Headquarters
KHD Humboldt Wedag
International AG
Von-der-Wettern-Straße 4a
51149 Cologne
Germany
A preheater should offer an optimal balance between heat transfer, pressure drop, separation efficiency and building height. Solving that equation is not always easy. But it is our bread and butter.
The use of calcined clay as an alternative cementitious material offers the opportunity to reduce the carbon intensity of cement. Our calciner is based on components with long-established pedigrees in the cement industry, for performance you can trust.
Discover the Pyrorotor – our most advanced technology for processing alternative fuels.
Say no to NOX with the Pyrodedox®: the ultimate solution for cost-effective NOX emissions reduction.
The kiln is the heart of the pyroprocess. And with over 500 kiln installations and upgrades completed around the world, we are the expert cardiologists.
We introduced them into the cement process in the 1960s, and our calciners continue to set the standard today.
From the burners themselves to fuel control and smart burner management systems, we are your one-stop-shop for safe and reliable firing systems.
From the burners themselves to fuel control and smart burner management systems, we are your one-stop-shop for safe and reliable firing systems.
From high-precision kiln shell temperature monitoring to intelligent burner management, our automation and control systems enhance you pyroprocess.
Process knowledge underpins everything – but it’s not something that comes easy. It’s taken us since 1856 to become the experts we are today.
But creating the temperatures required to form clinker comes at a cost. Reaching 1500 °C in the kiln, the cement pyroprocess is one of the hottest industrial processes and requires a huge amount of energy, traditionally in the form of fossil fuels (most often coal). Meanwhile, the chemical reactions that take place as the raw meal is turned into clinker release various pollutants – including NOx and significant quantities of CO2 from the breakdown of limestone. The cement pyroprocess therefore presents a range of challenges: from the purely economic (in terms of energy costs) to the social costs of air and ecosystem pollution, and, of course, the environmental. Since building the first preheater, we have been at the forefront of development efforts to tackle all of these challenges. The preheater alone helped to cut heat consumption in the pyroprocess by nearly 50 % at the time.
Subsequent innovations have continued to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy costs, e.g., by allowing greater use of alternative fuels, as well as controlling the production of pollutants, and improving reliability and availability through the pyro line. As we look to the future, we know cement production will never be a truly clean process. We are however committed to using the latest technologies to relentlessly improve the performance of our pyroprocessing equipment and so to reduce the environmental impact of cement production. Because we believe that what is good for the planet can ultimately also be good for our clients’ business. The times are changing; there is no doubt about it. But we are one old dog that can still learn new tricks.