 If it is frequently happen the following has to be done:

 Inspect the situation and look for indication that you either over-
feeding the kiln
 The burner is not giving the proper amount of fuel to the maximum
feed the operator will give to the kiln.
 In the same time put into consideration the speed at maximum
 feed.
This study should also look for the situation of the grate cooler
especially for the temperature of the tertiary air and the secondary

air temperatures.
This will in the end gives clear idea about how to achieve kiln

operation stability in relation to these conditions previously
mentioned.
The operator behavior should be continuously followed and he
should be advised to make frequent visual inspection of the

6-Main burner flame is

distorted

 When the kiln burner is not well adjusted or the mechanical parts
are not in proper conditions, while the electrical instruments of the
kiln main burner may cause faulty control of the burner.
 When the burner tip part is blocked by oil fuel and dust or it is
 damaged. When the burner pipe bottom is worn out due to the
falling of protective castable and the primary air is escaping from
this opining in the bottom of
In all the above conditions, the result in the burner may lead to
distorted flame.

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  Irregular flame shape and unusual flame shape.
 Flame will be fragmented in a way that will permit for part of the
flame to
impinge on lining. This will takes place, especially in the area of
the burning zone nearer to the cooling zone in the kiln outlet.

 Thermal damage to the kiln burning-zone, kiln shell and kiln hood
refractory and kiln mantel door especially if backfire happened in
the kiln burning-zone during this period.
 Possible red spots on the kiln shell, if this phenomenon is
disregarded and neglected.
 Thermal damage to nose ring segments.

 Inspect burner pipe for damage especially in the bottom area

where the secondary air loaded with dust from cooler will hit the
 pipe in great speed. If the burner flame is so distorted that in
greatly impinge on the lining of the burning zone i.e. bricks, the
 kiln should be shutdown immediately.
If the burner condition can permit for adjusting it during operation
without danger of aggravating the burner condition, then the burner
must be adjusted in way o permit for smooth operation until a
scheduled shutdown is decided

 During any regular kiln shutdown, burner pipe must be inspected

and repaired in the best possible way. The price of neglecting the
burner pipe or to economize in the spare parts will be lost
production or lost kiln linings and the

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 Try to provide the best protection for the burner pipe. Burner pipe is
one of the most troublesome parts of the kiln section that can give
hard job for the kiln manager if he neglected the process of casting
it. Buy the best castables and anchor available for the burner pipe.
 Investigate the process of casting the burner pipe and the
techniques used in this process.
 The primary air fan must be programmed in a way that will permit
for its operation at least two hours after the burner is stopped.
 Never to bull out the burner pipe after kiln shut down, but continue
with the primary air fan for cooling and don’t take out the burner
pipe from kiln hood before four hour after kiln shut down to protect
the castable on the pipe from

7-Failure of Precalciner
burners
The failure of the precalciner burner in dry cement kilns is one of
the emergency conditions that can happen frequently.
The importance of the precalciner in short dry kiln is that it is
anatomical part of the system.
The precalciner is completing the calcination of the material to nearly
>95%, and if the material enter the kiln without this degree of
calcination, then the kiln will not be able to do it. Therefore, if this
burner stops, then the condition in the kiln will completely change.
The kiln of such type can never work properly in such

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Malfunction of the valve train of this
burner.
 Interlock with the uppermost (top) cyclones temperature. In
order to protect the I.D. fan impeller and shaft from overheating,
this interlock is activated in the kiln system.
 The gas temperature of the precalciner vessel rises to >1000C.
 The gas temperature of lower most cyclones that receive gas
and material from the precalciner rises to >1000ºC.
 The temperature of the fuel decreases less than 65C.
 If the kiln feed system is stopped for any reasons mechanical or
electrical or extraction problem.

The frequent tripping of this fuel station and the frequent

stoppage of the kiln can be very damaging to production of the kiln
either as tonnage or as quality. If the operator tries to work with the kiln
without precalciner, the feed will be less than the half of the kiln
capacity and the kiln can suffer from frequent upset conditions.
The kiln bricks will suffer, since the operator will introduce higher
quantity of fuel in the kiln and will work with lower speed to be able to
produce clinker.
Recommended action:

During kiln shutdown for repairing, the following areas should be

taken care of:
 Kiln feed system.
 Kiln fuel station and heating
 system Burners valve trains


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 8-Failure of by-pass
system
By-pass system is part of the short dry kiln with precalciner that
is critical for keeping the kiln system under control.
By-pass system is not made to make the kiln atmosphere free of
chlorides and sulfates.
But it only controls the percent of these elements to the degree that
permit for
easy and normal kiln operation. Some times the by pass may fail to

:
 By-pass equipments malfunction.
 By-pass gas duct starts to accumulate alkali chlorides and
sulfates accretion.
 The main burner is very strong and the evaporation rate of
alkali sulfates

 is very high, due to unnecessarily high temperature of the

 The concentration of sulfates and chlorides in lower most

cyclones can jump to 3 and 4% and with such concentration the
kiln becomes un- operational.
 The gas ducts, cyclones, kiln inlet, kiln riser duct and material
transport pipes from the bottom of cyclones start to be blocked
 by accretions.
 The kiln inlet will start to have less oxygen and more carbon
monoxide. Kiln will start to suffer from this condition and the
 burning process will not under full control of the operator.
The operator will be obliged to decrease the feed in order to
 control the

 The concentration of the sulfates in the clinker should be

examined and if

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 it is less than 0.7-to1% the main burner should be examined.
 Evaporation rate of different alkali, sulfur and chlorine should be
calculated and if the value found excessively high, then the
burner should also examined. This action is important because
the flame is responsible for the degree of evaporation rate of
 these elements.
The original concentration of alkali, sulfur, and chlorine must be re-
 examined in the kiln feed.
 The lab X-ray spectrometer should be calibrated to examine its
accuracy. The condition of the by-pass fan condition and its flap
 should be examined in any kiln shutdown.
If the operators in the preheater can’t clean the by-pass duct
system, then

 the kiln should be shutdown and operators must clean these

 The kiln feed content of alkali chlorides and sulfates should be

kept as low as possible.
 Kiln by-pass system should be cleaned continuously and should
not be left until it is nearly closed with accretion and then start
 cleaning job.
In the market now many types of castables that can rebel the
 alkali chlorides and sulfates.
This castables will help in cleaning easy and the number of
 opening of the by-pass system to clean less frequent.
The kiln operator should be in good contact with the lab, so
whenever the sulfur or chlorine increase in the kiln feed, he
 should act according to this change in the kiln feed chemistry.
He should routinely examine the concentration of these elements
in lower

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 9-High kiln hood positive
pressure
The conditions of kiln hood represent a corner stone in
proper kiln
operation. Kiln hood is where the operator looks for:
 The burner flame its shape, color and volume, dimension,
position and temperature
 The clinker color, consistency, its bed behavior in the burning
zone, the color of the coat and its thickness
 Specifications of the secondary air such as its temperature, color,
and the amount of dust in it.
 When the kiln hood is clear and bright and the kiln is in full
production
means the kiln is in its best condition.

P
 I.D. fan failure.
 I.D fan control failure.
 Excess air fan failure in the cooler.

Instrumentation failure of cooler air flow, cooler excess air fan
damper control failure.
 Tertiary air damper suddenly closed.

 Back fire in the kiln hood.

 Accumulation of very hot dust on the kiln hood plate forms and
equipments.
 Danger of possible thermal damage to instruments in the area
of the kiln hood.
 Danger of possible body injury to any person standing in
adjacent to the

 kiln hood.

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 At the moment of overpressure in the kiln hood, the operator
must reduce fuel rate and increase I.D. fan speed.
Reduce cooler airflow rates into different grate compartments.
Increase the cooler excess fan speed to accommodate the new
situation.

10-Red-hot clinker coming out from the

cooler

Different indicators that will reveal the existence of

such
 Highcase:
amps in cooler different drives.
 Clinker bed very high and has an uneven cross sectional
 loading. Cooler loaded with coating and ring fragments.

Sudden drop in the under grate pressure of the outlet area of

the cooler Excessively high under grate pressure (cooler

overloaded).

 Insufficient airflow into the cooler. I
Stalagmite formation at cooler bull nose area at its
inlet. Under grate-drag chain high amps.

 Thermal damage to the cooler mechanical and electrical

 equipments.

 Thermal damage to the clinker transportation system.

 Immediately inspect the cooler to determine the reason for the

red clinker discharge.
 If the cooler is out of order, immediately stop
 the kiln. If the cooler is overloaded then start to
1-Reduce kiln speed to minimize the amount of the clinker
discharged
from the kiln to the cooler.

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 2-Reduce under grate speed to medium speed to give the
cooler more time to cool
this clinker.
 Increase airflow into the cooler.
 If you have a water spray system at the end of the grate then
activate it.

1-If the grate is frequently fails then the following have to be

checked:
 The under grate different parts searching for faulty parts,
missing parts and the system of greasing of the bearings.
 Inspect the quality of bolts and grate plates.
2-If cooler cross-sectional loading in not even for
long time:
Inspect the condition of under grate distribution of air if it is an
air-beam system.
 If it is ordinary reciprocating grate, then check for possible
changes in the
distribution of fixed side plates or any change needed to control
this phenomenon.
3-I the cooler overloading is due to frequent kiln upset
conditions:
 Kiln manager should starts to retrain his kiln operator on
proper kiln operation practices in order to teach them how
to prevent such upset condition from frequently happing
and to predict them and over come them.
 At least he should know that he must slow down the kiln,
therefore he can prevent the rush of material to the cooler
and stop over-load it.
 Or for preventing the un-burned feed from reaching the
cooler.

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 11-Cooler drive or clinker transportation
stopped
Cooler can be over-loaded in many ways and for many reasons.
In some plants there will be ball formation so big that in addition to
its size and the original height of clinker bed, the ball will not pass in
the area of cooler bull nose.
In many times the falling heavy coating from the kiln and the kiln rpm
is maximum, big chunks of clinker will fell sown to the cooler in big
quantity, and over load the cooler>
If there is malfunction in the instruments in the cooler either for under
grate pressure, cooler drive, or the number of stroke /minute for cooler
drive, the cooler can be overloaded.
If the area of the clinker crusher is jammed, while the crusher is still
running, the cooler can be overloaded.
For all the reasons mentioned, the kiln cooler will be overloaded but
some times
the operator can avoid it and some times he will not in a position to by-

 Cooler stages are full with clinker and some time the height can
reach more than 1.2 meter.
 Large clinker chunks coating in the
 cooler. High under grate pressure.
 Cooler drives will have high amps before they start to

trip. Cooler crusher jammed with big clinker pieces.

Big clinker balls coming out with the clinker from the kiln and its
diameter can be more than one meter. When it is broken it will
be found totally consist of clinker. This balls are formed in the
burning zone due fluctuation of the feed melting percent. Also it
can be formed in kiln inlet area and made by build up of alkali
chlorides and sulfates. When it is broken it will have yellow
brownish material in side and clinker on the

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