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Show was upgraded to meet the latest safety standards with two flame scanners mounted to view through sight tubes in the burner. The major incentive for the burner change was the opportunity to increase kiln output as the kiln was at maximum capacity in a sold out market. In addition to the remote lighting and improved safety, plant personnel were excited to see reduced N O x emissions, reduced fuel consumption, improved product quality, refractory life and kiln stability. With the plant burning gas, coal, waste oil and tires while producing two different types of clinker (type I & II) it was a difficult task to benchmark all conditions prior to and after the new burner's installation. As a result the most detailed data was collected when firing with natural gas the principle fuel. It was decided to evaluate the burner by comparing the old to the new by using the following operational parameters: production in tons per hour, fuel consumption in BTU/short ton, safety of the system, clinker quality, emissions, and refractory life. As many of these parameters as possible were compared when producing type I and type II clinker. 4.1 Production Once the operators became accustomed to the new heat flux profile they found that the kiln exit gas temperature was cooler as was the gas exiting the top cyclone. This enabled a previously fan limited kiln to increase capacity and enabled more feed to be put on. Production increased by a staggering 1 1 % when firing 1 0 0 % gas. W h e n firing natural gas with waste oil and tires, the production increased by between 6.0 and 9.9%. Refer to figure 8. It became immediately apparent that maximum output (now fan and feed limited) could be achieved by firing solely with natural gas where previously maximum output could only be achieved by the addition of tires and waste oil. The benefit of this was a considerable flexibility of operation and a steadier kiln. 12 |
