Closed loop control with camera detection of pebble size of lime particles to ameliorate lime kiln ringing and improve uptime and operating efficiency

A system for recycling lime mud having closed loop control for ameliorating kiln ringing and ball formation with camera detection of pebble size comprising:

• (a) a lime kiln with a lime mud inlet, a reburned lime outlet and a burner to heat the kiln;
• (b) a lime mud feed system adapted to wash, filter and feed lime mud to the lime mud inlet of the kiln,
• the kiln being adapted to heat the lime mud and convert the lime mud to lime in granular form while advancing the feed toward the reburned lime outlet of the kiln where lime in granular form exits the kiln;
• (c) a camera adapted to image the lime in granular form proximate the reburned lime outlet of the kiln to provide in situ outlet images of lime in granular form inside the kiln proximate the reburned lime outlet of the kiln;
• (d) an analyzer coupled with the camera adapted to analyze the in situ outlet images of the lime in granular form inside the kiln proximate the reburned lime outlet of the kiln to provide pebble size distributions for the granular lime exiting the kiln;
• and
• (e) a controller communicating with the analyzer operative to:
• (I) compare the pebble size distributions of the granular lime inside the kiln proximate the reburned lime outlet of the kiln with predetermined prescribed operating parameters for pebble size distributions of granular lime exiting the kiln and (II) issue a notification and/or a control signal when the pebble size distributions of granular lime inside the kiln proximate the reburned lime outlet of the kiln are outside of the predetermined prescribed operating parameters for pebble size distributions for granular lime exiting the kiln,
• wherein the camera adapted to image the lime in granular form proximate the reburned lime outlet of the kiln to provide in situ outlet images of lime in granular form as it exits the kiln is adjustably disposed a distance from 0.5-2 feet (0.15-0.6 m) from the kiln outlet to image the lime anywhere from 1-25 ft (0.3-7.6 m) inside of the kiln.