The objective
Titan Florida had recently finished the installation of a new production line supplied by FLSmidth and wanted FLSmidth’s help to deal with a number of challenges, including severe snowman formation caused by chemistry fluctuations. Every eight hours their kiln was creating a snowman – and while their pit crew could hydroblast it out of the cooler inlet in less than 30 minutes, a more efficient solution was required. The snowmen were also affecting the wear life of the original cooler inlet and costing the plant major annual repairs.
Great collaboration helped Titan improve various key parameters – and led to the first Air Blast Controlled cooler inlet in the U.S.
Defining the project
An overall engineering and financial study laid the groundwork for the upgrade project. It then led to an incremental, multi-year plan developed in close collaboration with Titan Florida to continuously improve the plant’s uptime, operation, reliability and efficiency.
Working with Titan Florida, FLSmidth’s CSP group eased the transition from the close of the major project by creating new ties with plant staff and helping them gauge priorities. Addressing the snowman problem was at the top of the list.
GUILLERMO HABERER Maintenance Manager Titan America - Pennsuco Plant
View the video interview with Guillermo Haberer, explaining the positive outcome of the upgrade cooler project with FLSmidth
The solution
The solution featured the first ABC cooler inlet on the U.S. market – installed to improve the original Controlled Impact Section and set the model for future retrofits.
In addition to the ABC Cooler Inlet, FLSmidth also supplied three new cooler fans, a new heat exchanger to protect the cooler vent fan from temperature spikes, and modifications to the kiln dust handling system.
Challenges
The upgrade required modifications to the plant that could only be performed during a shutdown. Because of the high demand for cement at the time, the downtime had to be minimised. FLSmidth and Titan worked closely together to ensure solutions and designs that would allow for quick installation and short downtime.
Results
Following the upgrade, both operational efficiency and uptime increased. Snowmen were eliminated; secondary and tertiary air temperature increased; and fuel consumption, clinker exit temperature and compressed air consumption decreased. As of 2011, the inlet has been installed for more than four years and looks virtually new.
Today Titan has eliminated all snowman formations and overall operational efficiency has significantly increased.