Investigating and comparing the effect of process optimization and use of a grinding aid in improving the performance of cement mill department in a cement plant

Producing cement with appropriate quality and by spending the minimum cost, applying solutions including process optimization and use of grinding aid are suggested. This paper compares and investigates the effect of process optimization and use of grinding aid on the operational capacity and blaine of final product in two cement mill departments in a cement plant. The results of a specific grinding aid test and its effect on the quantity and quality of the final product were compared with the results obtained from process optimization of cement mill lines 1 and 2 of a cement plant including optimization of the arrangement and tonnage of the charge of balls. The results suggested that the operational capacity of cement mill of lines 1 and 2 when optimizing the process conditions increased by around 9.4 and 15%, and the blaine of the final product of the department rose by about 4.6 and 4.3% respectively compared to the case of using the grinding aid. It should be noted that performing the grinding aid test in relation to the initial conditions only resulted in enhanced operational capacity of cement mills, and had no significant effect on the parameter of quality (blaine). On the other hand, performing the process optimization had positive effects on both quantity and quality.