This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I aims to develop an on-line measurement device that will allow cement manufacturers to significantly reduce costs, while improving quality. Cement manufacturing is an energy-intensive process that accounts for 6-8% of the world's fuel use. Despite 90% of fuel use occurring in the kiln, no real-time method currently exists for monitoring the elemental composition of the kiln output, known as clinker. Cement manufacturers have indicated that better kiln control would significantly reduce costs, improve quality, and increase profitability. The challenge is to extract the 1400 degrees Celsius clinker quickly, and analyze it within minutes of leaving the kiln. To deliver this performance, a bulk measurement technology widely used in cement manufacturing called Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation will be used, but with major modifications. In order to do this, an analysis time of 1-2 minute is required, based on 1/200th of a typical sample volume. The challenges are significant, and success would represent a major breakthrough.
The commercial potential of this project will be the reduction of fuel consumption and harmful emissions in the cement industry. Estimates that widespread adoption of this technology will result in equivalent fuel savings from 150 - 600 million barrels of oil per year. In addition to fuel savings, cement manufacturing emits 3.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). When the kiln manufacturing process is working optimally, maximum amounts of sulfur, potassium, and other elements are absorbed into the cement, instead of being volatilized and released with the emitted gasses. As a result, this project has the potential to significantly reduce GHG. From a commercial standpoint, the concept for this product was identified as a top priority by some of the world's largest cement manufacturers. The resulting product will be unique due to the use of a smaller sample size and the faster analysis time. Unlike most other measurement approaches, this technology would be amenable to implementation through a pipe, thereby representing an entirely new product category. As such, it should be useful for many different applications and industries such as petroleum manufacturing, power plants, waste recovery, and any industry that can benefit from real-time elemental measurements through pipes.
The objective of XRSciences LLC SBIR is to design and build a highly innovative on-line elemental analyzer for the cement market. This analyzer, called the Rapid Clinker Analyzer (RCA) is designed to measure the atomic elemental composition of the clinker material exiting cement kiln, thus providing information for real-time process control of the kiln. Portland Cement kilns consume approximately 6-8% of the worlds fossil energy. Incorporation of our product for kiln control could conceivably cut this energy consumption by as much as 40% During Phase I we proved the feasibility of the Rapid Clinker Analyzer by: 1) locating and validating a suitable high-temperature clinker sampling system, and 2) modeling and validating a Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analyzer (PGNAA) to rapidly analyze the hot clinker. XRSciences was successful in designing an on-line analyzer that provided the required measurements dramatically faster than current on-line PGNAA analyzers while significantly reducing the sample size required for testing. This design provides a strong foundation for Phase II, where the system will be further designed and tested at a suitable cement site. Over the past 25 years, PGNAA analyzers have become a de-facto standard for measuring the composition of the raw mix of limestone, sand, clay, volcanic and mineral deposits from quarries at modern cement plants. Unlike previous systems, the new Rapid Clinker Analyzer will provide users with dynamic measurement information directly after the kiln, enabling cement manufacturers to gain real-time insight into their manufacturing process. The new XRSciences product provides the cement plant with the information the Control Room uses to calculate key process parameters, used to 1) optimize their process to produce a greater strength, higher quality cement, and 2) meet new environmental regulations, while 3) reducing production costs and fossil fuel and electric power consumption including greenhouse gasses, SOX and NOX emissions. The fuel consumption is reduced by both optimally controlling the kiln temperature and utilizing a high percentage of alternative fuels such as coal plant fly ash, rice hulls, discarded tires, chemical and industrial wastes including hazardous wastes such as PCP’s and pesticides. The latter plays a significant role in cleaning up our environment for future generations. Because of the Small Business Innovative Research grant provided by the National Science Foundation, the new product line XRSciences is launching is a win-win for the American work force, the local and global environment, and the cement industry. To produce this product, we project hiring 30 unemployed Americans over 5 years, and in addition 98% of the materials used for the RCA are made in the USA, requiring our suppliers to hire again as many unemployed Americans. An added benefit to our projected sales revenue proforma over 5 years is that approximately 80% of our $48 million cumulative revenue amounts to $38 million of exports to help balance the US international trade deficit. Regarding US Government payback, our 5-Yr Proforma also projects paying cumulative Federal taxes of $4.4 million over the first 5 years of commercialization, on a Phase I and Phase II grants of $150,000 and $500,000 respectively. That is more than 5X, with lots more to follow as XRSciences evolves in decades to come.
