OT... concrete factories

In my daily travels, I pass three concrete factories. All of them have one or two huge domes. What are the domes for?

Bored minds want to know...

Sue

Sounds like where they make cement not concrete, and I believe the kiln is in there.

I'm sorry! I knew better than that!

Yes, CEMENT factories.

Sue

The domes are where they keep the raw materials before sending it through the kiln. The kiln is the big, l-o-n-g tube set at about a 40-degree angle. The componets are fed in to the top of the heated tube and are converted into cement as they get dehydrated as they flow down the tube.

Here's a great book that describes all the different industrial things that make up our civilized world:
Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape
Even my DW read found this book interesting, though mainly to answer all the DDs' questions.
-Blast

Semi-on, sorta off topic.

Like grain elevators, cement factories can go boom quite readily. Something to think about when planning get out of the area routes.

One of the cement factories is sitting right beside the Alaskan Way Viaduct, both on some of the most unstable ground in Washington State. All I can think if is that, if the cement factory goes, the shrapnel will probably take down the viaduct!

I hope I'm home in bed at the time...

Thanks, Blast, I'll have to read that one.

Sue

"The kiln is the big, l-o-n-g tube set at about a 40-degree angle."

The kilns can also be essentially horizontal. I once visited a former East German cement plant that was built to provide cement to the entire country. The plant had 4 spinning kilns about 100 yards long and 8 feet or so in diameter. The plant polluted so much that a neighboring town had to sweep all their roofs periodically to remove all the ash and other by-products that settled out of the air.

I just found this book in our library. Very nice read and quite informative.

No wonder you recommended it! On pae 20, there is a section on mine explosives, headlined "It's a Blast"......

-Blast

This book is a great read and very informative. One begins to see how thoroughly messed up our lives can be when these systems are interrupted by a major calamity. It is also thick and heavy. I will keep a copy by my bed to protect me during an earthquake.

Thanks Blast!

Sue, odds are it is a premix plant you see (near Ak way via.) where they fill the trucks with preset concrete-which 'sport' the big rotating drums you see around town.
Cement plants are VERY industrial and typically not closely surrounded by population.

gimpy

Gimpy, I have one of those mixing plants in my town, and it doesn't look anything like that.

This is the place, the Ash Grove Cement Co.

Sue

Sue,
I apologize and stand corrected. Usually these plants are located near their primary raw material source(limestone)to save on transportation costs. They must barge it in from elsewhere on the sound which is a low cost transportation method.
Typically this type of facility is not a good neighbor because of all the dust generated, which is another good reason for distance.
This goes back to the exceptions to every rule mantra.....

Again, apologies.

gimpy

Susan,

You will see these big domes in metropoliten areas at ship docks such as in Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle where cement is stored for both import and export. In Portland, Oregon, there is one across the Wilamette River from the trendy Pearl District, formerly an industrial and rail center. But there is also a large export wheat storage facility that has been there for many years within a stones throw of the Broadway Bridge and the Memorial Coliseum.

Zoning policy is mainly dictated by profits, not safety.

"Zoning policy is mainly dictated by profits, not safety."

Everything is!


Gimpy, actually I thought it a poor location, myself. Then I realized maybe they put it there deliberately, figuring that sooner or later the Big One will hit, and since that part of Seattle is expected to have the worst damage, they would let Mother Nature mix the concrete in place (shaken, not stirred ), and distribute it in place to stabilize the harbor!

No harm done!

Sue