Utilization of Ladle Furnace slag from a steelwork for laboratory scale production of Portland cement

Ladle Furnace slag from the secondary metallurgy process can potentially be used as a raw material. To supplement the limited number of studies of Ladle Furnace slag that have been performed, this work investigates the incorporation of Ladle Furnace slag into the raw meal for Portland cement production. Clinker and cement were manufactured at the laboratory scale from various meal compositions, and high Alite cement was obtained by adjusting the lime saturation factor (LSF) as well as the alumina and silica ratios (AR and SR, respectively). The results of chemical and mineralogical analyses showed that using Ladle Furnace slag to produce Portland cement did not negatively affect the mineralogical characteristics. In addition, mechanical properties, such as compressive strength and volume expansion, were positively affected by incorporating 39.2 wt.% slag into the raw meal. However, a slightly higher initial setting time was required for samples containing slag; this result can be attributed to the amount of MgO in the cement. In general, our results suggest that Ladle Furnace slag can be used as a raw material in the manufacture of Portland cement to reduce the intensive consumption of natural raw materials, energy and CO2 emissions by the cement industry. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.