Suitability of Steel Making Slag as a Construction Material Resource

Abstract

One of the largest problems facing the steelmaking industry is the high amount of waste currently produced and the low amount of waste that is currently recycled. This study aims to look at the suitability of 3 different samples of basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS) slag as a construction material, in concert with their carbon capture capacity. Characterization by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy (ICP), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), CO2 adsorption analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) demonstrated that these BOS slags were found to have several favorable characteristics making them suitable for reuse as construction material.

The Use of Steelmaking Slags in Land and Marine Applications

“…Several small white particles throughout the material are consistent with CaCO3 or CaSiO3 since it is known that they represent a significant component of BOS slag (Fisher & Barron, 2021;Mallick, 2018).…”

“…This suggests that due to the heterogeneity of BOS slag, some parts of the sample have not been functionalized as well as others. The TGA of BOS slag (Figure 5.4) shows a mass loss due to dehydration at about 150 °C and a second loss at 650 °C associated with decarbonization of CaCO3 (Fisher & Barron, 2021). Each functionalized sample shows a significant additional weight loss associated with the decomposition of the organic substituents (Al-Shatty et al, 2017).…”

“…The work that follows has previously been published in a scientific paper that was published in the Lidsen publishing Journal 'Recent Progress in Materials'. The paper was published on 16 th July 2021 (Fisher & Barron, 2021).…”

“…Basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS) slag was collected from Tata Steel, Port Talbot, South Wales, UK. We have previously reported the composition of the BOS slag used in this study (Fisher & Barron, 2021). Rainwater was collected from Neath, South Wales, UK.…”

“…To find new applications of BOS slag, it is essential to look at the significant individual components that make up the composition of BOS slag, e.g. calcium carbonate (CaCO3), iron oxide (FeO), silicon dioxide (SiO2) and aluminium oxide ( Al2O3) and what applications they can be used in (Fisher & Barron, 2021). Several researchers have previously reported the hydrophobic properties of calcium carbonate when it has been functionalized using silanes and carboxylic acids such as stearic acid (Abeywardena et al, 2021;C.…”