China: The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has banned imports of steel slag from the end of 2018. It is part of 16 scrap metal and chemical waste products, according to Reuters. A further 16 items will be banned by the end of 2019. The government’s crackdown on waste imports is part of a ‘war on pollution.’
Wonder Cement orders slag mill from Gebr. Pfeiffer
India: Wonder Cement has ordered two vertical mills from Germany’s Gebr. Pfeiffer for its Nardana plant in Rajasthan. The order includes a MVR 6000 C-6 mill for grinding slag cement and a MPS 3070 BK mill for grinding fuel. Delivery is scheduled for early 2019 and mid-2019 respectively.
The MVR mill will feature a total drive power of 5820kW. Mixed cements will be be ground to a fineness of up to 5% R 45µm. The grinding plant will be designed to process granulated blast-furnace slag with a target fineness of approximately 4500 cm²/g Blaine and blast-furnace cements with different proportions of granulated blast-furnace slag, fly ash and gypsum and different product fineness degree. Wonder Cement has requested the option to grind relatively hot clinker in the mill while at the same time being able to reduce the cement temperature, and alternatively to use cold clinker from stockpiles.
The core components such as the tension system and the grinding rollers will come from Gebr. Pfeiffer in Germany. The grinding bowl and the gearboxes for the mill and classifier will also be delivered from Europe. Gebr. Pfeiffer’s subsidiary, Gebr. Pfeiffer India, will provide the housing parts, the foundation parts and supports of the rollers as well as almost the entire high-efficiency classifier type SLS 5600 BC. Gebr. Pfeiffer India scope of supply will incorporate most of the equipment to complete the grinding plant including the plant fan.
The MPS mill will grind petcoke with a capacity of 40t/hr to a product fineness of 2% R 90µm. It will come with a SLS BK classifier, allowing both coal and petcoke to be ground in the mill, dried with process gases and then classified in the integrated classifier. Due to the high abrasiveness of Indian coal, the mill will be designed with appropriate wear protection.
Most components of the coal mill will be supplied by Gebr. Pfeiffer India. The housing and foundation parts, the grinding bowl and a large part of the power-transmitting parts will be manufactured in India. Setting up the new MPS mill is planned to coincide with the commissioning of the entire kin line.
Slag Cement Association recognises slag cement in concrete projects in the US
US: The Slag Cement Association (SCA) has presented its 2017 Project of the Year Awards at the American Concrete Institution (ACI) Convention in Salt Lake City in late March 2018. Each project was selected by the SCA’s Technical Marketing Committee because of its exemplary and innovative uses of slag cement in concrete mix design. Nine awards were presented in categories for architecture, durability, green design, performance, innovative application and sustainability. Member companies involved in the winning applications included Lehigh Hanson, LafargeHolcim, Votorantim St Marys Cement, Ash Grove Cement, Skyway Cement Company and Argos USA.
“The SCA’s awards program does a great job of showcasing how versatile slag cement can be, and how it can help create stronger, more durable and sustainable concrete structures,” said Ed Griffith, president of the SCA.
Indian government looks at steel slag usage in agriculture
India: The Ministry of Steel has asked that the Ministry of Agriculture examine using slag from steel and iron production as a fertilizer. The government is particularly interested in using slag in areas with acidic soils, mostly in the eastern part of the country where productivity is lower, according to the Financial Express newspaper. 49M hectares of the country’s arable land has acidic soils from a total of 142M hectares total land that can be farmed.
