Industrial calcination of kaolinitic clays to make reactive pozzolans

This paper presents the results of an industrial trial for the production of calcined clay to be used as pozzolan in cement manufacture. For the trial, a wet-process clinker rotary kiln was modified to process on dry basis the low grade kaolinitic clay used as raw material. The kaolinitic clay deposit was chosen through a screening based on geologic, chemical and mineralogical criteria, and a confirmation of reactivity with an experimental protocol at lab scale. During the calcination trial technological parameters such as rotation speed, fuel pressure and outer temperature of calcined clay were measured and coupled with the reactivity of the samples tested, thus, preliminary estimations of operational parameters can be made. The trial proved that it is possible to produce a reactive pozzolan at industrial scale by implementing small conversions on existing equipment of a typical clinker plant.