Zero emission cement trials prove successful

The UK’s Materials Processing Institute has successfully completed a series of pilot Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) trials, a major project milestone for the UKRI Cement 2 Zero project. 

The trials, which started in September 2022, involved 12 induction furnace trials and eight trials in the Institute’s seven tonne EAF.

The trials have been developing and testing the use of end-of-life cement as an electric arc furnace flux to produce steel, whilst also capturing the slag to produce clinker for use in the cement industry.

Research has shown that Portland Cement can be made from recycled cement in an EAF during the steel recycling process. The Cement 2 Zero project will demonstrate, on an industrial scale, the production process for Cambridge Electric Cement prior to its use in a construction project in the UK.

The trials have enabled the project team to finalise the process for making electric cement and to also successfully de-risk the process for the next stage of the project, which will be the full-scale trials at Celsa UK using their industrial EAF.

The trials at the Institute, based in Middlesbrough, involved close collaboration between project partners including the University of Cambridge and Celsa UK, who were present at each melt to provide technical support.

The industrial trials at Celsa UK begin this month (May), with a project due to be completed in February 2025.