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Meet the Pyrorotor® – our most advanced technology for processing alternative fuels. Able to handle even the most difficult of materials, the Pyrorotor® is a modular add-on to your existing calciner that delivers unmatched fuel flexibility and efficiency. In short, it opens the door to the highest thermal substitution rates. The results are good for your bottom line and good for the environment.
Product Features
When it came to designing the Pyrorotor®, we used the sturdiest machine in the cement plant as our guide: the rotary kiln.
Product Features
A rotating combustion chamber
How do you ensure complete burn-out of your alternative fuel, however coarse or difficult to combust? Traditionally, you would need one or more costly pre-processing steps before adding the fuel to your calciner. But with the Pyrorotor®, we remove the need for most pre-processing. In some cases, no pre-processing is needed at all.
How do we do this? Start with the combustion conditions inside the Pyrorotor®. Temperatures of 1200 C° are achieved – much higher than in the calciner. The rotary action also mixes the fuel constantly with oxygen-rich hot tertiary air. It is the ideal environment for ignition and incineration.
Meanwhile, the speed of rotation can be varied from 0.3 to 3 rpm to control residency times, making sure your fuel has the time to achieve full burn-out. Indeed, residency times of up to 10 minutes are possible. So even fuels with very low calorific values or very large particle sizes can be utilized efficiently.
Product Features
Proven design and technology
All Pyrorotor® parts originated in the rotary kiln, where they have proven their reliability and performance for decades on countless kilns. We have adapted them specifically for the demands of firing alternative fuels – but at heart they remain the familiar kiln components your operators and engineers are used to working with.
The benefit? You’re not taking a risk on new technology. Indeed, you can depend on it for the sort of consistent, high quality you would expect from 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
When it comes to maximizing thermal substitution rates, you want a process that is as simple, cost effective and flexible as possible. You do not want lots of complicated pre-processing or to be limited to only certain types of fuel (which may not always be available).
The Pyrorotor® is designed to process almost any fuel type, quality and size – up to 300 mm 3D. From fine and coarse RDF to tire chips and whole tyres, sewage sludge, hazardous waste, contaminated soil and construction waste. You can even add high-grade limestone for clinker quality control.
Product Features
Dosing stability to calciner
Alternative fuels are inconsistent. There is no way around this. But that can lead to temperature fluctuations and process instability in the calciner and beyond. Not with the Pyrorotor®. With its long retention time and constant mixing of fuels, it smooths temperature variations and provides an even heat to the calciner.
Key Benefits
Enjoy a range of real benefits – and all available as a retrofit to your existing plant. What is not to like?
Key Benefits
Reduce primary fuels to a minimum
Long retention time. Optimal combustion conditions. High fuel flexibility. And dosing stability. All of these add up to one thing: the highest thermal substitution rates available: over 85% of calciner fuel. Which is well above what competitor systems can achieve.
This means your primary fuel requirements are going to fall to a minimum – reducing your fuel costs. Your environmental footprint too – but more on that below!
Only Pyrorotor® offers both!
Our Pyrorotor® combines the lowest pre-processing demand and the highest usable fuel particles sizes currently available in the cement industry. That means easier procurement and less overall fuel cost. Who can say no to that?
Key Benefits
Limit NOx formation
Thanks to the staged combustion principle, the Pyrorotor® helps limit the production of NOx. It might sound complicated but essentially just means that conditions inside the Pyrorotor® are such that NOx formation is minimized, while any NOx that is formed is reduced to nitrogen.
Key Benefits
Reduce your carbon footprint
Lowering carbon emissions with alternative fuels is becoming an increasingly important business – as well as environmental – priority. For example, reducing your carbon intensity insulates you against the risk of future regulatory tightening. It could also help open up access to capital from sustainability-minded financial institutions. And it demonstrates responsible practice to your local communities and stakeholders, supporting your social licence to operate.
Key Benefits
Future-proof your fuel needs
This last benefit really combines the others! By allowing you to process a wide range of alternative fuels, you are protected against changes in the alternative fuel market. And by limiting your emissions, you mitigate the risk of further CAPEX investment mandated by future regulatory tightening.
It is an important consideration as waste markets – the primary supplier of alternative fuels – are constantly evolving. More and more will be recycled. As a result, the type of fuel is likely to change and quality of fuel is likely to decrease.
As a related benefit, the Pyrorotor® is applicable wherever you are in the world as there is no major limit to what it can process. It can take whatever is available in your local area. So fuels do not have to transported long distances and you can make a real difference to waste management in your region.
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.
- 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 | |
|---|---|
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 |