Cement conference in the heart of Texas
The annual IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference, held in rotating locations on the North American continent, met this year in Dallas, Texas, from April 23rd – 27th, 2023, for the fourth time in the history of IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conferences.
It was also the 65th IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference. Dallas is the third-largest city in the second-largest state in the USA, which is economically the strongest state next to California, especially as the largest oil producer in the USA. In terms of area, Texas is as large as Germany, Switzerland and Italy combined and is generally known for its barbecues and space projects, which are controlled from Houston. Dallas, with a population of 1.3 million, is also the ninth largest city in the U.S. and the center of the telecommunications and computer industries. From this point of view, it was a good choice, as the IEEE presentation program focused on sustainability and how this can be achieved with the help of digitization, among other things. The venue was the very special hotel Hilton Anatole in the Design Destrict of Dallas.
The IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference combines under one roof a comprehensive conference program on technical advances in the manufacture of cement, round table talks, committees and working groups meetings as well as workshops and an interesting spouse program. Around 1200 professionals from the cement and concrete industry attended this prestigious meeting, which focused mainly on topics such as carbon capture, blended cements, SCMs, supply chain challenges and sustainability in the manufacturing process. The exhibition was supported by around 150 exhibiting companies on all aspects of cement manufacturing, equipment and plants. In addition to the wide range of program items, there was ample time in the exhibition as well as during the evening activities to socialize, network and discuss the latest developments in the cement industry.
After numerous meetings and workshops, Doug Phares, IEEE-IAS CIC Chair, and Steve Tyrrell, Conference Liason, officially opened the conference on April 24. Steve Tyrell then introduced keynote speaker Brian Shul: “Brian Shul is a Vietnam War-era attack pilot and a retired major in the United States Air Force (USAF). He flew 212 combat missions and was shot down near the end of the war. He was so badly burned that he was given next to no chance to live. Surviving, he returned to full flight status, flying the SR-71 Blackbird.”
The following technical presentations focused on various key aspects of cement production that are currently very topical. The workshop “Automation” presented efficient and optimized production using fast process analysis, automation as well as process control.
Mark Hollett, Director of Cementitious Materials and Mining, and Ken Herring, Senior Plant Information Administrator, both Ash Grove Cement, presented the development of a Process Control Improvement System (PCIS). It uses the principle of traffic light colors: green, yellow and red. The PCIS captures the Key Performance Indicators for each stage of the process, and it can be incorporated into any Data Management System that is used in the laboratory and/or process. As a result, this program has had very positive effects in expanding quarry reserves, reducing raw material costs, optimizing alternative and natural fuels, predicting potential process and maintenance problems, avoiding environmental emissions, and producing consistent quality products.
Johannes Vorsamer, Raghvendra Tripathi, Joe Holmes, all from Siemens, and Michael Barnes, Holcim Devil’s Slide Cement Plant, made the presentation on “Cost Effective Use of Digitalization for Improved Maintenance & Reliability.” Plant personnel such as plant managers, plant operators, control room operators and service technicians, as well as field technicians, benefit from digital assistants by getting the right data from any location, anywhere. Chat dialogs, QR codes, NFC tags or voice input enable efficient and system-independent access, allowing users to better focus on the task at hand and do their jobs more effectively.
“AI Kiln Solution For Optimized Control – How To Reduce Energy Consumption And Emissions In The Clinker Process” were the contribution by A. Balakrishnan, R.S. Chandrashekara and Sunny Schoone (all Siemens). The burning process of cement clinker requires a lot of energy and is difficult to control as it depends on many influencing factors. The authors presented a newly developed artificial intelligence-based control algorithm for the rotary kiln. This has already been tested in a pilot project. The aim is to ensure that the kiln operates in its optimum range, and in addition it can be used to reduce fuel and emissions.
In the “Drives” workshop, new developments in the field of drives were presented and their advantages for use in cement production and also in the mining sector were discussed.
“Environmental, Energy & Sustainability” (EES) is another exciting topic of a working group. A total of four presentations and one panel discussion were devoted not only to increasing the efficiency of the plants used, but above all to the possibilities of capturing CO2 and compressing and storing it in cement plants, some of which are already in operation. This complex of topics was followed by the panel discussion under the motto “EES Panel Discussion: A Practical Perspective – How CCS Can Decarbonize the Cement Industry.”
The presentations from the “General Practices” section covered a wide range of topics in cement production – from quarry management, logistical challenges, and the possibilities of replacing clinker with other hydraulically active materials. The possibilities of achieving zero CO2 emissions by 2050 and the use of hydrogen as an alternative fuel were also discussed.
Power Generation, an outstanding area for the cement industry, since grinding, among other process steps, is a relatively energy-intensive step. With the advancement of modern microprocessor-based relays, completely different options are available to protect the power distribution system. But also, possibilities and challenges of energy supply were discussed against the background of CO2 reduction.
A highlight, as at every IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference, was the presentation on the economic development of the cement industry “PCA’s SVP and Economist, Ed Sullivan’s Forecast,” where different development scenarios were presented.
What is special about the IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conferences is the atmosphere of networking, communication across topics and the opportunity to make new contacts worldwide. This will certainly be no different at the following conference in Denver, Colorado from April 28th – May 2nd, 2024.
