Method of heating solids in a reactor to produce a heat-treated material

Abstract

A method of heating solids in a reactor to produce a heat-treated material, such as a cementitious, a supplementary cementitious, or a pozzolanic material, includes conveying the solids through the reactor from a feeding end to a discharge end so as to form a material bed extending from the feeding end to the discharge end; heating the solids during the conveying to at least 600° C. to transform the solids into the heat-treated material, wherein the heating includes applying radiative heating to the material bed from above and/or from the sides, wherein the radiative heating contributes at least 60% of the thermal energy needed for the heating, and wherein the material bed is mobilized during the conveying in order to renew the surface of the material bed that is exposed to the radiative heating.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.