Record-setting vertical roller mill exceeds performance guarantee for Shah Cement

A record-breaking mill does not disappoint 

The world’s largest vertical roller mill at a cement plant – as certified by Guinness World Records – has completed performance guarantee testing, after operating successfully at Shah Cement Industries Ltd in Bangladesh.

 

Since starting operation, the OK™ 81-6 mill has exceeded its guaranteed capacity of 510 tonnes per hour to produce an average of 525 tonnes per hour of Portland composite cement at 3500 Blaine with 15% slag. Power consumption is also better than guaranteed at 28.20 kWh per tonne against the guaranteed performance of 28.80 kWh per tonne. 

Putting Shah Cement at the head of the pack

Standing 25.6m tall and weighing 1,904 tonnes, the record-breaking mill has positioned Shah Cement at the forefront of Bangladesh’s cement industry. Its capacity and ability to produce a range of different cements – from ordinary Portland cement (OPC) to Portland pozzolana cement (PPC), Portland slag cement (PSC), and slag cements, as well as PPC, with changeover time between products counted in minutes – allows the company to flexibly meet market need for high-quality cements.   

“We are proud of what we have achieved with this project,” said John Terembula, FLSmidth Global Product Line Manager – Vertical Roller Mills. “Beyond the record, the reason for this achievement is our skills, innovation, and precision execution to meet the requirements of our customer.” 

A four year journey to success

Shah Cement first approached us in 2016 to develop an energy-efficient milling solution that could produce the full range of cement types at the cement plant in Muktarpur, Bangladesh. Initially, the cement producer believed it would need two milling circuits to meet capacity requirements. But we were able to recommend what would be the world’s largest mill to optimise the overall project cost.

 

Shah Cement was impressed with this alternative solution and awarded us the order. It was a challenge that we were excited to take on! After two years of work by teams in India, Denmark and Poland, the grinding plant was successfully put into operation in August 2018.

 

Inside, the mill’s huge grinding table measures 8.1m in diameter and 3.5m high. Its MAAG Max Drive system also breaks records as the largest supplied to date. Weighing 320 tonnes, the drive system comprises two 5.8MW drive units with a total rated power of 11.6MW. And due to its unique dimensions and challenging ground conditions at the site, the foundations are also supersized: the mill is supported by 71 piles, each of 1m diameter and running 65m deep.

 

“It was a challenging project that required us to engineer the world’s biggest mill from scratch, as well as supplying the new Maag Max drive concept,” said Jegannath Krishnamoorthy, Head of Cement Project Sales. “Civil design and construction were a particular challenge, considering the soil and site conditions, while commissioning such a large mill was a mammoth task that was made even more complex by the Monsoon. Credit goes to project team of both Shah Cement and FLSmidth. A successful project; customer delight on the performance and on owning the world's largest Mill.”

 

In addition to the OK 81-6 mill, we also supplied the process and layout engineering and site advisory services. Supporting equipment includes FLSmidth Pfister weighfeeders, FLSmidth Airtech process bag filters, process fans, and auxiliary equipment – from the raw material hopper discharge to process bag filter discharge.