The know-how for producing white cement. New white cement production line for Tunisia.

White cement is a building material for which demand is very high. Compared to grey cement, it has the same advantages regarding construction but at the same time provides avariety of possibilities that allow more creativity in construction. Thanks to its high colour purity, surfaces are bright and look elegant. It is therefore especially popular in the sunny countries of the Middle East and the Mediterranean region. As white cement can be easily coloured with colouring pigments, it is also used for producing coloured products such as terrazzo plates.

Owing to these demands, the production of white cement is extremely complex. Furthermore, it is far more expensive than grey cement because product output is lower, while more energy is needed to produce it.

To produce white cement, rather colourless raw materials with a very low content of iron oxide are needed. They are calcined in a rotary kiln at approx. 1,400 °C to produce cement clinker. The decisive factor for the whiteness of the cement is the clinker cooling process. Only by means of cooling systems that have been designed especially for white cement production, high quality can be obtained.

Thanks to its vast experience concerning white cement production, in March 2007 Polysius was awarded a contract to supply a company in the west of Tunisia with a 1,000-tpd turnkey white cement production line. The new line is being built in the Feriana plant of the SOciete Tuniso-Andalouse de Ciment Blanc (SOTACIB). Production is planned to start at the beginning of the year 2009.

From the raw material preparation to the cement grinding, including the quality assurance system, the new line is equipped with state-of-the-art components from Polysius.