Steel Slag Road Technology

About Steel Slag Road Technology

• Steel slag is a waste by-product of the steel manufacturing process.
• It is produced during the separation of the molten steel from impurities in steel-making furnaces.
• The slag occurs as a molten liquid melt and is a complex solution of silicates and oxides that solidifies upon cooling.
• Use in road materials: It cannot automatically be used as road material in its untreated form.
  • Processing converts suitable slag into aggregates of specified sizes and engineering properties.
  • These aggregates can then replace natural stone in appropriate road layers when supported by suitable pavement design, testing and quality control.
• Advantages:
  • Steel Slag Road Technology can reduce road construction costs by around 40 per cent while delivering four times the strength of conventional roads.
  • Environment friendly: India is the world’s second largest steel producer. For per ton of steel production around 200 kg Steel slag is generated as solid waste.
    • Steel slag generation in the country is about 19 Million tons per annum and expected to reach 60 million tons by 2030.
    • This huge quantity of steel slag is piled up in and around the steel plants as big mounds and becoming the source of air, water, and land pollution.
    • Hence, the use of steel slag in road construction is an environmentally friendly cost-effective method.
  • Cheaper: Steel slag road costs are about 30% cheaper than conventional making of roads.
  • Less Maintenance cost: Steel slag roads have been found to last ten years as compared to three to four years for bitumen roads, thus bringing down sharply the maintenance costs.
  • More durable: Steel slag roads are more durable and resistant to weather unpredictability.