Cement kilns - Clinker coolers

Clinker leaving the rotary kiln has a temperature of between 1,200 and 1,400°C. It must undergo heat treatment in the form of air quenching for reasons of ease of transport, storage, energy recovery and quality.

Thanks to their exchange function, chillers can achieve these three objectives:

• cooling clinker (handling) ;

• recover maximum thermal energy (efficiency) ;

• quenching clinker (quality).

As such, the clinker cooler must be considered as one of the three important components of the overall thermal system of the kiln, namely the exchanger with or without precalciner, the rotary kiln and the cooler.

The article "Cement kilns" is the subject of several booklets:

• BE 8 844 Clinker firing plants ;

• BE 8 845 Rotary furnaces ;

• BE 8 846 Clinker coolers.

The subjects are not independent of each other.

Readers will need to refer back to the other issues often enough.