Economy & Market

The awareness of slag cement is increasing amongst engineers

Published

8 years ago

August 31, 2018

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– Kamal Kishore Taparia, Vadraj Cement Ltd

What has been the demand growth for slag cement over the last two-three years, and how it is expected to pan out in the next three years?
The awareness about the superiority of slag cement in performance over other types of cements, especially in aggressive environments like coastal areas, marine works, effluent treatment plants, foundation works, and other similar structures is increasing amongst the engineers and the consultants.

The availability of slag cement in India is in to geographical areas, which are closer to integrated steel plants where granulated blast furnace is available as by-product. The production of slag cement is also dependent upon the availability of blast furnace slag, which in turn depends upon the production capacity of steel in India.

At present, the share of slag cement ranges between 8 to 10 per cent of the total cement consumption in India. It is expected to increase due to increase in acceptance of slag cement and also by the government approvals and specifications like Engineer’s India Ltd, etc. during the next three years.

What is the demand-supply scenario of slag cement and what are the factors that will boost its demand?
At present, the slag cement, which is produced in India, is consumed without any difficulty. The share of slag cement can be increased provided adequate quantity of blast furnace slag is available for production of slag cement. It may be interesting to note that during the production of PPC cement only 25 per cent of the total production of fly ash is consumed by the cement industry in India, while 100 per cent slag from steel plants is utilised by the industry to produce slag cement.

There is distinct preference for slag cement amongst engineers, consultants and consumers for PSC over PPC.

The following factors are likely to boost the demand of slag cement:
a)Aggressive conditions, i.e., sulphate, chloride attack from soil and polluted water and alkalis coming from aggregates in many part of the country. Best example is new green field project of petroleum refinery by HPCL coming up at Barmer-Rajasthan where slag cement is specified.
b)Easy availability in all geographical areas in the country.
c)Awareness about the advantages of slag cement over other types of cement especially in aggressive environmental conditions.
d)Consideration of long term strength and durability of structures over the initial strength alone.
e)Increased production of steel in the country and availability of blast furnace slag.

Please enumerate technical and environmental advantages of slag cement and areas of its utility?
Slag cement has distinct advantages over other types of cement in the following quality parameters:
a)To make concrete more impermeable to ingress of the harmful liquids and solids.
b)To enhance the durability of concrete by rendering its micro structure denser and cohesive.
c)To develop stronger bond with steel over the period and to resist cracking in concrete.
d)To develop higher long term compressive and tensile strength in concrete.
e)The cohesiveness of concrete mix using slag makes it easy to pump, place, compact and finish as compared to concretes using other types of cement.
f)The concrete using slag cement are lighter in colour and reflect more light and avoids rise in temperature especially in urban areas.
g)Concrete with slag cement is aesthetically more pleasing.
h)Slag cement can utilise blast furnace slag up to 70 per cent while PPC can use fly ash only up to 35 per cent as per the Indian Standards. Thus, slag cement is more environmental friendly than PPC and other types of cement.
Areas of application:
a)Slag cement can be used for all types of civil engineering works as per the IS – 455 of 2015 standards.
b)Slag cement is very beneficial in coastal and marine environments.
c)Advantages in construction of effluent treatment plants, water and sewage disposal works.
d)All foundation works, basement and underground structures.
e)Irrigation works, dams, canal lining and river training works.
f)Bridges, metro rails, highways, ports and other infrastructure works.

What is the supply situation of raw materials for slag cement, particularly availability of slag?
The availability of slag is limited in India as the slag produced by the integrated steel plants through blast furnace route is only utilised for production of slag cement. It is estimated that nearly 15 to 18 million tonnes of slag is produced per annum by steel plants in India.

The entire quantity of blast furnace plant is utilised by the cement industry in production of slag cement. The same situation is likely to continue as the growth of cement industry is more than the growth of steel industry.

What are the cost and price trends of slag cement when compared to OPC?
The cost of slag cement ideally should be more than OPC due to its numerous advantages. In most of the Eastern markets, the slag cement is sold at premium. PPC pricing is generally lower by a few rupees a bag as compared to OPC. The advantages of slag cement over PPC are now recognised, and in most of the markets, slag cement commands a better price than PPC.

Do you have expansion plans on the anvil and what is the usual gestation for setting up a slag cement plant?
We do have the plan for expansion to produce more quantity of slag cement. However, as mentioned earlier, it depends upon the availability of blast furnace slag. In a way, it is related to the expansion of the source of blast furnace slag. The gestation period in setting up a new cement unit is about two years.

Economy & Market

TSR Will Define Which Cement Companies Win India’s Net-Zero Race

Published

4 days ago

April 27, 2026

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Jignesh Kundaria, Director and CEO, Fornnax Technology

India is simultaneously grappling with two crises: a mounting waste emergency and an urgent need to decarbonise its most carbon-intensive industries. The cement sector, the second-largest in the world and the backbone of the nation’s infrastructure ambitions, sits at the centre of both. It consumes enormous quantities of fossil fuel, and it has the technical capacity to consume something else entirely: the waste our cities cannot get rid of.

According to CPCB and NITI Aayog projections, India generates approximately 62.4 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, with that figure expected to reach 165 million tonnes by 2030. Much of this waste is energy-rich and non-recyclable. At the same time, cement kilns operate at material temperatures of approximately 1,450 degrees Celsius, with gas temperatures reaching 2,000 degrees. This high-temperature environment is ideal for co-processing, ensuring the complete thermal destruction of organic compounds without generating toxic residues. The physics are in our favour. The infrastructure is not.

Pre-processing is not the support act for co-processing. It is the main event. Get the particle size wrong, get the moisture wrong, get the calorific value wrong and your kiln thermal stability will suffer the consequences.

The Regulatory Push Is Real

The Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules 2026 mandate that cement plants progressively replace solid fossil fuels with Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF), starting at a 5 per cent baseline and scaling to 15 per cent within six years. NITI Aayog’s 2026 Roadmap for Cement Sector Decarbonisation targets 20 to 25 per cent Thermal Substitution Rate (TSR) by 2030. Beyond compliance, every tonne of coal replaced by RDF generates measurable carbon reductions which is monetisable under India’s emerging Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS). TSR is no longer a sustainability metric. It is a financial lever.

Yet our own field assessments across multiple Indian cement plants reveal a sobering reality: the primary barrier to scaling AFR adoption is not waste availability. It is the fragmented and under-engineered pre-processing ecosystem that sits between the waste and the kiln.

Why Indian Waste Is a Different Engineering Problem

Indian municipal solid waste is not the material that imported shredding equipment was designed for. Our waste streams frequently exceed 40 per cent to 50 per cent moisture content, particularly during monsoon cycles, saturated with abrasive inerts including sand, glass, and stone. Plants relying on imported OEM equipment face months of downtime awaiting proprietary spare parts. Machines built for segregated, low-moisture waste fail quickly and disrupt the entire pre-processing operation in Indian conditions.

The two most common failures we observe are what I call the biting teeth problem and the chewing teeth problem. Plants relying solely on a primary shredder reduce bulk waste to large fractions, but the output remains too coarse for stable kiln combustion. Others attempt to use a secondary shredder as a standalone unit without a primary stage to pre-size the feed, leading to catastrophic mechanical failure. When both stages are present but mismatched in throughput capacity, the system becomes a bottleneck. Achieving the 40 to 70 tonnes per hour required for meaningful coal displacement demands a precisely coordinated two-stage process.

Engineering a Made-in-India Answer

At Fornnax, our response to these challenges is grounded in one principle: Indian waste demands Indian engineering. Our systems are built around feedstock homogeneity, the holy grail of kiln stability. Consistent particle size and predictable calorific value are the foundation of stable kiln combustion. Without them, no TSR target is achievable at scale.

Our SR-MAX2500 Dual Shaft Primary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive) processes raw, baled, or loosely mixed MSW, C&I waste, bulky waste, and plastics, reducing them to approximately 150 mm fractions at throughputs of up to 40 tonnes per hour. The R-MAX 3300 Single Shaft Secondary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive), introduced in 2025, takes that primary output and produces RDF fractions in the 30 to 80 mm range at up to 30 tonnes per hour, specifically optimised for consistent kiln feeding. We have also introduced electric drive configurations under the SR-100 HD series, with capacities between 5 and 40 tonnes per hour, already operational at a leading Indian waste-processing facility.

Looking ahead, Fornnax is expanding its portfolio with the upcoming SR-MAX3600 Hydraulic Drive primary shredder at up to 70 tonnes per hour and the R-MAX2100 Hydraulic drive secondary shredder at up to 20 tonnes per hour, designed specifically for the large-scale throughput that higher TSR ambitions require.

The Investment Case Is Now

The 2070 Net-Zero target is not a distant goal for India’s cement sector. It starts today, with decisions being made on the plant floor.

The SWM Rules 2026 are already in effect, requiring cement plants to replace coal with RDF. Carbon credit markets are opening up, and coal prices are not going to get cheaper. Every tonne of coal a cement plant replaces with waste-derived fuel saves money on one side and generates carbon credit revenue on the other. Pre-processing infrastructure is no longer just a compliance requirement. It is a business investment with a measurable return.

The good news is that nothing is missing. The technology works. The waste is available in every Indian city. The government has provided the policy direction. The only thing standing between where the industry is today and where it needs to be is the commitment to build the right infrastructure.

The cement companies that move now will not just meet the regulations. They will be ahead of every competitor that waits.

About The Author

Jignesh Kundaria is the Director and CEO of Fornnax Technology. Over an experience spanning more than two decades in the recycling industry, he has established himself as one of India’s foremost voices on waste-to-fuel technology and alternative fuel infrastructure.

Concrete

WCA Welcomes SiloConnect as associate corporate member

Published

3 weeks ago

April 13, 2026

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The World Cement Association (WCA) has announced SiloConnect as its newest associate corporate member, expanding its network of technology providers supporting digitalisation in the cement industry. SiloConnect offers smart sensor technology that provides real-time visibility of cement inventory levels at customer silos, enabling producers to monitor stock remotely and plan deliveries more efficiently. The solution helps companies move from reactive to proactive logistics, improving delivery planning, operational efficiency and safety by reducing manual inspections. The technology is already used by major cement producers such as Holcim, Cemex and Heidelberg Materials and is deployed across more than 30 countries worldwide.

Concrete

TotalEnergies and Holcim Launch Floating Solar Plant in Belgium

Published

3 weeks ago

April 13, 2026

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TotalEnergies and Holcim have commissioned a floating solar power plant in Obourg, Belgium, built on a rehabilitated former chalk quarry that has been converted into a lake. The project has a generation capacity of 31 MW and produces around 30 GWh of renewable electricity annually, which will be used to power Holcim’s nearby industrial operations. The project is currently the largest floating solar installation in Europe dedicated entirely to industrial self-consumption. To ensure minimal impact on the surrounding landscape, more than 700 metres of horizontal directional drilling were used to connect the solar installation to the electrical substation. The project reflects ongoing collaboration between the two companies to support industrial decarbonisation through renewable energy solutions and innovative infrastructure development.