PROCESS EQUIPMENT UPDATE
CEMENTING A
How air cannons revolutionised cleaning at a cement plant
R
NEW STANDARD
ecently, a cement plant in the Caribbean was experiencing issues in its raw material chute. Build-up occurred in the entire chute, but the
principal problem was near the top. Sticky material fell into the chute in large chunks, blocking the chute.
Te plant had installed air cannons supplied by three different vendors to fight this problem. Unfortunately, the air cannons were unable to shift the build-up, requiring manual clean-up. Te plant was often forced to stop production and clean this chute every five hours. An average of 900 tons of production was lost per day, equating to a US$54,000 daily loss. Jeff Shelton, IGS air cannon expert, says that: “Little has changed in the air cannon market over the past two decades, in terms of design of the cannon and its components. All the while, the cement industry has continued to innovate, creating new maintenance challenges. It was time that the air cannon technology caught up with the industry.”
EVALUATING ALTERNATIVES Te plant was made aware of the IGS Big Blue air cannons, which are widespread in the power industry, yet relatively new to cement. IGS has performed several improvements to the conventional air cannon component designs and cleaning power.
Chris Landers from IGS explains
that, “For air cannons to solve build-up issues they must be applied correctly. Te air cannons in this application were not applied correctly in our opinion. We felt there were issues with the following; location of nozzle, type of nozzle and the cleaning energy provided by each cannon.”
Material chute
Te effectiveness of a blast from an air cannon is determined by many factors. Location, orientation and type of nozzle applied to the cannon are instrumental in the success of an air cannon installation. But the type of blast from the cannon is also important.
Tere are two main types of air cannon blasts or discharges: a pusher, and a blaster. Both are effective in the correct application, but the key to success is applying the correct blast style to the type of material being moved and the desired results.
Ineffective air cannons
Air cannon companies have long touted the superiority of their cannons based on “peak force”. Tis is the initial power of the blast of the air cannon. Te theory has ‘been more power means more material moved’. Tis has led companies to move to high peak force cannons but much smaller volumes of air applied. A high peak force is beneficial when the material to be blasted is very hard. Te blast can break and shatter the hard material causing it to crumble and be blasted away. Te blaster cannon does not
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