SPECTRAFLOW RECEIVES A NEW ORDER FOR ONE AIRSLIDE ANALYZER FROM ST. MARYS CEMENT (VOTORANTIM GROUP) BOWMANVILLE, CANADA
St Mary’s Cement, part of the globally acting Votorantim Cement Group ordered a SpectraFlow Airslide Analyzer for Raw Mill Optimization for their Bowmanville Cement manufacturing unit in Canada. This is the first SpectraFlow Airslide Analyzer installation in the Votorantim Group and the first SpectraFlow installation in Canada. With this order SpectraFlow expands its installed base to 30 countries on all continents.
About Votorantim Cement Group:
Votorantim Cement Group is the 7th largest cement company worldwide according to their current cement production capacity of 57.3 million tons. The group is present in 11 countries including Brazil, Canada, USA, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, Spain, Morocco, Tunesia and Turkey with a net revenue of nearly EUR 4.4 billion.
In 2001 Votorantim entered the Canadian market with the purchase of the historical St. Marys Cement, which at that time was owned by Blue Circle.
St. Marys Cement began operation in 1912 with a cement manufacturing unit in St. Marys, Ontario, Canada. Today, St. Marys Cement operates 6 cement plants: 3 in Canada (St. Marys, Bowmanville, McInnis) and 3 in the USA (Detroit, Charlevoix, Badger). Within this service area, products are rigorously tested to meet the high standards demanded by today’s dynamic construction needs, from the clinker production to the final product. SpectraFlow will play a key role in improving St. Marys' raw mix design to achieve the highest possible clinker quality, more stabilized kiln operation and reduced energy consumption.
SpectraFlow will replace the existing XRF Atline system which was installed to increase the sampling frequency and therefore the control actions on the additive weight feeders. Bowmanville plant operates a 450 t/h raw mill and standard hourly samples are too slow to efficiently adjust the additive weight feeders. The Atline system increased the sample frequency to 10 minutes (6 samples an hour). However, as Atline systems have no proper sample preparation, the accuracy of the 10-minute results are low and therefore effective feeder adjustments based on the Atline results are not possible. Additionally, Atline systems demand very high maintenance and down-times are common. SpectraFlow will overcome these challenges, as the online analyzer will increase the result frequency to every one-minute (60 results per hour) and will massively improve the accuracy of the results as no sample taking or preparation is required. The raw mill material will be measured continuously and the results can be directly transferred to their QCX software for real time adjustment of their additive weight feeders.
SpectraFlow Airslide Analyzer vs. Atline Analyzer for Raw Mill Optimization:
The SpectraFlow Airslide Analyzer is installed on the airslide after the raw mill. The Atline Analyzer is installed close to the sampling point and fed by a sample collected over 10 minutes. The sample is not milled, as would be the case in a standard laboratory, so the sample tablet has relatively low representativity. Therefore, results can be highly variable and are often not usable for weight feeder adjustments. A detailed comparison below:
| ATLINE (XRF) | NIR ONLINE (SPECTRAFLOW) |
Point of measurement | beside airslide in an external laboratory shelter | airslide |
Raw Material | complex raw material mix causes problems with XRF measurement (samples not prepared) | fine, homogenious powder continiously measured |
Measurement frequency | sample every minute, accumulated to 10 minute sample | direct measurement every 420ms accumulated to 1 minute sample |
Measurement availability | 2-5 minutes after sample collection | 1 minute after measurement |
Measurement Accuracy | low accuracy, as samples are not prepared and XRF is located in the field | very high accuracy |
Guarantee LSF STDEV*) of the raw meal | no guarantee (expected performance LSF STDEV = 5) | LSF STDEV < 2.5 |
*) LSF STDEV is defined as hourly values over 10 hours, deviation from the mean |
SpectraFlow Installation for Raw Mill Optimization:
The SpectraFlow Airslide Analyzer is an online analyzer used to measure raw materials in airslides. As raw materials are processed through a crusher and raw mill, they are made statistically homogeneous and therefore the analytical results of the SpectraFlow Airslide Analyzer are highly accurate, thanks to its strategic placement.
By using a SpectraFlow Airslide Analyzer and a site-specific raw mix proportioning strategy, the variation in the local raw materials can be balanced out to increase consistency of the raw meal, and therefore kiln feed quality, considerably. Also a variable MgO, Na2O, K2O, Cl and SO3 content can monitored far more optimally. The more consistent kiln feed results in fewer kiln stoppages, decreased refractory problems and increased the clinker production and quality.
Summarized benefits:
The analyzer is free of any radioactive sources, neutron generators or any hazardous components. This means the SpectraFlow Analyzer does not require any permits or licenses for importation, operation or maintenance.
The SpectraFlow Analyzer is completely safe. Maintenance can be done by the plant personnel.
Raw meal quality will be homogeneous and on setpoint which results in stable and optimized kiln operation.
The Airslide Analyzer eliminates the need for automatic sample transport systems, automatic laboratories, high availability of operators and maintenance personal for controlling the raw mill operation.
This SpectraFlow order is the 64th order for the Cement Industry and the 1st Airslide Analyzer installation in Canada. This moves SpectraFlow's worldwide analyzer base to 90 analyzers (50 Crossbelt & 40 Airslide) in 30 countries across all continents.
SpectraFlow Analytics Ltd. Switzerland are the experts in providing online analysis for the cement and minerals industries without any radioactive sources nor neutron generators.