Environmental, economic and engineering performances of aqueous carbonated steel slag powders as alternative material in cement pastes: Influence of particle size

The low reactivity and volume expansion issue of steel slag limits its application as alternative to cement. Studies demonstrated that aqueous carbonation (AC) can enhance the cementitious properties of finely sized steel slag as a cementitious supplementary material (SCM). However, the impact of particle size on the CO2 uptake capacity and its association of performance of carbonated steel slag remains unexplored. This study aims to optimize the grinding levels by examining the fineness of the steel slag used as SCM to reduce the high-energy consumption while maintaining the CO2 sequestration and properties of SCM. The results show that reducing the size of steel slag is favorable for CO2 sequestration (particle size 22.4-112.6 μm corresponds to sequestration of ∼88.5-37.9 kg CO2/t steel slag) and improve the leaching of Mg ions for mineralization. The life cycle assessment shows that the global warming potential of AC of steel slag is ∼96.2-24.9 kg CO2-eq/t steel slag, which can offset the carbon emissions due to further grinding. The 28-day compressive strength of the cement pastes blended with finer carbonated steel slag was also relatively higher due to the formation of mono-carboaluminates and stabilization of ettringite in facilitating the bond strength between the carbonated steel slag particle and the cement paste matrix. According to 3E (engineering, environmental and economic) triangle model, 22.4 μm steel slag powder showed the best comprehensive performance, including an increased revenue of 40.8 CNY/ton steel slag.

Effect of water-to-cement ratio induced hydration on the accelerated carbonation of cement pastes

Recently, the use of accelerated carbonation curing has attracted wide attention as a promising method to reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission and improve the mechanical properties of cement-based materials. However, the diffusion mechanism of CO₂ in the matrix and the content of hydration products are the key factors that restrict the carbonation reaction rate. To understand the combined behavior of hydration and carbonation reactions, this paper investigates the influence of cement hydration induced by water-to-cement ratio (w/c) (ranging from 0.25 to 0.45) on microstructure and microhardness properties of cement paste. The experimental results demonstrated that carbonation only occurred at the surface layer of cement paste samples and carbonation efficiency was significantly influenced by greater hydration due to higher w/c. The carbonation depth of the sample with 0.45 w/c was about 6 times higher than that of sample with 0.25 w/c after 28 days of CO₂ curing. XRD results revealed that calcite-type calcium carbonate is the main carbonation product and consumption of clinker phases (C₂S and C₃S) during the hydration enhanced the calcite precipitation in the pores of the surface layer. According to FTIR, with increasing w/c, the position of Si-O-Si stretching bond of the carbonated surface changed from Q² to Q³, confirming the formation of amorphous silica-rich gel, along with the appearance of CO₃^2- bonds related to calcite. In overall, the micro-mechanical analysis in this study showed that the carbonation significantly improved the surface microhardness of cement paste samples, while the refinement of capillary pores due to carbonation also decreased the negative impact of large pores formed in the matrix of cement paste prepared with high w/c.