SPECTRAFLOW ANALYTICS DELIVERS TOGETHER WITH FLS DENMARK AN AIRSLIDE ANALYZER FOR RAW MATERIAL GRINDING OPTIMIZATION AT HEIDELBERG CEMENT (CIMENTS DU MAROC), MOROCCO
Cimtens du Maroc, part of the globally acting Heidelberg Cement Group ordered with FLS a package for a SpectraFlow Airslide Analyzer together with a QCX Blend Expert System for optimizing their operation raw material preparation for their Marrakech plant in Morocco. With the installation of one single SpectraFlow Airslide Analyzer and the QCX software the ball mill and the vertical mill feeding can be optimized.
This order is the first for SpectraFlow with FLSmidth, the second within the Heidelberg Cement group and also the first installation in Morocco. This project will control 2 raw mills through a SpectraFlow Airslide analyzer in the common airslide.
About Ciments du Maroc, Marrakech plant:
Ciments du Maroc is a subsidiary of Heidelberg group since the acquisition of Italcementi by Heidelberg. Ciments du Maroc is the 2nd largest producer in Morocco and the 1st operator in the concrete and aggregates. The group consists of the integrated plants in Ait Baha, Safi and Marrakech, 2 grinding plants in Laâyoune and Jorf Lasfar and multiple aggregates and concrete plants. Ciments du Maroc has 813 employees.
The plant in Marrakech was commissioned in 1976 and was integrated to Ciments du Maroc following the acquisition of ASMAR in 1999. It has undergone several upgrades to reach todays capacity of 1.4 million tons of cement p.a.
SpectraFlow Installation for Raw Material Grinding Optimization:
General:
The SpectraFlow Airslide Analyzer is the online analyzer to be able to measure raw materials in airslides. As raw materials in airslides are very homogeneous and dry the analytical results of the SpectraFlow Airslide Analyzer are very accurate and based on these accurate results the RMP control software can optimize the weight feeders before the raw mill in real time every minute. This results in very low LSF STDEV without the need of extensive sampling and laboratory efforts.
The installation in Marrakech features the specialty that two raw mills will be controlled based on the results from one Airslide Analyzer. The two raw mills, one ball mill and one vertical mill, feed into a joint airslide to which kiln return dust will be added and which will transport the raw meal to the homogenizing silos. The task for the control software (FLS QCX Blend Expert) is to control the feeders to the 2 mills to achieve a uniform final product
By using SpectraFlow an increase in the raw meal quality will be achieved.
Summarized benefits are:
- No need of intensive sampling. No automated sample transport system, no automated laboratory required.
- High cost reduction due to reduced laboratory usage (CAPEX, OPEX, man power,…)
- The analyzer together with the QCX control software is fully automating the raw material grinding. The analyzer delivers the analytical results and according the setpoint the software is adjusting the weight feeders of the additive bins.
- Adjustment of the weight feeders in real time every minute. No time delay due to sampling, sample preparation,…
- Introducing redundancy for the raw mill control. SpectraFlow is delivering the chemical results for the weight feeder control normally, while as a back-up, the laboratory can be used in the rare case, that the SpectraFlow Analyzer is not available.
- Lower LSF STDEV/better and more consistent raw mill quality
This SpectraFlow order is the 37th order for the Cement Industry and the 3rd installation in Africa. This order raises the installed based in Morocco to 1 analyzer (1 Airslide) and worldwide to 50 analyzers (26 Crossbelt & 24 Airslide).
SpectraFlow Analytics Ltd. Switzerland are the experts in providing online analysis for the cement and minerals industry without any radioactive sources nor neutron generators. The NIR technology used for the SpectraFlow Analyzers is not requiring any permits or licenses and there are no restrictions in buying, importing or maintaining the analyzers. This results in very low operating costs and high availability of the analyzers combined with highly accurate measurement results.
