CEMENT

WHAT IS CEMENT?
Cement is the basic ingredient of construction and
the most widely used construction material. It is a very
critical ingredient, because only cement has the ability of
enhancing viscosity of concrete which in returns provides
the better locking of sand and gravels together in a
concrete mix, thereby creating a solid object.
“Portland” is the most widely produced cement. The
name comes from its presumed resemblance to Portland
stone.
Essential Components Of Cement
• Chemically, cement is a mixture of calcium silicates and
small amounts of calcium aluminates that react with water
and cause the cement to set.

• Calcium derives from limestone and clay, mudstone or

shale as the source of the silica and alumina.

• The mix is completed with the addition of 5% gypsum to

help retard the setting time of the cement.
Basic Minerals to Make Cement
• Limestone
Cement producers usually locate their plants next to
limestone deposits. Limestones of varying geological ages
vary considerably in their chemistry and thickness and their
suitability for cement manufacturing.
One main limestone is the Cretaceous (Chalk). Chalk
is porous and often has high moisture content that leads it
to its use in the wet manufacturing process of making
cement. This particular process represents some 16% of
total production.
Basic Minerals to Make Cement
• Shale
Shale is a pure sedimentary rock made of very fine
silt, clay and quartz. Shale falls in the category of
mudstones. Its grain size is less than 1/256mm. Shale is
distinguished from other mudstones because it is fissile and
laminated.
Basic Minerals to Make Cement
• Gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium
sulfate dehydrate The largest and commercially most important
deposits of gypsum and anhydrite occur as beds, which may
persist over considerable areas with little change in quality or
thickness. They are frequently interbedded with limestones,
shales, mudstones, clays, dolomite, rock salt and locally sylvite.
About 20% of gypsum goes towards cement production.
 Main Equipment of
Cement Manufacturing
Roller Mills
Roller mills are mills that use cylindrical rollers, either in
opposing pairs or against flat plates, to crush or grind
various materials.
Cement Kiln
Cement kilns are used for the pyroprocessing stage
of manufacture of Portland and other types of
hydraulic cement.
Clinker Cooler
The cooler transfers the heat from the clinker to the
combustion air, and this is also an essential function.
Cement Mill
A cement mill (or finish mill) is the equipment used to
grind the hard, nodular clinker from the cement kiln into the
fine grey powder that is cement.
 Methods of
Cement Manufacturing
 DRY PROCESS
In this process, calcareous material such as
limestone (calcium carbonate) and argillaceous material
such as clay, are ground separately to a fine powder in the
absence of water and mixed together in the desired
proportions. Water is then added to it for getting thick
paste and then its cakes are formed, dried and burnt in
kilns.
This process is usually used when raw materials are
very strong and hard. In this process, the raw materials are
changed to powdered form in the absence of water.
 WET PROCESS
The wet process involves adding water to the
proportioned raw material mixture creating a slurry form to
meet a desired chemical composition which is then sent to
the rotating ball mill in a water slurry form. Raw materials
are ground to size where the majority of the materials are
less than 75 microns. Slurry is pumped to blending tanks
and homogenized to insure the composition is correct. It is
then stored in tanks until needed. The wet slurry process is
usually associated with longer kilns.
 Phases of
Cement Manufacturing
 1: Raw Material Extraction

Cement uses raw materials that cover calcium,

silicon, iron and aluminum. Such raw materials are
limestone, clay and sand. Limestone is for calcium. It is
combined with much smaller proportions of sand and clay.
Sand & clay fulfill the need of silicon, iron and aluminum.
Generally cement plants are fixed where the quarry
of limestone is near bye. This saves the extra fuel cost and
makes cement somehow economical. Raw materials are
extracted from the quarry and by means of conveyor belt
material is transported to the cement plant.
Before transportation of raw materials to the cement
plant, large size rocks are crushed into smaller size rocks
with the help of crusher at quarry. Crusher reduces the size
of large rocks to the size of gravels.
1: Raw Material Extraction
2: Proportioning, Blending and Grinding

The raw materials from quarry are now routed in

plant laboratory where, they are analyzed and proper
proportioning of limestone and clay are making possible
before the beginning of grinding. Generally, limestone is
80% and remaining 20% is the clay.
Now cement plant grind the raw mix with the help of
heavy wheel type rollers and rotating table. Rotating table
rotates continuously under the roller and brought the raw
mix in contact with the roller. Roller crushes the material to
a fine powder and finishes the job. Raw mix is stored in a
pre-homogenization pile after grinding raw mix to fine
powder.
 3: Pre-heating Raw Material

After final grinding, the material is ready to face the

pre-heating chamber. Pre-heater chamber consists of
series of vertical cyclone from where the raw material
passes before facing the kiln. Pre-heating chamber utilizes
the emitting hot gases from kiln. Pre-heating of the material
saves the energy and make plant environmental friendly.
 4: Kiln Phase

Kiln is a huge rotating furnace also called as the

heart of cement making process. Here, raw material is
heated up to 1450 ⁰C. This temperature begins a chemical
reaction so called decarbonation. In this reaction material
(like limestone) releases the carbon dioxide. High
temperature of kiln makes slurry of the material.
The series of chemical reactions between calcium
and silicon dioxide compounds form the primary
constituents of cement i.e., calcium silicate. Kiln is heating
up from the exit side by the use of natural gas and coal.
When material reaches the lower part of the kiln, it forms
the shape of clinker.
4: Kiln Phase
 5: Cooling and Final Grinding

After passing out from the kiln, clinkers are cooled by

mean of forced air. Clinker released the absorb heat and
cool down to lower temperature. Released heat by clinker
is reused by recirculating it back to the kiln. This too saves
energy.
Final process of 5th phase is the
final grinding. There is a horizontal filled
with steel balls. Clinker reach in this
rotating drum after cooling. Here, steel
balls tumble and crush the clinker into a
very fine powder. This fine powder is
considered as cement. During grinding
gypsum is also added to the mix in small
percentage that controls the setting of
cement.
 6: Packing and Shipping

Material is directly conveyed to the silos (silos are the

large storage tanks of cement) from the grinding mills.
Further, it is packed to about 20-40 kg bags. Only a small
percent of cement is packed in the bags only for those
customers whom need is very small. The remaining cement
is shipped in bulk quantities by mean of trucks, rails or ships.