Cement Kiln - Kiln Fuels

Kiln Fuels

Fuels that have been used for primary firing include coal, petroleum coke, heavy fuel oil, natural gas, landfill off-gas and oil refinery flare gas. High carbon fuels such as coal are preferred for kiln firing, because they yield a luminous flame. The clinker is brought to its peak temperature mainly by radiant heat transfer, and a bright (i.e. high emissivity) and hot flame is essential for this. In favorable circumstances, high-rank bituminous coal can produce a flame at 2050 °C. Natural gas can only produce a flame of, at best 1950 °C, and this is also less luminous, so it tends to result in lower kiln output.

In addition to these primary fuels, various combustible waste materials have been fed to kilns, notably used tires, which are very difficult to dispose of by other means. In theory, cement kilns are an attractive way of disposing of hazardous materials, because of:

• the temperatures in the kiln, which are much higher than in other combustion systems (e.g. incinerators),
• the alkaline conditions in the kiln, afforded by the high-calcium rawmix, which can absorb acidic combustion products,
• the ability of the clinker to absorb heavy metals into its structure.

Whole tires are commonly introduced in the kiln, by rolling them into the upper end of a preheater kiln, or by dropping them through a slot midway along a long wet kiln. In either case, the high gas temperatures (1000–1200 °C) cause almost instantaneous, complete and smokeless combustion of the tire. Alternatively, tires are chopped into 5–10 mm chips, in which form they can be injected into a precalciner combustion chamber. The steel and zinc in the tires become chemically incorporated into the clinker.

Other wastes have included solvents and clinical wastes. A very high level of monitoring of both the fuel and its combustion products is necessary to maintain safe operation.

For maximum kiln efficiency, high quality conventional fuels are the best choice. When using waste materials, in order to avoid prohibited emissions (e.g. of dioxins) it is necessary to control the kiln system in a manner that is non-optimal for efficiency and output, and coarse combustibles such as tires can cause major product quality problems.