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Consulting

Discrete modelling of lime kilns

Project Description

KERNEOS Aluminate Technologies wishes to exploit the bauxite fines generated during the extraction, conditioning and transport of bulk bauxite, which are currently unused. To achieve this objective, the PARC project was built around 2 academics and 4 industrial companies, experts in their field. After having worked on the optimization of the agglomeration of powders under compression (ICSAS17-CST-CST-MFG-35026-01), the work consists in taking advantage of the discrete approach to study the stacking of the different raw materials according to their shape, size distribution and composition. The blocks are modelled by an assemblage of spherical particles (i.e., clumps) in order to reproduce its morphology.

Itasca's Role

  • Calibrate the micromechanical properties of the blocks to reproduce their individual behavior and the behavior of a group of blocks.
  • Model the filling of the furnace in static and dynamicmode using a discrete element approach.
  • Study the impact of material properties on the furnace behavior to obtain a predictive model and thus optimize operational practices.
  • Anticipate modifications in the blocks arrangement according to the temperature during continuous furnace operation.

Project Results

  • Implementation of all the furnace modeling, filling and emptying procedures, taking into account its geometry and the real data of the blocks.
  • Optimization of furnace filling and heating procedures to reduce calculation times by a factor of 2-3 compared to "standard" programming.
  • Results analysis such as the evolution of extracted mass, mapping of porosity, representation of velocity or temperature fields, trajectory of blocks, chemical and particle size segregation.
Example of a block
"Representative Elementary Volume" of the upper layer in the kiln, after its filling.
Example of average porosity mapping (after heating)
Download Cutsheet
Office

France
Itasca Consultants S.A.S.

Industries

Material Processing

Client Name

KERNEOS Aluminate Technologies

Location

France

Software

PFC