Research projects

Calcined clays as the main cement constituent are an essential part of the cement industry's decarbonisation strategy. Many clay deposits have iron-rich impurities that form hematite during calcination, which colors the product, the cement and ultimately the concrete red. A reducing atmosphere during calcination and/or cooling can prevent the formation of hematite. Systematic findings on the influence of secondary constituents in clays on their reactivity, emissions and cement-technical properties have hardly been available to date and are to be systematically investigated in the project.

In the ZIM research project, used concrete is processed in such a way as to improve the usability of all fractions generated, in particular the crushed sand and the fine fraction. To this end, tests are also being carried out on the pozzolanic reactivation of the recycled concrete fines.

The IGF research project 22330 N is concerned with the environmental compatibility of cement-bound building materials in special application situations in which the binder comes into contact with groundwater during the processing phase. A procedure is being developed to demonstrate the environmental compatibility of the building materials in these situations as well.

The subject of the IGF research project 22502 N is the application of X-ray diffraction analysis for production and quality control of calcined clays and cements produced with them, in order to accelerate the development of cements with further reduced clinker content within the framework of the decarbonisation of the cement industry.

In this research project, IR spectroscopy in combination with mathematical tools (chemometrics) is going to be evaluated as an analytical method for the characterisation of silica based materials, primarily X-ray amorphous materials, with regard to the reliable determination of the composition of material mixtures with X-ray amorphous materials (e.g. ternary cements with calcined clay and/or recycled concrete fines). In a next step, the findings on the analytical method and evaluation routines developed for cement are going to be evaluated with regard to their transferability to siliceous aggregates for estimating its alkali sensitivity.

The possibilities and limits of using RC gypsum for cement production have been determined. The findings will help to compensate for the future elimination of FGD gypsum, conserve natural resources and reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

The replacement of primary fuels by alternative fuels is of great economic and ecological importance for the cement industry and is to be increased in the future. The fuel ashes are used as raw material in the cement clinker and influence its properties as well as the coating formation on the refractory lining in the kiln. Exact knowledge of these effects is indispensable for the further increase of the alternative fuel rate and the simultaneous optimisation of the kiln operation as well as for the maintenance of the clinker quality and the service life of the refractory lining.

The research project has two objectives. The first is to investigate whether certain chemical / mineralogical properties can make clinker more robust against pre-hydration effects. Secondly, it will be investigated which measures can be taken to counteract possible negative effects, in particular by adjusting the sulphate carrier composition.