A paper written by CalPortland and FLSmidth received top honours at the IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Technical Conference in St. Louis, Missouri.
The document - written by of CalPortland engineers Alan Simmons and Gurjeet Sarao, and FLSmidth engineer David Campain - was chosen as the best of 23 entries.
The papers were graded by a panel of reviewers and were evaluated based on the quality of the writing and the presentation. Recent improvements in technology have provided an opportunity to enhance the energy efficiency of a thirteen-year-old vertical finish cement grinding mill at the Mojave plant. This technical paper/presentation describes the replacement of the separator (or classifier) with a new design producing higher efficiency. Additional energy efficiency optimisation of the mill was achieved with the installation of an advanced process control system.
IEEE-IAS/PCA says the advanced process control system improved the energy efficiency of the mill and its stability and operation.
According to IEEE-IAS/PCA, the advanced process control system combined with the separator replacement are expected to provide other long-term benefits in terms of improved product quality and reduced maintenance costs that will benefit the Mojave plant in the future.
Papers focused on topics related to the practical application of electrical technology, standards, equipment, safety and systems of interest in cement industry within the scope of the Cement Industry Committee Working Groups.
Stephen Coppinger, vice president, engineering services, CalPortland, says: “I am very proud of CalPortland’s involvement in the development and presentation of a technical paper that was chosen as the best paper at this year’s IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Industry Technical Conference. An impressive feat considering the rigorous peer review process the papers are subjected to and the high-quality standards required for the conference.
