Problem
Located southwest of Istanbul, Lafarge Cimento Darica Fabrikas produces 1,100,000 metric tons per year of clinker from one line. However, air cannon systems supplied by competitors were not working properly, leaving material buildup in the preheater tower. The buildup required manual cleaning at least two hours every shift and a monthly slowdown for a major cleaning. Plant officials scheduled installation of 31 Martin® Air Cannons in 90 days. But then, one day later, plant officials called Martin Engineering's Turkey location, explaining the plant had to shut down due to refractory problems and they hoped to use the eight-day outage to install the new air cannons immediately.
Solution
Martin Engineering Turkey rose to the challenge, delivering 31 high-temperature nozzles, 20 air cannons, and the airline components and control systems to the plant within three days. With the delivery came two Martin® service technicians who began the installation project. For four days, the installation crew never left the Lafarge plant. They supervised the installation and helped program the firing sequences. The 11 remaining air cannons were delivered and installed within the week. At the end of the second week, as the plant went back in full production, all 31 air cannons were operating efficiently.
Results
Martin Engineering Turkey completed delivery and installation on short notice, fitting the outage schedule and meeting the needs of the customer. Officials at Lafarge Cimento expressed gratitude to Martin Engineering for completing the project so quickly. Now, no manual cleaning is needed in the lower part of the preheater. As a result, Lafarge Cimento is already planning to install Martin Engineering air cannons in the upper part of the preheater and the clinker cooler.
