Cement production 4.0: What does the cement plant of the future look like?

by Murielle Goubard, Monday, 6th January 2025

Cement production 4.0: What does the cement plant of the future look like?

Cement manufacturers are under pressure to deliver more efficient cement production, and there is a clear solution: Industry 4.0 technology.

Industry 4.0 is all about integrating smart machinery for maximum automation and efficiency, including Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and cloud computing. By integrating your cement analysis instruments with Industry 4.0 technology, you can feed real-time insights back into your processes to maximize efficiency and prevent downtime.

So, where should manufacturers start with bringing their operations up to speed with Industry 4.0? The answer lies in getting the right data by correctly calibrating your instruments.

Synthetic CRMs set the starting line for XRF optimization

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is widely used in cement plants for its ability to provide quick, non-destructive chemical analysis of materials throughout the production process. It helps cement plants maintain high-quality production standards, with four main application domains: raw material analysis, process control, quality control, and environmental compliance.

XRF instruments require precise calibration to deliver the highly accurate and reproducible results they’re capable of, and that you need for a smooth-operating Industry 4.0 system. After all, your measurements are the starting point for digital optimization: if you get them wrong, the end results will be way off.

This starts with proper sample preparation. The process typically involves crushing the sample into a powder and then pressing this powder into pellets. This method is commonly used for routine production control due to its simplicity and effectiveness. For more precise and reproducible results, the crushed sample can be fused with a flux (usually a borate) to form a homogeneous glass bead. This method helps eliminate particle size and matrix effects, providing more accurate analysis.

Certified reference materials (CRMs) are an important part of this equation. These are the standards used to check the quality and metrological traceability of products, validate your analyses, and calibrate your instruments.

Synthetic CRMs like Malvern Panalytical’s WROXI standards are manufactured under ISO 17034 accreditation, ensuring high accuracy and traceability. Being synthetic, WROXI standards are consistently available, eliminating the risk of running out of reference materials. The kit includes pre-mixed powders and detailed instructions, simplifying the preparation process and reducing the time needed for calibration. It can be used for both primary fusion glass disk calibration and secondary pressed powder calibrations, making it versatile for different analytical needs.

Our team of specialists can even create CRMs that are tailored for your specific requirements.

With stable reference points for your XRF measurements now established, you can start integrating analytical tools across your processes.

Fully automated materials analysis with Industry 4.0 technology

By using Industry 4.0 technology to feed insights from your analytical instruments directly back into your process streams, you can speed up issue response and even prevent problems from arising in the first place. This not only minimizes equipment downtime but boosts productivity.

These types of automations can be implemented throughout your production process, for example by combining Zetium XRF with Aeris Cement X-ray diffraction (XRD) to create a fully automated lab.

The Aeris Cement instrument can be connected to a belt or robot for fast and automated sample processing. It is generally used to identify and quantify the crystalline phases present in raw materials, clinker, and finished cement, which helps to control cement quality and performance. It can also be used to monitor phases in clinker and to study the hydration products of cement during research and development.

When connected directly to elemental insights from the Zetium instrument via automatic data transfer, your team can access comprehensive analysis of your materials. To make this process even smoother, Malvern Panalytical has developed the Twin solution, in which the Aeris and Zetium Cement instruments are combined via a common Supervisor software to deliver deep analytical insights.

Finally, our Smart Manager software operates as a cloud-based control room that connects and monitors your instruments, giving a clear picture of their real-time utilization and health. The service includes proactive support from Malvern Panalytical specialists who monitor instrument performance, alert users to potential issues, and guide them through corrective actions.

In this way, integrating Industry 4.0 into your cement production processes can deliver performance benefits for your cement plant.

To learn more about Malvern Panalytical’s suite of analytical instruments for building materials applications, please visit our building materials webpage or download our analytical toolbox brochure.

Plus, take a look back at the previous blogs in this cement series below: