SPECTRAFLOW ANALYTICS RECEIVES ORDER FOR AN AIRSLIDE ANALYZER FOR RAW MILL OPTIMIZATION FROM HEIDELBERG CEMENT (CIMENTS CALCIA), FRANCE

Cimtens Calcia part of the globally acting Heidelberg Cement Group ordered a SpectraFlow Airslide Analyzer plus Control Software Package for Raw Mill Optimization for their Couvrot plant in France. This order is the first within the Heidelberg Cement group and also the first installation in France. With the orders from LafargeHolcim and Cemex last year, all of the three worldwide biggest Cement producers are now using SpectraFlow.

About Heidelberg Cement:
Heidelberg Cement is a globally acting group, which operates 156 cement plants in more than 50 countries around the globe. Heidelberg Cement is the worldwide biggest producer of aggregates, the second biggest producer of cement and the third biggest producer of ready-mixed concrete worldwide. With the acquisition of a large shareholding of Italcementi in 2016 the group expanded its presence in France and Italy, as well as in other important markets. The Heidelberg Group has today more than 60’000 employees working at more than 3000 production sites worldwide.

In France the Heidelberg’s cement business is operated by Ciments Calcia, with totally 9 cement plants. The first SpectraFlow Analyzer will be installed in the Couvrot unit as part of a larger optimization project. The plant produces more than 1 million tons of cement mainly for the Paris and Eastern Region of France and is the biggest plant of the group in France. The plant was built in 1974 on a historical site with cement manufacturing dating back to 1912. Since the new factory was built, large investments in the modernization were regularly made.

This first SpectraFlow installation is planned as the start of a close partnership in the French market, as well as with the Heidelberg group globally. Heidelberg is very concerned about the health and safety of its employees, as well as an environmentally friendly production. As SpectraFlow is free of any radioactive sources or neutron generators, while delivering highly accurate online measurement results, the SpectraFlow Analyzer is the product of choice to achieve these targets.

SpectraFlow Installation for Raw Mill 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.

By using SpectraFlow an increase in the stockpile 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 RMP Raw Mix Proportioning control software is fully automating the raw mill operation. 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 34th order for the Cement Industry and the 10th installation in Europe. This order raises the installed based in the France to 1 analyzer (1 Airslide) and worldwide to 45 analyzers (23 Crossbelt & 22 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.