The cement clinker manufacturing process is a complex process which involves energy conversion and consumption. The objective of this study is to establish the thermal efficiency analytic model of this process. Energy flow models of the whole process and its three process units of raw material preheating & decomposition, clinker calcination, clinker cooling are established in this paper. The thermal efficiency of the whole process is quantitatively described based on the energy consumption fraction of each process unit. Energy consumption fractions of the three process units in a cement plant are 1.15, 0.43 and 0.47 respectively. It shows that the thermal efficiency of the raw material preheating & decomposition process unit has the greatest impact on the thermal efficiency of the whole process, successively followed by the clinker cooling and clinker calcination process units. Methods to improve the thermal efficiency of the whole process are discussed.

This research was published on Journal of Energy Insitute 88 (2015) 76–86. titled Thermal efficiency modelling of the cement clinker manufacturing process