India: Dalmia Cement (Bharat) has started using two electric trucks to transport slag as part of its E-Truck project. They are being used to transport slag from the Steel Authority of India Limited’s (SAIL) Rourkela plant to the cement producer’s plant at Rajgangpur. The company has also commissioned two charging stations at its Rajgangpur plant and three more are to be installed by March 2022. The E-Trucks initiative is intended to reduce Dalmia Cement Bharat’s carbon emissions from transportation and decrease its logistics costs. A further 20 electric trucks are intended to start use by the end of the 2022 financial year.

“Achieving environmental sustainability has always been a priority for us at Dalmia Cement Bharat from a business and a social standpoint. While we are grateful that our government is creating the right policy and investment environment that encourages organisations to take positive environmental action, as private organisations we need to take the lead,” said Mahendra Singhi, managing director and chief executive officer, Dalmia Cement Bharat. He added that the company was confident that it would able to achieve its sustainability goal of becoming carbon negative by 2040.

UK: Tarmac has started a long-term slag stevedoring contract with Associated British Ports (ABP) at Port Talbot in Wales. The new arrangement at Port Talbot will see ABP load 300,000t/yr of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS). The slag will then typically be used in concrete production elsewhere in the UK. The agreement follows other partnerships between Tarmac and ABP at existing ports in Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Garston (Liverpool), Southampton and Ipswich.

Andrew Harston, ABP Wales and Short Sea Ports director, said, “ABP continues to invest in its ports’ infrastructure and services, as well as sustainability measures, and we are delighted to win this new contract with Tarmac, which shares our commitments to the highest standards of health and safety, and sustainability.”

Japan: JFE Steel and Innoqua, a startup linked to the University of Tokyo, are working on using slag as an artificial bed for coral reef restoration. JFE Steel has recently installed a 1m fish tank in the lobby of its Tokyo-based headquarters as part of a feasibility test for the biodiversity initiative, according to the Nikkei newspaper. The companies are testing Marine Block, a product made from slag that is processed using a proprietary technique to allow coral to attach to it easily. The initiative will examine which species of corals are most likely to attach to the Marine Block, the ideal growing conditions and then move on to larger-scale coral breeding.

The Japanese steel industry produces over 35Mt/yr of slag. The majority of it is used in infrastructure projects. JFE Steel hopes to use about 10% of the slag it produces in 2030 in port and marine applications.

US: Montana Environmental Trust Group says that it has awarded a contract for the haulage of 2Mt of zinc slag from the East Helena slagheap in Montanato New York-based Metallica Commodities Corporation. Montana Environmental Trust Group said that Metallica Commodities Corporation will convey 20,000t/month of slag by rail to Vancouver for export. The volume corresponds to 14% of a 14Mt supply contract with a South Korea-based zinc smelting company.