Energy consumption and saving potential in cement factory: thermal energy auditing

Abstract

Energy is one of the major inputs for the economic development of any country, thus lack of efficient and effective utilization of energy is a major concern in high-energy consuming industries such as the cement industries. The objective of this research is therefore to conduct energy auditing in Messobo Cement Factory to quantify the energy losses in the system and to identify potential areas for improvement. On site measurements of the material and energy flows was conducted using Infrared thermometer, Thermocouples and Pitot static probe with manometer. Based on the energy analysis performed, the most energy intensive process is found to be the pyre system (burning). The specific heat consumption has been found to be 844.5 kcal/kg-cl with around 45.83 % system efficiency. The major heat losses for the processes occurred in pre - heater exhaust gases and grate cooler vent air that accounted as 176.7 kcal /kg-cl and 199.3 kcal/kg-cl respectively. Comparison of the specific heat consumption with the standard specific heat consumption of the technology under study (730-780 kcal/kg-cl) showed about 64.5 kcal/kg-cl more energy consumption in the kiln system. This indicates that there is a need to improve the energy consumption by applying proper energy saving techniques.Keywords: Rotary Kiln; Heat balance; Auditing; Efficiency