To meet the growing market demand and face increased competition, Khyber Industries Pvt Ltd decided to upgrade its cement production facilities by adding a hydraulic roller press (HRP) in pregrinding mode to its existing ball mills for clinker grinding. Following the placing of the order with FLSmidth in 2014, the project was delivered, installed and put into operation in January 2016.
“With strong support from FLSmidth, our consultant M/s Tafe-Con and our dedicated in-house workforce, the upgraded system was performing well above the guaranteed performance within a month’s time from the first start-up,” says Khyber Industries’ Project Manager, Tanveer Amir.
The upgrade
Before the upgrade total production from the three existing closed-circuit ball mills, which produce OPC, was 77tph at 3000 Blaine. Of the three mills, the third mill was producing 55tph at 3000 Blaine. Project consultant Tafe-Con studied various options to enhance grinding at the works and recommended a roller press in pregrinding mode based on the following key advantages:
- A pregrinding HRP can result in a capacity increase of 30-40 per cent and a reduced energy consumption of about 10 per cent/t of cement.
- Featuring a noticeably compact layout, this system allows easier construction and installation with no major civil modifications required.
- Reduction in overall production costs due to less energy consumption, efficient operation and low maintenance.
“We were also focused on reducing our electrical energy consumption per ton cement produced and improving our reliability and availability of the machinery to stay ahead in the very competitive market,” says Mr Amir.
| Table 1: comparison of Mill 3 before and after modification parameters |
||
|---|---|---|
| Parameter | Before modification | After modification |
| Production (tph) | 55 | 83 |
| Fineness (blaine) | 3000 | 3000 |
| Specific power consumption (kWh/t) | 33.75 | 28.55 |
Equipment benefits
While Tafe-Con supplied the layout and engineering for the project, FLSmidth delivered the main equipment. FLSmidth’s HRP system concept offers a range of innovations designed to reduce civil costs, improve cement plant efficiencies and ease maintenance requirements.
Special features of FLSmidth’s hydraulic roller press include:
- spherical roller bearings to accommodate angular misalignment
- oil lubrication for bearing lubrication and cooling
- specially-designed torque arm that reduces vibration transfer
- control gates to adjust power draw of the two roller motors
- shut-off gate on choke feed bin avoids idle running prior to starting maintenance
- easy roller removal for maintenance
- isolated HRP foundation for reduced vibration transfer.
