Ensuring optimal pressure for cement pneumatic conveying

Since wet cement is a sticky material, it's important to properly remove it from a storage silo in a processing plant. This is made possible through pneumatic conveying, which uses compressed air to push cement through piping. Keeping this in mind, it's important to use the right air pressure and equipment. 

That’s because pneumatic conveying in a cement plant is a low-pressure application. While medium to large air compressors are relevant for many industrial applications, cement plants rely heavily on low-pressure equipment (<4bar(g)), mainly for pneumatic conveying, fluidization, and combustion air. In fact, around 70% of the installed power needed for compressed air in a cement plant goes to low-pressure compressors and blowers (< 4 bar). Of the low-pressure cement applications, pneumatic conveying requires the most power (40%). 

When it comes to low-pressure compressed air equipment for pneumatic conveying, the traditional solution is a lobe (Roots) blower. However, a screw blower tends to be 30% more efficient. This is because of its design, based on the principle of isentropic compression, covered in our article on types of blowers.

When considering overall operational costs, compressed air equipment makes up most of your energy consumption. Investing in more efficient equipment, like a screw blower, will save you money in the long term. Typically, these machines pay for themselves throughout their lifespan.

You’ll also want to pay make sure your equipment matches the actual pressure level needed. Using equipment that’s too big or too small can result in inefficiencies. Otherwise, you’ll negate the benefits offered by low pressure machines.