Cement plant efficiency improved using Pavilion8

Blue Circle Southern Cement selected the Pavilion8 raw mill control application to reduce energy costs by minimising the water content of the slurry while maintaining a consistent slurry particle size

Pavilion Technologies, a world leader in model-based software, today announced that Blue Circle Southern Cement (BCSC) has tapped Pavilion to provide a model predictive control (MPC) solution for its raw mill at their Maldon Cement Works facility near Sydney, Australia.

BCSC selected Pavilion for this project based on the results guaranteed through Pavilion's ValueFirst customer engagement methodology.

The BCSC project will be deployed by the Pavilion Asia/Pacific engineering team located in Hamilton, New Zealand.

"The Pavilion ValueFirst process gave us confidence to believe that our investment would result in rapid and sustainable bottom line results," said Blue Circle Southern Cement production manager, Trevor Kemp.

The Maldon facility, which produces 650,000 tonnes of cement per year and contributes $A35 million annually to the region's economy, needed to lower energy costs and improve plant efficiencies to thrive in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Plant managers at Maldon faced unique challenges in meeting these goals because of the variability of the feed mix and the resulting high moisture content.

As a wet process plant, the material entering the mill is a raw mix consisting of ground limestone, clay, water and other materials.

The slurry exiting the mill into the wet process kiln contains a higher moisture level than desired.

BCSC selected the Pavilion8 raw mill control application to reduce energy costs by minimising the water content of the slurry while maintaining a consistent slurry particle size.

In addition, BCSC expects to see improved efficiency of the raw mill and better quality feed to the kiln.

The Pavilion8 technology platform enhances the performance of manufacturing processes by enabling them to make more profit-impacting decisions.

The Pavilion8 platform allows customers to model, analyse, predict, control and view their production and environmental process performance.

Pavilion backs the powerful technology with deep industry expertise that provides best-in-class industry solutions that deliver rapid and sustainable value.

"Pavilion is proud to further demonstrate our commitment to delivering measurable results to the cement industry," said Pavilion Technologies CEO, Ralph Carter.

"With our ValueFirst Guarantee, plants like BSCS are able to quickly realise a return on investment and reduce their risk.".

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