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Managing a plant’s raw materials is key in this new world of supply chain issues coupled with skyrocketing material costs. Petroleum coke, used to generate a kiln’s thermal energy, has seen rising prices from a number of international market conditions. Also, due to both environmental and safety legislations, plants worldwide now have targets in terms of emissions reductions, use of clean energy sources, and greater reuse of materials in cement and concrete production. Not to mention the new plants that are producing green/eco cement, which reduces both carbon emissions and energy consumption.
And on digitalization, a McKinsey study found that process digitalization work in cement facilities has the potential to save between 10 to 15 percent on productivity, stating that “pursuing digitization and sustainability levers are key to significantly boosting productivity and efficiency of a typical cement plant. Working on these goals will increase plant performance in 2023, driving towards climate change mitigation, and ultimately helping future-proof the industry. But without a cement plant’s solid foundation of process instrumentation, analytics, and control systems, these ‘resolutions’ are virtually unreachable.
Perhaps a place to start in bridging the gap between industry goals and this solid foundation within each cement plant is an understanding of what operators are experiencing on the frontlines. A pressure sensor that’s gone offline, again. A colleague heading to the top of a silo to clean a level device. Or a high-level alarm that didn’t, well, alarm. In a true hierarchy of the needs of the cement industry, it becomes impossible to move towards global improvements unless a business can overcome its day-to-day production challenges. And maybe this means exploring opportunities arising from a shift to the Siemens Cemat process control system and its unique open architecture for modern, future-proof cement industry solutions—or perhaps just getting the digitalization ball rolling with Sitrans LT500 level controller and other rugged, intelligent devices. Either way, operators can push beyond the grind of tending to instrumentation needs and onto tackling issues to help drive their business forward.
Ensuring accurate and reliable level measurement during the continual aeration to mix materials—plus constant filling and emptying—the homogenization silo is a challenging application for any device due to dust. Extreme dust, in fact—so much that a lightbulb lowered into the silo becomes invisible about five meters down. A proper mix inside this 80-meter (262-foot) silo, though, is critical for mixing raw materials into a homogenous state. If the silo doesn’t keep a minimum material level, the resulting product won’t be uniform. Using a Sitrans LT500 level, flow, and pump controller combined with a high-frequency level measurement transmitter, operators can monitor this critical feed for the plant in real time. Intelligent, high-frequency radar is unaffected by environmental influences like dust—as well as vapor, pressure, and fluctuating temperatures. Non-contacting radar also performs well over long distances: with measuring ranges well over 90 meters (300 feet), radar transmitters outpace other technologies in the tall silos found throughout the cement industry. First installing the radar transmitter at the top of the silo, operators connected it to the Sitrans LT500, allowing them to easily configure the sensor from the safety of the controller using the quick start wizard. Alarming programmed into the controller alerts operators if the minimum level of material isn’t being met—keeping production moving smoothly to prevent downtime in the rest of the facility.
