What Kiln Operator Should Do In
Emergency Situation
Contents [hide]
1 What Kiln Operator Should Do In Emergency Situation!! Very important please share!!
o 1.1 Emergency Condition In Any Rotary Cement Kiln Are:
o 1.2 Red Spot On The Kiln Shell
1.2.1 The danger of operation with red spots especially in very hot
countries lead to:
1.2.2 Red spots are diagnosed by:
1.2.3 Action To Be Taken In Case Of: The Red Spot is located in upper
transition zone or in the burning zone
1.2.4 Action To Be Taken In Case Of: Large Red Spot especially if
located under the tyre or very near to welding seams in the section of
the tyre.
1.2.5 How to make it never or rarely happen again:
o 1.3 Refractory fall down or lost in a part of kiln system
1.3.1 Falling of bricks in the following areas are potential reasons for
stopping the kiln:
1.3.2 Detection of the area or areas where the brick lining or castables
are lost can:
1.3.3 How to prevent Refractory fall down:
o 1.4 Burning Zone Temp. Dangerously Very High
1.4.1 In abnormal operation condition, the following can be detected
1.4.2 Result of such condition will be the following
1.4.3 Action that should be taken in such conditions
1.4.4 How to prevent this phenomenon
o 1.5 Dangerously High Kiln Inlet Temperature
1.5.1 Reason for high kiln inlet temp.:
1.5.2 Consequences of such condition are:
1.5.3 Action that should be taken in such conditions:
1.5.4 How to prevent such condition from occurring:
o 1.6 Unburned Raw Materials in the Kiln Outlet or in the Coolers
1.6.1 When the kiln-burning zone suffers from onrush of partially
burned raw feed, the following will take place:
1.6.2 Reasons behind this phenomenon are :
1.6.3 Consequences of such conditions :
1.6.4 Different actions that should be taken during this condition are :
1.6.5 How to prevent Such Condition:
o 1.7 Main Burner Flame Is Distorted
1.7.1 Reason for such condition
1.7.2 That can be indicated by the following phenomena
1.7.3 Possible Consequences:
1.7.4 Action To Be Taken:
1.7.5 How To Avoid Such Case:
o 1.8 Failure of Precalciner Burners
1.8.1 Reason for Such Case
1.8.2 During Kiln Shutdown, the following area should be taken care
of:
1.8.3 Related
Fully Understand The Situation
Know What Must Be Done During This Emergency Condition
The Decision Taken Must Be Applied Quickly and Properly
Understand the consequences of any action might be taken
Emergency Condition In Any Rotary Cement
Kiln Are:
1-Red Spot On Kiln Shell
2-Refractory material fell down and lost in any part of the kiln system
3-Burning zone temperature dangerously very high
4-Dangerously high kiln inlet temperature
5-Unburned raw material in the kiln outlet and cooler
6-Main burner flame shape is distorted
7-Failure of precalciner burner or burners
8-Failure of by-pass system
9-High kiln-hood positive pressure
10-Red-hot clinker coming out from the cooler
11-Cooler drive or clinker transportation stopped
12-Snow man in the first stage of the cooler
13-Rush of clinker materials in the kiln
14-Power failure
15-Loss of kiln feed
16-Preheater cyclones blocking with feed material
Red Spot On The Kiln Shell
Red Spot indicates loss of bricks in kiln different zones
Some of this Red Spots can be dealt with and disappear
While other Red Spots will be persistent and will lead to eventual kiln shut
down
The danger of operation with red spots especially in
very hot countries lead to:
Severe damage to the kiln shell
The shell can be punctured in the end
Red spots are diagnosed by:
Visual inspection
Temperature over 480ºC on shell scanner or hand pyrometer
Bricks found with clinker either in the burning zone or with clinker on the
clinker conveyor.
Action To Be Taken In Case Of: The Red Spot is
located in upper transition zone or in the burning
zone
Continue normal operation of the kiln
Start cooling this spot with fans
Shorten the flame to bring the black feed area under the burner nearer or
over the red spot to try to form a new coating inside the area empty from
bricks
Keep the burning zone temperature at its normal range
Try in the period after the disappeared of this red spots to have easy to burn
kiln feed.
Action To Be Taken In Case Of: Large Red Spot
especially if located under the tyre or very near to
welding seams in the section of the tyre.
Kiln should be immediately shutdown
How to make it never or rarely happen again:
Be sure that there is no excessive overheating of the kiln-burning zone
Be sure that flame doesn’t directly hit the brick or cause localized coating
erosion.
Try to minimize kiln shut down or upset conditions
Install a high quality refractory bricks in the kiln & employ proper refractory
installation techniques & methods with proper & professional supervision
Refractory fall down or lost in a part of kiln
system
Falling of bricks in the following areas are potential
reasons for stopping the kiln:
Preheater Areas
Kiln Inlet
In Kiln before upper transition zone
By Pass area before quenching air area
Kiln fire hood
Kiln nose ring
Cooling end of kiln shell before the outlet nose ring
Cooler walls in the hot zone area of the cooler
Detection of the area or areas where the brick lining
or castables are lost can:
Rapid rise in the area where the refractory is lost, until it becomes red hot and
deformed.
Area parallel to kiln axis, and the shell is very hot or red in this area
Loose bricks are found with clinker on clinker transportation system
Loose bricks are seen with the clinker bed in the burning-zone
Thermal damage to the kiln shell or the steel structure of other areas and
eventual loss of that parts with possibility of false air to the system and
possibly hot material leakage to outside of the kiln system.
The area where the refractory lining is lost will increase on area
How to prevent Refractory fall down:
Procedure of installing bricks should be revised and the proper techniques
and methods of applying refractory material in the kiln system.
Quality of the refractory used in this area should be questioned and
investigated
Suppliers should be contacted for help if needed
Kiln techniques and procedures should be revised and investigated to for any
excessive rotating of the kiln during shut down or start up or when it is cold
during the shutdown it self.
Kiln ovality and kiln alignment should be monitored and checked in the
proper time to keep the kiln in proper mechanical conditions.
Burning Zone Temp. Dangerously Very High
In abnormal operation condition, the following can
be detected
Coating will be dripping off the kiln burning zone wall
Clinker start to balling in the burning-zone and this phenomenon is called
sausage
Sliding clinker bed will be found in the burning-zone
Burning zone temperature is too high
First part of the cooler will have snowman
Cooler under-grate pressure will be very high
Burning-zone color will be white-faint yellow
Result of such condition will be the following
Rapid failure of bricks in the burning zone will take place due to the loss of
coating and excessive heat on the bricks
Red spots on the kiln shell that could be a large area with faint red-hot color,
big or small area with red-hot color
Thermal damage to cooler plates and kiln hood area components will be very
costly
Action that should be taken in such conditions
Reduce fuel rate to minimum until sausage is stopped
Increase kiln speed by 0.5 rpm more to help breaking the sausage in the
burning-zone.
Increase the air in the cooler hot zone to maximum with creating positive
pressure in the kiln hood.
Reduce primary airflow to control the temperature of the flame
When the sausage disappears and the agglomeration disappears, start to
restore the condition of the burning-zone to normal again by: reducing kiln
speed and increasing the I.D. fan speed while increasing the fuel rate
Reduce fuel rate to minimum until sausage is stopped
Increase kiln speed by 0.5 rpm more to help breaking the sausage in the
burning-zone.
Increase the air in the cooler hot zone to maximum with creating positive
pressure in the kiln hood.
Reduce primary airflow to control the temperature of the flame
When the sausage disappears and the agglomeration disappears, start to
restore the condition of the burning-zone to normal again by: reducing kiln
speed and increasing the I.D. fan speed while increasing the fuel rate
How to prevent this phenomenon
The laboratory has to evaluate the possibility to provide mix that have less
liquid phase
The operator must be more alert to the condition in the burning-zone
Evaluate the condition of kiln pyrometer installed in the kiln hood and
evaluate the flame position and shape to determine if thinner, longer flame is
required since the existing flame may be too wide.
Dangerously High Kiln Inlet Temperature
Reason for high kiln inlet temp.:
I.D. fan speed sharply increased
Kiln speed decreased and became too low
The concentration of sulfur and chlorine in lower most cyclones are very high.
Lack of materials at kiln inlet due to problems in the kiln feed system or the
lower most cyclones are blocked by feed materials and don’t discharge any to
the kiln inlet, or the materials are erratically behaving in flushing waves from
these cyclones.
The concentration of sulfur and chlorine may be high in the lower cyclones to
the degree that leads to erratic flow of material form these cyclones. This is
may be due to either unsuitable by-pass fan speed or due to blocking of by-
pass system and/or higher concentration of alkali, chloride and sulfate in the
kiln feed
Carbon monoxide exists in kiln exit gas
Consequences of such condition are:
The lower most cyclones temperatures increase will lead to blocking of these
cyclones by over heated feed material (cake formation)
The inefficient by-pass system or blocked by-pass system, since there may be
a drastic increase in the percent of both of chiorine and sulfate in the lower
most cyclones.
This will make kiln operation increasingly hard with flushes of material coming
from these cyclones
Damage to the kiln inlet area, dust collector and preheater equipment
The fuel can start ignition in the kiln inlet
The kiln will start to be in an upset condition
Action that should be taken in such conditions:
Reduce fuel rate and I.D. fan speed to obtain less than 1-% oxygen in the kiln
inlet but the fuel rate should not be completely cut, since this may trigger an
explosion in the kiln electrostatic precipitator.
Increases kiln speed and feed rate
Don’t open any door in the kiln inlet area, so no fresh air will be introduced
into the kiln system.
When the temperature of the kiln inlet starts to be normal, Then
Return the kiln operation to normal operation conditions
First start to increase fuel in very slow steps
Start in the same time increasing the I.D. fan speed in the same slow steps
Check the kiln inlet area, especially the gas analyzer equipment
How to prevent such condition from occurring:
The kiln must not be operated without feed for more than 10 minutes
Kiln operator must look routinely to the trends or curves of the different
instruments monitoring the condition of the kiln inlet area.
The performance of measuring devices in the kiln inlet should be periodically
examined.
During upset conditions, start up and shutdown time, kiln operator should
give more attention to the conditions of combustion of the fuel, main burner
performance, feed rate flow condition, feed system performance, kiln inlet
temperature, I.D. fan speed and how much it is suitable for prevailing kiln
conditions
Keep the by-pass system in good operation condition with suitable fan speed
Unburned Raw Materials in the Kiln Outlet
or in the Coolers
When the kiln-burning zone suffers from onrush of
partially burned raw feed, the following will take
place:
Black feed area under the main burner flame is greatly advanced in the
direction of the kiln nose ring area.
The burning zone is blacked-out
When the kiln hood area become black and dusty
Red grate in cooler and the temperature of the grates will become
increasingly high
Rapid increase in the temperature of the material discharged from the cooler
Decrease of secondary air and tertiary air temperature
Cooler drag-chain for transporting of under grate dust and spillage will be
either over loaded or amp very high.
Reasons behind this phenomenon are :
One or more of lower most cyclones filled up with materials and suddenly
released, while the kiln was on a maximum speed.
The breaking of ring formation and the trapped material before it are
suddenly released.
When there are bad kiln operation practices or bad operator behavior, the
feed flow to the kiln may be so erratic to the degree that can cause such
condition
Consequences of such conditions :
Different actions that should be taken during this
condition are :
How to prevent Such Condition:
Inspect the situation and look for indication that you are over-feeding the kiln
The burner is not giving the proper amount of fuel to the maximum feed the
operator will give to the kiln.
In the same time put into consideration the speed at maximum feed.
This study should also look for the situation of the grate cooler especially for
the temperature of the tertiary air and the secondary air temperatures.
This will, in the end, give clear idea about how to achieve kiln operation
stability in relation to these conditions previously mentioned.
The operator behavior should be continuously followed and he should be
advised to make frequent visual inspection of the burning-zone in order to be
able to learn how to detect any sign of an impending problem related to such
formerly explained case
Main Burner Flame Is Distorted
Reason for such condition
When the kiln burner is not well adjusted or the mechanical parts are not in
proper conditions.
When the electrical instruments of the kiln main burner may cause faulty
control of the burner.
When the burner tip part is blocked by oil fuel and dust or it is damaged
When the burner pipe bottom is worn out due to falling of protective castable
and primary air is escaping from this opining in the bottom of burner pipe
That can be indicated by the following phenomena
Irregular flame shape and unusual flame shape
Flame is fragmented in a way that will permit for part of the flame to impinge
on lining. This takes place, especially in the area of burning zone nearer to
cooling zone in the kiln outlet.
Possible Consequences:
Thermal damage to kiln burning-zone, kiln shell and kiln hood refractory and
kiln mantel door especially if backfire happens in the kiln burning-zone during
this period.
Possible red spots on kiln shell, if this phenomenon is disregarded and
neglected.
Thermal damage to nose ring segments
Action To Be Taken:
Inspect burner pipe for damage especially in the bottom area where the
secondary air loaded with dust from cooler will hit the pipe in great speed.
If the burner flame is so distorted that is greatly impinge on the lining of the
burning zone i.e. bricks, the kiln should be shutdown immediately.
If the burner condition can permit for adjusting it during operation without
danger of aggravating the burner condition, then the burner must be
adjusted in way to provide for smooth operation until a scheduled shutdown
is decided to repair the burner pipe.
How To Avoid Such Case:
During any regular kiln shutdown, burner pipe must be inspected and repaired in the best
possible way. The price of neglecting the burner pipe or to economize in the spare parts will
be lost production or lost kiln linings and the final result will be again lost production.
Try to provide the best protection for the burner pipe. Burner pipe is one of the most
troublesome parts of the kiln section that can give hard job for the kiln manager if he
neglects the process of casting it. Buy the best castables and anchor available for the burner
pipe.
Investigate the process of casting the burner pipe and the techniques used in this process.
The primary air fan must be programmed in a way that provide for its operation at least two
hours after the burner is stopped.
Never pull out the burner pipe after kiln shut down, but continue with the primary air fan for
cooling and don’t take out the burner pipe from kiln hood before four hour after kiln shut
down to protect the castable on the pipe from taking unnecessary thermal shock.
Failure of Precalciner Burners
Reason for Such Case
Interlock with the uppermost (top) cyclones temperature. In order to protect
the I.D. fan impeller and shaft from overheating, this interlock is activated in
the kiln system.
The gas temperature of the precalciner vessel rises to >1000C
The gas temperature of lower most cyclones that receive gas and materials
from the precalciner rises to >1000ºC.
The temperature of the fuel decreases less than 65C.
If the kiln feed system is stopped for any reasons mechanical electrical or
extraction problem.
During Kiln Shutdown, the following area should be
taken care of:
Kiln Feed System
Kiln fuel station and heating system
Burners valve trains
