Cement additives and grinding aids are used to improve the characteristics of cement and to assist manufacturers in the production of higher-quality cement.
Higher-quality cement potentially enables producers to increase throughput, achieve better efficiencies and lower costs per ton of cement sold.
Cement is produced with a mix of clinker and other ingredients including gypsum, fly ash, slag and limestone and different plants may use different recipes or mixes of ingredients.
Mapei partners with producers to recommend products that will assist in meeting the specific requirements of a plant. By using certain additives, producers are able to modify cement mixes to have different properties, such as optimising early strengths and late strength gains.
For example, some additives are grinding aids that improve the grinding action of the mills by preventing particle agglomeration and adhesion to equipment, while other types improve the strength of performance. Mapei grinding aids and performance enhancers are used to influence the properties of the final cement.
The company explains that due to the technical complexity of the cement manufacturing process, there are many variables to consider when selecting additives. These include the type of clinker used, mix ratios of slag, fly ash, and other ingredients, as well as equipment type and grinding media.
Before selecting an additive, the specific raw material is laboratory tested, which usually results in an initial prototype of grinding aids. This is then tested in the mill and adjusted according to the actual outputs and requirements. The aim is to find the best possible product that can be produced cost-efficiently by each manufacturing plant.