Low-Pressure Blowers: Driving Efficiency in Cement Manufacturing

Be sure to listen to Blowers in Cement Manufacturing webinar for more details!

Low-pressure blowers are employed in a wide variety of applications, including wastewater treatment, mining, and the dairy industry. Did you know that cement manufacturing is another strategic industry that uses this technology? Below we provide a brief overview of how cement is created and the essential role that blowers play in this process.

How is Cement Manufactured?

There are 2 ways to manufacture cement: the dry method and the wet method. The dry method is by far the most common and popular. In this method, the raw materials (including limestone, chalk, clay, slate, and silica sand) are crushed in several stages, eventually being reduced to around 3 inches or less in diameter. From here the crushed rock is mixed with other ingredients, such as iron ore, and then fed into a cement kiln.

The kiln, which is slightly tilted on an axis, heats the mixture at extremely high temperatures – around 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. As the materials make their way from the higher to the lower end of the kiln, certain materials are burned off as gases. The remaining elements meld together to form a material called “clinker,” which exits the kiln, is cooled, and is finally ground into extremely fine powder ready to be transported to concrete companies.

The wet method is essentially the same process; the only difference is that the wet method mixes the raw materials with water before entering the kiln.

Blowers in Cement Manufacturing

Blowers play a key role in the moving, mixing, heating, and cooling processes of cement manufacturing. A few crucial ways blowers are used include:

1. Pneumatic Conveying. Oil-free blower technology is employed to transport cement through various points in the manufacturing processing, such as:
   • Conveying the materials into and out of the kiln
   • Bagging the end product
   • Moving the cement onto trucks, bulk containers, railcars, and sea transportation for final transport

2. Aeration. Blowers are used to aerate the air cement silos, as well as to ensure that the raw material remains in motion.

• Homogenizing Silo Aerations
• Raw Mill Silo Aeration
• Filter Dust Bin Aeration
• Mixing Bin Aeration
• Fluidizing Air

3. Combustion Air - Feeding Oxygen to the fire

4. Cooling Air - Cooling the mixture after the kiln. 

Interested in learning more about Atlas Copco’s blower technology? Check out www.atlascopco.com/air-usa!