Barracuda Application Model Webinar: Cement Calciner Decomposition Furnace

CPFD Software’s Barracuda Application Model Webinar Series is designed to give engineers and researchers deeper insight into how Barracuda Virtual Reactor is applied to real-world challenges. Application models are sample cases that can be downloaded, run, and customized by the Barracuda Virtual Reactor user community.

Preheater–precalciner systems are at the heart of modern cement production, enabling high thermal efficiency, reduced fuel consumption, and flexible use of alternative fuels. Within this system, the calciner plays a critical role, performing up to 90–95% of limestone calcination (CaCO₃ → CaO + CO₂) while strongly influencing plant efficiency, emissions, and clinker quality. With calcination alone accounting for roughly 5% of global fossil CO₂ emissions, detailed modeling of this unit is essential for advancing low-carbon cement technologies.

In this webinar, we will present the Cement Calciner Decomposition Furnace Application Model, which uses Barracuda Virtual Reactor to simulate an industrial-scale calciner based on published plant data from Zhu et al. (2024). The model captures the coupled gas–solid hydrodynamics, coal combustion, devolatilization, and limestone calcination within a fully compressible, reacting multiphase flow framework. Key industrial features are explicitly represented, including kiln exhaust injection, tertiary air staging, multi-level raw meal feeding, coal pneumatic injection, and the riser-to-cyclone transition.

During the webinar, we will review model setup, assumptions, and validation results, highlighting strong agreement with reported plant outlet gas temperatures and raw meal calcination levels. Visualizations reveal key internal trends such as oxygen depletion, CO₂ generation, NOₓ formation and reduction pathways, particle heating, and progressive calcination along the riser. This application model serves as a ready-to-use, literature-based reference for engineers and researchers conducting troubleshooting studies, evaluating alternative fuels, and exploring carbon-capture-ready calciner designs using Barracuda Virtual Reactor.

Join us to learn how this application model can help advance your understanding of subsurface transport and improve production outcomes. Access the model here.