Dr. Volker Wagner, Calderys Deutschland GmbH & Co. OHG, Germany ) LCC( . Calderys . .

Calderys . . Quick Dry No Cement Castables

1. Introduction In modern cement plants dense refractory materials are used to prevent infiltration and corrosion effects on the lining. Low cement castables (LCC) are the current standard. If installed and heated-up in a proper way they provide a level of performance that is satisfactory. Cement plants cannot afford to lose production time by any means. Any kiln stoppage must be as short as possible. However, LCC materials cannot be heated up rapidly. The initial permeability is extremely low so cracks and even smaller explosions occur if casted parts are heated up too quickly. As a consequence, cement plants cannot re-start their operation as fast as they would require! To increase the speed of installation either a new technique or a new class of materials had to be developed. From an installation point of view drying will always be one of the most important topics and will remain a timeconsuming step. For that reason, Calderys decided to focus on reducing the heating-up and drying time. 2. Quick Dry No Cement Castables (QD)

Our goal was the development of a material having similar chemical and physical properties in operation as LCC materials but being able to be heated up in a significant shorter time. The solution for this is the newly developed product family of Quick Dry No Cement Castables (QD). A new binding system allows the operator to heat up the respective aggregate more than two times faster than in the case of LCC materials (Fig. 1). The QD materials do not rely on calcium aluminates for binding but on a novel nocement binding system 1. Typically the removal of hydrates formed during the conversion of calcium aluminates cements is the limiting factor in rapid drying of refractory castables. Traditional LCC materials contain large amounts of hydrates and thus chemically bonded water. This water is removed over a wide temperature range but one has to operate very carefully and strictly follow the drying curve to follow the diffusion behaviour of water through the pore system of the lining. And unfortunately, the low permeability of the lining allows steam pressure to increase rapidly during drying. Especially in the temperature range between 20 200 C water can easily be evaporated from the casted fields. At higher temperatures the QD materials have the same high density and low porosity characteristics as low cement castables 2 (Fig. 1).

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16 14 16 Permeability [10-16 m2]

14 12 12 10 8 6

Permeability [10-16 m2]

10 8 6
LCC QD NCC

LCC QD NCC

44 22 00

20

20

110

Temperature [C]

110

200

200

Fig. 1: Permeability of LCC and QD materials

Temperature [C]

Fig. 1: Permeability of LCC and QD materials

Fig. 1: Permeability of LCC and QD materials

into the nature the newly developed QD materials the internal pressure The measurement of the gas of permeability isgas one permeability side of the story. To look deeper the To nature of deeper the newly The measurement of the is one side of steam theinto story. look had to be analysed )fig. 2(. developed QD materials the internal pressure into the nature of thesteam newly developed QD materials the internal steam pressure had to be analysed 2).analysed )fig. 2(. had(fig. to be

The measurement of the gas permeability is one side of the story. To look deeper

Fig. 2: Steam pressure in a LCC and a QD material

Fig. 2: Steam pressure in a LCC and a QD material

600 C are clearly (Fig. showing that LCC materials reach the maximum steam pressure Steam pressure measurements 2) realised on LCC compared to QD until 600C are clearly showing that close to 20 bars in comparison with the QD materials with 6 bars. QD products LCC materials reach the maximum steam pressure close to 20 bars in comparison with the QD materials with 6 demonstrate permeability values that are 2 to 5 times higher than LCC materials. bars. QD products permeability values that are 2 to 5 times higher than LCC materials. Fig. 2:demonstrate Steam pressure in a LCC and a QD material

Steam pressure measurements )Fig. 2( realised on LCC compared to QD until

The immediateSteam consequence is the possibility to heat-up products quicker to than withuntil low cement pressure measurements )Fig. 2( QD realised on LCmuch C compared QD containing materials, permitting gain of that 60%LCC in time (Fig.3)reach duringthe this critical step of refractory 600 C are clearly a showing materials maximum steam pressure lining to 20 bars in QD comparison with significantly the QD materials with bars. QD products installation. Asclose a consequence, the technology contributes to 6 reducing energy consumption demonstrate permeability values that are 2 to 5 times higher than LCC materials. and SOx emissions during installation.

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QD technology significantly to reducing energy consumption and SOx The immediate consequence iscontributes the possibility to heat-up QD products much emissions during installation. quicker than with low cement containing materials, permitting a gain of 60% in time )Fig.3( during this critical step of refractory lining installation. As a consequence, the QD technology significantly contributes to reducing energy consumption and SOx emissions during installation.

Fig.3: Industrial heating-up for LCC and QD castables

Fig.3 : Industrialheating-up heating-upfor for LCC LCC and Fig.3: Industrial and QD QD castables castables

3. Materials & Installation

3. Materials & Installation Another key advantage of materials the QD materials isneed thatany they do not need any specific Another key advantage of the QD is that they do not specific requirements for installation. requirements for& installation. They are applied exactly theQD same way range as low cement They are exactly the same way as low cement castables. The current product includes alkali 3. applied Materials Installation resistant materials as well as materials for a high temperature load. The abrasion resistance is high throughout castables. The current QD product range includes alkali resistant materials as well the entire product as materials for a high temperature The abrasion resistance is high throughout Another key range. advantage of the QD load. materials is that they do not need any specific

the entire product range. requirements for installation. They are applied exactly the same way as low cement castables. The current QD product range includes alkali resistant materials as well as materials for a high temperature load. The abrasion resistance is high throughout the entire product range.

Table 1: Main properties of LCC and QD materials 4. Field Trials

Table 1: Main properties of LCC and QD materials

Table 1: Main properties of LCC and QD materials

Predestined areas for the installation of these new materials are (a) those where the working lining thickness is in the upper range and (b) those directly connected to the rotary kiln and therefore not separately heated-up. As mentioned above such a heating-up cannot be done due to time or financial reasons. Since the introduction of these materials to the cement industry (beginning of 2010) a large number of customers have installed QD products in their kilns. The preferred areas are those directly linked to the rotary kiln: - - - - nose ring burner pipe kiln hood cooler (pictures 1 & 2)

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In all cases the installation has been carried out without any problems. Phoenix Zementwerke, Krogbeumker GmbH & Co KG in Beckum and Buzzi Dyckerhoff AG, Lengerich Plant (both plants in Germany) to name a few, are excellent examples of successful installations.

Picture 1: Installation of a cooler bench

Picture 2: Cooler bench after installation (Phoenix)

The kilns were heated-up by starting the main burner. There was no special treatment for the casted sections. In all cases these areas could be heated up without any damage. Jrme Soudier: QD NCC : Quick Drying No Cement Castables, a novel non-cementitious mineral bond permitting flexible installation and extreme rapid heating-up, 53rd Int. Colloquium on Refractories, Aachen, 2010, Proceedings pp 115- 118.
1

P. Meunier , L. Ronsoux : Permeability and dehydration of refractory castables. Proceedings Unitecr05, pp.799803.
2

Dr. V. Wagner, M. Louen: Risk-less heating-up with quick dry materials, 54th Int. Colloquium on Refractories, Aachen, 2011, Proceedings pp 168 -169
3

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