Advanced raw mill control delivers improved economic performance in cement production

Historically, advanced process control (APC) efforts in cement plants have focused on the kiln, using expert systems or fuzzy logic. But an economic performance assessment can reveal additional opportunities in both upstream and downstream milling operations, especially when the kiln is not the production bottleneck for the plant. This paper reviews the economic analysis, the control system implementation, and the final testing results for the application of an advanced control system to a raw milling operation.