High-quality, SiloSafe cement

1 April 2017

What is SiloSafe cement?

SiloSafe cement is cement that does not hydrate in the silos and therefore does not form lumps and blockages. As water is always present during cement production, either through injection during grinding, as vapour in gases, or from the feed materials (such as gypsum, slag, trass, etc.), it is vital to ensure that the premature reaction of cement with water (prehydration) is avoided.

Prehydration in the mill may result in lower cement strength, while prehydration in the silo may result in lumps and blockages as well as a decrease in cement strength.

Testing for optimal conditions

According to research by FLSmidth coupled with decades of cement grinding experience, a low level of gypsum dehydration in the cement mill combined with high silo temperatures and lengthy storage times are generally the reasons for such problems in cement silos.

We have were carried out tests at cement plants with vertical roller mills (VRMs) grinding different cement feed materials at varying operating conditions in order to highlight the most important reactions and specify the optimal mill operating conditions.

The main reactions occurring during cement grinding are:

1) Gypsum dehydration

Dihydrate gypsum ----> Hemihydrate/anhydrate + Water

This released water might then react and prehydrate the cement:

2) Cement prehydration

Cement + Water -----> Cement hydrates

Optimising the grinding parameters, such as water injection and mill outlet temperature is an effective way to control these reactions in the mill and later in the silo.

Potential prehydration and gypsum dehydration reactions in the cement mill and in the cement silo.

Operating parameters for ball mills

The following simple guidelines for operation of the ball mill were developed more than 40 years ago:

Water cooling in the ball mill should only be used for temperatures above 100°C. Furthermore, the cooling water should be sprayed correctly into the mill. If the water injection system is partly clogged or does not function properly, prehydration might occur.
A mill outlet temperature of approximately 120°C is recommended to ensure that the gypsum is sufficiently dehydrated in the mill thereby avoiding further dehydration in the cement silo.

VRM grinding parameters

One of the VRM’s great advantages is its versatility. The mill can easily grind multiple types of cement under different operating parameters and with little to no transition time. To achieve the full benefits of the VRM without problems, we should understand the effect of the different operational modes on the cement properties and quality.

At FLSmidth, we conducted tests with our OK™ Mill to evaluate the effect of varying mill temperatures and water injection rates, as shown in the table. The tests were performed over several weeks in two different cement plants.

Test conditions for mill testing
			Grinding parameters
Plant	Cement % SO3	Feed materials moisture (gymsum + limestone)	Temperatures (°C)	Water injection (%)
1	2.0 - 2.3	0.2%	75, 110 and 120	0.4, 1.1, and 2.3
2	3.2 - 3.4	0.6%	115, 120 and 125	0, 0.5, and 1

Plant 1: produces an Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) with low gypsum and C3A content. Here there were no special requirements as to mill temperatures.

Plant 2: produces an OPC with high gypsum and medium high C3A content. Here the plant wanted high temperatures to simulate ball mill cement, so only 115-125ᵒC were of interest.

Both cement plants are producing water sensitive cements with a surplus of alkali relative to sulfur. Thermal analysis was used to measure prehydration as well as the water from gypsum. Wk is the weight loss from prehydration, while Wg is the weight loss of water from gypsum.

At temperatures above approximately 70°C, the water from the gypsum/wet materials moves to the colder parts of the silo (typically the wall, silo outlets and roof), where it prehydrates the cement and eventually forms coating and lumps.

Plant data and experience

The test data clearly show the relationship between cement prehydration (Wk), gypsum dehydration (Wg), operating temperature, and water injected into the mill:

With increasing mill temperature and decreasing water injection, the gypsum dehydration increases (less resulting gypsum water Wg). The less gypsum water remaining, the lower is the risk of silo problems
As was expected, the prehydration is more pronounced at low temperatures (75ºC) and high water injection
Water injection rate is of less importance, when the mill temperatures are high (>100ᵒC)
In order to dehydrate high contents of added gypsum to levels similar to ball mill cement, high mill outlet temperatures of 120-125ᵒC are necessary
The data indicates that high grinding temperatures and low water injection results in the best 28-day compressive strength
Plant experience has shown that it may create silo problems, if cement ground at different temperatures and different gypsum water are mixed in the same silo
High free CaO in the clinker may prevent/delay prehydration and consequently silo problems, because the free CaO will react with water first

Already after one week of storage at 90°C, gypsum is seriously dehydrated and cement is highly prehydrated.

The impact of prehydration on the compressive strength: above approximately 0.3%, a decrease of strength is observed.

Recommendations for VRM operation

Based on these results we recommend the following strategies for producing silo-safe cement:

Operate the VRM at low temperatures (i.e. ~<75°C) and low water injection. Although resulting in low gypsum dehydration (high content of gypsum water), the cement temperature in the silo is so low that no further gypsum dehydration will occur, and no water will be released in the silo.
Operate at high mill temperatures (120-125°C), resulting in high gypsum dehydration and high cement temperatures that simulate ball mill cement and will be silo-safe.
Operate at medium temperatures (80-120°C). If the plant does not experience problems, has short storage times and/or or the plant has special conditions for cooling the cement (cement cooler), this range of temperatures may be used.