Displaying items by tag: Roads

Australia: Researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and CRC for Low Carbon Living (CRCLCL) are testing a geopolymer concrete made from fly ash and blast furnace slag on a road in Sydney. A 30m stretch of road is being trialled with 15m of traditional concrete and 15m of a geopolymer concrete. Nine sensors have been positioned under the concrete to monitor and compare how the geopolymer concrete performs. The results from the trial will be used to create the first set of industry guidelines for geopolymer concrete.

“While we’ll monitor the road performance for up to five years, a lot of the data collected in the first three to 12 months of this world-first trial will be used to confirm our models and strengthen our predictions,” said Professor Stephen Foster, Head of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UNSW and the CRCLCL project lead.

US: Residents of Muscatine County, Iowa have asked local government to take action about the use of slag in road construction. The decision follows an investigation by Askew Scientific Consulting into whether heavy metals were present in the slag, according to WQAD television. Data from the study was sent to the Iowa Department of Public Health, which concluded that high levels of manganese might cause adverse health effects from regular exposure to slag and slag dust. The county started using slag to repair and maintain roads in 2008.

Askew Scientific Consulting used samples and data from SSAB, the company that supplies the slag. However, SSAB has said that samples used in the study were taken earlier in the slag-making process, not from slag ready to be used on the road, and pose a limited health risk to people.

India: Vedanta-Sterlite Copper has met with the Kerala state government to discuss the use of copper slag in road building. The copper subsidiary of Vedanta wants to use copper slag as a partial replacement for river sand and manufactured sand in the construction of roads in the state, according to the Times of India newspaper. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has approved the usage of copper slag in various grades of concrete as a partial substitute for sand. Vedanta-Sterlite’s Tutucorin plant is currently produces 60,000 - 70,000t/yr of slag, none of which is used.

Brazil: ArcelorMittal Tubarão and Usiminas have been nominated in the Steelie Awards for a steel slag rural road-building project. The steel makers have been put forward for the Excellence in sustainability category of the eight edition of the awards organised by the World Steel Association. The winners will be revealed at the annual dinner of the 2017 General Assembly of the association in Brussels, Belgium on 16 October 2017.

ArcelorMittal’s research and development department developed its Revsol and Revsol Plus products, which turn steel slag into a primary road, car park and storage yard coating, replacing the use of non-renewable sources in road building. The manufacturers say that the product also reduces the need for road maintenance.

Qatar: The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME), the British Transport Research Institute (TRL), Qatar Steel and Ashghal have been running a pilot project to use steel slag in the construction sector including to build roads. The test is part of the country’s infrastructure development in the lead up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, according to the Gulf Times. Qatar Steel has accumulated large quantities of steel slag from its plant in Mesaieed. It produces over 350,000t/yr and has a stockpile of over 1.6Mt.

Slag road construction trials were conducted at a Qatar Steel site in 2016. The TRL has since recommended production of slag aggregate, certification of slag products by the authorities including MME and Ashghal, development of case studies and the inclusion in the next update to the Qatar construction specification.

India: Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has promoted the use of ‘waste’ materials such as slag cement for the construction of roads. He said that the ministry has decided to build concrete highways in the place of traditional bitumen roads, in comments to local press at a ‘Make In India’ campaign event. He added that slag cement costs up to four times as less as normal cement making it a ‘game changer’. At present a few test roads made with slag cement have been built in the north of the country.

Sweden: Ovako has signed a contract with NCC to supply steel slag to be used as ballast in asphalt. As part of the contract, NCC will buy 50,000t/yr for the first three years and then 85,000t/yr. The road surface should be quieter, more durable and more sustainable, according to NCC-run tests in Borlänge.