Cal & Cemento Sur S.A.,
Caracoto, San Román

At 4000 m above sea level, the location of this lime plant is truly unique in the world. The thin air not only places high demands on the equipment, but also on the staff. Our site managers and commissioning staff had to acclimatise to the plant for the first two weeks until they were able to manage their daily work routine in the usual way.

At the site near Lake Titicaca, lime was already being burned with a rotary kiln. Between 2012 and 2015, three identical petroleum coke-fired Maerz PFR kilns of the R3S type were built there. In the meantime, one kiln was also retrofitted for the use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Another challenge is the heterogeneous limestone deposit with a stone with a comparatively low CaO content, which also generates a lot of fine material during burning. However, the teams from Maerz and CalCesur succeeded in optimally coordinating the stone quarrying operation and the firing process through a joint effort.