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AbstractAn FP7 consortium led by and East of England based research centre requires an SME or LE which owns or operates a cement plant to act as a potential end user. The project aims to develop a real-time and adaptive plant controller and sensor systems for the optimisation of the cement production process. The partner will be involved with the trials and demonstration of the technology.DetailsThe cement manufacturing process is one of the most challenging industries in terms of environmental impact, energy consumption and variation of raw material.The impetus in the industry is to: •Minimise the environmental impact of cement production process •Significantly reduce energy consumption of cement production •Optimise the production cost in terms of resource utilisation and productivity •Improve the quality of the final product This can be realised thorough advanced monitoring and optimal control solutions specifically designed for the manufacturing process in the cement industry. To achieve this, one faces two major challenges: firstly to measure and evaluate variations in raw material fed into the process; this variation causes substantial fluctuation in energy consumption, product quality, and production throughput. Secondly, to identify and analyse the inter-relationship between the key factors that affect the production process. The objectives of this project are therefore: •To introduce a set of techniques and guidelines on raw material evaluation •To design novel and dedicated sensors for measuring the amount of coarse cement particles as the instrument for quality assessment •To design and implement dedicated integrated shop-floor sensoring systems capable of collecting data from material and processes •Propose the models and techniques to translate and transmit the collected data into production process parameters (e.g. quality, performance and resource utilisation) •Design and implement an integrated process controller to achieve the key drivers of the project The suite of technology developed in this project will consist of a set of advanced tools for continuous and pro-active quality monitoring, a real-time and predictive information platform, and adaptive-knowledge-based fault tolerant process automation, control and optimisation suite. The proposed technology will not only have a significant impact on the cement sector, but with minor modifications can be applicable to a wide range of industrial processes and discrete manufacturing environments. Technical Specifications / Specific technical requirements: Thr proposal is currently in the development stage and is due to be submitted to the Research for SMEs call on 6th December 2011. The project is expected to be 2 years in duration and the deadline for the partner search is 16th September 2011. An SME or LE company which operates or owns a cement plant is required. The role would be to act as a potential end user and be involved with the trials and demonstration of the technology. Prospective partner will also be required to attend and contribute to the Steering Committee meetings. The level of EU funding to be requested and anticpated percentage allocation to consortiun partners has not yet been finalised.
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