The efficient handling of cement, from production to transportation, is paramount. This article is a case study about the transformative impact of ELGi’s oil-free compressors adopted by a leading Indian cement major.
India is the second-largest cement-producing country in the world1, accounting for more than 8 per cent of the global installed capacity2. The cement industry is vital to global infrastructure development, providing the building blocks for our roads, bridges and buildings. With a major infrastructure push from the government and technological advancements for environment-friendly processes, the cement industry is looking forward to promising growth potential. Also, with the excellent quality and quantity of limestone deposits throughout the country, the cement industry promises enormous growth potential.
Initiatives by the Government of India, such as the expansion of railways, housing for all and smart cities, combined with the additional requirement of cement for urban households, will lead to more consumption in the coming years. Cement is a sector that relies heavily on industrial machinery and processes to ensure efficient production. Among this crucial equipment is the air compressor, which plays a pivotal role in cement transportation.
Cement production in India
With the increase in overall requirement for cement, there is also a need for time-efficient and quick processes to meet the ever-growing demands. Manufacturing cement involves complex processes such as mixing, drying and grinding a mixture of clay, limestone and silica into a composite mass. This mixture is then heated and burnt in a preheater and kiln. Following this, when the mixture is cooled in an air-cooling system, clinker is produced, a semi-finished form of cement. The clinker is cooled by air and ground with gypsum to form cement. The material’s bulky nature results in high transportation costs that have led cement manufacturers to set up clinker units near limestone mines and grinding units near coastal areas to help cut down logistics costs considerably. However, some challenges need to be resolved to enhance process efficiency.
Customer challenge
A prominent Indian cement major with numerous plants and units spread across different countries looked out for an efficient compressed air solution to facilitate unloading cement from ships into bulkers and transferring cement to their plant silos. It is vital to quickly load and unload the cement to avoid holding the ship for too long in the dock and prevent penalties. Further, bulkers are used for transporting cement to the cement silos, which also requires swift implementation to avoid trucks lining up. While handling large volumes of material, transporting cement through pipes is more efficient than packing in bags. Compressed air is crucial for quickly loading and unloading cement from trucks.
Application of compressed air
A single silo has the capacity of accommodating nine trucks filled with cement. For unloading, pipes are connected to the trucks. A pipe with compressed air discharged at two bars of pressure goes into the truck, and another pipe is connected to move the cement into the silo. Once the pressure reaches zero, it signals that the entire material has been transferred to the silo, and the pipe is removed. A similar process transfers the cement from ships to trucks. It is crucial that the equipment doesn’t break down during the entire process and the air supply is sufficient. The downtime also needs to be minimal to maintain operational quality and speed.
Smart savings
The cement major chose ELGi air compressors because they were indigenous with low maintenance costs. The cement major shifted from reciprocating air compressors to ELGi’s OF 132 L oil-free screw air compressors after a careful audit of their needs.
ELGi’s solution reduced power consumption and faster cement transfer, supported by quick customer service response and reliable technical support. The ELGi team also retrofitted its existing variable-frequency drives (VFDs) on its air compressors to regulate motor speed for cases when there was less cement than usual to unload. As bulkers unloaded faster with ELGi compressors, fewer bulkers were needed overall, thus resulting in huge savings.
Here are some key benefits of the shift to ELGi’s Oil Free Compressed Air Solution:
- ELGi’s Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) system makes operating air compressors easy.
- Earlier, it would take 45 minutes to unload a truck, but after using ELGi air compressors, unloading time reduced to 20 minutes, a drop of 50 per cent.
- Since ELGi air compressors use less energy, the customer’s power consumption is reduced, translating into significant cost savings.
ELGi’s oil-free and energy-efficient air compressors helped the cement major to increase its productivity. Ship unloading into bulkers and bulkers unloading into cement silos at the plant both happened quicker than earlier, resulting in substantial time and cost savings. Low maintenance costs and reduced power consumption also increased efficiency.
The cement manufacturer has switched to ELGi air compressors for its plants all over India. As the cement industry grows, ELGi air compressors will continue to enable the Indian cement major to transport cement faster, ensuring high energy efficiency, productivity and significant energy and maintenance cost savings.
References
1 beeindia.gov.in
2www.ibef.org