It's #TravelTuesday here at World Cement and today we're taking you to LafargeHolcim's Val d’Azergues plant in France!

In March 2018, IKN was awarded an EPC order to replace the 50-year-old Fuller cooler with a new IKN pendulum cooler at the plant. The goal of the project was to increase plant performance and decrease fuel consumption by increasing the temperature of the recuperation air.

The new cooler features the latest mechanical drive technology and is equipped with a single Dynamic Linear Drive (DLD), installed in an easily accessible location outside the cooler housing. Due to its electrical design, the need for an additional hydraulic room was eliminated. For boosting the mid-air, which will be used for the raw mill, IKN made provisions to recirculate part of the waste air back into the cooler. Together with the high efficiency of the cooler, this helps to further reduce the consumption of primary fuels.