4. MgO–MA Bricks in Cement Kilns
MgO–MA bricks have also been developed and used to replace MgO–MK
bricks in cement kilns. They are used in the burning (sintering), transitional
and cooling zones, although the use of MgO–MA bricks to line the cooling
and transitional zones is more common than in the burning zone, due to higher
temperatures and more corrosive environment in the latter.
Bricks in the burning zone are protected from corrosion by an in-situ cement
clinker coating that develops on the refractories surface (26). MgO–MA bricks
originally developed for the transitional zone did not allow formation of such a
coating and so were inappropriate for use in the burning zone. To use them in the
burning zone, their coating formation and its adherence ability had to be improved.
Zongqi and Rigaud (27) found that fine crystalline spinel in MgO–MA
bricks reacts with CaO from the cement forming low-melting phases and belite
with good adherence. Lack of fine spinel crystals resulted in poor adherence.
Impurities in MgO–MA bricks as well as deliberate additions are effective in
improving coating formability. Using MgO and MA raw materials containing
appropriate levels of impurity accelerates formation of coatings. For example,
appropriate amounts of CaO and SiO2 in the MgO aggregate can accelerate the
formation of cement coatings. Additives such as FexO, TiO2, and ZrO2 (28–
30) also improve coating quality. The added FexO can react with CaO and
Al2O3 from the cement clinker and refractories to form CaO–Al2O3–FexO
liquid, contributing to the cement coating adhesion. FexO can be added as
FexO or in the form of fused Al2O3–FexO or FexO–MgO grains. Addition of
TiO2 can also improve coating stability via formation of CaTiO3. ZrO2 additions
react with CaO from the cement clinker to form CaO-stabilized ZrO2 and
CaZrO3, which improve coating adhesion. Table 6 shows typical properties of
MgO–MA bricks developed for the different zones of a cement kiln (31).