mehta Sr. VP (Works), A K Bartaria VP (Prod & QC), B B Wadhavan VP (Engg.) and Rajpal Singh DGM (Process) JK Lakshmi Cement Ltd. Sirohi, Rajasthan Abstract The capacity of raw mill is often the limiting factor for clinker output-when a plant upgrades the kiln system. At JKLC, it was decided to upgrade the Kiln-1 capacity from 2000 TPD to 3000 TPD. To cater the extra requirement, it was necessary to install a Raw Mill. Rather than going with proven supplier, to make project cost effective, it was decided to go with low cost supplier i.e. TCDRI– China to make VRM having capacity 180 TPH. It was a challenge for JKLC to ensure reliability of major components of VRM & stabilize at desired out put. By doing numbers of small innovative modification in nozzle ring, optimization of dam ring, stabilization of main drive rpm with main gear box and shifting of dampers etc, mill was stabilized at rated capacity with in month. But this was not the end of the journey; JKLC team decided to further sweat out the assets. Young Engineers held several brainstorming sessions to enhance mill productivity going through the process of optimization. This has led to stabilization of the mill at higher output that ultimately reduced the specific power consumption of the mill. Now we have optimized the mill at 220 TPH. Apart from giving self satisfaction the effort has resulted into improved bottom line of the company leading to technology low through house innovation dedicated team efforts. Introduction cost in– and In order to sustain its operation in the market it is essential for any industry to cut down cost by improving its productivity. Going for a new green-field plant being an expensive proposition, the only alternative left is to sweat out the assets by brown fielding in the existing plant and to utilize the available resources to their full potential. JKLC has a long history of adopting low cost technology with , in house innovations. Background The clinker production capacity of kiln-1 was 2000 TPD when the idea of new VRM installation was conceived. It was decided to increase clinker production capacity up to 3000 TPD & at increased clinker production capacity, the requirement of raw meal was 4560 TPD but the installed capacity of dedicated Raw Mill (Ball mill ) to Kiln-1 was only 3500 TPD. So to cater the additional raw meal requirement, it was necessary to go for new Raw Mill/ VRM because the existing had been already stretched to maximum output with the help of a pre-crusher. Keeping in view high power consumed by ball mill, it was decided to install VRM having capacity 180 TPH so that running hours of ball mill can be reduced to reduce overall power consumption. Fig - 1 Vertical Roller Mill (TRM 31.3)