Castle Cement

Cutting changeover times and improving plant operations

At its Padeswood Works, Hanson Cement formerly Castle Cement manufactures six different grades of cement, with a total production rate of around 500,000 tpa; five of the grades have the same composition and differ only in terms of fineness. Off-line laser diffraction particle size analysis convinced Castle Cement of the relative benefits of the technique compared with Blaine measurement, but analytical frequency became a limiting factor in terms of gaining greater insight into plant performance. An on-line Insitec system was installed to continuously monitor the particle size of product leaving the finish milling circuit.

With real-time monitoring in place the operational team can instantly observe the result of any action taken. Manual control has therefore significantly improved, gains accruing from:

• Tighter control at the lower end of the product specification
• Swifter product changeover – transition times have been reduced from around 3 hours to less than 30 minutes
• Better control during mill start-up
• Enhanced process insight – for example, the limestone addition method has been optimized to ensure thorough blending

Castle Cement is considering additional Insitec purchases and the possibility of automating separator control.

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