Introduction Over the past 15 years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has experienced one of the largest construction booms in history. As a result, the demand for building materials has skyrocketed – and to keep supply levels up, cement plants had to import large quantities of clinker. But always a step ahead, Star Cement, one of the leading cement manufacturers in the Middle East, decided to build its own clinker plant. The UAE has strict requirements on fugitive dust emissions, so Star Cement asked the Air Pollution Control unit of FLSmidth to take part in the bidding process for the fabric filter system. Henrik Vittrup P edersen, FLSmidth’s Global Fabric Filter M anager, reports on how the company has helped keep dust emissions down at the Star Cement plant in Ras Al-Khaimah. Beating Emissions Limits [May 10] worldcement.com 41

Outstanding environmental performance and low operational costs were high on the agenda for Star Cement when it opened the bidding process for its greenfield clinker plant in the northern Ras al-Khaimah emirate. The UAE recently introduced strict regulations to curb a major air pollution problem – particulate emissions must not exceed 15 mg/m3 – so the air pollution control (APC) system for the new clinker plant had to be extremely reliable and effective. Several APC equipment suppliers competed for the project. Star Cement awarded the contract to FLSmidth thanks to the high filtration efficiency,...

of the filter bags. In addition, the baghouse is equipped with FLSmidth’s SmartPulse™ Controller, which operates the compressed air cleaning system. The controller has an automatic diagnostic feature that analyses pulse duration, time interval and pulse pressure in relation to baghouse differential pressure. It automatically adjusts the parameters to minimise the use of compressed air, ensuring the most efficient operation and maximising the life of the filter bags. FLSmidth was asked to factor the possibility for an increase in clinker production into the filter design. If Star Cement decides...