• A_A@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    i completely agree LLMs are great tools.
    " … rotary kiln simulation … "
    Long ago i visited a cement plant and there were no insulation on this huge metallic tube where they were cooking of calcium oxide (++) to produce clincher(klinker?) and i was thinking that there should be a lot of possible optimizations … like having a counter flow process to recuperate heat while the klinker(?) is cooling …

    • Eheran@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      The insulation is on the inside, the steel on the outside needs to be cold to bear the load. This is a limiting factor for indirectly fired rotary kilns.

      They do all of what you say, generally really well optimized, since even tiny improvements mean large savings.

        • Eheran@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Will do, but cement plants are actually not really the stuff I work on, since there are only so many and they already know what rotary kiln they want :D Those things are used all over the place from tiny (few cm diameter, less than a meter long) to massive like for cement. From high tech catalysts or activated carbon to recycling processes and every step in-between.