Increasing lime production while decreasing kiln pluggage through installation of the first LimeFlash lime kiln feed system in North America

The Evadale, TX, USA, mill recently engaged in a major lime kiln and recausticizing upgrade. The centerpiece of the project was to upgrade the existing lime kiln feed system to a new LimeFlash feed system, a trademarked technology from Andritz. The feed system in Evadale is the first installation in North America of this technology, and the second installation in the world. The feed system increased the capacity of the lime mud dryer (LMD) fed kiln from 350 tons/day of lime product to 480 tons/day of kiln product, with less than 3% carbonate. The system mixes hot flue gasses with the lime mud before the gas enters the feed end housing, which allows the kiln to operate at a higher feed end temperature without plugging and lime splitting. In startup and low capacity situations, lime mud is fed directly into the kiln rotating part, which eliminates potential plugging problems. Startup and operational experience, along with selected environmental performance, is reviewed.