The power of the industrial internet has trasformed the use of equipment and given a boost to technology. In the case of paralell flow regenerative technolgy used in lime production, it has enabled lime producers to improve efficiency, reduce power demand and yeld significant cost benefits.

1. Digital lime transformation
The power of the industrial internet has transformed the use of equipment and given
a boost to technology. In the case of parallel flow regenerative technology used in lime
production, it has enabled lime producers to improve efficiency, reduce power demand and
yield significant cost benefits.
n by QualiCal, Italy
1ENERGY SAVINGS
APRIL 2017 INTERNATIONAL CEMENT REVIEW
Parallel flow regenerative (PFR)
technology offers several benefits for
the calcination process in vertical lime
kilns. It lowers production costs and
simplifies maintenance and operation.
However, the PFR kiln underwent no
substantial changes since its invention
in the 1960s until the Industrial Internet
Consortium came along. The combination
of PFR and the industrial internet has
enabled lime producers to quickly identify
issues and correct them as required, saving
energy and maintaining a high product
quality.
mosaico Intelligent Platform, the lime
industry’s industrial internet platform,
brings together connected equipment,
advanced sensors and controllers, and
software for optimised performance.
The platform provides robust analysis,
visualisation and reporting capabilities.
Using the potential of sensors and
connectivity, smart-equipment and
industrial big data and analytics, mosaico
enables customers to optimise assets and
operations as well as realise the power of
one per cent, as small outcomes can drive
big changes in performance.
Calcis Group’s challenge
When production rates at the lime kiln
of the Calcis Group in Germany were at
their the highest, the lime producer noted
a decrease in quicklime quality and an
increase in energy consumption.
With the help of the mosaico Intelligent
Platform, a discrepancy between the
theoretical and real amount of air
supplied by the
trilobe positive
displacement
blower was
observed. As a
result the oxygen
available for
combustion
was lower than
required. To
bridge the gap the
blowers increased
their speed,
and therefore
raised power
consumption.
Consequently,
Calcis’ plant
manager required a
tool that would help to prevent or at least
quickly identify this issue, enabling the
manager to take corrective action in the
shortest possible time to minimise product
quality losses.
Increasing availability, reliability
and efficiency
To optimise the process air supply,
minimise the blowers’ power demand and
noise, as well as maximise their efficiency,
Italy-based QualiCal developed the aeroTM
app. aerocollects the required data
and helps the lime producer to increase
availability, reliability and efficiency of the
major power-consuming kiln equipment.
aero manages in real-time the process
air supplied with positive displacement
blowers, making automatic decisions on
blower selection and speed settings, taking
into account the process requirements,
plant conditions, environmental limits and
the historical data series of performance
and maintenance.
Monitoring the power usage of electric
motors, aero reduces a plant’s overall
operational cost by providing performance
outcomes and allows qualified technicians
About the Industrial
Internet Consortium
The Industrial Internet Consortium is a global public-
private organisation of over 200 members, formed
to accelerate the development, adoption and wide-
spread use of interconnected machines and devices,
intelligent analytics and people at work.
Founded by AT&T, Cisco, General Electric, IBM
and Intel in March 2014, the Industrial Internet
Consortium catalyses and coordinates the priorities
and enabling technologies of the industrial internet.
QualiCal has been a member of the Industrial
Internet Consortium since November 2014.
aero helps to visualise plant data and plan strategies to improve operating efficiency
©Copyright Tradeship Publications Ltd 2017

2. 2 ENERGY SAVINGS
INTERNATIONAL CEMENT REVIEW APRIL 2017
to safely and effectively perform any
electric maintenance activity.
Based on the analytics, it also suggests
the optimal set of process parameters,
calculated with advanced algorithms
based on large volume of data collected in
the QualiLog, a dedicated database.
aero workflow
aero interconnects into the cloud plant’s
blowers, which supply the process air to
the kiln, and in general the entire electric
consumption information transmitted
from equipment installed in the plant.
Thanks to tailor-made algorithms and
intelligent sensors, the customer receives
a notification which triggers more in-depth
investigation.
In this way, the customer is directed
straight to the issue and is able to act
in advance, preventing failures and
subsequently increasing the blowers’
lifetime or simply improving asset
efficiency.
aero collects and analyses information,
and distributes this via an advanced
reporting system on a daily, weekly,
monthly or on-demand basis to the
customer on the mosaico App.
Test results
To maximise the efficiency of the process
air supply and its impact on power
demand, QualiCal performed several tests,
cross-matching the information collected
by aero with plant data.
Following these tests, it was observed
that the main reason for the issues
experienced at Calcis was the high
counter pressure of the kiln at maximum
production levels as a result of fine raw
Example of an aero efficiency report
The combination of PFR technology and industrial internet has substantially changed the
calcination process in vertical lime kilns

3. 3ENERGY SAVINGS
APRIL 2017 INTERNATIONAL CEMENT REVIEW
#QualiCal - The LIME industrial
Company that’s also a digital
Company
QualiCal mix decades of experience
building innovative industrial machines
for LIME industry with effective data
science and analytics expertise.
#LIMEglobalbrain
—LIME magazine 4.0
The purpose of this publication is to share
worldwide knowledge and experiences
between people involved in LIME industry,
paying particular attention to the technical
solutions adopted for quicklime and
hydrated lime production.
materials supplied to the kiln. As a result,
part of the air was discharged by the safety
valve installed at the blower exit.
After a more thorough screening of
raw material supplied, removing the
fine material and increasing the release
pressure of the safety valve, air supply
efficiency improved from 63 to 92 per cent
in one week. This enabled Calcis to save
E450/day in terms of power demand.
Further positive impacts and
long-term potential
In addition, the plant was able to overhaul
its maintenance
process. It replaced
scheduled
maintenance
with just-in-
time predictive
maintenance
to prevent
unplanned outages,
assisted by an
automated system
that captures
equipment data.
Moreover,
additional
improvements can
be made when the
interaction of such
critical equipment
between other
industrial assets
is analysed. A digital twin can be built for
each blower and used as a base to design
the most efficient blower settings and
continue to optimise the operation. Or
as Carlo Cella, CEO of QualiCal, puts it:
“Energy saved today is an asset for the
future.” n
The implementation of aero has also enabled the Calcis Group to improve its maintenance process at the lime
production facility, preventing unplanned shutdowns and loss of production