One of the highest risk activities in a cement factory is the unblocking of Kiln Cyclones.

I saw this questions and answers on Linkedin from Juan Ortega – Cement Specialist / Consultant – INfluenCement™

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• In addition to high temperature protection equipment, what other actions are essential to perform this activity avoiding accidents?
• What scenario or situation leads to Cyclone blocking?
• Why is it important to identify and eliminate these situations?
• How do process and optimization professionals play a fundamental role in eliminating these phenomena?
• Why is it important to verify the operation of air cannons or blasters?
• What can we say about cyclone level control instruments?

answer 1

Vital to have a interlock between kiln feed group and cone draft pressure .Kiln to cut feed within 3 minutes of 0 pressure . And during clearing blockages dont waste time with air lance .Get Mr High Pressure water pump into action

answer 2

Hello everyone I had a little experience during the opening of the cyclones it was really a high risk operation. Several causes at the origiqne of the problem I also add a bad conduct of the furnace without forgetting the rate of the sulfur (the case of use of the petroleum coke). Prevention is essential in this case (preventive air cannons ….. etc.) But I’m on the side of setting pressure sensors at the cone and also on the cuffs and automated with the furnace shutdown. For me, stopping the oven is less expensive than a human accident. Thank you

answer 3

This is a complex topic because the clogging of the cyclone can depend on several factors including quality of flour, incorrect management of the oven (keep the draft too low) problems related to a fuss of cannons or claps that you block and do not make the excursion properly. In the case of the danger of disactoping a cyclone among the things to do, it is necessary to focus on prevention, for example to install controls on the opening of the clap with a signal 0-100% indicated in the control room with its alarm in case not closes and closes. Check once in turn the actual operation of the cannons. you could also install an automatism that in case the cyclone goes to zero pressure the firing of the cannons starts automatically. If all this does not work, make the killer-bit intervene on schedule to stop the oven to avoid making the situation worse.

answer 4

Cyclone unblocking is a highest risk job. Suficient draft in cyclone to aviod any positive flush of material. Check wind direction before start cleaning Check all working area floor cables under working point should be covered

answer 5

I’ll try to answer all you questions acoording to what I think is most important on each one. 1)what other actions when cleaning the cyclone? The most important one is a proper lock out/take out procedure, area delimitation and signaling. 2)what scenario leads to a cycole blockage? The most important factor is a bad circulation fenomena control and monitoring and a poor control over shock blasters and cleansing rings, 3)How to eliminate this problem? By controling both previous problems. We can also install equipment to measure de filling degree on the cyclone cone (for example a gamma ray analizer) and programing interlocks to stop the kiln feed in case the level reaches certain number. 4)why is it important to verify blasters? Because they are the first line of action when facing the problem, if they are not working properly the only thing left to do is to stop the kiln and clean manualy. 5)what about level control instruments? I dont have a lot of knowledge in the issue, but in my plant we use Cesium 137 gamma analizers and they work fine, they sometimes tend to alarm that the cyclone level is high when it is not, so we have to check, but i guess it is preferable to be always on guard than always relaxed. Greetings

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