i

Dedication

This project is dedicated to my father, who has worked very hard to get

me where I am today, who taught me that the one can start from scratch,

yet accomplish great things as if he had all the abilities in the world.

It is also dedicated to my mother, who stood by me all through hard

times, always encouraging me, and always believing in me, she is the

light of my life, the hope of my dreams.

To both, I dedicate this work hoping it will make them proud of me.

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to sincerely thank our supervisor Dr. Kamal

Altayeb for all his help, support and patience throughout this

project. We would also like to thank all the lecturing staff of

the University of Khartoum for the past five years of

guidance.

We would especially like to thank our parents and family for

their love and encouragement.

Thank you, finally, to all our friends for their backing and

friendship over the years.

iii

صالمستخل

المكون من الطين, السيليكا, الفلسبار, الكاولين، طن/اليوم من سيراميك الحائط 022تم تصميم مصنع النتاج

و الحجر الجيري )الكلسبار( كمواد أولية بنجاح. حيث تضمن هذا العمل معادالت حفظ الكتلة و الطاقة

للمصنع كامل ,استراتيجيات المعدات و التحكم, مواد البناء, تنسيق المصنع, مخطط التدفق, و تصميم

دفق جاء متضمنا األجهزة األساسية و حالة تشغيلها و تدفق المواد. اختتم العمل األجهزة الكبيرة. مخطط الت

بالتقييم االقتصادي الذي شمل: الخزان، مطحنة الكرات، مجفف الرش، الضاغط الهيدروليكي، المجفف، و

الفرن, ثم التقييم للتكلفة الكلية للبناء.

قيق االكتفاء الذاتي للسودان ثم بعد ذلك التصدير الهدف من المشروع هو انتاج مصنع سيراميك متكامل لتح

للدول المجاورة.

مليون دوالر مع تكلفة سنوية للتشغيل و الصيانة تقدر 9في نهاية العمل وجد أن التكلفة األولية للمصنع كانت

مليون دوالر. الخطة الزمنية لتنفيذ المشروع قدرت بـسنتين. 15.6بـ

iv

Abstract

The design of a plant for the production of 200 ton/day wall tile ceramics from

clays, kaolin, feldspar, silica, and calcite has been successfully carried out. The

various process routes were examined through which production was employed.

The work covered material and energy balances for the entire process. The

process flowsheet shows major items of equipment, their operating conditions and

material flows. Moreover the work also covered the instrumentation and control

strategies for the process, the material for construction, plant layout, process flow

sheet, and associated equipment design. The economic evaluation of the major

equipment to include: storage tank, ball mill, spray dryer, hydraulic press, dryer,

and a tunnel kiln.

Its objective is to produce an economically feasible ceramic plant to cover local

requirements and export the rest to nearby countries.

The capital cost for the preliminary design is estimated at $9M with annual O&M

)operations &Maintenance) costs of $15.6 M. The project implementation and

construction is expected to last 24 months.

v

List of contents:

Contents Page No.

1. Chapter 1_ introduction 1

1.1. general 2

1.2. project objectives 3

2. chapter 2_ literature review 4

2.1. definition 5

2.2. ceramic properties 6

2.3. history of ceramic 8

2.4. types of traditional ceramic 14

2.5. types of advanced ceramic 15

2.6. raw material of traditional ceramics 16

2.7. raw material of advanced ceramics 21

2.8. process description 23

2.9. applications 37

references 41

3. chapter 3_ unglazed wall and tiles process description 42

3.1. introduction 43

3.2. process description 44

3.3. raw materials 44

3.4. preparation of raw materials 44

3.5. spray drying 46

3.6. forming (shaping) 46

3.7. drying 46

3.8. sintering 46

3.9. polishing, sorting and packaging 47

References 48

4. chapter 4_material balance 49

4.1. introduction 50

4.2. ball mill 51

4.3. spray dryer 52

4.4. hydraulic press 53

4.5. dryer 54

4.6. roller hearth kiln 55

4.7. total material balance 59

references 60

5. chapter 5_ energy balance 61

5.1. introduction 62

5.2. equations 62

5.3. calculations 64

5.3.1. spray dryer 64

vi

5.3.2. dryer 67

5.3.3. roller hearth kiln 69

5.4. total heat balance (before the kiln) 75

References 78

6. chapter 6_equipment design 79

6.1. ball mill 80

6.1.1. grinding general review 80

6.1.2. design options 80

6.1.3. general description of ball mill 84

6.1.4. bond’s method 85

6.1.5. Denver’s model 89

6.1.6. Other variables 90

6.1.7. Variables determination 91

6.1.8. Calculations 92

6.1.9. summary 95

References 97

6.2. spray dryer 98

6.2.1. evaporation rate 98

6.2.2. prediction of mean diameter 98

6.2.3. the efficiency 102

6.2.4. wheel atomizer 102

6.2.5. chamber design 106

6.2.6. air droplet contact system 108

6.2.7. Powder and air discharge system 110

6.2.8. Material of construction 111

References 112

6.3. Hydraulic press design 113

6.3.1. Hydraulic cylinder construction 114

6.3.2. Calculations 117

References 121

6.4. Tunnel dryer 122

6.4.1. Selection of type 123

6.4.2. Design calculation 124

References 127

6.5. Kiln 128

6.5.1. introduction 128

6.5.2. choosing the type of kiln 130

6.5.3. Roller hearth kiln 130

6.5.4. Reactions in the kiln 133

6.5.5. design 136

6.5.6. parameters selection 140

References 143

vii

7. chapter 7 Ancillaries design 144

7.1. storage tanks 145

7.1.1. liquid (slurry) storage tank 145

7.1.2. powder storage tank 148

7.2. ball mill classifier 148

7.3. spray dryer pump(101) 151

7.4. air heater 151

7.5. spray dryer fan 153

7.6. spray dryer cyclone 154

References 156

8. chapter 8_process control 157

8.1. ball mill control 158

8.1.1. process model 158

8.1.2. PI controller design 161

8.1.3. Detuned multi-loop PID control 163

8.2. Control of spray dryer 165

8.2.1. PI controller 167

8.2.2. PI controller for disturbance rejection of solids content variation

167

8.3. Control of hydraulic press 168

8.3.1. Model estimation 170

8.3.2. Self-tuning fuzzy PID controller design 170

8.4. Roller hearth kiln control 174

8.4.1. Proportional control 175

8.4.2. PID controller 177

8.4.3. Design of PID controller 180

References 184

9. Chapter 9_ safety and environmental consideration 185

9.1. Introduction 186

9.2. Environmental considerations 186

9.2.1. air emissions 186

9.2.2. waste water 195

9.2.3. solid waste 198

9.3. health and safety issues 199

9.3.1. respiratory hazards 199

9.3.2. exposure to heat 203

9.3.3. noise and vibration 203

9.3.4. physical hazards 204

9.3.5. Electrical hazards 204

References 205

10. Plant location and layout 206

10.1. Plant location 207

viii

10.2. Plant layout 208

10.2.1. Detailed analysis of the production 210

10.2.2. planning 212

10.2.3. the final layout 213

References 215

11. economic evaluation 216

11.1. introduction 217

11.2. capital investment 218

11.2.1. fixed capital investment 221

11.2.2. working capital investment 227

11.3. total product cost 228

11.3.1. manufacturing costs 229

11.3.2. general expenses 233

11.4. sensitivity analysis 235

11.4.1. project evaluation 236

References 240

12. project recommendations 241

12.1. recommendations 242

Appendix: Questionnaire to Salomy Italy 243

ix

List of tables:

Table content Page number

4.1. Inlet raw materials to the plant 50

4.2. Inlet material to the ball mill 51

4.3. Outlet materials from the spray dryer to the hydraulic press 52

4.4. Outlet water vapour from spray dryer to exhaust 52

4.5. Inlet materials to the hydraulic press 52

4.6. Outlet materials from the hydraulic press to the dryer 53

4.7. Materials lost in pressing process 54

4.8. Outlet materials from the dryer to the kiln 54

4.10 Inlet materials to the kiln 55

4.11. Reactions in the kiln 55

4.12. Reactions in the kiln continuous 58

4.13. Materials existing the kiln 58

4.14. total material balance 59

6.1. The characteristics of the mill and test conditions 86

6.2. The results of the standard Bond’s grind ability test 87

6.3. Calculation of solid density 93

6.4. Summary of ball mill design 95

6.5. Diameter of droplets versus number of droplets 98

6.6. Materials of construction of hydraulic cylinder 114

7.1. nominal capacities of standard vertical cylindrical tanks 147

7.2. selection summary of spray dryer pump 151

7.3. design summary of air heater 152

7.4. design summary of spray dryer fan 153

7.5. selection summary of spray dryer cyclone 155

8.1. paired controlled variables with manipulated variables in ball

mill control system 162

8.2. Effect of increasing P, I, and D gains on dynamic

characteristics 179

8.3. tuning formulas for PID controller design in Ziegler-Nichols

method 181

8.4. The parameter gain values obtained for different PID

controllers for kiln. 181

9.1. Operating data and raw gas values of spray drying unit 187

9.2. emission components data and raw gas values of spray drying

unit 187

9.3. Operating data and raw gas values of dryers 188

9.4. emission components data and raw gas values of dryers 188

9.5. Operating data and raw gas values in firing 189

9.6. emission components data and raw gas values in firing 189

x

9.7. Chemical analysis of untreated process waste water 196

9.8. Achievable process waste water recycling ratios in different

sectors of the ceramic industry. 197

9.9. Ranges of the main chemical components of sludge

(manufacture of wall and floor tiles). 198

11.1. Recommended process contingences. 219

11.2. Typical percentages of fixed capital investment various

for direct and indirect cost segments.

220

11.3: direct cost. 225

11.4: indirect cost. 227

11.5: raw materials cost calculations. 230

11.6: components of direct production cost. 231

11.7: fixed charges as a percentage of fixed capital investment. 232

11.8: general expenses components. 235

11.9: yearly net cash flows. 236

11.10: present value of all cash flows. 237

xi

List of figures:

Figure content Page number

6.1. General description of ball mill 84

6.2. Description of wet ball mill 85

6.3. Final sketch of the ball mill showing design specifications 96

6.4. lognormal distribution in probability paper 100

6.5. Rosin- Rambler distribution on log-log paper 101

6.6. Wheel atomizer with straight radial vans 103

6.7. Peripheral velocity atomizer as a function of the wheel

diameter and revolutions

104

6.8. spray dried powder 106

6.9. Height H of the drying chamber versus diameter d 107

6.10. spray dryer layout 108

6.11. drying chamber layouts 109

6.12. hot air distribution layout 109

6.13. Temperature and vapour pressure profiles along the drying

chamber 110

6.14. Possible areas of impingement on the drying chamber wall 110

6.15. Discharge systems A, outlet air, DP, dry product, V, vibrator 111

6.16. hydraulic press 113

6.17. cylinder construction of hydraulic press 114

6.18. Configuration of typical tunnel dryers 123

6.19. Model of hot air counter-current flow for design of

continuous tunnel dryer

124

6.20. cross section of roller hearth kiln 133

6.21. Mullite and kaolin conversion with respect to temperature 140

6.22. ranges of industrial maturing temperatures for different

product groups 141

7.1. fixed roof storage tank 146

7.2. determination of d₅₀ from desired particle separation 149

7.3. Chamber diameter, D˛ from flow rate, physical properties and

d₅₀

150

7.4. centrifugal fan 153

7.5. dry cyclone design 154

7.6. Cyclone efficiency curves, theoretical and actual 155

8.1. simplest case of closed circuit system 158

8.2. ball mill feedback control loop 159

8.3. ball mill grinding circuit represents an interconnected

multivariable system with strong interactions 159

8.4. Schematic diagram of a two-input two-output ball mill control

system. 162

xii

8.5. two control loops and decouplers in ball mill control system 164

8.6. Illustration of the process input and outputs to the spray

drying system and disturbances which can be used in the

controller design process.

165

8.7. Illustration of feed rate control by using a PI controller for

spray dryer 166

8.8. The temperature control system by feed rate variation for

spray dryer 168

8.9. Electro-hydraulic actuator 169

8.10. Structure of self-tuning fuzzy PID controller for hydraulic

press 171

8.11. Fuzzy inference block for hydraulic press control system 172

8.12. Simulink Block of Fuzzy PID regulator for hydraulic press 173

8.13. Simulink Block of the system and controller for hydraulic

press 173

8.14. Closed-loop temperature control feedback system for kiln 175

8.15. closed-loop temperature control system for kiln 178

8.16. PID temperature controller for kiln 179

8.17. The step response of the variable (y) under PID control 182

9.1. Schematic view of a bag filter with pressure pulse

regeneration 191

xiii

Chapter revisions

Chapter 1: it includes an introduction about industrial issues and development

problems solved by ceramics materials and a brief history of ceramic production,

also includes the project objectives.

Chapter 2: it presents a complete definition of ceramic, its types and properties, a

historical view and its various raw materials for various types. With the emphasis

on the basic raw materials such as clays, feldspar and their combination, ratios,

characteristics, presence, and use. Then a general process description for all types

that only differ in raw materials but have the same production process, a survey of

each step is presented and the many alternatives it can be done by. Finally the

applications of ceramics materials are mentioned briefly.

Chapter 3: in this chapter the chosen process for the chosen ceramic type

(unglazed wall and floor tiles) is presented. Raw materials are defined and their

proper ratios, choices of alternatives are also defined. Heating methods, cooling

methods, and equipmentused are determined.

Chapter 4: Material balance

The total amount of the stream inlet to the ball mill contains the same flow rates of

raw material (214566.7536 kg/day) but with addition of 35% water, no losses

during the process.

In spray dryer the water is vaporized and only 5% is left in the powder. There is 1%

losses after the spray dryer and another 1% losses during the pressing process. This

loss is taken from both water and ceramic materials, so the percentage of each

material in the stream is maintained constant. In the dryer the amount of water is

reduced to 0.3%.

Chapter 5: energy balance

In the spray dryer the slurry is converted to powder by evaporating the water to

5% content using hot air. Thermal efficiency is taken as 45%.

In the dryer the temperature is as high as 300°C and only 0.3% water is left in the

tiles, thermal efficiency is taken as 60%.

xiv

In the kiln the tiles are heated up to 1190°C where several reactions occur

resulting in a finished product, water vapor, and gases, tiles are cooled by air to

100 °C ,and thermal efficiency is taken as 78%.

Chapter 6: equipment design

It includes detailed design of several equipments in ceramic tile manufacture; ball

mill, spray dryer, hydraulic press and dryer, also include proper selection of kiln

and design as a reactor.

Chapter 7: ancillaries design

Includes completed design for storage tanks and ball mill classifier, also include

proper selection for spray dryer pump, air heater, spray dryer fan, spray dryer

cyclone; which satisfy our production process specification.

Chapter 8: process control

Presents detailed control for much equipment in plant, using PI and decentralized

PID controller for ball mill, PI controller for spray dryer, self tuning fuzzy PID

controller design for hydraulic press and PID controller for kiln.

Chapter 9: safety and environmental considerations

First the chapter deals with the environmental considerations of the ceramic

production such as: air emissions, waste water, and solid waste, and presents

several actions to manage these risks. Then it deals with the health and safety

issues that are divided to: respiratory hazards that include exposure to silica that

causes Silicosis disease, exposure to heat, noise and vibration, physical hazards,

and finally electrical hazards.

Chapter 10: plant location and layout

Location of plant had been chosen taking many factors into account such as

market and transportations, Climate Raw materials, Labor supply, water supply

and energy availability and waste disposal and legal restrictions. With making

tradeoff between many sites depending in several considerations; had been found

that the best location is Jabal Almrkheyat western Umdurmman.

xv

Plant layout had been designed including arrangement of processing areas,

storage areas, and handling areas in efficient coordination and with regard to

many factors that make the layout proper as possible.

Chapter 11: economic evaluation

This chapter evaluates our project from an economic point of view, the direct and

indirect costs are calculated to obtain the fixed capital investment, the working

capital is taken as a percentage of the fixed capital, and adding these two yields

the total capital investment.

Now the total product cost is divided into manufacturing costs and general

expenses, finally the net present worth, internal rate of return, and the probability

index all indicate that the project is acceptable.