Spray slag

Processing liquid blast furnace slag for the production of hydraulically bonded building materials whilst keeping carbon emissions down

In the research project managed by the Leibniz Institute for Materials Engineering (IWT) and its partners, the Bremen Institute for Materials Testing (MPA) and Bremen University of Applied Sciences, Building Materials Technology Department, blast furnace slag used in the manufacture of cement is to be deployed even more efficiently.

To this end, whilst it is still in a molten liquid state, the slag is to be made into a particularly fine spray using an innovative spraying technique. This is intended to avoid the need for procedures like the challenging grinding process, and the advantageous round granular form of the slag balls resulting from the concept is to be deployed in modern, environmentally friendly types of concrete. The result of this project will be an innovative processing method for blast furnace slag which results in an ecological improvement in the concrete construction process. The technique is to be deployed by regional industrial stakeholders at the place where the slag is produced.

The industrial stakeholder benefits both from the proximity to Bremen’s steel mill, where large quantities of blast furnace slag are produced, and from the proximity to the efficient support available from the research institutes.

The project managers expect there to be great demand for the slag spray as a high-grade component in the manufacture of cement and an additive in concrete technology. The high commercial potential suggests that the price will be adequate.

The project is financed with funds from the European Union and the State of Bremen, the Senator for Climate Change Mitigation, Environment, Mobility, Urban Development and Housing Construction, the Applied Environmental Research funding programme.