Determination of correlation between specific energy consumption and vibration of a raw mill in cement industry

Abstract

In cement industry about 110 kWh of electrical energy is consumed to produce one ton of cement and about 26% of the total electrical power is used during farine production. In this study, certain measures are implemented in an existing raw mill in a cement factory and the specific energy consumption of the unit is calculated to be 25.52 kWh/ton farine. The effects of ball charge rate, moisture content and size of feeding materials on vibration of main driving motors are investigated. The data collected over a 12-month period indicate that vibration directly related to the specific energy consumption (SEC) of the unit. The vibration on the motors of the raw mill is decreased by about 12% as the moisture content and size of the raw materials decreased by half. By this way, specific energy consumption of the unit decreased to 25.19 kWh/ton farine. Keeping the vibration values on the main driving motors less than 4 mm/s by periodical maintenance, the specific electrical energy consumption of the mill has reduced by 2.16% to 24.97 kWh/ton farine which corresponds to a saving of 0.55 kWh per ton of farine production.