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A cement industry icon hits historic milestone
Capital Cement in San Antonio, Texas was the first producer to have the Cross-Bar® Cooler installed in 2009 – still early days for the FLSmidth team working on the development, but little did they know that the new design would dominate the market in the following decade.
When cement equipment delivers on its promise to reduce fuel- and operating cost, it is almost guaranteed to be in high demand – the FLSmidth Cross-Bar Cooler is a stellar example of that. In April this year, the clinker cooling technology that has become best practice in the industry reach a historic milestone of 200 units sold.
“This is a textbook example of good engineering solving the right pain points with our customers,” says Jacob Becker Ryttergaard , Global Product Manager at FLSmidth. You can sense the genuine pride radiating from Jacob as he talks about the cooler. Jacob has been involved in the development of the Cross-Bar Cooler right from the start back in 2009.
The average capacity of the 200 coolers is 4000 t/d - ranging from 12500 t/d to 1100 t/d. Xuan Thanh Cement in Vietnam boasting one of the world’s largest cement lines, have the honour of having claimed not only one, but two of the large-capacity coolers, most recently in 2019 for their newest cement production line (line three). Key sustainability features have also made the cooler particularly popular in China - out 31 sold across the globe in 2021 nearly 70% of then went to China.
“The Cross-Bar Cooler is a great fit for the Chinese market with its impressive track record on power consumption, heat exchange efficiency and high level of availability,” says Cyril Leung , Country Head China for FLSmidth.
CYRIL LEUNG Country Head China for FLSmidth
Under difficult circumstances, impacted by covid restrictions, Cyril and his team commissioned 11 coolers within 11 weeks in 2021. “Supporting the country's plan on carbon neutrality, the Chinese cement industry is investing heavily in upgrades - focusing especially on the pyro area. The Cross-Bar Cooler offers our customers the ideal opportunity to meet the sustainability targets.” Cyril Leung concludes.
“The sustainability aspects of the 200 Coolers sold should not be underestimated”, says Jacob Becker Ryttergaard. “Many of the coolers are replacing older, inefficient equipment, which with a rough calculation have resulted in an annual saving of emissions from fuel and power of more than 1,6mio ton CO2eq/yr. On top of this emissions saving comes the indirect savings from the cases where new installed capacity has taken over from old inefficient production lines which are then shut down.”
The cooler design that become industry best practice
When comparing the modern Cross-Bar Cooler design against traditional grate cooler technology, energy consumption numbers can easily be misleading when only looking at electrical energy consumption. To understand the true, overall energy consumption, it is important to consider both fuel consumption and electrical power consumption.
In a closer comparison of the Cross-Bar Cooler and the latest grate cooler technology. The efficiency improvement over an existing grate cooler will almost certainly be higher.
Based on common operating parameters of production capacity, fuel heat value, and fuel and electricity costs, it is clear that integrating the Cross-Bar Cooler into the production line is more energy-efficient than any other cooler types.
If you want to know more about the Cross-Bar Cooler – click here .