How about a virtual tour of Mitsubishi Cement Corporation’s Cushenbury facility in Lucerne Valley, California?
The centerpiece of the manufacturing complex is the four-stage preheater / precalciner tower. Sixty percent of the plant’s fuel consumption is used here in the preparation of blended raw materials en route to the 250′, rotating kiln, which is the oven that will cook the rock to 2700 degrees Fahrenheit.
Also eye-catching, due to its immense size, is the hemispherical preblend dome where crushed limestone from the quarry is blended, then sent into the raw mill.
Next we see the bank of 22 cement storage silos that have a combined capacity of 72,000 tons of finished cement product.
Between these imposing structures are the production, maintenance, and central control buildings, which are integral to the manufacturing process, but are not much to look at.
What everybody finds most interesting are our 80 to 100 ton haul trucks. These trucks haul the limestone from the quarry to the primary crusher. These workhorses are on the frontline of the cement manufacturing process.
