INDUSTRIAL SCALE USAGE OF BITUMINOUS SAND IN CLINKER PRODUCTION PROCESS

Cement is very important product of the building materials industry. In the cement manufacturing industry it is important for the product to be produced with high quality according to the standards and also to be competitive in the market. The manufacturing processes of this product involve high consumption of thermal and electrical energy. This is the main reason why the cement manufacturing companies do constantly research on the cost reduction, optimization of equipment, replacement of raw materials and fuel, optimization of processes and efficiency in the management of energy resources. One of the main fields of these researches is the substitution of fuel in clinker production processes. These researches are subject to or directed towards the use of alternative fuels. Special attention is paid to the substitution of clean fuel with lower calorific value alternative fuels, as well as the usage of processed waste from other industrial or urban processes. These studies have been done due to the exhaustion and high cost of clean fuels with high calorific value, used in the production of clinker process. In many countries, there has been paid attention to the usage of fuels with lower calorific value. They would be used as alternative to the process requirements, easily obtainable in quantity, and with a lower cost. In this article there will be introduced researches and evidence of the usage of an alternative fuel, which aims to improve the competitiveness in the market of the product produced by a cement factory, minimizing the direct costs of clinker production. Since the combustible content is becoming increasingly important, this research work will verify the substitution of the imported coal, with a local material called, bituminous sand. The work focuses on the usage of this alternative fuel on an industrial scale, for the production process of Portland cement clinker. In this work will be also shown the main problems encountered during the clinker production process when using alternative fuels which have high sulphur content. Alternative fuel that is selected for replacement is bituminous sand which is well studied so far. Actual results provided from laboratory tests of this alternative fuel, as well as theoretical calculations of the production process, lead to the industrial trial of this material. Results concerning the content of this combustible alternative fuel and the positive theoretically calculations results, will prove the usage of this alternative fuel on an industrial scale in the clinker production.