Determining proper air cannon modals in use at sivas cement plant by using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique

Air Cannons are the pressurized air tanks that have been utilizing for the purpose of removing material adhesion and flow issues in heavy industry since the beginning of 1970 year. That equipment is widely preferred so as to be solution particularly in cement industry. The build-up and accumulation troubles arise at pre-heater towers and clinker cooling units due to making use of petroleum coke that includes high sulfur content itself and alternative fuels that delivers lower cost as fuel in rotary kiln. Various sort of methods are being applied to eliminate material flow problem as following; Metal Rod, Pneumatic Rod, Water Jet, Cardox and Air Cannons. In this study, Multi Attribute Decision Making method, which brings rational and scientific results, was opted for determining the proper air cannon modal to dissolve material flow trouble instead of conventional decision- making methods. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is the technique that was used for in this context. It has been realized that the outputs obtained out of this technique match up with experts' decisions made by traditional decision-making methods. As a result of this study; "Hurricane" modal for kiln inlet, "Hurricane" modal for air duct, "Typhoon" modal for cyclones and "Multiport" modal for clinker cooling unit were ideal air cannon modals according to designated goals.