WO2024065480A1

WO2024065480A1 - Controlling production of curable composition

Info

Publication number: WO2024065480A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/122840
Authority: WO
Inventors: Pasi Karppinen
Original assignee: Caidio Oy; Caidio Shanghai Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2022-09-29
Filing date: 2022-09-29
Publication date: 2024-04-04

Abstract

There is provided method for controlling production of a curable composition at a plant comprising: storing, at a process controller of the plant, a staple recipe for producing the curable composition based on one or more side stream based raw materials; receiving, at raw material handling operatively connected to the process controller, at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition; measuring, at the raw material handling, at least one quality characteristic of the received at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition; generating, at a recipe management system operatively connected to the process controller, information indicating an adapted recipe based on the staple recipe and the measured at least one quality characteristic; and controlling, by the process controller, production of the curable composition based on the generated information indicating an adapted recipe.

Description

CONTROLLING PRODUCTION OF CURABLE COMPOSITION

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to controlling production of a curable composition.

BACKGROUND

It is estimated that portland cement causes 7%of the CO2 emissions globally. Significant reduction, e.g. up to 80%, of the CO2 emissions would be possible, if portland cement was replaced with side streams from industrial processes.

Fresh concrete is sensitive to quality changes of side stream based raw materials. Industrial processes are efficient and optimized for manufacturing their primary products without necessarily any quality control of the side streams. Therefore, if side stream based raw materials from various industrial processes are used for concrete production there is no guarantee to which amount the side stream based raw materials from the various industrial processes have the same characteristics.

WO2022106757A1 describes a recipe system for producing recipes for curable compositions made of side stream based raw materials. The recipes are generated by artificial intelligence in response to request from product manufacturers to deliver a recipe for an end-product. Side stream processes can be adjusted to improve properties of side stream based raw materials for producing the requested end-product.

SUMMARY

The scope of protection sought for various embodiments of the application is set out by the independent claims. The embodiments, examples and features, if any, described in this specification that do not fall under the scope of the independent claims are to be interpreted as examples useful for understanding various embodiments of the application.

According to a first aspect there is provided a method comprising:

- storing, at a process controller of the plant, a staple recipe for producing the curable composition based on one or more side stream based raw materials;

- receiving, at raw material handling operatively connected to the process controller, at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

- measuring, at the raw material handling, at least one quality characteristic of the received at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

- generating, at a recipe management system operatively connected to the process controller, information indicating an adapted recipe based on the staple recipe and the measured at least one quality characteristic; and

- controlling, by the process controller, production of the curable composition based on the generated information indicating an adapted recipe.

According to a second aspect there is provided a system for controlling production of a curable composition at a plant, comprising:

- means for storing, at a process controller of the plant, a staple recipe for producing the curable composition based on one or more side stream based raw materials;

- means for receiving, at raw material handling operatively connected to the process controller, at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

- means for measuring, at the raw material handling, at least one quality characteristic of the received at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

- means for generating, at a recipe management system operatively connected to the process controller, information indicating an adapted recipe based on the staple recipe and the measured at least one quality characteristic; and

- means for controlling, by the process controller, production of the curable composition based on the generated information indicating an adapted recipe.

According to a third aspect there is provided a system comprising:

a recipe management system connected by a data network connection to a process controller at a plant, wherein the process controller is operatively connected to equipment for production of a curable composition and to one or measurement devices for measuring quality characteristics of at least side stream based raw material, wherein the system is caused to:

- store at the process controller of the plant, a staple recipe for producing the curable composition based on one or more side stream based raw materials;

- receive, at raw material handling operatively connected to the process controller, at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

- measure, at the raw material handling, at least one quality characteristic of the received at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

- generate, at a recipe management system operatively connected to the process controller, information indicating an adapted recipe based on the staple recipe and the measured at least one quality characteristic; and

- control, by the process controller, production of the curable composition based on the generated information indicating an adapted recipe.

According to a fourth aspect there is provided a computer program comprising computer readable program code means adapted to perform at least the following:

At least some embodiments provide production of a curable composition without necessarily a need to adjust and monitor side stream quality at industrial processes that produce the side streams for the production of curable compositions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of example embodiments of the present application, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates an example of a plant in accordance with at least some embodiments;

Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a method for controlling production of a curable composition based on a quality of side stream based raw material in accordance with at least some embodiments;

Fig. 3 illustrates an example of producing a curable composition in accordance with at least some embodiments;

Fig. 4 illustrates an example of a recipe in accordance with at least some embodiments; and

Fig. 5 illustrates an example setup for measuring at least one quality characteristic in accordance with at least some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTON OF SOME EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

The following embodiments are exemplary. Although the specification may refer to "an" , "one" , or "some" embodiment (s) in several locations, this does not necessarily mean that each such reference is to the same embodiment (s) , or that the feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.

A recipe for producing a curable composition comprises components that each have a function for obtaining the curable composition and end-products made by curing the curable composition that have desired quality characteristics. Accordingly, the components may be referred to functional components. In an example the curable composition may be concrete and a recipe for fresh concrete comprises the following functional components: binders, aggregates, water and admixture. Admixture is a material other than water, aggregates, cementitious materials, and fiber reinforcement, used as an ingredient of a cementitious mixture to modify its freshly mixed, setting, or hardened properties and that is added to the batch before or during its mixing. The aggregates are particulate material e.g. sand, gravel or crushed stone that serve for reinforcement to add strength to the cured concrete. The aggregates can be categorized based on grain size e.g. to fine aggregates and coarse aggregates. The binders, e.g. cement, or portland cement, have the function of hardening and binding the aggregates together to form a cohesive whole mechanically, chemically, by adhesion or cohesion.

A staple recipe is a recipe that comprises components and their respective amounts for producing a curable composition that after curing meets quality requirements according to a specific grade. The staple recipe may comprise one or more side stream based raw materials and virgin raw materials. In an example, a grade of concrete may be defined based on the minimum strength the concrete possesses after 28 days of curing with proper quality control. Other examples of the quality requirements comprise compressive strength, flexural tensile strength, splitting tensile strength, density and structural weight. Laboratory measurements may be used for ascertaining conformance of the cured concrete with the requirements of a specific grade. Grade of other curable compositions may be ascertained in a similar manner to a grade of concrete. The staple recipe may be used for generating one or more further recipes by adapting amounts of one or more raw materials of the staple recipe. These further recipes may be referred to as adapted recipes. As a further difference between the staple recipe and the adapted recipes, the staple recipe can be used for controlling production of a curable composition, when quality of the raw materials are known. Since the side stream based raw materials may comprise byproducts and waste from various industrial processes, measurement methods of quality of virgin raw materials and compositions made thereof may not be directly applicable for the side stream based raw materials and compositions made of the side stream based raw materials. As a further difference between the staple recipe and the adapted recipes, the staple recipes and the adapted recipes may have different lifetimes. For example, the staple recipe may be used for controlling production of curable compositions of over a plurality of batches, provided the raw materials used for the manufacturing have sufficiently similar quality with respect to the raw materials for the cured composition according to a specific grade. However, an adapted recipe may be determined during production of a curable composition based on measuring quality characteristics of side stream based raw materials that are currently available at a plant for producing curable compositions. Therefore, the production process can be adapted based on the adapted recipe without a need to generate a staple recipe which would require waiting for curing samples of curable compositions and possible transporting the samples to a laboratory for measurements.

Virgin raw materials may contain materials which are not side stream based. Examples of the virgin raw materials comprise at least water, primary products of industrial processes, natural stones or stone aggregates, sand, gravel, clays, silt, desert sands, and other acidic or alkaline soils, such as Latossolos-type soils. Examples of side stream based raw materials comprise side streams of industrial processes such as secondary products of industrial processes, byproducts of industrial processes, waste of industrial processes, coal-fired power plant ash such as coal fly ash, bio ash such as wood ash and rice husk ash, steel industry slag such as blast furnace slag, green liquor sludge, waste incineration ash and slag, slag from hydrogen reduction steelmaking industry, tailings and side stones from mining industry, silica fume, and neutralizing waste. As a difference between the side stream based raw materials and virgin raw materials, the side stream based raw material has variable quality at least because the side stream based raw material may be originated from various different industrial processes that are not optimized for production of side streams of consistent quality and/or the storage of the produced side streams can leave the side streams exposed to the environment, whereby the side streams can easily be contaminated and their composition can be chemically or mechanically altered. In a typical example, the side streams are stored outside, where they are exposed to rain, which causes their water content to change. When the side streams are used for raw materials to production of curable compositions, water content of the side stream based raw materials can introduce variable amounts of excess water to the production, whereby a total amount of water in the production may exceed the amount of water defined by a staple recipe. The excess water can cause e.g. an increased likelihood of cracking, when the curable composition is cured. If the composition is cracked, the curable composition has not been of satisfactory quality and a grade expected from the curable composition has not been met. Therefore, there is a need to measure the quality of side stream based raw materials used for production of a curable composition and adapt production of the curable composition by adapting the staple recipe in order to produce curable composition that meets desired quality requirements, e.g. a grade.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example of a plant in accordance with at least some embodiments. The plant comprises raw material handling equipment 102, processing equipment 104 and dispensing equipment 106. A process controller 108, or process controller device, is operatively connected to the raw material handling equipment 102, processing equipment 104 and dispensing equipment 106 for receiving and sending information for example messages comprising measurements and/or control commands. Accordingly, the process controller may send control commands to one or more of the raw material handling equipment 102, processing equipment 104 and dispensing equipment 106. On the other hand, the process controller may receive information such as measurements from one or more of the raw material handling equipment 102, processing equipment 104 and dispensing equipment 106. The measurements may be provided by devices deployed at the raw material handling equipment 102, processing equipment 104 and dispensing equipment 106 for measuring e.g. quality characteristics of side stream based raw materials. Examples of the deployed devices for measuring quality characteristics comprise a hyperspectral sensor, a camera, a pulsed laser, a light source, capacitive sensor, magnetic sensor and a microphone. Communications between the process controller and the raw material handling equipment 102, processing equipment 104 and dispensing equipment 106 may be digital communications for example over a wired or wireless connection. Examples of the connections comprise field bus technologies such as Profibus, Scanbus, Internet Protocol and Ethernet connections. At the plant, curable compositions, e.g. concrete, are produced from raw materials 112 received at the raw material handling equipment 102. The raw material handling equipment are configured to dispense or feed raw material 114 to the processing equipment under control of the process controller. The processing equipment may process the raw material received from the raw material handling equipment. After the processing by the processing equipment, the curable composition 116 is ready to be fed to the dispensing equipment. The dispensing equipment may dispense the curable composition 118 directly to a location, where the composition is cured, or the dispensed curable composition may be transported to a separate location, e.g. a construction site located geographically separated from the plant, where the composition is cured. The process controller may be connected to a memory 111 that may comprise one or more recipes for producing curable compositions and/or computer program code. The process controller may control the production of the curable composition based on the one or more recipes and/or the computer program code. The plant may be operatively connected to a recipe management system 110 that is configured to adapt one or more recipes used for the production of curable compositions by the process controller. The recipe management system and the process controller may be connected by a data communications bus, e.g. a computer bus, or a data network connection, such as a wired or wireless connection, depending on implementation, for communications of recipe information such as recipes and/or adapted recipes between the process controller and the recipe management system. Examples of the data network connections comprise at least Internet Protocol connections. Examples of the raw material handling equipment, processing equipment and dispensing equipment comprise at least containers, silos, conveyor belts, pipes.

Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a method for controlling production of a curable composition based on a quality of side stream based raw material in accordance with at least some embodiments. The method may be performed at the plant described with Fig. 1, e.g. by the process controller and the recipe management system. The method provides production of a curable composition, e.g. concrete, without necessarily a need to adjust and monitor side stream quality at industrial processes that produce the side streams for the production of curable compositions. Accordingly, requirements for side streams of industrial processes for production of curable compositions can be at least somewhat relieved. The method may be performed continuously at the plant for monitoring quality of the side stream based raw materials such that production yield can be maintained high and production losses due to insufficient quality of the side stream based raw materials may be low. The method further provides that a staple recipe for production of the curable composition from one or more side stream based raw materials may be maintained untouched even if the one or more side stream based raw materials would not meet quality characteristics for production of the curable composition. In this way, quality of the end-products produced from the curable compositions can be monitored by using the staple recipe and adapted recipes as references.

Phase 202 comprises storing, at a process controller of the plant, a staple recipe for producing the curable composition based on one or more side stream based raw materials.

Phase 204 comprises receiving, at raw material handling operatively connected to the process controller, at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition.

Phase 206 comprises measuring, at the raw material handling, at least one quality characteristic of the received at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition.

Phase 208 comprises generating, at a recipe management system operatively connected to the process controller, information indicating an adapted recipe based on the staple recipe and the measured at least one quality characteristic; and

Phase 210 comprises controlling, by the process controller, production of the curable composition based on the generated adapted recipe.

In an example phase 202 comprises that the recipe comprises amounts of one or more side stream based raw materials and virgin raw materials. The one or more side stream based raw materials are used to replace a part of virgin raw materials e.g. binders. Accordingly, the one or more side stream based raw materials and the virgin raw materials together may form a functional component of the recipe, e.g. binders or aggregates. A functional component of the recipe is a set of raw materials, e.g. one or more virgin raw materials and/or one or more side stream based raw materials, that serves a function for obtaining the curable composition and end-products made by curing the curable composition that have desired quality characteristics, e.g. a grade.

In an embodiment phase 206 comprises that the measured at least one quality characteristic comprises loss of ignition (LOI) , particle size distribution and/or chemical composition of the at least one side stream based raw material.

In an example of the particle size distribution, particle size distribution of fly ash is related to grindability of coal and operating coal crushers for producing the fly ash. For fly ash use in concrete applications, particle size distribution is defined as the percent by weight of the material retained on the 0.044 mm (No. 325) sieve. A coarser gradation can result in a less reactive ash and could contain higher carbon contents. Limits on particle size distribution are addressed by ASTM and state transportation department specifications. ASTM C618 and AASHTO M 295 specifications for fly ash represent the primary documents used by U. S. state and federal agencies to determine the suitability of a fly ash source for use in concrete. Fly ash can be processed by screening or air classification to improve its particle size distribution and reactivity.

In an example of the chemical composition, a chemical composition of fly ash relates directly to the mineral chemistry of the parent coal and any additional fuels or additives used in the combustion or post-combustion processes. The pollution control technology that is used can also affect the chemical composition of the fly ash. Electric generating stations burn large volumes of coal from multiple sources. Coals may be blended to maximize generation efficiency or to improve environmental performance of the station. The chemistry of the fly ash is constantly tested and evaluated for specific use applications.

In an example of the LOI, LOI of fly ash characterizes an amount of unburned carbon (coal) remaining in the ash and is a critical characteristic of fly ash, especially for concrete applications. High carbon levels, the type of carbon (i.e., activated) , the interaction of soluble ions in fly ash, and the variability of carbon content can result in significant air-entrainment problems in fresh concrete and can adversely affect the durability of concrete. AASHTO and ASTM , e.g. the ASTM C618 and AASHTO M 295 specifications, specify limits for LOI. However, some state transportation departments will specify a lower level for LOI. Carbon can also be removed from fly ash. Examples of methods for removing carbon from fly ash comprise at least supercritical water oxidation and enchanted gravity separation.

In an example phase 206 comprises determining, by the process controller or the recipe management system, whether the measured at least one quality characteristic of the received at least one side stream based raw material meets a quality requirement for the at least one side stream based raw material. In an example the quality requirement may be a water content of the at least one side stream based raw material. The staple recipe may be defined for a specific water content of the side stream based raw material, whereby the process controller or the recipe management system, may determine whether the water content of the side stream based raw material meets the specific water content. The water content may be evaluated by percentages of weight for example. In this way the process controller may send a message to the recipe management system for adapting the staple recipe or amounts of raw materials of the staple recipe, if the quality requirement is not met. On the other hand, the process controller may send the measured at least one quality characteristic of the received at least one side stream based raw material to the recipe management system and the recipe management system may determine whether the quality requirement is met or not met.

In an example of phase 208, the information indicating an adapted recipe comprises a recipe that is generated based on adapting one or more amounts of raw materials of the staple recipe. In another example, the information indicating an adapted recipe comprises one or more amounts of raw materials to replace, or to be used instead, of amounts of corresponding raw materials defined by the staple recipe. In another example, the information indicating an adapted recipe is the adapted recipe.

In an example, phase 208 comprises that the adapted recipe is generated based on determining a change of loss of ignition (LOI) , particle size distribution and/or chemical composition of the at least one side stream based raw material. The determined change may be quantified, e.g. in [kg/m ³] , and used for determining one or more adapted amounts of raw materials of the staple recipe for generating the adapted recipe.

In an example, phase 206 comprises measuring, at the raw material handling, one or more quality characteristics based on audio analysis, image analysis, laser ablation and/or hyperspectral imaging. For example, chemical composition and loss of ignition (LOI) of the side stream based raw material may be analyzed by a pulsed laser based on laser ablation and/or by a hyperspectral sensor. Particle size distribution may be measured by image analysis performed based on digital images captured by a camera from the side stream based raw material and/or based on audio analysis based on digital audio captured by a microphone. It should be noted that with decreasing grain size, resolution of the camera should be increased to determine the particle size distribution accurately. However, even with a coarse resolution of the camera, absence or presence of particles having a grain size at a range of interest may be determined, whereby a coarse estimate of the particle size distribution may be established. The audio may be captured from processing and/or transportation of the side stream based raw material at the plant.

It should be appreciated that in phase 206, the measurement of a quality characteristic of a side stream based raw material may be dependent on a kind of the side stream based raw material. In an example, LOI and particle size distribution may be useful for determining quality of ashes. The chemical composition and glass content may be useful for determining quality of slag, e.g. slag from a blast furnace.

Laser ablation

Laser ablation, or laser ablation mass spectrometry, is a technology for direct solid sampling in analytical chemistry. Laser ablation refers to the process in which an intense burst of energy delivered by a short laser pulse is used to sample a material, or remove a portion of the material. The advantages of laser-ablation chemical analysis include direct characterization of solids, no chemical procedures for dissolution, reduced risk of contamination or sample loss, analysis of very small samples not separable for solution analysis, and determination of spatial distributions of elemental composition. The most common approaches of laser ablation comprise laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) . The benefits of laser ablation sampling for chemical analysis include no sample preparation, no waste, minimal sample requirements, no vacuum requirements, rapid sample-analysis turn-around time, spatial (depth and lateral) resolution, and chemical mapping.

Image analysis

The image analysis may comprise processing digital images captured by a camera for extracting information indicating quality characteristics of a side stream based raw material. In an example, grain size side stream based raw material may be determined based on objection detection techniques.

Audio analysis

The audio analysis may comprise processing digital audio samples captured by a microphone for extracting information indicating quality characteristics of a side stream based raw material. In an example, grain size of side stream based raw material may be determined based on digital audio processing techniques. In an example, grain size may be determined based on determining sound profiles of equipment at a plant, when side stream base raw material of different grain sizes is processed by the equipment. Then, correspondence of audio measurements with the determined profiles may be used for finding a matching profile and an estimate of the grain size.

Hyperspectral imaging

Hyperspectral imaging collects and processes information from across the electromagnetic spectrum from the side stream based raw material and forms an image, where each pixel has a spectrum that is characterized by the chemical composition of the side stream based raw material. Accordingly, the goal of hyperspectral imaging is to obtain the spectrum for each pixel in the image of a scene, with the purpose of finding objects or identifying materials for measuring quality characteristics.

In an embodiment phase 210 comprises controlling, by the process controller, production of the curable composition based on the generated adapted recipe, if the quality requirement is met. Accordingly, if the quality requirement has been met the curable composition may be of sufficient quality, whereby the production of the curable composition may be carried out by the process controller in accordance with the recipe, without an immediate need to adapt the recipe. However, if the quality requirement has not been met, the production of the curable composition may be stopped and/or operation mode of at least one of the process controller and one or more of the processing equipment may be changed from a production mode to a service mode. During the production mode the side stream based raw material and the resulting curable composition meets a desired grade and fresh curable composition may be dispensed from the dispensing equipment to be used for manufacturing end-products. During the service mode the side stream based raw material is of insufficient quality and the side stream based raw material that does not meet quality characteristics is removed from production. In an example, during the service mode the process controller may control one or more of the processing equipment to discharge the side stream based raw material for removing the side stream based raw material from the production. After the side stream based raw material has been discharged the process controller may control the processing equipment to be returned to the production mode. Accordingly, as a difference between the production operation mode and the service mode, in the production mode the side stream based raw material is used for production of the curable composition, where as in the service mode the side stream, raw material is not used for production of the curable composition, but the side stream based raw material is a production loss that is removed from the production. In an example, one or more of the processing equipment may have a discharging outlet for discharging the side stream based raw material from the production. In another example, the process controller may cause the discharging by way of interacting via user interface with personnel. The user interface may be provided on a display device of a computing device that is operatively connected to the process controller. Examples of the computing devices comprise desktop computers, handheld computing devices, smart phones and tablet computers.

In an embodiment phase 210 comprises stopping, by the process controller, if the measured at least one quality characteristic fails to meet a quality requirement for the at least one side stream based raw material, production of the curable composition. In this way production of curable composition of insufficient quality may be prevented. In an example, the production may be stopped by changing an operation mode of one or more processing equipment from a production mode to a service mode. During the service mode the process controller may control the one or more of the processing equipment to discharge the side stream based raw material for removing the side stream based raw material from the production.

In an embodiment, phase 208 comprises that the adapted recipe comprises an adapted amount of the at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition. In an example, phase 208 comprises adapting one or more amounts of raw materials derived from the staple recipe. In an example, an amount of one or more raw materials of the staple recipe may be reduced and the amount of one or more raw materials of the staple recipe may be increased. The increase of the raw materials, e.g. in [kg/m ³] , may be interdependent with the reduction of the raw materials, e.g. in [kg/m ³] . For example, the amount, e.g. in [kg/m ³] , of increased raw materials may be directly proportional, or substantially equal, to the amount, e.g. in [kg/m ³] , of reduced raw materials. Additionally or alternatively, phase 208 comprises adapting the amount of a side stream based raw material of the recipe based on maintaining a ratio of water and a selected virgin raw material of the recipe. The virgin raw material may be e.g. portland cement.

In an embodiment, phase 208 comprises receiving, by the recipe management system, a message from the process controller for adapting the staple recipe or amounts of raw materials of the staple recipe; determining, by the recipe management system, based on the received message, one or more adapted amounts of raw materials of the staple recipe for determining the adapted recipe; and sending, by the recipe management system, one or more adapted amounts of raw materials of the staple recipe, or the adapted recipe determined based on the staple recipe and the determined one or more adapted amounts of raw materials of the staple recipe, to the process controller. In this way the process controller may adapt production of the curable composition using the without necessarily a need to adjust and monitor side stream quality at industrial processes that produce the side streams for the production of curable compositions and/or changing the staple recipe. In an example, the received message at the recipe management system may comprise the measured at least one characteristic, or information indicating that, of the received at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition. Based on the message, the recipe management system may determine which amounts of raw materials of the staple recipe should be adapted and by which amount in order to produce a curable composition using the at least one side stream based raw material and such that the curable composition is in accordance with the quality of the staple recipe, e.g. a grade. It should be noted that it is viable that the recipe management system cannot determine how the amounts of raw materials should be adapted, if the measured at least one characteristic of the received at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition is determined by the recipe management system to be useless for production of the curable composition. After receiving the message and determining whether the amounts of raw materials can be adapted, the recipe management system may send a response to the process controller. If the recipe management system has determined based on the measured at least one characteristic that the at least one side stream based raw material cannot be used for production of the curable composition, the recipe management system may send to the process controller information indicating that the side stream based raw material cannot be used for production of the curable composition. When received at the process controller, this information may cause the process controller to reject the at least side stream based raw material to be rejected and/or to stop the production of the curable composition to be stopped. On the other hand, if the recipe management system has determined that the at least one side stream based raw material can be used for production of the curable composition the recipe management system may generate information indicating an adapted recipe for example one or more adapted amounts of raw materials of the staple recipe, or the adapted recipe determined based on the staple recipe and the determined amounts of raw materials. The information indicating the adapted recipe, or the adapted recipe, may be sent by the recipe management system to the process controller. In this way at least a part of the amounts of raw materials of the adapted recipe are different with respect to the staple recipe, whereby the production of the curable composition may be controlled to take into account the measured quality characteristics of the at least one side stream based raw material. It should be noted that instead of sending the whole adapted recipe it may be sufficient to send information that indicate the adaptations, e.g. changes of amount (s) , to the process controller, whereby the process controller may use the adaptations for controlling the production. When the adapted amounts are used to control the production, the production can be regarded to be in essence controlled by an adapted recipe generated by the recipe management system.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example of producing a curable composition in accordance with at least some embodiments. The method may be performed by a process controller and a recipe management system described with Fig. 1. The method provides that production of the curable composition without necessarily a need to adjust and monitor side stream quality at industrial processes that produce the side streams for the production of curable compositions.

Phase 302 comprises measuring, at raw material handling, at least one quality characteristic of the received at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition, in accordance with phase 206 of Fig. 2.

Phase 304 comprises determining whether the measured at least one quality characteristic meets one or more target values, or design values, or a quality requirement. In an example, the determining may be performed by the process controller or the recipe management system. The process controller may send the recipe management system the measured at least one quality characteristic. In an example, the measured at least one quality characteristic may be sent from the process controller to the recipe management system in a request message for adapting the staple recipe or amounts of raw materials of the staple recipe. In an example, the target values may be a range of values, whereby phase 304 may comprise determining whether the measured at least one quality characteristic is within the range. If the at least one quality characteristic meets the one or more target values, or the at least one quality characteristic is within the range, the method may proceed to phase 308. If the at least one quality fails to meet the one or more target values, or the at least one quality characteristic is outside the range, the method may proceed to phase 306.

Phase 306 comprises determining if the staple recipe can be adjusted, or adapted. If the staple recipe cannot be adjusted, the method may proceed to phase 310. If the staple recipe can be adjusted, the method may proceed to phase 308. In an example, phase 306 comprises the process controller receiving a confirmation from a user via a user interface that the staple recipe can be adjusted or that the staple recipe cannot be adjusted. The confirmation may be received in response to a query to the user via a user interface operatively connected to the process controller. In an example the query to the user may comprise information indicating the measured at least one quality characteristics and information indicating the staple recipe. It should be appreciated that in accordance with at least some embodiments, the query may comprise a machine-determined suggestion for adjusting the recipe. The machine-determined adjustment may be determined by a computer logic based on tables, e.g. database tables, predefined rules that follow an algorithm and/or a machine learning model.

Phase 308 may comprise generating, at a recipe management system operatively connected to the process controller, an adapted recipe based on the stored recipe and the measured at least one quality characteristic, in accordance with phase 208 of Fig. 2.

Phase 310 comprises rejecting the side stream based raw material. In such a case the side stream based raw material cannot be used for production of the curable composition. In example, if the measurement in phase 302 is performed at filling a container, e.g. a silo, at the plant from an incoming shipment of side stream, the shipment may be rejected. In an example, if the measurement in phase 302 is performed during transportation and/or processing phases within the plant, the transported or processed batch that is processed may be rejected. In an example, the rejecting may be in accordance to described in at least one example of phase 208 with Fig 2. In an example, the rejecting may comprise that the process controller causes that one or more processing equipment are controlled to change their operation mode from a production operation mode to a service mode during which the side stream based raw material that does not meet the one or more target values is removed from production. In an example, during the service mode the process controller may control one or more of the processing equipment to discharge the side stream based raw material for removing the side stream based raw material from the production. After the side stream based raw material has been discharged the process controller may control the processing equipment to be returned to a production mode. As a difference between the production operation mode and the service mode, in the production mode the side stream based raw material is used for production of the curable composition, whereas in the service mode the side stream, raw material is not used for production, but the side stream based raw material is a production loss that is removed from the production. In an example, one or more of the processing equipment may have a discharging outlet for discharging the side stream based raw material from the production. In another example, the process controller may cause the discharging by way of interacting with personnel via a user interface operatively connected to the process controller.

Phase 312 comprises taking more side stream based raw material, i.e. new side stream based raw material. The new side stream based raw material replaces the rejected side stream based raw material, e.g. the transported or processed side stream based raw material, that has been rejected at phase 310. The method proceeds then to phase 302, where the new side stream based raw material may be measured for its quality.

Fig. 4 illustrates an example of a recipe in accordance with at least some embodiments. The recipe 400 may be a staple recipe that describes substances and their respective amounts for production of a curable composition based on at least one side stream based raw material. In addition to the side stream based raw materials, the recipe may also comprise virgin raw materials. In an example, quantities of substances in a recipe may be expressed in [kg/m ³] . The amounts of substances, e.g. the aggregates, may be defined in the recipe based on an assumed water content such as for 0 kg/m ³.

The recipe is described referring to concrete as an example of a curable composition.

The staple recipe may comprise components for example binders 404, fine aggregate (s) 406, coarse aggregate (s) 408, water 410 and admixture 412. At least part of the components of the recipe may comprise one or more side stream based raw materials. Examples of the binders comprise at least cement 414, or portland cement, fly ash 416, i.e. a side stream based raw material, and mineral powder 418. Examples of the fine aggregates comprise at least river sand 420 and artificial sand 422. Examples of the coarse aggregates comprise at least white gravel 424 and black gravel 426. Accordingly, in the example recipe 400, in the binders, the fly ash has been used as replacement for cement, whereby less cement is needed for the recipe. It should be appreciated that the amount of side stream based raw material in a staple recipe may vary at least depending on the kind of side stream based raw material at least because of the following reasons:

silica fume, that is a by-product of silicon and ferrosilicon alloy production, may replace around 7%to 12 %of portland cement;

blast furnace slag may replace about 70%to 80%of portland cement; and

coal fly ash may replace about 25%of portland cement.

Referring to the staple recipe of Fig. 4, in an example of the method of Fig. 2, a staple recipe may comprise river sand 420 and artificial sand 422 as fine aggregates. However, based on measuring quality characteristics, it may be determined, by the process controller or the recipe management system, that the water content of the river sand at the plant, e.g. at raw material handling or at processing equipment, is 10%. This means that there is 46 kg water in a cubic meter of 460kg of river sand and only 414 kg sand. If, the process controller or the recipe management system, determine that the measured water content exceeds a water content defined for the river sand used for the staple recipe, the recipe management system may generate an adapted recipe, or one or more adapted amounts of raw materials. For example, the process controller or the recipe management system may determine that an adapted recipe, or one or more adapted amounts of raw materials, are needed, if the staple recipe is defined for river sand having an assumed water content of 0 kg/m ³ the recipe needs to be adjusted. The recipe may be adjusted by the recipe management system based on maintaining a water to cement ratio. For example, if the amount of water in the recipe is 181 kg/m ³ and the amount of cement is 176 kg/m ³, the water to cement ratio of the staple recipe is 181/176. In order to produce concrete in accordance with a quality of the staple recipe, the adapted recipe may be generated by increasing the amount of river sand of the staple recipe in order to have a net amount of river sand of 460kg, thus excluding the water of 10%. Since water is introduced to the concrete production with the river sand, the amount of water in the recipe can be adjusted with an amount that corresponds with the water introduced to the concrete production with the river sand. The amount of water added to the recipe corresponds with the amount of river sand removed from the recipe. In this way the water to cement ratio may be maintained.

Referring to the staple recipe of Fig. 4, in an example of the method of Fig. 2, a staple recipe may comprise binders. The binders may comprise cement and fly ash. However, based on measuring quality characteristics, it may be determined, by the process controller or the recipe management system, that the carbon content of the fly ash at the plant, e.g. at raw material handling or at processing equipment, is 3%, which is higher than the carbon content of the fly ash defined for the fly ash used for the staple recipe. Then, the process controller or the recipe management system may determine a need to generate an adapted recipe, or one or more adapted amounts of raw materials. is determined. The difference of the carbon content is significant, since if the fly ash would be used for concrete production, this could lead to air-entrainment problems which will affect the compressive strength of the produced concrete. In order to alleviate the effects of the changed carbon content, the recipe management system, may adapt the amount of admixture of the staple recipe by increasing the amount of admixture. Furthermore, the recipe management system may compensate the increased amount of admixture by decreasing the amount, e.g. in [kg/m ³] , of fine aggregates, e.g. river sand and artificial sand, and the amount of coarse aggregates, e.g. white gravel. Accordingly, in order to produce concrete in accordance with a quality of the staple recipe, the adapted recipe may be generated by increasing the amount of admixture and decreasing the amount, e.g. in [kg/m ³] , of fine aggregates.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example setup for measuring at least one quality characteristic in accordance with at least some embodiments. The at least one quality characteristic may be measured at raw material handling equipment, at processing equipment and/or at transportation of side stream based raw material or intermediate products produced from side stream based raw material inside a plant described with Fig. 1. The measuring may be performed using measurement equipment that may be configured to perform to measure the at least one quality characteristics according to a measurement principle. Examples of the devices for measuring quality characteristics comprise a hyperspectral sensor, a digital camera, a pulsed laser, a light source, capacitive sensor, magnetic sensor and a microphone. It should be noted that some devices, e.g. hyperspectral sensor and the digital camera, of the devices for measuring the quality characteristics may be configured to output measurement results, or values, for determining quality characteristics, while others, e.g. a light source and pulsed laser, may facilitate successful measurements of the quality characteristics according to a selected measurement principle such as audio analysis, image analysis, laser ablation mass spectrometry and/or hyperspectral imaging. The measurement equipment may be positioned within a measurement range from the side stream based raw material or an intermediate product produced from the side stream based raw material. It should be appreciated that according to at least some measurement principles a direct line of sight between the measurement equipment and the side stream based raw material or an intermediate product produced from side stream based raw material may not be necessary. For example, in audio analysis, the side stream based raw material or the intermediate product may flow within a pipe or through an outlet or inlet, which causes a sound that may be analyzed without line of sight.

In the example setup for measuring at least one quality characteristic, the measurement equipment may comprise a hyperspectral sensor 504 such as a hyperspectral camera, a pulsed laser 506, a light source 508, a capacitive sensor 510, a magnetic sensor 512 and a microphone 514 and ultrasound equipment. The measurement equipment is installed at the plant within a measurement range of at least one side stream based raw material. The side stream based raw material may be static or moving. The static side stream based raw material may be within a container, e.g. a silo. The moving side stream based raw material may be moved by a conveyor belt 502 or a pipe, whereby quality characteristics may be measured based on a flow of side stream based raw material. The example setup supports measuring one or more of LOI, particle size distribution, chemical composition and glass content or degree of vitrification. For example, the pulsed laser may be used for laser ablation chemical analysis. Particle size distribution may be measured by the camera and/or microphone. LOI may be measured by the hyperspectral sensor and/or the pulsed laser. The chemical composition may be measured by the pulsed laser and/or the hyperspectral sensor.

An embodiment concerns a system. The system comprises at least one processor and a communications unit, for example a transceiver. The processor is operatively connected to the communications unit for controlling the communications unit. The apparatus may comprise a memory. The memory may be operatively connected to the processor. It should be appreciated that the memory may be a separate memory or included to the processor and/or the transceiver. The memory may store instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor causes execution of one or more functionalities in accordance with a method described herein. It should be noted that the system may be implemented by a single logical entity or by networked logical entities. Each of the entities may be implemented by one or more physical devices or systems.

In an example in accordance with at least some embodiments, a system comprises a recipe management system connected by a data network connection to a process controller at a plant, the process controller is operatively connected to equipment for production of a curable composition, for example raw material handling equipment, processing equipment and dispensing equipment, and to one or measurement devices for measuring quality characteristics of at least side stream based raw material, the system is caused to:

store at the process controller of the plant, a staple recipe for producing the curable composition based on one or more side stream based raw materials;

receive, at raw material handling operatively connected to the process controller, at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

measure, at the raw material handling, at least one quality characteristic of the received at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

generate, at a recipe management system operatively connected to the process controller, information indicating an adapted recipe based on the staple recipe and the measured at least one quality characteristic; and

control, by the process controller, production of the curable composition based on the generated information indicating an adapted recipe.

It should be noted that in an example in accordance with at least some embodiments, the curable composition may be produced, alternatively or additionally to the to the side stream based raw materials, based on volcanic ash, whereby in various examples the volcanic ash may be processed alternatively or additionally to the the side stream based raw materials, e.g. by storing, receiving and/or measuring the volcanic ash. One or more quality characteristics measured form the volcanic ash may be used for one or more functionalities described with the examples such as for generating information indicating an adapted recipe, and for controlling production of the curable composition based on the generated information indicating an adapted recipe.

Each physical entity of the system may comprise at least one processor and a communications unit, for example a transceiver. The processor is operatively connected to the communications unit for controlling the communications unit and a memory. The memory may store instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor causes execution of one or more functionalities in accordance with a method described herein.

Water content calculations in various examples described herein may be carried out based on the following formula:

water content of a substance in a recipe = [ (W-Wd) /W] x 100% (1) ,

where W is weight of wet substance used as raw material and Wd is the weight of dry raw material, where water content is 0%.

Embodiments may be implemented in software, hardware, application logic or a combination of software, hardware and application logic. The software, application logic and/or hardware may reside on memory, or any computer media. In an example embodiment, the application logic, software or an instruction set is maintained on any one of various conventional computer-readable media. In the context of this document, a “memory” or “computer-readable medium” may be any media or means that can contain, store, communicate, propagate or transport the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer.

Reference to, where relevant, “computer-readable storage medium” , “computer program product” , “tangibly embodied computer program” etc., or a “processor” or “processing circuitry” etc. should be understood to encompass not only computers having differing architectures such as single/multi-processor architectures and sequencers/parallel architectures, but also specialized circuits such as field programmable gate arrays FPGA, application specify circuits ASIC, signal processing devices and other devices. References to computer readable program code means, computer program, computer instructions, program instructions, instructions, computer code etc. should be understood to express software for a programmable processor firmware such as the programmable content of a hardware device as instructions for a processor or configured or configuration settings for a fixed function device, gate array, programmable logic device, etc.

The foregoing description has provided by way of exemplary and non-limiting examples a full and informative description of the exemplary embodiment of this application. However, various modifications and adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. However, all such and similar modifications of the teachings of this application will still fall within the scope of this application.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

102 raw material handling equipment

104 processing equipment

106 concrete dispensing equipment

108 process controller

110 recipe management system

111 memory

112 raw materials

114 raw material

116 concrete

118 concrete

202 to 210 phases of Fig. 2

302 to 312 phases of Fig. 3

402 grade

404 binders

406 fine aggregate (s)

408 coarse aggregate (s)

410 water

412 admixture

414 cement

416 fly ash

418 mineral powder

420 river sand

422 artificial sand

424 white gravel

426 black gravel

502 conveyor belt

504 hyperspectral sensor

506 pulsed laser

508 light source

510 capacitive sensor

512 magnetic sensor

514 microphone.

Claims

A method for controlling production of a curable composition at a plant comprising:

- storing, at a process controller of the plant, a staple recipe for producing the curable composition based on one or more side stream based raw materials;

- receiving, at raw material handling operatively connected to the process controller, at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

- measuring, at the raw material handling, at least one quality characteristic of the received at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

- generating, at a recipe management system operatively connected to the process controller, information indicating an adapted recipe based on the staple recipe and the measured at least one quality characteristic; and

- controlling, by the process controller, production of the curable composition based on the generated information indicating an adapted recipe.
The method of claim 1, comprising:

- determining, by the process controller or the recipe management system, whether the measured at least one quality characteristic of the received at least one side stream based raw material meets a quality requirement for the at least one side stream based raw material.
The method of claim 1 or 2, comprising:

- stopping, by the process controller, if the measured at least one quality characteristic fails to meet a quality requirement for the at least one side stream based raw material, production of the curable composition.
The method of any of claims 1 to 3, comprising:

- receiving, by the recipe management system, a message from the process controller for adapting the staple recipe or amounts of raw materials of the staple recipe;

- determining, by the recipe management system, based on the received message, one or more adapted amounts of raw materials of the staple recipe for determining the adapted recipe; and

- sending, by the recipe management system, one or more adapted amounts of raw materials of the staple recipe, or the adapted recipe determined based on the staple recipe and the determined one or more adapted amounts of raw materials of the staple recipe, to the process controller.
The method of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the adapted recipe comprises an adapted amount of the at least one side stream based raw material of the staple recipe for production of the curable composition.
The method of according to any of the preceding claims, wherein a compressive strength, flexural tensile strength, splitting tensile strength, density and/or structural weight measured from a cured composition produced based on the adapted recipe meets a grade for a cured composition produced based on the staple recipe.
The method to any of the preceding claims, comprising:

- controlling, by the process controller, production of the curable composition based on the generated adapted recipe, if the quality requirement is met.
The method according to any of the preceding claims, comprising:

- measuring, at the raw material handling, one or more quality characteristics based on audio analysis, image analysis, laser ablation and/or hyperspectral imaging.
The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the measured at least one quality characteristic comprises loss of ignition (LOI) , particle size distribution, chemical composition and/or glass content of the at least one side stream based raw material.
The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one side stream based raw material comprises a cement substitute, for example coal fly ash, wood ash, municipal solid waste ash, rice husk ash, silica fume, blast furnace slag.
A system for controlling production of a curable composition at a plant, comprising:

- means for storing, at a process controller of the plant, a staple recipe for producing the curable composition based on one or more side stream based raw materials;

- means for receiving, at raw material handling operatively connected to the process controller, at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

- means for measuring, at the raw material handling, at least one quality characteristic of the received at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

- means for generating, at a recipe management system operatively connected to the process controller, information indicating an adapted recipe based on the staple recipe and the measured at least one quality characteristic; and

- means for controlling, by the process controller, production of the curable composition based on the generated information indicating an adapted recipe.
A system comprising:

a recipe management system connected by a data network connection to a process controller at a plant, wherein the process controller is operatively connected to equipment for production of a curable composition and to one or measurement devices for measuring quality characteristics of at least side stream based raw material, wherein the system is caused to:

- store at the process controller of the plant, a staple recipe for producing the curable composition based on one or more side stream based raw materials;

- receive, at raw material handling operatively connected to the process controller, at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

- measure, at the raw material handling, at least one quality characteristic of the received at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

- generate, at a recipe management system operatively connected to the process controller, information indicating an adapted recipe based on the staple recipe and the measured at least one quality characteristic; and

- control, by the process controller, production of the curable composition based on the generated information indicating an adapted recipe.
A computer program comprising computer readable program code means adapted to perform at least the following:

- storing, at a process controller of the plant, a staple recipe for producing the curable composition based on one or more side stream based raw materials;

- receiving, at raw material handling operatively connected to the process controller, at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

- measuring, at the raw material handling, at least one quality characteristic of the received at least one side stream based raw material for production of the curable composition;

- generating, at a recipe management system operatively connected to the process controller, information indicating an adapted recipe based on the staple recipe and the measured at least one quality characteristic; and

- controlling, by the process controller, production of the curable composition based on the generated information indicating an adapted recipe.