Do you know what is the most crucial ingredient material of concrete? The answer is cement. Why? Because only cement can increase the viscosity of concrete and give the building a sturdy structure. Therefore, cement is a hot-selling product worldwide.
Nigeria is blessed with abundant cement raw materials, namely limestone, clay, and gypsum (or plaster). According to available data, limestone reserves in Nigeria rank third in the world. Moreover, the grade of most limestone quarries in Nigeria is high, containing more than 80% calcium carbonate. Nigeria is also rich in clay and gypsum. Abundant cement raw materials provide a guarantee for large and stable cement production in Nigeria. And it is growing steadily.
The steadily rising cement production capacity is to catch up with the increasing cement consumption. The housing construction deficit and infrastructure development in Nigeria have greatly stimulated domestic cement demand. Besides, Nigeria is transforming into a net exporter of cement, and the cement export market is also expanding.
As of now, the retail price of cement in Nigeria is ₦3,600—₦3,900 per bag, depending on brand and location, etc. The wholesale price (600 bags) ranges from ₦2,100,000 to ₦2,350,000, depending on the manufacturer.
One of the reasons for the high price of cement is that the supply exceeds demand. Therefore, the three key cement players in Nigeria, Dangote Cement, Lafarge cement, and BUA Cement, are all working hard to increase cement production capacity to balance cement prices.
Another factor responsible for high cement prices is cement equipment. Excessive energy consumption, the high maintenance cost will increase cement production costs, causing the cement price to rise.Then you may wonder what equipment does the cement plant needs? How to reduce cement equipment maintenance costs?
No rush, that's what we are going to discuss.
Cement plant flowsheet
Cement plants mainly consist of a series of cement equipment like cement crushers, cement mills, cement rotary kiln, cement dryer, cement cooler, cement silo, and other related equipment. With the assistance of these cement machines, we turn cement raw materials into cement clinker and then into finished cement.
In cement plants, cement manufacturing needs to go through the following six processes:
- Raw Materials Crushing, Proportioning & Blending
- Raw Materials Grinding
- Preheating
- Calcination
- Clinker Cooling and Grinding
- Cement Packing
In the process of cement manufacturing, all the raw materials like limestone and clay need to be first pulverized into the proper size and then mixed together in proportion. The mixture (also called raw meals) will be ground into required fineness by a cement mill, delivered to the preheater for partial decomposition, then to the cement kiln for calcination. Since the temperature in the rotary kiln is pretty high, we usually use a cement cooler to cool it down to the normal temperature so that the clinker can be further processed. The cooled cement clinker is mixed with an appropriate amount of gypsum powder (and mixing materials), and the mixture is sent to a ball mill for fine grinding to reach a qualified fineness of cement products.
Hot sale cement equipment
Raw material preparation of cement
The first step in cement manufacturing is to crush, and grind limestone, clay, iron ore, gypsum and coal to the required particle size. Then use scientific stacking and reclaiming technology to complete the homogenization of raw materials. It needs a cement crusher and a cement mill to do the crushing and grinding job.
Cement crusher
Raw mill
Cement clinker production
The prepared raw materials are preheated in the cement preheater and sent to the cement kiln to be calcined at high temperature (about 1500° C) to get cement clinker with calcium silicate as the main component. Then the clinker will be cooled down in a cement cooler. In the dry process for manufacturing of cement, water-c materials such as limestone, coal, and mixing materials need to be dried. In the wet process for manufacturing cement, coal and mixed materials also need to be dried. So a cement dryer is required.
Cement kiln
There are two types of cement calcination machine: shaft kiln (also called vertical cement calciner) and cement rotary kiln (or cement calciner). The rotary kiln is more favored by cement manufacturers due to its thorough calcination effect, better cement quality and higher cement output.
Cement grinding
Clinker and gypsum are all fed to the cement for fine grinding. To reduce dust pollution, cement plants are equipped with dust collection equipment. Electric dust collectors, bag dust collectors and cyclone dust collectors are widely used in cement plants.
Cement ball mill
Dust collection equipment
Cement production auxiliary equipment
Hopper
Stacker and reclaimer
Cement preheater
Cement silo
Cement packing machine
The above is the production process and required equipment of the cement plant. A rotary kiln is a vital machine in the energy-intensive cement calcination process. Normal cement rotary kilns have the problems of excessive energy consumption and excessive pollution during operation. Therefore, energy-saving and environmentally-friendly calcining equipment is sought after by cement manufacturers.
The cement grinding plant accounts for more than 70% of the total electricity consumption in the cement-making process. It directly affects the output and quality of cement, so the cement grinding plant palys a very important role in the cement plant.
Calcination and cement grinding are energy-consuming links. It is suggested that you start with rotary kiln and cement grinding station to reduce cement energy consumption.
Cement equipment manufacturer
Fote company, an established company specializing in cement equipment, obtained ISO international quality certification in 2000, can provide customers with a variety of professional cement equipment. Here are what we can do and what we have done for customers all over the world:
Project plants customization: Fote company provides customized cement project plants, related production lines, and single cement equipment according to customers' cement raw materials, daily output and other requirements.
Equipment Installation Commissioning: Fote offers cement plant onsite installation and real-time commissioning service.
All-around After-sales Service: Our company provides technical assistance, usual spare parts service, equipment maintenance and equipment operation training service.
Why us?
1. Fote cement rotary control system has a high degree of automation. Feeding, calcination, clinker conveying, equipment monitoring, regulation, alarm are all centrally controlled by PLC or DCS control system in the central control room. High automation makes the equipment operation simple and convenient, saving time, effort, and investment.
In addition, Fote engineers researched what causes heat consumption in cement kiln, and improved the rotary kiln to reduce the heat loss. Compared with other rotary kilns of the same specification, our rotary has increased by 10% in operation rate, 5%-10% in clinker output, and has reduced 15% in heat loss.
2. Fote grinding plant adopts the pre-crushing technology to reduce the particle size of the material to be milled, thereby greatly increasing the output of the cement mill and reducing the energy consumption. In the case of the same particle size of the finished product, compared with other processes, the output under the same power condition can be increased by 30%, and the energy consumption can be reduced by about 15%.
3. Robust Fote cement machines are designed for long life and minimum maintenance. Taking cement mills as an example, its scientific lubrication system reduces bearing wear, extends bearing life, and reduces maintenance costs.
4. Fote can provide cement equipment at the factory price, reducing equipment investment costs. The following is a comparison of the prices of rotary kilns.
| Cement equipment manufacturer | Capacity (TPD) | Price(＄) |
| FTM | 180-10000 | 100,000.00-900,000.00 |
| Manufacturer A | 300-10000 | 9,999.00-999,999.00 |
| Manufacturer B | 300-10000 | 100,000-150,000.00 |
| Manufacturer C | 24-8400 | 70,000.00-1,900,000.00 |
| Manufacturer D | 300-5000 | 300,000.00-800,000.00 |
Source: Alibaba.com
Reference：Nigeria Cement: Infrastructure deficit and growing export market boost outlook
