Fls Burner Bible: Complete Technical Guide

The FLS Burner Bible is the internal technical compendium of the world’s leading cement plant supplier F.L. Smidth (FLS), collecting in one reference the entire arsenal of calculations, tables and formulas that the company’s engineers apply to the burning process of the cement kiln: clinker chemistry, clinkerisation, homogenisation, volatile circulation, fuels, flow measurements, combustion calculations, the cooler, the refractory lining and the full set of physical tables that support them. It is one of the most respected “insider” documents of the cement industry: every page is written the way an FLS process engineer would hand it to a colleague before a burner adjustment — formula first, number second, no noise.

This digital edition is part of the Complete Cement Technical Package of cementequipment.org (931 files: books, courses, Excel tools and presentations, $249.99 one-time, instant download after PayPal payment). This guide walks through the sections of the Bible as its own table of contents presents them, explains the use of each chapter, and positions the document next to the other references of the library (Holderbank, Lafarge, Duda, the FLS kiln maintenance files and the heat balance Excel tool).

1. What the ‘Burner Bible’ Is and Where It Comes From

F.L. Smidth is the Danish company that for more than a century equipped the cement industry of the world: its rotary kilns, its mills, its coolers and its plants are the base of the installed fleet. To keep the process engineering of its customers aligned, the company built over decades a library of internal notes — “the green notes” of the trade, the technical sheets, the process bible — and the Burner Bible is the compendium dedicated to the pyro line: everything the engineer needs to control the flame, the combustion and the heat of the kiln system, with the corporate standard at the side of every page.

The document is organized in the classic alphanumeric sections of the corporate manuals: A (Chemistry), B (Clinkerisation), C (Homogenisation), D (Volatile Matter), E (Fuels), F (Flow Measurements), G (Combustion Calculations), then the continuation through the burner hardware, the cooler (K), the refractory (L), the Tables (M) and the Charts (N). It is this very structure — every subject numbered, every formula one page, every table one lookup — that makes it a “bible”: the professional opens it like a litany, finds the page of the problem and works with the number of the house.

2. Section A: Chemistry — The Cement Minerals, the Moduli and the Bogue

The Bible opens with the chemistry block of the clinker, the alphabet of everything that follows:

The main cement minerals (A1): the definition pages: portland cement as the building material binder that hardens with the action of water; concrete as the mixture of cement, water and fillers (sand and stone); the clinker as the coarse agglomerate of the kiln; the four main phases: alite (C3S), belite (C2S), aluminate (C3A) and ferrite (C4AF) with their properties, the strength development and the heat release of each — the base for understanding what the burner must produce: a well formed alite clinker.
The clinker moduli (A2): the LSF (lime saturation), the SR (silica ratio), the AR (alumina ratio) with the FLS notation and the normal ranges; the pages explain in one column the meaning of each modulus for the burning: what happens if the LSF is high (hard to burn, the free lime risk), if the SR is high (the coating and the burning difficulty), if the AR deviates (the liquid phase and the C3A).
The Bogue calculation (A3): the classical calculation of the phase composition of the clinker from the oxide analysis: C3S, C2S, C3A, C4AF with the standard factors, and the notes of the company on the limits of the method (the Bogue as an approximation, the corrections for the minor components, the difference between the potential and the actual phases).
The minor components (A4): MgO, SO3, alkalis (Na2O, K2O), chloride, P2O5, TiO2, Mn2O3: their origin, their behavior in the kiln (the volatilisation and the circulation), their limits in the clinker and the cement: the page the quality engineer consults before interpreting a marginal analysis.

These four pages are worth their weight: they are the summary of the physical chemistry of the clinker as the supplier teaches it, in the notation used in every FLS report.

3. Section B: Clinkerisation — Formation, Burnability, Calcination

The second block of the Bible describes the reaction path of the raw meal inside the kiln system:

Clinker formation (B1–B2): the sequence of the reactions: drying, preheating, calcination (the decomposition of the carbonates), the clinkerising reactions in the burning zone (the formation of alite from belite and lime in the liquid phase), the cooling and the stabilisation of the phases; the two pages give the temperature program of the material through the system and the meaning of each step for the quality.
Burnability (B3–B4): the concept and the factors: how the raw mix composition, the fineness, the particle size distribution and the mineralogy of the raw materials decide how easily the mix burns; the free lime as the measure of the burning result; the FLS pages link the burnability to the fuel consumption and to the flame requirements: a hard to burn mix needs a more intense flame, more heat and a longer burning zone.
Calcination degree (B5): the definition of the degree of calcination at the kiln inlet (the % of carbonate decomposed), its measurement by the sample, its value in the operation of the precalciner system (targets in the high nineties in the modern lines) and its diagnosis value: a low degree at the kiln inlet tells of a calciner problem or a meal distribution problem.
The sampler (B6–B7): the correct sampling of the raw meal and the kiln material: the sampling points, the procedures, the meaning of a representative sample: the two pages that remind everyone that no calculation is better than the sample it is fed with.

The message of Section B, in the FLS style: the clinkerisation is a physical path with measurement points, and the operator’s job is to keep the material on the program.

4. Section C: Homogenisation — Proportioning and the Blending Test

Before the kiln, the meal must be chemically constant, and the Bible covers the homogenisation block:

Proportioning (C1): the setting of the feeder ratios of the raw components (limestone, clay, correctives) from the X-ray analysis; the control loop: analysis → correction → new set points; the FLS method of the proportioning control with the target moduli and the limits of the deviations.
The raw meal homogenisation test (C2–C3): the test procedure to evaluate the efficiency of the blending system (the standard deviation of the meal at the silo inlet versus the outlet, the homogenisation factor), the interpretation and the acceptance criteria: the pages the process engineer runs after a silo repair or a new commissioning.

The blending block is short but decisive: the sections of the Bible are sized to their operational weight: what must be measured in the field is measured in the field, and the formulas that must be applied in the office are in the office.

5. Section D: Volatile Matter — The Circulation and Its Limits

One of the most valuable chapters of the Bible for the operators of modern plants is the volatile matter block, because the volatile cycles decide the build-ups, the blockages and the kiln performance:

The circulation and the limits (D1): the definition of the volatile circulation: the sulphur, the alkalis and the chloride evaporate in the burning zone, condense in the preheater and return with the meal: the closed loop that concentrates them; the pages give the limit values of the concentrations beyond which the system accumulates rings, build-ups and blockages.
The circulation formulas (D2–D3): the definitions: the circulation factor, the entrainment, the separation between the kiln and the bypass, the formulas with the input data from the gas and the meal analysis; the “typical values and the sulphur/alkali ratio” page: the S/A ratio and its meaning for the form of the compounds (sulphates of the alkalis vs. calcium sulphate) and for the fouling tendency.
The calculation sample (D4): a complete worked example: from the raw material and fuel analysis to the circulation factors and the decision on the bypass ratio: the reader reproduces the arithmetic with his own numbers.
The guidelines and thumb rules (D5): the corporate shortcuts: the maximum Cl in the kiln inlet gas, the maximum SO3 equivalents, the bypass rules of thumb, the order of the counter-measures (raw mix dilution, bypass, fuel selection): the page that saves weeks of troubleshooting.

With this section, the plant with a rising kiln inlet pressure and a ring problem can already apply the discipline: sample the meal and the gas, compute the factors with the formulas of the Bible, and decide the bypass with the guidelines.

6. Section E: Fuels — Oil and Coal in the System

The fuels section gives the property data of the energy sources of the burner:

Oil (E1–E3): the oil properties: density, calorific value, sulphur, ash, vanadium and sodium (the fouling of the combustion), the viscosity table and the viscosity diagram: the temperature required to reach the atomisation viscosity (typically in the 12–20 cSt range at the burner tip) and the adjustment of the oil temperature by the curve: the pages that the day operator uses at the firing stand.
Coal (E4–E6): the coal properties: proximate analysis (moisture, ash, volatile matter, fixed carbon), the gross and net calorific values, the Hardgrove index (the grinding behavior), the ash analysis (the fusibility, the slagging), the relation of the coal fineness to the combustion (the residue on the 90 micrometre sieve) and the flame stability: with the coal at high volatile the flame is short and hot, with the pet coke the ignition is more difficult and the fineness must be finer.

The fuel section pairs with the combustion section (G) to make the full fuel management block: from the tank to the flame.

7. Section F: Flow Measurements — The Instrumentation of the Air and the Gas

The Bible teaches the measurement of the flows with the classical methods of the plant:

The Pitot tube (F1–F2): the principle, the traversing of the duct, the calculation of the velocity and the flow from the dynamic pressure, the correction for the density at the conditions: the field method for the primary air, the cooler air and the kiln gas.
The piezometer measurements (F3–F6): the static pressure readings in the ducts and the cyclones, the interpretation of the pressure profile of the system, the diagnosis of the blockages and the build-ups from the rising pressure drops: the daily instrument of the operator.
The fan curve (F7): the reading of the fan characteristic: the flow, the head, the power, the operating point on the curve, the margin to the surge line: the pages for the fan assessment and the speed setting.
The venturi (F8) and the orifice (F9–F10): the measuring elements with the discharge coefficients and the permanent pressure loss: the fixed installations for the continuous flow measurement.

This section is the bridge between the instruments and the calculations: without the flows measured with these methods, the combustion calculations of Section G rest on nothing.

8. Section G: Combustion Calculations — The Heart of the Bible

The core of the document is the combustion block, the arithmetic of the flame:

The minimum combustion air (G1): the theoretical air requirement Lmin for the combustion of the fuel: the stoichiometric air; the formulas with the fuel composition.
Lmin from the oil/coal analysis (G2): the calculation of the theoretical air from the ultimate analysis of the fuel: carbon, hydrogen, sulphur and the oxygen of the fuel: the worked method of the company.
Lmin from the gas analysis (G3): the back-calculation of the air requirement from the flue gas analysis: the method when the fuel analysis is not reliable: the check of the fuel by the gas.
The excess air coefficient λ (G4): the definition and the calculation from the O2, the CO2 and the CO of the gas; the target values in the kiln (low excess air for the fuel economy and the NOx control) and the danger of the reducing atmosphere (the coating loss, the volatiles, the quality).
The table for the combustion products (G5): the volumes of the products (CO2, H2O, N2, SO2) per kg of fuel and per m3 of air: the ready numbers for the gas balance.
The air/gas and false air calculations (G6–G7): the balance of the air through the system, the false air (the air that enters through the leaks: seals, cracks, openings) and its effect on the O2 reading and the efficiency: the calculation of the false air rate from the O2 measurements at two points: one of the highest value pages of the Bible for the energy audits.
Approx. gas velocities (G8): the order-of-magnitude velocities in the ducts, the cyclones and the kiln: the sizing and the checking numbers.

These pages are the daily arithmetic of the pyro process: the engineer who owns them converts every gas analysis into a diagnosis in minutes, with the same numbers the supplier uses in the guarantee calculations.

9. The Middle Sections: The Burner Hardware and the Kiln Operation Notes

Between the combustion block and the cooler, the Bible continues with the sections of the burner technology and the kiln operation of the corporate note: the burner design elements (the primary air nozzles, the swirl, the momentum), the flame shapes and their effects, the kiln operation notes and the checks of the line. The reader who reaches these pages from the FLS equipment documentation of the package finds the same hardware described from the process side: the flame as the tool, the burner as the hand that holds it.

10. Section K: The Cooler — Standard Data and the Load Satellite

The cooler block gives the numbers of the clinker cooling:

The cooler standard data (K1–K2): the grate area, the air rates, the cooling efficiency, the secondary and tertiary air temperatures, the clinker temperature at the discharge: the design values of the company against which the performance of the installed cooler is compared.
The load satellite cooler (K3): the assessment of the cooler load: the check of the clinker bed, the air distribution, the hot spots: the field method of the cooler diagnosis: the pages the engineer uses before deciding a cooler repair or an air adjustment.

The cooler is where the second most important air of the system is managed (the secondary air for the flame), and the Bible treats it with the same discipline as the burner itself.

11. Section L: Refractory — The Lining and the Preheating of the Kiln

The refractory block covers the protection of the kiln:

The lining (L1–L3): the refractory types and their zones: the basic bricks in the burning zone (the magnesia-spinel bricks, the coating adhesion), the high alumina and the fireclay in the transition and the preheating zones, the monolithics and the gunning; the selection criteria (the temperature, the chemical attack, the mechanical stress, the life) and the thickness and the installation data.
The kiln preheating (L4–L5): the procedure of the slow preheating of the kiln after the relining: the temperature ramp per hour, the rotation schedule, the drying of the lining (the hydration of the magnesia bricks), the time needed to bring the shell and the lining to the operating temperature without thermal shock: the pages that prevent the most expensive failures of the plant.

Every kiln stoppage costs a fortune, and most of the stoppage costs are the refractory: this section is the insurance of the plant against the lining errors.

12. Section M: The Tables — The Numerical Reference of the Plant

The tables section is the “encyclopedia of the numbers” of the document:

False air (M1): the typical false air percentages for the different components of the system: the preheater, the kiln, the cooler, the mills: the reference values for the leakage assessment.
Surface loss (M2): the heat loss from the kiln shell and the ducts per square meter at the surface temperature: the table for the radiation and convection calculations: the basis of the shell loss estimates in the heat balance.
Atomic weights (M3): the atomic weights of the elements of the chemistry: the base of every conversion between the oxide and the element.
Specific heats (M4): the specific heat values of the materials and the gases at the process temperatures: the input of the heat balance.
Heat content (M5–M7): the enthalpy tables of the gases and the materials: the sensible heat values used in the heat balance of the kiln and the cooler: the direct input of the calculations of the package’s heat balance Excel tool.
Conversion tables (M8–M10): the unit conversions: energy (kcal to kJ to BTU), pressure, temperature, the imperial to the metric: the universal set of the engineering desk.

These tables are the silent support of every calculation of the Bible and of the Excel tools of the package: the same numbers, the same units, the same basis.

13. Section N: Charts — The Clinker Particle Size

The charts section brings the graphical data of the process, beginning with the clinker particle size distribution: the typical distribution curves of the clinker from the kiln and the cooler, the mean size, the interpretation of the granulation (the liquid phase, the burning zone temperature, the coating), and the connection to the cooler performance and the mill feeding: the chart that makes the connection between the burning and the subsequent grinding visible at a glance.

14. The Bible at Work: The Daily Uses of the Document

In the modern plant the Bible serves the roles:

Use	Section
Gas analysis interpretation	G (combustion, excess air, false air)
Volatile cycle & bypass decision	D (circulation, limits, S/A ratio)
Flame and burner adjustment	E (fuels) + the burner sections
Heat balance of the line	M (tables) + G (air/gas)
Refractory and preheating	L (lining, preheating ramp)
Cooler performance check	K (standard data, load satellite)
Training of the operators	The whole document as the course support
Bypass and dust management	D (volatile limits) with the gas analysis of F
Kiln start-up preparation	L (preheating ramp) + E (fuels) + G (air)
Guarantee verification	G (combustion) + M (tables) on the supplier’s basis

The most appreciated characteristic of the document by the engineers is its density: there are no chapters of theory without application; every page ends with a number to use, a formula to apply or a rule to remember: the “bible” style of the corporate handbook at its best.

15. The Bible in the Complete Cement Technical Package

In the library the Bible plays the role of the numerical process reference of the supplier:

With the Holderbank courses: the Swiss group’s courses give the systematic training of the whole process with the long explanations; the Bible gives the same process compressed to the formulas and the tables: the pair covers the formation and the operation.
With the Lafarge Vade-Mecum: the operator’s manual gives the corporate process of the producer; the Bible gives the calculations of the supplier: the two documents compare the producer’s view and the vendor’s view of the same kiln.
With Duda’s Data Book: the German reference gives the global surveys and the equipment data of the industry; the Bible gives the working formulas of the plant: the reference and the tool.
With the Excel tools of the package: the heat balance tool, the raw mix tool and the combustion calculations apply the same formulas of the Bible live: the engineer verifies the manual’s arithmetic with the tool and vice versa.
With the FLS maintenance and kiln files of the package: the mechanical side (the kiln system maintenance, the burner maintenance) completes the process side of the Bible: the two documents together cover the machine and the process.

16. Frequently Asked Questions

Is the document still relevant for the modern plants with digital controls?

Completely: the physical relations do not change with the automation. The O2 of the gas, the volatile circulation, the false air, the refractory preheating: the same numbers and the same formulas govern the modern plant; the control systems execute the same arithmetic at a higher frequency, and the engineer who understands the basis remains the master of the system, even when the screens hide the arithmetic behind the trend curves.

Does the document include the burner adjustment procedures of the company?

The document packs the burner subject through its dedicated sections between the combustion and the cooler blocks: the burner elements (primary air, swirl and momentum), the flame forms and their consequences on the heating and the coating, and the operational checks of the line: the same ground that FLS covers in its process services, presented here in the compact style of the bible. The engineer who comes from the burner hardware files of the same supplier finds in the Bible the process side of the same equipment.

What about the alternative fuels: does the Bible cover them?

The document covers the fuel system through the oil and the coal blocks with the complete property data; the alternative fuels (pet coke, waste-derived fuels, biomass) are treated in the combustion arithmetic of the same blocks: the calorific value, the volatile limits and the circulation constraints of the D section apply identically, and the modern user extends the FLS tables with the substitution calculations of his plant without leaving the framework of the document: the physics is the same, the feed just changes the numbers.

Is the edition readable on the screen and the phone?

Yes: the digital edition is a standard PDF that opens on any device; the tables and the sections are searchable (write “false air”, “pigot”, “bypass”, “Bogue” in the reader and the corresponding page appears in a moment), which makes the bible the perfect tool for the smart engineer in front of the nominal or the desk: every section of the alphabetical index responds to a keyword in a second.

The heat balance Excel tool of the package: does it use the same numbers?

The Excel heat balance tool of the Complete Package applies the same structure of the Sections M and G: the specific heats, the heat contents, the surface losses and the false air conventions of the tables of the Bible feed the tool’s cells; the user can cross-check the manual arithmetic and the tool arithmetic on the same data: this is precisely one of the best trained exercises of the professional library: the calculator and the reference of the supplier side by side, a double entry bookkeeping of the kiln.

Do I need the FLS software to use the document?

No: the document is self-sufficient, paper and calculator. The Excel tools of the package implement the same formulas for the speed, but the Bible itself contains every number and every equation of the manual.

The document covers the burner; is there more on the mechanical side?

The Bible is the process document; the mechanical side of the same systems (the kiln mechanics, the burner maintenance, the drive) is covered by the other FLS files of the package (e.g., the kiln system maintenance file), so the user has both sides: the process from the Bible and the machine from the maintenance files.

Can the younger engineers use it as a self-study manual?

It is one of the best self-study documents of the industry: each section is short, self-contained and complete with the numbers; the reader can progress through the alphabetical sections and end with the same knowledge base that the FLS engineers use: it is used precisely this way in the internal training of many plants.

Is the edition complete?

The digital edition reproduces the document with its sections in the original order: the chemistry, the clinkerisation, the homogenisation, the volatiles, the fuels, the flow measurements, the combustion, the cooler, the refractory, the tables and the charts: the full compendium of the pyro line, in the FLS layout.

How do I obtain the document?

The document is delivered with the Complete Cement Technical Package: 931 files — books, courses, Excel tools and presentations — for the one-time $249.99 via PayPal; the download access arrives instantly by e-mail and remains yours for life: the best cost per value of the professional libraries of the industry.

17. Conclusion

The FLS Burner Bible is the numerical skeleton of the pyro process: from the chemistry of the minerals (A) to the charts of the clinker (N), every page of the document gives the engineer the formulas and the tables that the leading supplier applies to the burning of the cement: the moduli and the Bogue, the burnability and the calcination, the volatile cycles and their limits, the fuels and the viscosity, the Pitot and the false air, the minimum combustion air and the excess air, the cooler standard data and the refractory preheating, the atomic weights and the heat contents. It is the document that the process engineer carries, the instrument of the plant, the reference of the supplier — and with the Complete Cement Technical Package it sits on the desk next to the Holderbank courses, the Lafarge manual, the Duda data book and the Excel tools that implement the same arithmetic. Secure the package today — $249.99, one-time, instant download — and make the arithmetic of the industry yours: the flame, the gas, the kiln and the numbers that govern them.

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