Chert Deposit Used in Cement Production as a Quartz-Sand Alternative in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region: An Assessment Study

Silica-sand is one of the main additives in cement production. Cement plants in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region had been using silica sand which is 98% quartz that was quarried from the Iraqi Western Desert. However, during the last decade, it was not possible to supply these cement plants with material...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geotechnical and geological engineering 2021-02, Vol.39 (2), p.1451-1464
Main Authors: Sissakian, Varoujan K., Vanarelli, Mark J., Jassim, Hamed M., Omer, Hassan O., Hamoodi, Dalyia A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Additives
Cement
Cement plants
Chert
Cherts
Civil Engineering
Concrete
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences
Hydrogeology
Original Paper
Outcrops
Quarries
Quartz
Raw materials
Sand
Silica
Silicon dioxide
Terrestrial Pollution
Testing
Waste Management/Waste Technology
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Summary:Silica-sand is one of the main additives in cement production. Cement plants in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region had been using silica sand which is 98% quartz that was quarried from the Iraqi Western Desert. However, during the last decade, it was not possible to supply these cement plants with material from this location; therefore, the silica sand was imported from Iran. Recently, radiolarian chert of the Qulqula Group was quarried from the Sharbazhar Quarry in Kurdistan and used in some cement plants in the Kurdistan Region. This research was performed to study the specifications of the chert which is interbedded with claystone of the Qulqula Group that can be used as an alternative to silica-sand from other regions outside of Kurdistan. Five samples were collected from the Sharbazhar Quarry and subjected to XRF testing. The acquired results were encouraging; therefore, 20 additional samples were collected from the quarry, but also from other outcrops of the Qulqula Group along the road towards Sulaimaniyah city. The collected samples were subjected to XRF testing and the results showed that the weighted average of the SiO 2 in the quarried chert–claystone deposit is 83.71%., when the plants used claystone:chert ratio is 3:2; as it is used with mix-raw material in some cement plants in the Bazian district. This deficiency in the weighted average of the SiO 2 is overcome by adding more chert from the chert–claystone deposit to the raw-mix.
ISSN:0960-3182
1573-1529
DOI:10.1007/s10706-020-01568-z