Uzbekistan 30 t/h Coal Powder Preparation — LM190 Vertical Roller Mill
LM190 vertical roller mill for 30 t/h coal powder preparation at a cement plant in Uzbekistan. EPC coal grinding system with 25% energy saving vs ball mill. Contact Zhengzhou Sinoma.
Project Details
Project Overview
This 30 t/h coal powder preparation line was built for a large cement group in Uzbekistan, using our LM190 vertical roller mill (VRM) as the core grinding equipment. The plant prepares pulverized coal (PC) for the group's cement kiln, replacing an old ball mill circuit that had become energy-intensive and unreliable.
The customer selected Zhengzhou Sinoma Engineering Technology as the EPC contractor after comparing four Chinese and European vertical mill suppliers. The contract covered process design, equipment manufacturing, sea logistics, on-site installation supervision, commissioning, and operator training — delivered as a single-turnkey package.
Why the Customer Chose a Vertical Roller Mill Over a Ball Mill
The old coal grinding system used two ball mills in closed circuit. By the end of 2021, the group had three pain points:
High specific power consumption — ball mill system drew over 32 kWh/t at 80 μm fineness
Unstable fineness — screen blocking caused R90 to swing between 8% and 15%, hurting kiln combustion stability
High maintenance frequency — ball mill liners and media required replacement every 8–10 months
A vertical roller mill was chosen because it integrates grinding, drying, and classification in one machine, typically cutting specific power consumption by 20–30% versus a ball mill circuit.
Technical Configuration
The line is a closed-circuit VRM system with the following key parameters:
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Core mill | LM190 vertical roller mill × 1 |
| Raw material | Bituminous coal / lignite blend |
| Feed size | ≤ 35 mm |
| Moisture | Up to 12% (dried in-mill with kiln exhaust gas) |
| Output | 30 t/h |
| Product fineness | R0.08 = 5–10% (adjustable) |
| Main motor power | 800 kW |
| System power consumption | ~26 kWh/t (at R90 = 8%) |
| Dust collection | Pulse bag filter, outlet < 10 mg/Nm³ |
Auxiliary equipment supplied:
Coal feeder and rotary airlock
High-efficiency dynamic separator
Induced draft fan and stack
Explosion-protected bag filter (CO monitoring + extinguishing)
DCS control system with touchscreen HMI
Project Implementation
| Phase | Timeline | Key Activity |
|---|---|---|
| Contract signing | March 2022 | Detailed engineering kickoff, site survey completed |
| Manufacturing | Apr – Nov 2022 | Grinding table, rollers, separator and casing fabricated in-house |
| Shipping | Dec 2022 – Feb 2023 | Breakbulk from Tianjin to Tashkent via IRU road + rail |
| Installation | Mar – Jul 2023 | Mechanical erection, ducting, electrical and DCS integration |
| Commissioning | Aug 2023 | 30 days on-site trial run, classifier tuning, operator training |
| Commercial operation | Sep 2023 | Handover to client, performance guarantee test passed |
The main construction challenge was the remote site location and limited local lifting capacity. Our team solved it by using modular mill assembly on site — the grinding table and rollers were pre-split in the workshop to fit a 50-ton crawler crane, cutting erection time by roughly two weeks.
Results After 12 Months of Operation
Capacity: Sustained 30–32 t/h, 10% above guarantee
Energy saving: Specific power dropped from 32 kWh/t to 26 kWh/t — about 25% reduction, saving roughly USD 1.2 million per year in electricity at local tariffs
Fineness stability: R0.08 held at 6–8% with standard deviation below 1%, stabilizing kiln combustion
Uptime: Over 8,000 running hours without major overhaul; first roller tire re-surfacing scheduled after 12,000 hours
Payback: Customer projects payback period under 3 years, driven mainly by power savings and reduced liner/media consumption
Customer Feedback
"The LM190 vertical mill from Zhengzhou Sinoma has transformed our coal grinding section. Power consumption dropped immediately after commissioning, and the DCS system makes fineness tuning almost automatic. Their engineer stayed until we could run the line confidently on our own. We are now discussing a second VRM for our slag grinding circuit."
Related Equipment
Interested in a similar coal powder preparation line? See our vertical roller mill and ball mill range, or contact our engineers for a tailor-made solution for your cement plant or power station.