Mineral Beneficiation Potentialities Archaean Limestone for Cement Manufacture

Abstract

The highly contaminated and deformed coarse crystalline Archaean limestone along with cement grade limestone is being utilized by nearly 14 major cement plants with an installed capacity of 17.36 million tonnes per annum in India, distributed mainly in the states of Rajasthan, Orissa, Jharkhand, Andhra pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Kerala etc. National Council for Cement and Builing Materials (NCB). India has undertaken studies on the mineral beneficiation potentialities for upgradation of the above limestone exclusively on dry basis, based on the physico-mechanical properties of limestone sample collected from a working mine of an existing cement plant, is subjected to crushing, grinding with variable time period and its classification through sieving and air classifier. The results are highly encouraging in enhancing CaO content and reducting SiO2 content in limestone and thus to make it suitable for cement manufacture. The ultimate impact of such studies is that extended life of cement raw material resources, better environment and viability of old cement plants