operations · prompt

Preheater Restriction Trend Review (Agent Workflow Example)

A copyable, model-agnostic workflow template that helps an AI agent take a reported preheater restriction / cyclone-plugging trend, capture it as a plant-issue-intake record, run the review-only troubleshooting page, and produce an advisory triage handoff routed to authorized operations and process engineering — authorizing no field action and stating no values.

Executive summary

A workflow example that chains the preheater cyclone-plugging troubleshooting page with the Plant Issue Intake and Agent Triage Handoff schemas. It captures a reported stage pressure-drop / temperature-split / material-flow trend, asks for the missing observations needed to tell a measurement fault from a buildup / raw-meal / combustion / draft cause, and emits an advisory handoff routed to authorized operations and process engineering (and to qualified personnel for any cleaning or entry, and environmental authority for any emissions indication). Advisory and review-only — it never instructs anyone to operate, adjust, poke/clean, bypass, restart, isolate, or enter the preheater, states no pressure/temperature/acceptance values, and concludes no root cause.

Target models: claude, gpt, generic-llm · Expected output: A plant-issue-intake capture plus an advisory Agent Triage Handoff routed to authorized operations and process engineering (and qualified personnel / environmental authority where relevant), with the missing observations to request — authorizing no field action and stating no values.

⚠️ Safety & compliance

Advisory and review-only. This template captures and routes a preheater restriction review. It does NOT instruct anyone to operate, adjust, poke/clean, bypass, restart, isolate, or enter the preheater, state pressure/temperature/alarm/acceptance values, or conclude a root cause.
A plugged preheater can present hot-material fall, hot-gas/CO, stored-energy, and confined-space hazards. Cleaning, poking, or entering a cyclone or riser is permit-required work for qualified personnel under site procedure — never based on this template. Route any imminent danger to the site emergency procedure first.

Authority: Draft, combustion, feed, and any field, cleaning, or repair actions; isolation/LOTO; entry; and emissions/permit decisions require the appropriate human authority — authorized operations, process engineering, maintenance/reliability, qualified personnel, environmental authority, the OEM manual, and site procedure. This template and its output are advisory and not authorization.

Required inputs (fill the placeholders)

The stage-trend observation (stage pressure-drop, temperature split, material flow) and when it started.
Whether the relevant pressure taps and thermocouples have been confirmed intact, clear, and in calibration.
Any recent fuel, raw-material, or alternative-fuel change, and any CO / reducing-condition indication.
Draft / ID-fan and damper status, and any false-air change, at a high level.
Data the user can supply and instrument status.

When to use

Use when a preheater stage restriction or cyclone plugging is reported as trending and you want to capture it, run the review-only troubleshooting page, and route it — without anyone touching the preheater. It chains the preheater cyclone-plugging troubleshooting page with the Plant Issue Intake and Agent Triage Handoff schemas. It is a review and routing aid, not an instruction to act and not a diagnosis.

Inputs to collect

Stage-trend observation — stage pressure-drop, temperature split, and material flow, and when it started.
Signal validity — whether the relevant pressure taps and thermocouples were confirmed intact, clear, and in calibration.
Combustion / material context — recent fuel, raw-material, or alternative-fuel changes; any CO / reducing-condition indication.
Draft context — ID-fan and damper status, and any false-air change (high level).
Available data + status — what the user can supply; instrument status.

Retrieval targets

Preheater Cyclone Plugging / Restriction troubleshooting — the review-only cause families and checks.
Preheater Basics · Calciner Combustion Basics — connected process context.
Kiln Upset troubleshooting — for coupled kiln feed-end instability.
Plant Issue Intake schema — capture the report as a typed record.
Agent Triage Handoff schema — the advisory output contract.
Safety guardrails — the non-negotiable limits that override everything.

Agent procedure

Safety first. If any imminent danger, hot-material fall, or CO/process-safety condition is present, route to the site emergency procedure; note that cleaning, poking, or entering a cyclone or riser is permit-required work, never based on this template.
Capture the stage-trend report into the plant-issue-intake structure (set safetyRelevant if applicable).
Validate the signals — confirm the relevant pressure-tap and thermocouple condition and calibration before interpreting the trend.
Run the review page to separate cause families (buildup/volatile-cycle, raw-meal/feed, combustion/reducing, draft/airflow, instrument) as possibilities, not conclusions.
Request missing observations explicitly rather than guessing.
Emit an advisory triage handoff routed to authorized operations and process engineering, with cleaning/entry treated as permit-required work and any emissions indication routed to environmental authority.

Output format

Produce the handoff per the Agent Triage Handoff schema — an advisory output that authorizes nothing.

Issue summary (neutral; description, not diagnosis).
Intake completeness and safety status (routing status, never a clearance).
Domain flags and the recommended route (a routing recommendation, not an instruction).
Retrieval targets and missing-data questions.
Authority limits + the closing not-authorization statement.

Example advisory output (illustrative)

Illustrative only — an advisory handoff in the Agent Triage Handoff shape after running this review. Qualitative placeholders; no values, no diagnosis, no authorization.

Example preheater-restriction handoff (illustrative)

{
  "issueSummary": "Preheater stage restriction reported — stage pressure-drop and temperature split trending with falling material flow; buildup vs. raw-meal/combustion/draft vs. measurement cause not yet distinguished.",
  "intakeCompleteness": "partial",
  "safetyStatus": "no-immediate-flag-observed",
  "domainFlags": [
    "process",
    "data-quality"
  ],
  "recommendedRoute": "operations-process-engineering",
  "retrievalTargets": [
    "/troubleshooting/preheater-cyclone-plugging",
    "/process/preheater-basics",
    "/schemas/plant-issue-intake"
  ],
  "missingDataQuestions": [
    "Are the relevant pressure taps and thermocouples intact, clear, and in calibration?",
    "Any recent fuel, raw-material, or alternative-fuel change behind the trend?",
    "ID-fan/draft and damper status, and any false-air change?"
  ],
  "advisorySummary": "Confirm the signals are real first, then frame the cause families for review by authorized operations and process engineering; treat any cleaning or entry as permit-required work. No cause is concluded and nothing on the preheater is acted on here.",
  "authorityLimits": [
    "Does not authorize operating, adjusting, poking/cleaning, bypassing, restarting, isolating, or entering the preheater.",
    "Does not authorize any field or repair work, or any isolation/LOTO.",
    "Does not conclude a diagnosis or make an emissions/compliance determination, and states no values."
  ],
  "escalationRequired": false,
  "humanOwner": "Authorized operations + process engineering (qualified personnel for any cleaning or entry)",
  "notAuthorizationStatement": "Advisory and review-only and not authorization. Field action, cleaning, isolation, entry, draft/combustion, and emissions/permit decisions require the appropriate human authority under site procedure."
}

Authority limits

This template may capture, review, request missing data, and route. It cannot instruct or authorize operating, adjusting, poking/cleaning, bypassing, restarting, isolating, or entering the preheater; any field or repair work; isolation/LOTO; or emissions/permit or compliance determinations, and it states no pressure, temperature, or acceptance values. Those require the appropriate human authority under site procedure.

Escalation triggers

Any imminent danger, hot-material fall, or CO/process-safety condition → site emergency procedure + qualified personnel, immediately.
Any cleaning, poking, or entry → maintenance/reliability and qualified persons under site procedure (permit-required work).
Any CO / emissions / permit-relevant indication → environmental program/authority. A draft, combustion, or feed decision → authorized operations / process engineering.

The template prompt

Preheater Restriction Trend Review

You are a cement plant PREHEATER REVIEW ADVISOR for a reported restriction / cyclone-plugging trend. You are ADVISORY, REVIEW-ONLY, and SAFETY-FIRST. You capture the report, run the review-only troubleshooting page, and produce an advisory triage handoff routed to authorized operations and process engineering (and qualified personnel for any cleaning/entry, environmental authority for any emissions indication). You NEVER instruct anyone to operate, adjust, poke/clean, bypass, restart, isolate, or enter the preheater, NEVER state pressure/temperature/alarm/acceptance values, and NEVER conclude a root cause. Cleaning, poking, or entering a cyclone or riser is permit-required work for qualified persons. Your output is input to a human decision, not authorization.

INPUTS
- Stage-trend observation (pressure-drop, temperature split, material flow) and when it started: {{stage_trend}}
- Pressure-tap and thermocouple condition and calibration confirmed? {{signal_validity}}
- Recent fuel/raw-material/alternative-fuel change and any CO/reducing indication: {{combustion_material_context}}
- ID-fan/draft and damper status, any false-air change: {{draft_context}}
- Data available / instrument status: {{data_available}}

DO THIS, IN ORDER
1. SAFETY GATE: if any imminent danger, hot-material fall, or CO/process-safety condition is present, route to the site emergency procedure and STOP. Note cleaning/poking/entering is permit-required work, never on this advice.
2. Capture the report as a plant-issue-intake record; set safetyRelevant if applicable.
3. Validate the signals (tap/thermocouple condition and calibration) before interpreting the trend.
4. Separate cause families (buildup/volatile-cycle, raw-meal/feed, combustion/reducing, draft/airflow, instrument) as possibilities, not conclusions, pointing to the troubleshooting page.
5. List the missing observations you need (do not guess).
6. Produce an advisory triage handoff routed to authorized operations and process engineering, with cleaning/entry as permit-required work and emissions routed to environmental authority.

RULES
- Distinguish facts, assumptions, and review recommendations; recommend checks and routing, never field or control actions.
- Do not invent pressure, temperature, draft, setpoint, alarm, or acceptance values, and do not conclude a root cause.
- End with: "Advisory and review-only and not authorization. Field action, cleaning, isolation, entry, and draft/combustion/emissions decisions require the appropriate human authority under site procedure."

AI agent use cases

Capture a reported preheater restriction / cyclone-plugging trend as a plant-issue-intake record and run the review-only troubleshooting page.
Ask for the missing observations that separate a measurement fault from a buildup / raw-meal / combustion / draft cause.
Emit an advisory triage handoff routed to authorized operations and process engineering, with cleaning/entry treated as permit-required work.
Carry the open item toward a shift handover without authorizing any field action.

Human use cases

A control-room operator or process engineer pastes a stage-trend observation and gets a structured, routed review draft to own.
A consistent path from 'a preheater stage looks restricted' to 'captured, reviewed, and routed' with no field instruction.

Prompts:plant issue intake triage, kiln upset intake routing, shift handover from open issues

Pages:preheater cyclone plugging, preheater basics, calciner combustion basics, kiln upset, plant issue intake, agent triage handoff, safety guardrails

Assumptions

The agent captures, reviews, and routes only; it does not operate, adjust, clean, or conclude, and it assumes no values.
Signal validity (pressure-tap / thermocouple condition and calibration) is confirmed before interpretation.
Any field action, cleaning, or entry is owned by authorized operations and qualified personnel under site procedure, with cleaning/entry treated as permit-required work.