US: Slag cement shipments have grown by 12% in 2016 from 2015, according to the Slag Cement Association (SCA). It attributed the rise to the growing US economy and increased awareness of the benefits of the product in design, specification and construction communities

The SCA will also present the Slag Cement Project of the Year Awards at the American Concrete Institute’s Convention on 28 March 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. The awards will recognise eight projects from across the US in the categories of architectural design, concrete durability, green design, high performance, innovative applications, and sustainability. Award winners include a wide variety of projects including airports, buildings, residences, highways and stadiums.

UK: Hanson has re-opened its ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) grinding plant at Teesport Docks in Middlesbrough. Euro2.4m has been spent on starting up the plant again and 20 new jobs have been created.

The plant was mothballed in 2009 following the financial crisis in 2007. A continuing upturn in construction activity prompted Hanson to return to the site in 2016 and prepare it for re-opening. Slag for the plant will now be imported following the closure of a local steel plant.

“It has taken nine months to get up and running again. One of the main problems we had to overcome was to replace all the copper wiring, which had been meticulously stripped out by thieves,” said site manager Duncan Felgate.

Hanson sells its ground granulated blast furnace slag under the Regen brand name and operates a further two UK production plants at Purfleet in Essex and Port Talbot in south Wales.

Belgium: Gebr Pfeiffer has received an order from Cemminerals to supply a grinding plant for slag and cement. The plant, in Flanders, will use a MVR 5300 C-6 type mill. The order was taken in December 2016 and the mill is scheduled for commissioning in early 2018.

The Pfeiffer MVR 5300 C-6 slag and cement mill will be used to grind five different cement qualities as well as pure slag to three different fineness degrees. The mill is guaranteed to achieve capacities of 132t/hour pure slag, ground to 5000cm²/g acc. to Blaine, and of up to 200t/hour CEM II, ground to a fineness of 3500cm²/g acc. to Blaine. The mill main drive is designed for an installed power of 4600kW, and the SLS 4750 BC high-efficiency classifier, mounted on top of the MVR mill, enables high material fineness degrees of up to 5000cm²/g acc. to Blaine.

In addition to the MVR mill the contract includes handling equipment, two in-feed devices to enable moist slag and dry clinker to be fed to the mill separately, the plant filter, the plant fan, the magnetic drum separator and all ductwork including chutes, expansion joints and the stack. The scope of supply also includes a hot gas generator for the heating of the mill, as well as all electrical drives, starters, frequency converters and the electrical switchgear.

China/Brazil: Harsco Corporation has signed two multi-year contracts for steel mill services in China and Brazil at a value of over US$100m.

Harsco’s Metals & Minerals division has been selected by Hebei Iron and Steel Group to take over an increased range of onsite mill services at its Tangshan Stainless Steel works, where Harsco already provides environmental services relating to the commercial sale of the mill’s slag co-products. With the new contract, Harsco now adds onsite slag handling, metal recovery and briquetting to its responsibilities. Tangshan Stainless produces premium-grade steels for automotive and consumer markets. The deal will include the use of Harsco’s steam box technology for steel slag processing.

In Brazil, Harsco has been selected by one of the country’s largest fully integrated steelmakers to extend Harsco’s services for onsite scrap handling, slag transport, metal recovery and melt shop support. Harsco has been providing support to the mill’s flat steel operations for more than three decades, and to its mini-mill since its inception in 2014.

“These contracts reflect our renewed ambitions to grow the Metals & Minerals business following two years of successful transformation. Our relationships in both contracts demonstrate our capacity to provide long-term value to customer operations in parallel with lasting benefit to the environment,” said Harsco president and chief executive officer Nicholas Grasberger.