Preparation of calcium sulphoaluminate cement using fertiliser plant wastes

Abstract

Phosphochalks from fertiliser plants contain significant amount of calcium sulphate along with P₂O₅ and fluorine. The presence of these impurities makes them unsuitable for most applications and, hence its availability in millions of tons. We demonstrate that it is possible to prepare calcium sulphoaluminate-aluminoferrite based special cements having strength values comparable to ordinary Portland cement (OPC) using these waste chalks. Such cements are insensitive to the presence of impurities in the raw mixture, clinker at low temperatures (1230 °C) and the clinkers produced are soft and friable. An empirical technique has been developed to predict the phase composition of the clinkers given the chemical composition of the starting raw mixture. The proposed low temperature clinkering route appears to be a promising method for converting waste phosphochalks into construction grade cements.