PROJECT DETAILS

Project Manufacturing of Autoclaved Aerated

Concrete (AAC) blocks

Line of Activity Manufacture of alternate building materials

Activity Proposed Existing
Plant Capacity (Installed) 100 M³/Day
Principle Product(s) Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC)
blocks
Land required 50.00 Cents
Built-up Area 3000 SFT

TECHNICAL ASPECTS
AAC Blocks AAC Blocks also known as autoclaved cellular concrete ( ACC )
or autoclaved lightweight concrete ( ALC ), was invented in
the mid-1920s by the Swedish architect and inventor Johan
Axel Eriksson. It is a lightweight, precast building material that
simultaneously provides structure, insulation, and fire and
mold resistance. AAC products include AAC blocks , AAC U
Blocks AAC wall panels , AAC floor and roof panels ,
and AAC lintels .

AAC Blocks ( Autoclaved Aerated Concrete - " AAC ") a unique

- 15 -
 and excellent type of building materials due to its super heat,
fire and sound resistance, AAC blocks is lightweight and offers
ultimate workability, flexibility and durability. Its main
ingredients include sand, water, quicklime, cement and
gypsum. The chemical reaction due to the aluminum paste
provides AAC its distinct porous structure, lightness, and
insulation properties, completely different compared to
other lightweight concrete materials.

Aerated Concrete Blocks - AAC is produced from the common

materials lime, sand, cement and water, and a small amount
of rising agent. After mixing and molding, it is
then autoclaved under heat and pressure to create its unique
properties. AAC has excellent thermal insulation and acoustic
absorption properties. AAC is fire and pest resistant, and is
economically and environmentally superior to the more
traditional structural building materials such as concrete,
wood, brick and stone.
Advantages Advantages of AAC blocks are varied and many depending
of AAC upon local conditions. Some of those advantages from India’s
Blocks point of view are mentioned below:

Lightweight
AAC blocks are about 50% lighter than clay bricks of
equivalent size. This translates into less dead weight of a
building and allows entire structure to be lighter therefore
reducing amount of steel and concrete used in structural
components like beams, columns and roof/floor slabs.

Easy Workability
AAC blocks are very easy to work with and can be cut
accurately reducing the amount of waste generated.

- 15 -
 Single Product Solution
Buildings constructed with AAC blocks do not require separate
insulation products reducing construction cost, energy
footprint and environmental impact of buildings.

Environmental Impact
Manufacturing of AAC blocks and panels does not consume
high amount of energy. Moreover since AAC blocks are light
weight, it saves energy required for transportation and leads
to reduced CO2 emissions by transport vehicles. Since AAC
blocks are made from fly ash – an industrial waste product –
generated by thermal power plants, it offers a low cost and
sustainable solution for today and tomorrow. AAC blocks are a
requisite for green buildings.

Easy Transportation
It is easy to transport AAC blocks as it does not suffer from
high transit breakage usually associated with clay bricks.

Longevity
AAC blocks do not lose strength or deteriorate over time.
Buildings constructed with AAC blocks do not require routine
repairs that are required for buildings using clay bricks.

Thermal Insulation
AAC blocks and panels offer excellent thermal insulation. This
reduces recurring cost of energy required for heating and
cooling. Better thermal insulation also allows usage of smaller
HVAC than required conventionally.

Shorter Project Duration

Buildings can be built with AAC blocks 50% faster compared to
clay bricks. This translates to lower project completion times
benefiting project developers.

- 15 -
 Fire Resistance
Due to high fire resistance offered by AAC blocks, structures
made from AAC blocks have higher rate of survivability in case
of fire.

Sound Insulation
Sound absorption properties of AAC makes it ideal material for
reducing ambient noise. AAC blocks are well-suited for
establishments like hospitals and offices situated in noisy
areas.

High Survivability
Millions of air pockets in AAC blocks cushion structure from
major force and prevents progressive collapse of a building.
AAC structures are known to maintain structural integrity
despite of seismic activity (earthquakes), heavy rains,
extremely low temperature and salty air.

Manufacturi
- ng Process

Step 1-Raw Material Preparation

AAC blocks manufacturing process starts with raw material

- 15 -
 preparation. List of raw materials and relevant details are
mentioned below.

Fly ash or sand

Key ingredient for manufacturing Autoclaved Aerated
Concrete (AAC) blocks is silica rich material like fly ash, pond
ash or sand. Most of the AAC companies in India use fly ash
to manufacture AAC blocks. Fly ash is mixed with water to
form fly ash slurry. Slurry thus formed is mixed with other
ingredients like lime powder, cement, gypsum and aluminium
powder in quantities consistent with the recipe. Alternately
sand can also be used to manufacture AAC blocks. A ‘wet’ ball
mill finely grinds sand with water converting it into sand
slurry. Sand slurry is mixed with other ingredients just like fly
ash slurry.

Limestone powder
Lime powder required for AAC production is obtained either
by crushing limestone to fine powder at AAC factory or by
directly purchasing it in powder form from a vendor. Although
purchasing lime powder might be little costly, many
manufacturers opt for it rather than investing in lime crushing
equipment like ball mill, jaw crusher, bucket elevators, etc.
Lime powder is stored in silos fabricated from mild steel (MS)
or built using brick and mortar depending of individual
preferences.

Cement
53-grade Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) from reputed
manufacturer is required for manufacturing AAC blocks.
Cement supplied by ‘mini plants’ is not recommended due to
drastic variations in quality over different batches. Some AAC
factories might plan their captive cement processing units as

- 15 -
 such an unit can produce cement as well as process lime.
Such factories can opt for ‘major plant’ clinker and
manufacture their own cement for AAC production. Cement is
usually stored in silos.

Gypsum
Gypsum is easily available in the market and is used in
powder form. It is stored in silos.

Aluminium powder/paste
Aluminium powder/paste is easily available from various
manufacturers. As very small quantity of Aluminium
powder/paste is required to be added to the mixture, it is
usually weighed manually and added to the mixing unit.

Step 2 – Dosing and Mixing

After raw material preparation, next step of AAC blocks
manufacturing process is dosing and mixing. Process of
dosing and mixing defines the quality of final
products. Maintaining ratio of all ingredients as per the
selected recipe is critical to ensure consistent quality of
production. This is accomplished by using various control
systems to measure and release the required quantity of
various raw materials.

A dosing and mixing unit is used to form the correct mix to

produce Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) blocks. Fly
ash/sand slurry is pumped into a separate container. Once
the desired weight is poured in, pumping is stopped. Similarly
lime powder, cement and gypsum are poured into individual
containers using screw conveyors. Once required amount of
each ingredient is filled into their individual containers control
system releases all ingredients into mixing drum. Mixing drum

- 15 -
 is like a giant bowl with a stirrer rotating inside to ensure
proper mixing of ingredients. Steam might also be fed to the
unit to maintain temperature in range of 40-42oC. A smaller
bowl type structure used for feeding Aluminium powder is
also attached as a part of mixing unit. Once the mixture has
been churned for set time, it is ready to be poured into molds
using dosing unit. Dosing unit releases this mixture as per set
quantities into molds for foaming. Dosing and mixing process
is carried out continuously because if there is a long gap
between charging and discharging of ingredients, residual
mixture might start hardening and choke up the entire unit.

For AAC blocks manufacturing, entire dosing and mixing

operation is completely automated and requires minimum
human intervention. This entire operation is monitored using
control systems integrated with computer and CCTV cameras.
As with any industrial operation, there is provision for human
intervention and emergency actions integrated inside the
control system.
Step 3 – Casting, Rising and Pre-curing

AAC blocks manufacturing process involves casting, rising and

pre-curing. Once desired mix of raw materials is ready, it
poured is in moulds. This process has different names. It is
called casting, pouring or moulding. For current discussion,
we’ll call it casting.

After thorough mixing, slurry containing fly ash (or sand),

lime powder, cement, gypsum and Aluminium is poured in
moulds. Moulds can be of various sizes depending upon
installed capacity. Standard moulds for 160-500 m3/day are
4.2m x 1.2m x 0.65m in size. Some Autoclaved Aerated
Concrete (AAC) blocks plant might have moulds of 3m, 4.8m

- 15 -
 or 6m.

Before casting, moulds are coated with a thin layer of oil. This
is done in order to ensure that green-cake does not stick to
moulds. While slurry is mixed and poured into greased
moulds, Aluminium reacts with Calcium Hydroxide and water
to form Hydrogen. Millions of tiny Hydrogen bubbles are
released due to this reaction. This leads to formation of tiny
unconnected cells causing slurry mix to expand. Such
expansion may be twice its original volume. This process is
very similar to rising of idli or dhokla dough. It must be noted
that bubbles generated during AAC blocks manufacturing
process are unconnected and closed bubbles unlike open
bubbles of CLC blocks. Bubble size is usually 2-5mm. These
cells are the reason behind light weight and insulating
properties of AAC blocks. Once rising process is over, green-
cake is allowed to settle and cure for some time. This ensures
cutting strength required for wire cutting.

Usually rising and pre-curing process takes around 60-240

minutes. Rising is dependent on raw material mix and
weather conditions. It should be noted that weather is a
major factor affecting rising process. As reaction is affected
by weather conditions, it is recommended to maintain
constant temperature in pre-curing area. Due to this, pre-
curing is also referred as ‘heating room pre-curing’. This can
be achieved by deploying radiating pipes for indirect heating.
It should be ensured that green-cake is not subjected to
vibrations during pre-curing or else it might develop cracks.

At end of pre-curing process, green-cake is hard enough to be

wire cut as per requirements. Pre-curing is not a complicated

- 15 -
 process, but it should be monitored constantly. Operators
must monitor the slurry change during rising. Constant
feedback must be provided to dosing, mixing and casting
operators. Pre-form defects (cracking, sinking, etc) mainly
occur during the process.
Step 4 – Demoulding and Cutting

In earlier posts we have seen how slurry is cast in moulds and

allowed to rise and gain strength during pre-curing. Once
green cake has achieved cutting strength, it is ready to be
demoulded and cut as per requirements.

Demoulding and cutting are very critical processes in AAC

blocks manufacturing. These two processes play a major role
in defining amount of rejection as well as dimensional
accuracy of the final product.

Once a mould is out of pre-curing room, it is lifted by a crane

or rolled on tracks for demoulding operation. Lifting or rolling
green cake is determined by technology deployed.
Manufacturing process can be broadly classified as flat-cake
and tilt-cake based on how green cake is demoulded and sent
to cutting line.

While all previous processes like raw material preparation,

dosing & mixing and casting are pretty much same across all
technologies, demoulding and cutting process vary vastly
depending on technology provider. Differences in demoulding
and cutting process are also evident from different types of
moulds required by different technology provider.

Primarily cutting process may be classified as flat-cake and

tilt-cake based on how green cake is demoulded and sent to

- 15 -
 cutting line.

E.g. In flat-cake technology, green cake travels horizontally

through all processes. Moulds used in such technology have 1
bottom plate and single set of mould wall that covers 4 sides.
Mould lies in horizontal position as mould wall is lifted
vertically. Green cake is then sent for cutting and from there
on to steam curing lying horizontally. Since flat-cake
technology is not widely used, we’ll do a comparison of flat-
cake vs tilt-cake system at a later stage.

Most commonly used technology among most European and

Chinese vendors is tilt-cake technology. In this technology,
mould has a side plate (aka bottom plate) and mould walls.
During demoulding, mould is tilted by 90o and unlocked
leaving green cake sitting vertically on side plate. Crane
slowly separates mould from green cake. Green cake remains
vertical as it passes through the cutting machines.
Usually tilt-cake technology uses two cutting machines.
Horizontal cutting machine is used in the first stage, while
vertical cutting machine is used in second stage.

Horizontal cutting machine does not have any moving parts.

Cutting operation is achieved by moving green cake through
horizontal cutting machine. It has a profile plate that scrapes
sides of green cake to give it an even finish. Once profiling is
done, horizontal cuts are made through green cake using
stationary steel wires. These wires can be adjusted offline to
get desired height of AAC blocks or panels. Depending on
client preference, some horizontal cutting machines may sport
a top crust removal device shaped like an arrow.

Next in line is vertical cutting machine. As the name suggests,

- 15 -
 it cuts green cake in vertical blocks. Unlike horizontal cutting
machine that has no moving parts, vertical cutting machine
has cutting assembly mounted on columns and it moves up
and down at set speed. Steel wires mounted on oscillating
heads are used for cutting through green cake. These cutting
wires can be adjusted offline to get desired thickness of AAC
blocks. Depending on client preference, some vertical cutting
machines may have a suction system for crust removal.
While in most cases green cake is sent to autoclave queue
after cutting operation, in certain cases it is sent to a tilting
table. Tilting table is used to remove top and bottom layer of
crust in green stage. This crust may be recycled by sending it
to recycling tank. In absence of a tilting table, crust may have
to be separated in white stage and may cause damage to final
product due to use of tools like chisels.
Raw Raw Availability
Materials & Material
Availability Fly Ash Fly Ash is generated as waste in Coal/Lignite
based furnaces. Indian coal is of low grade
having ash content as high as 45% in
comparison to imported coals which have low
ash content of the order of 10-15%. Large
quantity of ash is, thus, being generated and
its creating severe pollution problem. To
mitigate this problem, Power Plants are
supplying Fly Ash at free of cost.
Available Sources:
 Simhadri Thermal Power Station,
Parawada, Visakhapatnam District.
 JK Paper Mills, Rayagada, Odisha State.
Lime Stone Available in Piduguralla, Gunturu District

Powder

- 15 -
 Gypsum Available at Coromandel Fertilisers,
Visakhapatanam, Tanfac Industries,
Cuddalore, Tamilnadu.
Cement 53 Grade Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC);
available everywhere
Aluminum Available in Visakhapatnam

Powerder
Comparison
Parameter AAC Block Clay Brick
of AAC
625x240x75 to
Blocks Vs
250mm
Burnt Clay
600x200x75 to 230x75x115m
Bricks Size
250mm | or as per m
customer
requirement

Precision in size 1.5mm( + ) 5mm( + )

3.0 to 4.0
Compressive 2.5 to 3.0
N/mm2(IS 2185,
strength N/mm2
Part-3)

550-650
Dry density 1950 kg/m3
kg/m3(oven dry)

2 to 6 hour
Fire resistance (Depending on 2 Hour
thickness)

50db for
Sound reducing 45db for 200mm
230mm thick
index thick wall
wall

Mortar
1.40 bag of
consumption per 0.5 bag of cement
cement
M3 with 1:6

Thermal
0.16 W/mk 0.81 W/mk
conductivity

Less due to its Comparatively

Maintenance
superior properties higher

- 15 -
 Approx 25%
Energy saving reduction in air No such saving
conditioner load

Very high due to

Construction Comparatively
bigger size, light
speed lower
weight

Uniform and
Quality Normally varies
finished
AAC Blocks Dimension No. of Blocks
per 1 M³ 100 mm (4’’) 83
110 mm (4.5’’) 72
150 mm (6’’) 55
200 mm (8’’) 41
225 mm (9’’) 37
AAC Blocks Dimension No. of Blocks
per 1 MT 100 mm (4’’) 117
110 mm (4.5’’) 90
150 mm (6’’) 76
200 mm (8’’) 58
225 mm (9’’) 52

ESTIMATED PROJECT COST

Sl. No. Description of Component Rs. in Lacs
1 Land, 174 Cents Own
1 Site development 3.00
2 Civil structures
Description Size Unit Rate (Rs.)
i. Mfg. facility 70’X40’ 450.00 12.60
i. Office room 20’X20’ 500.00 2.00
ii. Flooring for Mold 45’X45’ 225.00 4.55
Area
TOTAL CIVIL STRUCTURES COST 22.15
ROUNDED (A) 22.00
3 Machinery & Equipment 64.00
S.No. Description Qty. Rate (Rs.)
A.MIXING SECTION
1 Mixer (Blender) 1 14,50,500
2 Weighing sytem for Mixer 1
3 Control Panel 1
4 Butterfly Valve for Mixer 1

- 15 -
 5 Screw Conveyor for Cement 1
6 Hopper for Cement 1
7 Screw Conveyor for Lime 1
8 Hopper for Lime 1
9 Vibrating Motor for Hopper 1
10 Air Compressor-3 HP 1
11 Digital Weighing Scale 1
12 Tool Kit Set
13 Water Pump 1
14 Pumping System-5HP 1
15 Stirrer 1
TOTAL (a) 14,50,000
B.CUTTING SECTION
16 Wire Cutting Machine 1 6,00,000
17 Mould Opener 1
18 Mould Trolley 60 8,46,000
19 Moulde Cover 25 2,97,500
20 Transfer Trolley 5 87,500
21 Track Set 3,00,000
22 Trolley pulling System 1 78,000
TOTAL (b) 22,09,000
C.STEAM CURING SECTION
23 Steam Boiler 1 Set 16,25,000
24 Transport Trolley 3 1,53,000
25 Trolley pulling System 1
26 Steam Chambers 1 6,00,000
27 Chimney 1 75,000
28 Internal piping (Boiler to LS 2,50,000
Autoclave)
TOTAL (c) 27,03,000
TOTAL MACHINERY COST (a+b+c) 63,62,000
ROUNDED OFF TO 64.00
Taxes, Transit Insurance, Packaging & Forwarding, 18.62
Transport, Octroi etc. (20% on Total Value)
Installation & Commissioning Charges 3.50
GRAND TOTAL (B) 86.82
4 Distribution Transformer, Electricity Connection, Electrical 11.00
Conduits, Fixtures & Fittings, Office Equipment
5 Deep Tube Bore well 2.00
6 Sanitation, Drainlines & Plumbing 2.00
7 Preliminary & Pre-operative Expenses 1.00
TOTAL(C) 16.00
8 Working Capital (D) 36.00
TOTAL PROJECT COST (A+B+C+D) 160.82
ROUNDED OFF TO 160.00
MEANS OF FINANCE
1 Promoter’s Equity 40.00
2 Term Loan 93.00
3 FBWC 27.00
TOTAL 160.00

- 15 -
- 15 -