Cement and pulp

A cement is a binder, a substance used for construction that sets,

hardness, and adheres to other material to bind them together. Cement
is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel together.
Cement mixed with fine aggregate produces mortar for masonry, or
with sand and gravel, produces concrete.
Introduction
Cement was first discovered in England in 1824 AD by Joseph Aspdin.It
is essentially a mixture of limestone and clay. Cement ia a dry powder
substance made by calcining lime and clay,mixed with water to form
mortar or mixed with sand,gravel and water to make concrete.Cement
was commonly called portland cement because in the presence of
water it sets to hard stone like mass ressembling with famous building
stone f England called portland rock.
The most popular cement that are used in
Nepal are Ordinary portland cement (OPC),Pozzolana portland cement
(PPC) and white cement. When cement,sand, gravel and appropriate
amount of water are mixed, it is called concrete. If the cement and
concrete is filled in wire netting and allowed to set, the structure is
called reinforced comcrete (RCC).
Cement is a product obtained by combining matarial
rich in CaO with other marerial like clay which contains
silica along with the oxide of Al,Fe and Mg.

Cement
contains four types of essential constituents. They are
silicon, aluminium, iron and calcium. One or more may
be absent in specific types of cement. For example,no
iron is present in white cement.
Types of raw materials: Roughly ,the materials required
for the cement production can be classified into three
categories:
A. Primary raw materials: The raw materials which forms 85%
of clincker are called primary materials. They are limestone,
cement rock,clay, shale, sand etc. They supply Ca,Si,Al and Fe.
B. Secondary raw materials: The raw materials which forms
less than 15% clinker are called secondary raw materias. They
are slag, sandstone,bauxite,iron ore etc.
C. Tertiary raw materials:The substance which are used for
other purpose than clinker formation are called tertiary raw
materials. They are specially used for reducing water content
etc.They are gypsum salt ,borax etc.
The major raw materials for cement is limestone (CaCO3) . The
limestone deposited must be identified at first to stablish
cement factory.
In Nepal,the deposits of limestone is reported between Sindhuli and
keyurani near udaypur cemen factory. About 73.5 million tons of
limestone is reported in that area.
Main steps involved in the production of cement:
The steps of cement production are:
i. Crushing : The raw materials like limestone are extracted from quarries by
blasting,drilling,or ripping using heavy machinery equipment. After that it is crushed into
smaller pieces by jaw crusher.
ii. Grinding and blending the materials: The crushed limestone is grinded to
provide a fine materials for the blending step. Thus obtained grinded
material is blended with correct ingredients like clay,silica, and iron ore in
required proportion and mix homogeneously to produce clinker of the
desired composition.
iii. Strong heating(pyro-processing):
The blended raw materials are stored in silos before being fed
into the kiln for pyro-processing operation.The silos store
supply of material for several days to provide a buffer against
any glitches in the supply of raw material from the quarry. The
blended raw material is then heated at the hearth of the pyro-
processing system at high temperature up to 1300C- 1500C in
a rotary kiln to produce a clinker.The kiln is heated with the
help of powdered coke from the lower end of the kiln so that
the long hot flames are produced where following changes
take place.
• Evaporation of free water takes place.
• Evolution of combined water takes place.
• Volatile components are escaped out.
• Calcination of limestone to calcium oxide.
CaCO3 CaO +CO2
• Reaction of CaO with silica to form di and tricalcium silicates.
2CaO +SiO2 2CaO.SiO2 (dicalcium silicate)
3CaO +SiO2 3CaO.SiO2(tricalcium silicate)
• Reaction of CaO with the aluminium and iron-bearing
constituents to form the liquid phase.
3CaO +Al2O3 3CaO.Al2O3 (tricalcium aluminate)
4CaO +Al2O3+Fe2O3 4CaO.Al2O3.Fe2O3
(tetra calcium aluminiumferrite)
• Formation of clinker.
4. Cooling and final grinding of clinker: The clinker
coming out from the burning zone is very hot.To bring down
the temperature of clinker,the air is admitted in a counter
current direction at the base of the rotary kiln.The cooled
clinkers are collected in small trolleys from the cooling pans
and sent into mills. The clinker is grinded into powder in a ball
mill along with 2-3% powdered gypsum salt to produce
cement.The grinded cement is stored in silos from where it is
marketed.
Types of cement:
A. Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC): It is the most common cement
used in the world because of its low cost production and abundance. A
mixture of lime stone and other raw materials like agrillacious,
calcareous,gypsum is prepared and then grinded to prepare OPC.

• It is less durable in aggressive weather.

• It is costlier, and its initial strength is higher than ppc.
• It has lower resistance against alkalis, suphate,chlorides etc.
• It has higher % of chloride, sulphate,alkalis etc in its composition
which makes the concrete less durable.
• The emission of CO2 occurs during its manufacturing process.

• The hydration process is fast resulting in the high heat of hydration

and it is unsuitable for mass concreting. It is suitable where fast
construction is required but not suitable for mass concreting as more
heat is generated in a hydration.
B. Pozzolana Portland Cement(PPC):
PPC is varient of OPC obtained by adding a mixture
of pozzolanic materials namely fly ash and volanic ash to the PPC.
Pozzalana materials are added to the cement in the ratio of 15% to 35%
by weight. The addition of pozzolana improves the strength and
durability of the cement and even reduces the cost of concrete
production. In other words, PPC greatly reduces the amount of OPC
used in concrete.PPC is cheaper and has low initial setting strength
compared to the OPC but hardness over a period with proper curing.
Pozzolana is available in one grade and its strength matches the
strength of grade 33 OPC after curing.
• PPC is the result of adding pozzolana or similar materials such as
volcanic ash, clay, slag, silica, fly ash or shale with OPC, so it is
cheaper.
• It has a slow hydration process and generates less heat than OPC.
Therefore, it is suitable for mass concreting and makes the concrete
more durable.
• Setting time of PPC is higher with an initial setting of 30 minutes and
600 minutes for the final set. Its slower setting time helps to get
better finishing.
• PPC uses natural and industrial waste thus,reducing environmental
pollution.
Manufacture of Portland cement:
The most important raw materials for making cement are
limestone, clay and sand (silex) with iron oxide. Manufacture of
Portland cement involves the following steps:
i. Quarrying: Raw materials are extracted from quarries by blasting
or by ripping using heavy machinery. Wheel loaders transport the raw
materials to the crushing installation.
ii. Crushing: The big lumps of limestone are broken into smaller pieces
by Jaw crusher and then it is transported with the help of a belt
conveyor.
iii. Grinding, blending and homogenization: The crushed
limestone is grinded to a fine materials for blending. Thus, obtained
enough fine material is blended with corrective ingredients like
clay(shale),silica and iron ore in required proportion and mix
homogeneously to produce clinker of the desired composition.
iv. Pyro-processing: The blended raw materials are stored in silos
before being fed into the kiln for pyro-processing operation's silo stores
several days' supply of material to provide a buffer against any glitches
in the supply of raw materials from the quarry. The blended material is
then heated at high temperature up to the1300-1500℃ in a rotary kiln
to produce a clinker. The kiln is heated with the help of powdered coke
from the lower end of the kiln so that the long hot flames are
produced.
v. Storing clinker and grinding: The clinker coming from the burning
zone are very hot . To bring down the temperature of clinkers, the air is
admitted in a counter -current direction at the base of the rotary kiln.
The cooled clinker are collected in small trolleys. The clinker is grinded
into powder in a ball mill along with 2-3% powdered gypsum to
produce cement. Finally, the grinded cement is stored in silos, from
where it is marketed.
Flow chart diagram for the manufacture of portland cement:
Cement industry in Nepal:
In Nepal, cement was used in the1950s, and its supply was diversified
in 1965. Himal cement company was the first cement plant established
in 1975 had a production rate of 160 tons per day but it was later
shutdown in 2002. After this, Hetauda cement industry and Udaipur
cement industry limited were established. Nepal's domestic cement
production has been growing steadily over the past few years as the
demand for the cement continues to reanneal cement producers are
producing OPC,PPC of which OPC is widely used by consumers.
Hongshi-Shivam Cement private limited, a China- Nepal Jion venture
company, has start cement production in March 2018. It is the largest
cement factory in Nepal with a daily production capacity,6000 tons.
Paper and Pulp
Paper production
Introduction:
The pulp and paper industry comprises companies that use wood as raw
material and produce pulp,paper,paperboard and other cellulose-based
products. Almost all varieties of paper are made by using bamboo,straw,
jute, lokta,recycled waste paper, rice, cotton, and even old clothes, etc.
Paper pulp and paper are not only made from cellulosic fibres plant
materials but also uses papers after recycling,purifyingn and deinking.
Pulp is commercially fibrous material(cellulose)
obtained from bamboo, wood, and sugarcane fibers by mechanical and
chemical method. The process of producing pulp is called pulping.
Paper is the aqueous deposit of any vegetables fiber in sheet
form. It is made of cellulose,tree being the main source of fibers.

The raw materials are broadly classified into two categories: Fibrous type
and non fibrous type of raw materials.
i. Fibrous raw material: Paper pulp: Ground wood, bleached and
unbleached pulp, semi-chemical pulp.
Reuse pulp:Paper product,newspaper, paperbound
Cellulose pulp:Straw,lenin and cotton.
Speciality pulp:Inorganic fibers such as asbestos and
glass.
ii. Non fibrous raw materials:The chemicals which are used for filtering
sizing,and coating of paper are included in such raw materials.
These chemicals are used for pulping and bleaching
Inorganic raw materials:
Clay,Talc,TiO2,ZnS,CaCO3,alum,sulphur,lime,NaOH,soda
ash,H2O2,Cl2,Mg(OH)2,NaClO3 etc.
Organic raw materials:Rosin,starch,wax,glycerol,dyes etc.
Stages in production of paper
Flow sheet diagram for paper production