Development of high-ferrite cement: Toward green cement production

Abstract

The reduction of energy consumption and CO2 emissions is essential for the development of cement industry. To this end, this work designed and prepared a green cementitious material to reduce the clinkering temperature and CO2 emissions by increasing the amount of ferrite as an intermediate mineral in the cement production process. The properties of the intermediate minerals, namely tricalcium aluminate (C3A) and tetracalcium ferroaluminate (C4AF), in terms of liquid viscosity at high temperatures and the synergistic interactions between the mineral phases formed at different calcination temperatures during the hydration process were systematically studied. The results indicate that, by adjusting the composition, microstructure, and liquid viscosity of the intermediate minerals and the clinkering regime, a high-ferrite cement (HFC) with high activity can be prepared at a calcination temperature of 1375 °C, which is about 50–100 °C lower than that of ordinary Portland cement. Consequently, the HFC obtained at a temperature of 1375 °C exhibits an excellent compressive strength of 72.7 MPa at a curing period of 28 days. Furthermore, according to the environmental evaluation performed, the prepared HFC can effectively reduce the energy consumption by 17.0%–20.3% and CO2 emissions by 15.0%–18.6% compared to ordinary Portland cement, indicating that high-ferrite cement can have promising applications in the protection of the environment and green construction industry.