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The Pyrorotor® is our most advanced technology for utilizing alternative fuels. Its innovative design enables very high thermal substitution rates with almost no fuel pre‑processing, even when dealing with low‑quality alternative fuels. Available as a modular add‑on to any calciner, the Pyrorotor® delivers unmatched fuel flexibility and reduces fuel costs. It also helps cut carbon emissions associated with the combustion of fossil fuels. The results are good for your bottom line and support your pathway to decarbonization.
Product Features
A robust machine designed to deliver reliable performance in the most challenging of operating environments. All day. Every day.
Product Features
A rotating combustion chamber
How do you ensure complete burn‑out of your alternative fuels? The usual answer is to pre‑process the raw fuel into a more refined product. This is a costly step – and there is a better way: the Pyrorotor®. It vastly reduces the need for pre‑processing to a point where, in most cases, none is required.
The Pyrorotor® is able to do this because its rotating combustion chamber creates the ideal conditions for ignition and burnout. The rotary action ensures proper mixing of the fuel with oxygen‑rich hot tertiary air in temperatures of up to 1200C°. The speed of rotation can be adjusted from 0.3 to 3 rpm for complete control of combustion conditions and to enable long residency times of up to 10 minutes. Finally, the use of recuperated hot tertiary air means that no additional burner is required for a cost‑effective and energy‑efficient solution.
These factors combine to allow even fuels with very low calorific values or very large particle sizes to be utilized effectively. In short, we ensure every Pyrorotor® integrates seamlessly into your process to deliver proper fuel burnout, without pre‑processing, whatever the available fuels and specific plant conditions.
Product Features
Proven design and technology
All parts of the Pyrorotor® originated in the rotary kiln, where they proved their reliability and performance for decades at countless cement plants. Of course, we have adapted them to the specific demands of firing alternative fuels. But their basic design and operation will remain familiar to any operators and engineers with experience working with rotary kilns.
What’s the benefit? The Pyrorotor® is not new technology – with the risks this entails. On the contrary, you can depend on it to offer same high‑quality and reliable performance as a KHD kiln. And when it comes to maintenance, your crews will already know how to work on it safely and efficiently because, if they can maintain a kiln, they can maintain a Pyrorotor®.
1/2 Friction drive
The Pyrorotor® is turned via an electro-mechanical drive with drive rollers. But unlike its much larger rotary kiln sibling, it does not need a girth gear or pinion due to the much lower drive power requirement.
3 Scoop ring
Worried about fuel leaks? Don’t be. As in a rotary kiln, a scoop ring prevents fuel leaking from the Pyrorotor® and also returns material back into the Pyrorotor® drum. It is just another example of how we have taken a proven technology to create our most advanced alternative fuel solution.
Product Features
Use almost any fuel
Maximizing thermal substitution rates is a critical step on the road to reduced carbon emissions in the cement industry. The question is therefore not if – but how and when – cement manufacturers will make the switch. This means simple and cost‑effective solutions are needed to support this essential change.
This is what the Pyrorotor® offers. It makes the switch straightforward because it allows you to use almost any fuel without pre-processing, including those with low calorific values and large particle sizes. From fine and coarse RDF to tire chips and whole tires, sewage sludge, hazardous waste, contaminated soil and construction waste – you can basically use whatever is available locally. Which means you can also avoid costly procurement via long-distance supply chains (which actually saves even more carbon emissions).
Don’t get left behind. Choose a Pyrorotor® from KHD and you will soon be enjoying the competitive benefits of a more sustainable, cost‑effective and flexible fuel supply.
Optimize your complete pyroprocess
Because we are the leading experts in the cement process and pyroprocessing equipment, the installation of a Pyrorotor® can also be combined with an upgrade of your existing cyclones, calciner, main kiln burner – even your clinker cooler. Let us assess and optimize your pyroprocess to increase efficiency, deliver best‑possible clinker quality, and reduce operating costs. Talk to our experts to find out what is possible.
Product Features
Dosing stability to calciner
Alternative fuels are inconsistent. There is no way around this. Inconsistency can lead to temperature fluctuations and process instability in the calciner and beyond. But not with the Pyrorotor®. Thanks to our extensive process knowledge, we designed the Pyrorotor® to ensure a constant heat is always delivered to the calciner, whatever the fuel. Even when fuels change, the flexibility of the Pyrorotor® – with the ability to adjust rotary speed, residency time and tertiary airflow on the fly – ensures process stability can always be maintained.
Key Benefits
Delivering a range of benefits as a retrofittable upgrade to any existing calciner.
Key Benefits
Reduce primary fuels to a minimum
Long retention time. Optimal combustion conditions. High fuel flexibility. Stable heat profile. This combination of features enables the highest thermal substitution rates available: over 85% in the calciner – well above competitor systems. This means lower fuel costs, as you opt to burn alternative fuels instead of primary fuels. Because, thanks to the Pyrorotor®, you don’t need them anymore. It also improves your environmental footprint (more on which below) and lowers the amount of waste that ends up in landfill.
Key Benefits
Limit NOx formation
The Pyrorotor® utilizes the principle of staged combustion to minimize NOx production in the combustion chamber. This might sound complicated but essentially means that conditions inside the Pyrorotor® are such that NOx formation is inhibited, while any NOx that is formed is reduced to harmless nitrogen. Also, because you burn less fossil fuels in your rotary kiln, Pyrorotor® also helps to reduce emission production down the road.
Key Benefits
Reduce your carbon footprint
Reducing carbon emissions is now a primary goal for most governments around the world – and cement manufacturers are expected to play their part. The use of alternative fuels is one way to do this, as alternative fuels are widely recognized as a critical pathway to lowering the carbon intensity of cement. The technology is also available today. So, stop delaying. Take a step into the future and help create a more environmentally‑sustainable cement industry, while also reducing fuel costs and complexity, with a Pyrorotor® from KHD.
Key Benefits
Future-proof your fuel needs
Fuel supplies are vulnerable to disruption and change. This is true of both traditional fossil fuels and of alternative fuels. Supply chains can become blocked and costs can rise quickly – or supplies run short. The Pyrorotor® protects against such disruption by enabling you to use whatever fuels are available locally. You are no longer dependant on long-distance supply routes or the availability of any one particular fuel type.
Performance Data
Is the Pyrorotor® for you? Check out the performance data below. Or contact us to talk to an expert.
Typical Fuel Mass Flow
| SIZE | TPH |
| 2.8 x 10 m | 12 |
| 3.4 x 10 m | 20 |
| 3.4 x 12 m | 25 |
| 4.2 x 12 m | 30 |
| 4.2 x 15 m | 35 |
Usable Fuel Particle Sizes
| PYROROTOR® | |
| Waste oil / Animal meal / Sewage sludge | ✓ |
| Biomass | max. 100x100x15 mm (3D) |
| Plastics | max. 300x100x100 mm (3D) |
| RDF / Fluff | max. 300×300 mm (2D) |
| Tire Chips | max. 300x300x25 mm (3D) |
| Whole Tires | ✓ |
How it works
Fuel enters the rotating combustion chamber, where high temperatures, O2-rich atmosphere and optimized residency time ensure complete burn-out of any type of alternative fuel.
- Pyrotop®
- Penultimate cyclone
- Bottom cyclone
- Fuel feed
- Tertiary air duct
- Rotary kiln
- Meal to kiln
- Meal to calciner
- Oxidizing zone
- Pyrorotor®
References
Have a look at exemplary performance data of realized Pyrorotor® projects. We achieved more than 85% TSR in every project!
| Ssangyong Donghae Line 6 (South Korea) | Ssangyong Donghae Line 7 (South Korea) | Asia Cement Jecheon Line 3 (South Korea) | |||||
| Contract | PG Test | Contract | PG Test | Contract | PG Test | ||
| Clinker production | tpd | 5000 | 5058 | 5000 | 5096 | 4060 | 4133 |
| Heat consumption | kcal/kg | 840 | 760 | 852 | 859 | 825 | 805 |
| Thermal AF substitution rate at calciner | % | >85 | 87 | >85 | 85 | >85 | 86 |
| Pyrorotor® fuel amount (PG test average) | tph | 18.1 | 23.5 | 14.5 | |||
| Pyrorotor® fuel amount (daily operation) | tph | 20-25 | 20-25 | 14-17 | |||
| AF mix heat value | kcal/kg | >3500 | 5110 | >3500 | 4253 | >4060 | 4708 |
| Clinker free lime | % | 1.5 | 0.83 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 0.75 |
Links & Downloads
Interested in finding out more? Check out the links and downloads below for more information. Or contact us to talk to an expert.
| Links & Downloads | |
|---|---|
Pyrorotor® – the most advanced alternative fuel solutionVideo (YouTube) | |
The Pyrorotor® factor (August 2022)Sucess Story | |
Article in International Cement Review (May 2021) – Versatile AF BurningArticle | |
Article in Global Cement (Oct 2021) – Pre-Processing vs. Co-ProcessingArticle | |
Article in Global Cement (Oct 2021) – Pyrorotor® Case-Studies in South KoreaArticle |