Environmental and Product Responsibility at Pennsuco
The Pennsuco Plant has been designed to recover and use the heat from the kiln and from the cooling clinker. Raw materials are preheated by exiting kiln gases as they fall through five cyclones in the preheater tower. The result is reduced energy requirements and a more consistent product. Innovative processes have reduced NOx and other emissions per ton of clinker to the lowest in Florida.
Remote sensors at key locations throughout the complex measure everything from machine revolutions, to vibration and heat, to the make up of the materials entering the plant. They connect to computerized maintenance and management systems in the control center. Strategically placed video cameras allow control operators to see inside the plant components – even inside the kiln. Maintenance is prescheduled, plant uptime is significantly increased, emissions are continually controlled, and output quality is very predictable.
The comprehensive lab continually tests raw materials and finished cement using automated samplers and pneumatic transport systems. Clinker samples are manually transported to the lab and all are delivered to a preprogrammed robot which routes them to various test equipment for immediate analysis. Computer readouts from the testing enables plant operators in the control room to make continuous adjustments to raw materials blends, kiln conditions, and other factors to ensure optimum operation and output.
The segmented bag house design allows maintenance on one segment while others continue to function for uninterrupted plant operation. Screw conveyors continually feed kiln dust bin material back into the production stream.
Pulverized preheater and kiln fuel coal is fully consumed in the manufacturing process. Producing intense heat – up to 3,400° F at the kiln flame – the coal adds essential mineral components to the clinker.
The Pennsuco kiln is designed to burn both pulverized coal fuel as well as a mixture of coal plus carbon rich material separated from power plant fly ash. Separation Technologies, a Titan America business, is a world leader in electrostatic separation of fly ash from coal-fired power plants. Carbon rich material from the Separation Technologies plant at the JEA power plant in Jacksonville, Florida is currently being tested at the Pennsuco plant as a possible supplemental fuel source.
Another innovative recycling initiative being studied is to introduce quantities of kiln dust from previous Pennsuco cement plants, currently in managed storage areas, as a production feed stock. Estimates are that new Pennsuco Cement Plant could consume upwards of 300,000 tons of this material over a five-year period. Recycling the existing stored kiln dust would eliminate the need for an equivalent amount of new material.