Stating that the steel industry needed to look at time-bound outcomes on the utilisation of steel slag, G. Mohan Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Steel, said, “There should be a paradigm shift in our approach. We need a sustained effort on what is possible and today is a beginning. It is gratifying to see such an overwhelming response to the need to address the utilisation of steel slag. The industry needs to come together on this issue”
Mohan Kumar was speaking at a recent seminar on ‘Promoting Awareness and Usage of Steel Slag’ jointly organised by the Ministry of Steel and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi recently. The seminar was attended by representatives from various central ministries, central and state organisations, trade bodies, and domestic and international slag companies and consultants.
Steel slag is a co-product generated during the steelmaking process. It is used as an aggregate in many industries, with a high rate of adoption globally, especially in the US, the European Union, China and Brazil. Its high abrasion resistance, soundness characteristics, high bearing strength and basicity make it suitable to be used as ballast for railways as well as in road making as a replacement for natural aggregate, in cement making, in agriculture for soil amelioration, in paver blocks and bricks, and also as an alternative to landfills. This necessitates that proper procedures, regulations and guidelines be formulated in India for the testing, processing and usage of slag.
Vishnu Shankar Prasad, Secretary General, Indian Roads Congress, said, “There is a need to have collaborative research in the country to identify applications of steel slag across sectors. The road sector in India has the highest capability to absorb industrial co-products such as steel slag, while also addressing costs of road construction. There is a need to have a mission-mode approach to bring all stakeholders to the same platform to discuss optimised ways to utilise this co-product.”
“The usage of steel slag for various applications is an established practice globally and should be adopted in India keeping in mind the economic and environmental benefits at large,” Sandeep Kumar, Executive-In-Charge, (Secondary Products), Tata Steel, said.
The inaugural session at the event was followed by two technical sessions on ‘Applicability and Usage of Slag in India’ and ‘Slag Utilisation – Constraints & Challenges’ respectively.
