cement plant lubrication

Hussam Adeni [email protected]

Cement Plant

Lubrication

A brief on Equipment and

Lubricants


Cement Plant Lubrication

A brief - on typical equipment and lubricants

Cement is manufactured by either a Wet process or Dry process. In the wet process, water is added

and resultant slurry is transported through “closed conveyers” to the Kiln.

Prior to a Lubrication survey, we can breakdown the lubrication at Cement Plants into 5 segments.

i. Mines – Quarrying of limestone

ii. Limestone processing - Crushing and grinding

iii. Calcining – Rotary Furnace/Girth Gear

iv. Clinker Grinding

v. CPP – Captive Power Plant

i. Mines Section:


Limestone is the single large raw material used in the manufacture of Portland Cement and most

Cement Plants are located next to the limestone Quarries. Typically, open cast mining procedures

are adopted in India, which translates to a “dumper-dozer” operation; this consists of a series of

drilling and blasting followed by haulage of the loosened rocks and boulders of limestone.

Drilling and blasting:

Holes are drilled on the limestone face and gelatine placed in it. The controlled explosion loosens

the limestone and Excavators and Back hoe’s (mini excavators) used to gather the limestone, this is

then transported by Dump trucks/lorries to the Limestone processing unit in the Cement Plant. In

bigger plants, the limestone may be hauled from mines to the plant by a conveyer system and a first

stage rock breakdown may be taken up with use of Jaw crushers.

Typical Equipment – Lubricants used

i. Compressors, Drilling Equipment (mounted on mobile rigs) - Hydraulic & Compressor Oil,

Engine Oil, Air Line Lubricant (Pneumatic) , Greases- All Purpose, EP type and Graphited or

Molybdenum grease for anti seize of threading in drilling rods.

ii. Dumper, Lorries, Dozers, Excavators, Back hoe - Hydraulic Oils, Transmissions Fluids, Engine

Oil, Automotive Gear Oils, Greases, All Purpose, Chassis, EP tyre Greases, Brake Fluids.

iii. Auto motive Workshop – Lathes, drilling machines, welding machine, cranes, fork lift -

Engine oil, Hydraulic oils, Gear oils, Greases

ii. Limestone Processing Section:

Crushing and grinding: Portland cement is manufactured by heating limestone (source of Calcium)

with clay, Alumina (sand) and grinding this product after calcining (called clinker) with a source of

sulphate (most commonly gypsum). Gypsum is generally blended after calcining. The limestone

boulders/rocks are transported from the mines; are kept in the yard and after preliminary

breakdown/sizing in Crushers and Hammer Mills, to around 3 inches in diameter, it is then sent by

conveyers towards the rotary kiln. Clay, Alumina and gypsum are introduced and blended in the line,

in the required proportions. The blending is further complimented as the mixture goes through a

series of Ball mills for a process known as grinding. Once the blending of the raw materials is

complete the product is ready to enter the rotary furnace or kiln.

Typical Equipment – Lubricants used

iv. Crushers, Hammer Mills, Ball mills, conveyers system, Gear box, Motors - Gear Oil, Greases-

All Purpose, EP type.


iii. Calcining - Rotating furnace Section:

Calcining: The conveyers transport the raw materials, towards the rotary furnace. A pre calcining

unit may be installed as a part of energy optimisation programme. The rotary furnace (kiln), is the

heart of the cement plant and is tilted slightly to ensure flow of material to the exit direction. The

kiln is supported on a massive Girth Gears, where a sophisticated lubrication dispensing system and

Speciality Lubricants are used. Calcining or sintering is a process where the raw material is heated to

a temperature of 1450 to 1500 C (2700 F); at this temperature the mixture gets fused or partially

molten and is often called, as clinker.

Typical Equipment – Lubricants used:

v. Conveyers, Coal Mill, Ball mill, Gear box, Rotating Furnace, Girth Gear, Specialty Grease

dispenser - Gear Oil, Greases - All Purpose, EP type, High temperature Grease, Specialty

Girth Gear Lubricant.

iv Clinker Grinding Section:

Grinding: The clinker is then cooled on- line and blended with Gypsum and “ground” to the desired

specifications. The finished product is then conveyed to large holding tanks called Silos.

Equipment – Lubricants used

Ball mills, conveyers, ID Fans - Gear Oil, Greases- All Purpose, EP type, High temperature

Grease.

v Captive Power Plant - CPP Section:

Process Plants like cement plants are power intensive and as grid power may be insufficient or

erratic, many units have set up their own Captive Power Plants (CPP’s). Most of the CPP’s are

Dieseled Generators, which run on a variety of fuels, Low Sulfur Heavy Stock (LSHS), Heavy Furnace

Oils (HFO) and smaller units depend on Light Diesel Oil (LDO) for their sub –one- MW generators.

Some of the large units like the ACC, Birla Units have set up coal fired Thermal Power Plants.

Equipment – Lubricants used

vi. Dieseled (LSHS,HFO ) Gensets -Wartsila, MAN etc - Very High (50 TBN) & High (40 TBN)

Marine Engine Oils, Turbine Oils, Gear Oils, Greases- All Purpose, EP type

vii. Dieseled below 1 MW units: Cummins, Skoda etc – Multi grade Engine Oils, Greases – All

Purpose, EP Type

viii. Thermal Power Plants: Turbine Fluids, Greases, All Purpose, EP type Greases.


Lube consumption:

The highest lube consumption is in cements plants that have Dieseled CPP’s of 10 MW

capacity or more. They have a typical Specific Lube Consumption (SLOC) between 0.5 to 0.8

g/kWH. This translates to more than 10,000 Lt of Marine Engine Oils per month during the

peak season and likely to be higher if plant is located in States/locations that have power

shortages and the CPP’s are run continuously.

Coal fired Thermal CPP’s have a much lower lube consumption.

Depending on the fleet size the Mines and Quarries are likely to have the second largest

consumption of Lube oils.

Objective: The objective of this note, is to highlight, in brief; typical equipment and lubricants used .

It is not intended to be a detailed report on Cement Plant lubrication. Care has been taken to avoid

recommending any brands of equipment or lubricants, except where necessary (CPP’s).

cement plant lubrication

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