From clinker to clay: Laying strong foundations for more sustainable cement
Whether it’s a family heirloom clay pot or a world-famous work of art, some things are simply irreplaceable. Our planet is certainly in that category – which is why the cement production industry, responsible for around 8% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, is facing a critical test: the challenge of making cement more sustainably.
One of the biggest contributing factors to cement production’s high emissions is the use of clinker. In cement with 95% clinker, for example, 62% of the CO2 emissions arise from the limestone calcination to produce clinker. But luckily, clinker is far from being irreplaceable.
Bringing game-changing SCMs off the bench…
In fact, any one of a range of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), including calcined clays, fly ash, blast-furnace slag, limestone fillers, and natural pozzolans, can be partially substituted in place of clinker – and the impacts on CO2 emissions are significant, with no compromise on the cement’s properties.
Using calcined clays, for instance, to lower the clinker-to-cement ratio – the so-called clinker factor – to 50:50, manufacturers can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 40%, power consumption by up to 30%, and fuel consumption by up to 40%. What’s more, as if the environmental benefits weren’t motivation enough, clay is readily available worldwide. Other SCMs are becoming increasingly expensive and challenging to source, leaving clay a much more attractive option.
Understandably, therefore, cement plants are increasingly turning to calcined clay, otherwise known as kaolinite, to improve their sustainability performance and keep up with CEM II standards in line with the 2°C Scenario. Of course, calcined clays and other SCMs need to be carefully blended into the cement mix in order to ensure the final product is exactly right. So, what’s the key to success?
…thanks to powerful compact XRD…
Direct mineralogical probing using X-ray diffraction (XRD) allows manufacturers to monitor and control both the purity and quality of cement and its intermediates – helping to enable greener production processes. At Malvern Panalytical, we’ve developed the Cement edition of our Aeris XRD instrument to make all this easier than ever.
Our compact, easy-to-use tool probes the mineralogical composition of cement, typically delivering accurate results in as few as 5-10 minutes. Specially designed for top-class process control and quality assurance in any cement plant, the Aeris Cement contains an X-ray tube with an almost never-ending lifetime and no drift, consumes minimal amounts of water and electricity, and can be seamlessly integrated into your automated processes. And it’s not just clinker factor reduction that Aeris Cement can help with, either. This small-but-mighty tool is your partner at every stage of the cement production process, from raw materials and raw meal to clinker, SCM addition, and blended cement.
…and score big sustainability wins
If today’s cement industry is to meet the sustainable net-zero challenge, reducing the clinker factor by using SCMs like calcined clay is vital. But for this approach to succeed – and our planet is relying on it – reliable XRD insights and instruments like the Aeris Cement will be simply irreplaceable!
To discover how the Aeris Cement can support your more sustainable cement manufacturing, contact us below. Alternatively, find out more about our industry solutions here.