A plant produces over a million tons of cement every year. Due to such large production volumes, material was building up on the raw feed material inlet chute to the feedshelf in the preheat tower. The plant was incurring unscheduled outages due to buildup and blockages, costing tens of thousands of dollars per year. In an attempt to improve productivity, the plant reached out to Martin Engineering to help increase efficiency and eliminate emergency outages.

MartinPLUS^® service technicians installed two Martin^® Hurricane Air Cannons with Martin^® Retractable Nozzles in the build-up area where existing air cannons could not dislodge material because of their location. The additional two air cannons with retractable nozzles provided a 360-degree cleaning area. The nozzle is controlled by one solenoid, and the nozzle weldment is serviceable from the outside of the riser duct. The 360-degree nozzle is less aggressive, eliminating damage to refractory from improper use of compressed CO₂.

To date, the plant is satisfied with the addition of Martin^® Hurricane Air Cannons with Martin^® Retractable Nozzles. They are not aware of any build-up in the previously troubled area and are not experiencing any emergency outages.