A Cement Mill Upgrade Story Reboot

Vertical roller mills (VRM) for cement grinding have now been in operation in North America for almost 20 years. Many opportunities exist to upgrade the older vertical mills with the latest technologies to improve efficiency. Recently a southern California cement plant upgraded their vertical cement mill circuit, one of the first installed in the US, with an integrated solution including a latest generation separator and advanced process control software. The project objective was to improve mill stability and reduce energy consumption for the complete circuit.This paper, jointly presented by the producer and supplier, will discuss the project justification, the scope of the upgrade package from the supplier, and results achieved from both the mechanical and digital components.