Yan Huerre, Fives, and Luc Papillon, Ciment Québec, answer
questions on the importance of an efficient and effectiveclassification process in the cement industry, both in terms ofcarbon intensity and cost reduction.
When evaluating grinding technologies, people usually focus on the millselection such as ball mills, vertical mills, or the Horomill. In your opinion whatis the importance of the classifier design in the global circuit performance?
Yan Huerre: The classifier is key to obtaining the best overall system performance.
The sharpness of the cut at the desired fineness, as well as the lowest global and total bypass
on one side of the Tromp Curve, and the lowest coarse particle content in the final product on theother side, maximise the mill throughout while
lowering power consumption and allowing for an
optimised cement recipe for each quality.
Our FCB TSV classifier’s turbine blade profile
allows for a given particle size and an accuratebalance between the gas flow drag force andFigure 1. The effect of the turbine blade design.

Figure 2. TSV references by applications.

the rotating turbine centrifugal force and thus
the best selection conditions resulting in highsharpness and low bypass (Figure 1).
Special sealing design between the coarseside of the classifier, and the fine side prevents
the contamination of the finished product withcoarse material.
Today, more than 260
FCB TSV classifiers are
benefitting customers
worldwide (Figure 2).
Luc Papillon: In 2000,
Ciment Québec bought abrand new TSV THF 3600
classifier that was installed
on a 3.6 m x 12.8 m,
2235 kW cement ball mill.
The classifier is driven by a150 kW motor with VFD.
In our main market,
cement needs to exhibit
significantly higher strength
properties (MPA) thanrequired by the standards
and thus, grinding Blaines
are high. So, an efficientclassifier is of the utmost
importance to optimise themill circuit’s production
capacity.
Right fromcommissioning, the TSV
THF 3600 performed
according to ourexpectations with a very
low electrical consumption,
averaging 18.4 kW.
Changing production
to a different cement
type is achieved verysmoothly with this classifier
technology.
The classifier wear isminimal and with annual
inspections during themill repair shutdown, thiscomponent of the circuit istrouble-free.

What does ‘THF’in the equipment
name signify, andwhy was this theright choice for theCiment Québec Plant
application?
Figure 3. Picture of Ciment Québec TSV THF 3600.

Yan Huerre: Our FCB
TSV is used for a large
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range of applications from relatively coarse
products, such as 50 to 250 μm cut size for the
BF type (‘Basse Finesse’ in French) to very highfineness, such as 10 – 60 μm cut size for theTHF (Très Haute Finesse).
As Ciment Québec is producing a premium
quality cement with early strength, a THF typehas been selected.
Basically, the main difference between
FCB TSV™ types is the turbine itself, whosecharacteristics are selected depending on theapplication range.

Do either of you, Yan from the cement
and minerals manufacturers’ side, andLuc from the construction companies’side, see an impact from high energy
prices or the increasing awareness ofcement and concrete’s carbon footprint
which may make the efficiency ofclassifiers even more important?

pressure loss of the classifier. Combined, thegas flow and negative pressure at the exhaust
fan are lower, and consequently so is power
consumption.
As we know, the proven and widely available
lever by which cement’s carbon footprint can be
shrunk is to reduce its clinker content.
A higher content of less reactive additives in
the cement recipe usually necessitates increasing
the material fineness (either in combined orseparate grinding) and pushes most of theclassifiers to their limits.
We recently observed an increased demand toreplace existing classifiers with the TSV THF.
Last but not least, it is worth mentioning thatcustomers may be willing to switch from wet toa dry classification process due to increased
pressure on water use.
Luc Papillon: As part of various strategic
investments to mitigate the environmental impactof cement, Ciment Québec is building a newcement grinding plant that will enable PLC
production with maximum limestone content
allowed by the standards.
For high limestone PLC to react like regular
Portland cement in the concrete mix, and thusbe ‘transparent’ for the clients, the Blaine willneed to be increased significantly. Based on ourYan Huerre: Definitely. Increasing electricity
prices, especially in Europe, reinforce theimportance of a good classifier.
Generally, our FCB TSV operates with higher
material/gas concentrations than others. Also,
specially designed anti-vortex blades in the innerpart of the turbine contribute to reducing theFigure 4. Typical PSD curve of Ciment Québec TSV THF (GU type – 5000 Blaine – d50 ≈ 15 µm).
Table 1. Industrial TSV UHF performances on limestone and BF Slag (from R&D testing).
Feed

Producttph

P8(μm)

Limestone

3625%

BF Slag3344%

d97(μm)d50(μm)TSV UHFtph

72

4.0

1035.8724.0938.8

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Ø(mm)

Motor(kW)Air(m3/hr)

2000

16045 500

2200

20055 100

Fan (*)

Speed(rpm)

ΔP daPa

kWh/t

kWh/t

880

540

3236704390

1420810520

3142660410

917

experience with the TSV THF classifier, we werecomfortable selecting the same technology forthe new grinding plant.
We are building two Fives FCB Horomill
4200 circuits and each will be equipped withTSV THF 5000 classifiers. Civil construction isactually well underway and mechanical erection
will commence shortly. We expect the start-upof the two circuits in 2024.

Yan, are there any new developments
you could share with us on thisstrategic process stage?
Yan Huerre: Indeed. We recently developed anew TSV type called UHF (Ultra Haute Finesse)

as we observed an increasing interest forclassification with d50 down to 2 μm.
The TSV UHF covers many applications inother industries using ultrafine mineral loads
such as plastics, paints, paper, special civil
works, etc.
Due to its high speed of rotation, mechanicalsimulations had to be performed first in order toproperly design the dynamic parts of the system(Figure 6).
The concept was then tested in our R&D
centre, equipped with a TSV UHF 400, on
limestone and ground blast furnace slag.
Testing results have allowed us to define theperformances of the two materials in industrial
applications (Table 1).
In addition to the previously
mentioned applications, we also
conduct work in the micronisation
field, with the aim to reduce cementclinker content.
We estimate that the first
installation will be in operation in the
coming year.

About the authors
Figure 5. New Ciment Québec cement grinding facility underconstruction.

Figure 6. CFD numerical simulation of distribution and dynamicparts.

Yan Huerre graduated as an
Industrial Engineer from IMT Minesd’Albi in 1999, hold a Master ofBusiness Administration fromthe Polytechnic University ofMadrid in 2001, and has beena Commercial Director since2021.
Yan joined Fives FCB in
2002. After around 10 years
on the technical projects side,both in tendering, execution,and commissioning, he thenmoved to the commercial are of
the business: first through an
expatriation in Brazil and thentaking the lead on sales in theAmericas region.
Luc Papillon, is President &CEO of Ciment Québec Inc.,
which operates a state-of-the-art
cement plant in St-Basile, 45 km
west of Quebec City, Canada.
The company distributes its
cement in Eastern Canada aswell as in the New Englandregion of the USA. CQ is also
integrated in the concrete
and aggregate businesses inQuebec. CQ was founded in1949 and Luc Papillon is thethird generation at the helm ofthe family business.
World Cement Reprinted from July 2023