Method and apparatus for burning cement clinker

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention seeks to overcome the difficulties and technical limitations described above, to provide for rapid burning of cement clinker and to exploit the natural properties of the product employed in order to avoid operating malfunctions and encrustations so as to provide a problem-free rapid clinker burning with economical means.
In accordance with the present invention, we provide a method for burning cement clinker from different mineral base materials which undergo separate dressing and separate thermal pretreatments and are combined for clinker reaction and finish-burning.
One of the base materials has a relatively high proportion of components forming melt phases at a predetermined temperature and the other base material has relatively slight components forming melt phases at the predetermined temperature.
In keeping with the present invention, the base material having the higher proportion of components forming melt phases is at least partially melted after thermal pretreatment and is introduced into the clinker reactor in its at least partially molten state together with the other base material which is still in its solid state.
The two base materials are mixed with each other in the clinker reactor and the mixture is heat treated and/or finish-burned into clinker.
For purposes of better understanding, the definition of the terms employed will now be undertaken.
The "raw materials" are minerals which are mined from the earth in surface operations or in underground operations and which are dressed under given conditions by means of preliminary breaking, washing, grading, and the like.
The "base materials" are material mixtures or materials which are required for the manufacture of a specific grade of cement and which are supplied to the installation for processing.
The "components" are chemical components, for example, SiO.
sub.
2, CaCO.
sub.
3, CaO, Al.
sub.
2 O.
sub.
3, Fe.
sub.
2 O.
sub.
3, and the like, which are contained in certain proportions in the base materials or in the raw materials