The Australian reported that Australian technology could revolutionize iron and steel making globally, cutting costs, saving energy and water, and reducing gas emissions.

A team of CSIRO scientists and engineers led by Dongsheng Xie collaborated with BlueScope Steel and OneSteel to develop the technology to transform the smelting by product, slag, into a substitute for Portland cement. The patented process also recovers the huge amounts of energy usually lost from molten slag.

CSIRO said that the global steelmaking industry generates hundreds of millions of tonnes of slag each year. Most of the waste is dumped in landfill, but some slag is water cooled, pulverized and used in the construction industry.

CSIRO's dry slag granulation technique produces a cement like material without wasting water. Energy recovered from the hot slag can be used in other on site applications.

Source - The Australian

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