In October 2013 the largest industrial project in the independent Lithuanian – construction of 4500 tons/day dry clinker production line – was completed at the plant of Akmenės cementas AB. Many examples of innovative technology application will remain in the history of the project. Concreting of very massive base slabs having 2000 and 3200 cubic meters in volume required introduction of water cooling. When carrying concreting works out, concrete cooling with water was installed – thermal sensors were mounted over the entire height (3 m) of concreted base slabs allowing to monitor the temperature of concrete and control cooling intensity based on the sensor readings.
PST process engineers made calculations of the peak allowable temperature of concrete during curing and designed the water cooling system capable to ensure uniform temperature distribution in concrete. Construction of the raw mill silo and its internal conical part included use of the sliding formwork technology that had been previously used very little in Lithuania. The height of the silo is as much as 54 meters and its diameter is 22 meters. Concreting of the raw mill silo with the help of the sliding formwork was carried out around the clock and lasted 26 days in total. Concreting took place close to the running rotary kiln, which radiated strong heat. Therefore, the site was equipped with heat screens, preventing concrete from overheating and cracking in the result of exposure to high temperatures. One of the most complex buildings in the project was the preheater facilities, which rose to the height of 105 meters, and there was a 125-meters stack located in the vicinity of them. This was one of the most complex buildings in the project not only because of its height, but also due to its structures. For example, it sould be noted that the weight of steel structures erected at the height of 105 meters exceeded 33 tonnes and their height in some places was even 3.5 meters. In general, for concreting purposes over 32,000 cubic meters of concrete together with over 3600 tons of reinforcement bars were used, over 8,000 tons of steel structures were erected and over 7600 tons of process equipment were installed. The total area of newly constructed buildings exceeds 100,000 square meters.
