Location:
- Grid reference:
- ITM 706568,771787
- old style O0666671790
- 53°41'6"N; 6°23'7"W
- Townland: Platin, County Meath
Clinker manufacture operational: 1972 to date
Approximate total clinker production to 2022: 55 million tonnes (5th)
Raw materials:
- Carboniferous Limestone (Platin Formation, Milverton Group: 328-340 Ma) from 705900,771500
- Carboniferous Shale (Clonlusk Formation, Donore Shale: 318-322 Ma) from 705500,772600 and 704400,773200
Ownership: CRH (Irish Cement)
Built to replace the Drogheda plant, which was increasingly inconvenient to run because of the spread of Drogheda’s suburbs, restricting the extension of the quarry that might otherwise have allowed the conversion of the old plant to dry process. At Platin, raw materials were more or less unlimited, and the location is conveniently close to Dublin, while also allowing penetration of the Northern Ireland market. It had Ireland’s second dry-process kiln. The original plan of the plant allowed for four oil-fired long dry kilns: the 1973 energy crisis caused an immediate re-appraisal of this strategy, and subsequent developments confirmed the plant as the most efficient in Britain and Ireland. Kiln A2 was the first precalciner in Britain and Ireland: having planetary coolers it was necessarily of the “air-through” type. The planetary coolers were replaced with a grate in 1997, allowing conversion to “air-separate” operation. It is perhaps a comment on the state of the British industry that A2 has remained Britain and Ireland’s largest kiln ever since it was installed. With the installation of kiln A3 in January 2009 Platin became the largest plant in Britain and Ireland.
Please contact me with any relevant information or corrections. I am particularly interested in firmer dates and statistics.
Note: technical information on currently operational plants is ✄withheld in the public version of the site at present.
Power supply
Entirely electrically driven using power purchased from the grid.
Rawmills
- Kiln 1 had a 1940 kW Tirax ball mill, initially heated by an oil-fired furnace, but subsequently heated with kiln exhaust gas.
- Kiln 2 ✄
- Kiln 3 has a 3800 kW FLS ATOX 47.5 roller mill heated by kiln exhaust gas(1).
Three rotary kilns were installed:
Kiln A1
Supplier: FLS
Operated: 1972-9/10/2008
Process: Long dry with 1-stage suspension preheater
Location: hot end (cooler ports) 706631,771825: cold end 706508,771791: unenclosed.
Dimensions: metric 128.00 × 4.350BC / 5.000D
Rotation (viewed from firing end): anti-clockwise
Slope: ?
Speed: ?
Drive: ?
Kiln profile: -20000×4350: 84150×4350: 87900×5000: 126000×5000: 128000×3000: tyres at -19000, 1650, 31800, 73800, 112800: turning gear at 68400.
Cooler: Unax planetary 11×16.80×1.650
Fuel: Initially oil: changed to coal in 1977, eventually supplanted by petcoke.
Coal Mill: indirect: FLS Tirax ball mill
Typical Output: 1250 t/d
Typical Heat Consumption: 4.1 MJ/kg
Kiln A2
Supplier: FLS
Operated: 1977 to date
Process: air-through precalciner: details ✄
Location: hot end 706613,771847: cold end 706533,771823: unenclosed
Dimensions: ✄
Rotation (viewed from firing end): anti-clockwise
Slope: ?
Speed: ?
Drive: dual
Kiln profile: ✄
Cooler: Unax planetary: details ✄: later grate: details ✄
Fuel: coal, eventually supplanted by petcoke.
Coal mill: ✄
Exhaust: ✄
Typical Output: ✄
Typical Heat Consumption: ✄
Kiln A3
Supplier: FLS
Operated: 1/2009 to date
Process: air-separate precalciner: details ✄
Location: hot end 706589,771726: cold end 706531,771709: unenclosed
Dimensions: metric 60.00 × 5.000(1)
Rotation (viewed from firing end): clockwise
Slope: 3.5% (2.006°)
Speed: ?
Drive: ?
Kiln profile: ✄
Cooler: FLS MMC 11 × 97 crossbar grate(1)
Fuel: petcoke, supplemented by solid refuse from 2015.
Fuel Mill: FLS ATOX 25 roller mill(1)
Exhaust: ✄
Typical Output: ✄
Typical Heat Consumption: ✄
References:
(1) FLS press release
Sources:
- Primary Sources:
- "Platin Cement Works, Republic of Ireland", Cement Technology, 4, 1973 pp 8-12
- Irish Cement 1938-1988, CRH plc, 1988
- Ray Lund, “Conversion of a 3000 tpd Planetary Cooler Kiln to Grate Cooler in less than 50 days” in 1999 IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Industry Technical Conference Record, 1999
- "Green cement plant for the Emerald Isle", FLS press release
- OSI digital mapping
- GSI mapping and monographs
- Confirmatory Sources:
- Nil