Siemens Optimization Solutions for a Leading Cement Manufacturer

Author photo: Sharada Prahladrao
BySharada Prahladrao
Category:
Project Success Story

Customer profile: Wonder Cement is a cutting-edge cement manufacturing company enriched with the heritage of R.K. Marble, a leading name in the marble industry. The greenfield plant in Nimbahera, Chittorgarh District, Rajasthan was established in technical collaboration with ThyssenKrupp and Pfeiffer Ltd. of Germany. It has a capacity to produce 6.75 million tons per year; with the launch of their first grinding unit in Maharashtra (capacity of 2 million tons annually), their current capacity has increased to 8.75 MTPA. The civil work for their third clinker production unit is expected to be commissioned in mid-2019.  Special effort was taken to ensure that the plant adheres to the latest environmental norms.  

Demands and challenges: India is the world's fourth largest construction market; the country's growing housing market and expanding industrial and commercial sectors translate into high demand for cement. The three main challenges that Wonder Cement faces are:  transportation cost of raw materials, finished cement, and utilization of pet coke. The company aims to overcome these challenges through an emphasis on technology and quality.

Wonder Cement required an optimization solution that frees up resources while improving quality and sustainability.  As cement production is extremely energy-intensive, even modest efficiency improvements can make a big difference to a cement producer’s carbon footprint and its balance sheet. Intelligent automation can provide better energy use, greater precision of work, and predictive maintenance that maximizes availability. After careful evaluation of the available options they selected Siemens optimization solutions for optimal resource utilization, efficiency enhancement, and sustainable business through lower emissions. 

Solutions: The Siemens CEMAT Automation software that is deployed at Wonder Cement includes the Process Optimization Solutions KCS (kiln control system) and MCS (mill control system) that use actual plant data to make precise predictions about quality parameters. CEMAT depicts the complete steps within the production chain – from the extraction of raw materials through to packaging of the end products – and offers supplementary modules for process optimization. Cement milling and manufacturing is a highly energy-intensive process with many unpredictable disturbances.  KCS and MCS increase energy savings and improve the quality and efficiency of clinker production and milling.

Plant process parameters that the operator manually enters result in consistent operation throughout the day. The solutions are user friendly and can be easily tuned to ever-changing process conditions to optimally run the loops.

Benefits and advantages:  Siemens offers a comprehensive range of solutions for the cement industry covering the gamut from electrical, drives, automation, and instrumentation. From the quarry to the kiln and from the clinker silo to the shipping facility, the automation solutions, energy-efficient drives, and services cover the entire cement production process chain. Siemens optimization solutions freed operators from monotonous routine work, so they could concentrate on key tasks. The solution also ensured that set points in the controllers can be flexibly adjusted to achieve stable production conditions at an optimum level. Other advantages include:

  • Reduced energy consumption
  • Higher efficiency due to more stable production processes
  • Quality improved due to well-balanced sintering conditions
  • MCS solutions helped to extract maximum performance from the grinding mills

Keywords: Siemens, Wonder Cement, CEMAT, KCS, MCS, Cement Industry, ARC Advisory Group  

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