Abstract

The recycling of steel plant side streams through cold-bonded briquettes has become quite common. However, Portland cement is mainly used as a binder in the briquettes, contributing significantly to the energy consumption, costs, and carbon footprint associated with the production of cold-bonded briquettes. This paper reports on a more sustainable method for side stream recycling that involves replacing cement with an ettringite-based binder. Ettringite binders develop early high strength and mainly consist of ladle slag, another side stream of the industry. Here, the ettringite-based binder is assessed in terms of its mechanical and thermal properties against a reference briquette made using the conventional technique. Three different briquette types are produced using several side stream materials and varying ettringite-based binder content. Briquettes produced using 15% and higher ettringite-based binder content exhibited excellent mechanical properties within a shorter curing period compared to conventional used binder. Moreover, the ettringite-based binder briquettes exhibited a better swelling behavior to conventional cement briquettes under conditions simulating a blast furnace.