Cimenterie Nationale – Cement Plant

Date: April 4th 2008
Location: Fond Mombin, Caberet, Haiti – Cimenterie Nationale
Product: Primasonics® Acoustic Cleaning System
Principal: Primasonics International Ltd (UK)
Problem: Build up on the side of his 6000 tonne cement silo

Ricardo Corrales, Mec. Eng, Assistant to the Maintenance Manager at the Cimenterie Nationale cement plant in Haiti (jointly owned by Holcim, Colombian Group Argos, local investors and Haitian government) does not have a lot of spare time. However, in August last year whilst reading through World Cement Journal he saw an article about Primasonics® Cleaners. Material build up on the side of his 6000 tonne cement silos was continuing to be a serious problem, especially in the adverse local weather conditions ranging from monsoon to extremely dry.

Ricardo visited the Primasonics website and discovered that Primasonics® Cleaners had been successfully employed to eliminate material build up on silo walls on a global basis. As requested, Ricardo supplied Primasonics® with a dimensional drawing and completed a questionnaire which enabled them to select the most appropriate Primasonics® Cleaner solution.

At the end of the trial period Ricardo was delighted to report that the Primasonics® cleaning system was operating very well and the General Manager of the Technical Department based in Colombia was also equally impressed with the performance of the Primasonics® Cleaners during his visit to site. In February this year Primasonics® received the following e-mail from Ricardo “Greetings from Haiti – for me it is a pleasure to communicate with you to inform you that because of the Primasonics® Cleaners we have been able to withdraw an additional 1000 tonnes of cement which we could not do before we installed your cleaners. This has all meant that choosing your technology was a good decision and it is the kind of success that we can show to the other companies within our group.”

The equipment was despatched on an agreed trial basis and installed on an existing inspection hatch on top of the silo and the trial commenced using the recommended sounding pattern.

Material: Portland Cement
Material Particle Size Range: 82-85% through
Silo Construction: Concrete Silo
Dimensions: Height 25m – Diameter 15m Silo
Discharge: Flat Bottom with Air Slides 45 micron sieve