Crimson Publishers Research Article

Wings to the Research

Management of Mining Wastes and Interest

of their Recycling in Construction Materials:
Case of White Slag from Steel Mills of EL
Jadida in Morocco
Souad El Moudni El Alami1*, Omar Kinani1, Yassine Lasiani1, Mahamadou Koita1,
ISSN: 2578-0255 Mohammed Er-rabhi2 and Wim Van den bergh3
Laboratory of Applied Geosciences, Faculty of Sciences, Mohammed First University, BV
1

Mohammed VI, P O Box 524, 60000 Oujda, Morocco

2
SIGMACO Company, Oujda, Morocco
3
University of Antwerp, Faculty of Applied Engineering, EMIB Research Group, Antwerp,
Belgium

Annotation
Every year, billions of tons of waste are generated around the world. The production of these wastes
has increased incredibly over time because of rapid urbanization, population growth and industrial
development. The management of these huge quantities of waste is a great challenge to the producing
countries. Morocco has a rich subsoil in various mineral resources distributed throughout the kingdom
*Corresponding author: Souad El [1]. The main mining products are Phosphate, Coal, Lead, Iron, Zinc, Copper and Nickel [1]. There are
Moudni El Alami, Laboratory of Applied officially 240 [2] mining sites in the country, among them 200 closed and abandoned sites. Today, several
Geosciences, Faculty of Sciences, storage sites have been generated in the country. The wastes generated are mainly: coal ash, iron slag,
Mohammed First University, BV lead slag and phosphogypsum [1,3-5]. The landfilling of these wastes directly threatens the environment
Mohammed VI, P O Box 524, 60000 [6] and causes additional costs for quarry management. In this work, we focus on the slag produced by
Oujda, Morocco the Sonasid steel plant in the Jorf Lasfar area of EL Jadida city In Morocco. This plant treats scrap metal
to produce steel. The overall rate of slag produced by this company is 100,000t/year [4]. We distinguish
Submission: August 15, 2022 between white slag and black slag. The black slag has been the subject of a previous study, which allowed
its use in roads as a foundation and surface layer [3,4], while the white slag is still stored in the dumps.
Published: September 09, 2022
To minimise the risk of landfill, we carried out this experimental study to test the possibility of recycling
Volume 9 - Issue 5 white slag in mortars. Our results show that white slag can substitute cement with percentages of 5 and
10%.
How to cite this article: Souad El Moudni
El Alami*, Omar Kinani, Yassine Lasiani, Keywords: Mining waste; White slag; Environmental risk; Recovery; Mortar
Mahamadou Koita, Mohammed Er-
rabhi, Wim Van den bergh. Management
of Mining Wastes and Interest of their Introduction
Recycling in Construction Materials: Case From an economic and environmental point of view, one of the major challenges today is
of White Slag from Steel Mills of EL Jadida
in Morocco. Aspects Min Miner Sci. 9(5).
the management of the big quantities of waste generated by industrial and urban activities.
AMMS. 000723. 2022. The amount of waste generated worldwide can be estimated at a few billion tons. About
DOI: 10.31031/AMMS.2022.09.000723 58.4% [1] of the global industrial waste rate is generated by: China, Japan, India, South Korea
and Australia [1]. These waste quantities are continuously increasing and will reach much
Copyright@ Souad El Moudni El Alami,
This article is distributed under the terms
higher amounts in the coming years. Among these waste generating activities, we mention the
of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 mining industry, which is criticized for the large quantities of mining waste produced during
International License, which permits the exploitation of mineral deposits [2,7]. In fact, although the mining sector plays a major
unrestricted use and redistribution role in development, the management of waste is a major challenge. The amount of metal that
provided that the original author and
source are credited.
can be recovered generally represents only a small fraction of the total mass: for example, the
production of one ton of copper generates 200 tons of waste rock, and one ton of aluminum
generates 400 tons of waste rock [2,7]. The global rate of mine waste is now estimated at
about 30 to 60 billion tons per year [8], which is currently the largest waste stream on the
planet. As a result, mountains of waste rock are stored in the open air and directly threaten
the environment while modifying the natural landscape (Figures 1-3). The mining industry

Aspects in Mining & Mineral Science 1077

 AMMS.MS.ID.000723.9(5).2022 1078

is therefore considered harmful to the environment and leads addition, the continued storage of waste is directly threatening
inevitably to the degradation of ecosystems. Abandoned mines human health and polluting natural resources such as waterways
that are not rehabilitated pollute and disturb the environment. In and soil as shown in the photos below [9,10].

Figure 1: Coal ash field in Jerrada Morocco [2].

Figure 2: Huge dust released during the exploitation of a mining site in ZAMBIA [9].

Figure 3: Contamination of the watercourses of Oued EL Himmer at the level of Touissit by the Zelija foundry slag
[10].

Aspects Min Miner Sci Copyright © Souad El Moudni El Alami

 AMMS.MS.ID.000723.9(5).2022 1079

Landfill is a direct source of risk to human health. Indeed, most In this work, we are interested in the slag produced by the
of the industrial by-products (fly ash, white and black slag) are rich steelworks of Sonasid in EL Jadida, which treats about 600,000t/
in heavy metals such as: zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), chromium year of scrap metal to produce about 800,000 to 1 million tonnes
(Cr), arsenic (As), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd). These elements are of steel billets [4]. The rate of slag generated by the Jorf Lasfar
harmful to human health and present a variable degree of toxicity, plant in EL Jadida exceeds 100,000 tonnes, i.e. 17,000t/year of
depending on their nature and their route of penetration (ingestion, white slag and 90,000t/year of black slag [4]. The white slag is in
breathing, contact with the skin). For example, the intoxication of powder form while black slag looks like aggregate. Black slag has
As, affects the central nervous system and can induce coma and already been studied, which has allowed its recycling in national
even death at 70 to 80mg. It can also affect: the digestive system, the roads [3,4]. However, the white slag has never been recycled. The
nervous system and even the respiratory system. For the Cd, it acts objective of this research is to test the possibility of recycling white
mainly on the respiratory system, the kidneys and on the skin [4]. slag in construction materials in order to minimise the risks of
For the Cr, it is the second air pollutant after benzene, and it affects landfilling. We then present the results of a study on the recycling of
the respiratory system and the skin. At high concentrations of 10µg/ white slag produced by the Sonasid steel plant in Jorf Lasfar. that’s
kg, it attacks the liver and becomes fatal. Cr is even responsible for why, we used white slag as a partial substitute for cement in the
lung cancer, especially in mine workers [4]. Ni is also harmful to mortar mix. Thereafter, à mechanical study was carried out on the
human health and causes asthmatic problems. Pb is also counted mortars produced in order to ensure the technical feasibility of this
among the dangerous elements, indeed, its accumulation can cause recycling.
acute poisoning and various types of anemia. Its concentration in
the blood is 100µg/l, it can increase to reach 250 to 350µg/l as is the Materials and Methods
case for traffic police officers and garage workers [4]. It also affects Used materials
the nervous system and causes an increase in blood pressure, which
leads to cardiovascular disease. This last paragraph shows the risk The White Slags object of this study come from the Sonasid
that landfill poses to human health and the environment, including steel plant of Jorf Lasfar located in the industrial zone of Jorf Lasfar
surface and groundwater and agricultural land. This situation in EL Jadida. This steel plant uses the scrap to produce steel. The
requires the search for a reliable and economic alternative solution. quantity of steel billets produced exceeds 800,000tons/year. This
activity is accompanied by the production of by-products such as
Moreover, geotechnicians have realized the properties of some slag with an annual quantity exceeding 100,000 tons [11]. There
of these by-products, as is the case of coal ash, foundry and steel are two types of slag: black slag, which is granular, and white slag,
mill slag [1,3-7]. These properties can militate for their use in which is fine and is the subject of this experimental study. Black slag
materials as total or partial substitute of aggregates or sands, hence has already been studied [3,4], which has allowed its valorization in
the name of a by-product or co-product. The Moroccan guide of the road sector, however white slag has never been valorized. The
road earthworks provides the class F relating to the by-products objective then of our study, is to evaluate the possibility of recycling
and industrial waste next to the natural soil aggregates of types white slag in mortar. The sand used for making these mortars is
A, B, C and D [11]. The building materials is then an attractive a standardized sand of class 0/2mm. While the cement is class
field to consume important quantities of these by-products. This CPJ 55 and is produced at the Holcim Lafarj company in Oujda.
alternative is nowadays a promising environmental solution, which This experimental study took place in the laboratory of SIGMACO
will allow the reduction of the exhaustive use of natural resources company in Oujda in charge of the production of concrete for the
(aggregates, sand) and the reduction of storage costs. Several ways manufacture of ready-mix concrete.
of valorization of these by-products have been evaluated. Among
these ways, we mention concrete, mortar, roads [1,3,12-20]. This Characterization of the used materials
work focuses on the slag produced during steelmaking as a result The characterization of the white slag and sand used was
of scrap processing. The estimated global rate of slag produced carried out according to Moroccan standards. The cleanliness is
in the world is between 170 million and 250 million tons [21]. evaluated according to the sand equivalent test and the methylene
Morocco has 4 to 5 steel mills, of which we mention the Sonasid blue test according to the standards NM 10.1.147 and NM 10.1.141.
company which has two production units in EL Jadida and one in In addition, the chemical composition of the slag and the cement
Nador. The Sonasid steel plant processes scrap metal to produce used was determined by the X-ray Fluorescence spectrometer (FX).
steel. The melting process takes place in an electric arc furnace at a The production procedure for mortars is described in the Moroccan
temperature of 1500 °C. The raw steel is deposited at the bottom of standard NM 10.1.004 [22] for hydraulic binders. So, three series of
the furnace and on the surface floats a mixture of impurities called mortars have been prepared. The first series is the standard mortar,
slag. After cooling, the slag mixture is separated into white slag, containing 450g of cement, 1350g of standardized sand and 225g
which is fine, and black slag as aggregate. Because of the insufficient of water, which gives three mortar prisms. In the second and third
data, we don’t know the exact quantity of steelworks slag produced series, part of the cement (CPJ35) mass is replaced by the white
nationally but taking into account the 4 steel production units in slag with percentages of respectively 5% and 10%. The prepared
the kingdom, we can estimate the amount of slag produced in the mixtures are introduced into the mortar molds, which will be stored
countries of 500,000 t/year.

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 AMMS.MS.ID.000723.9(5).2022 1080

in a wet cupboard at a temperature of 20 °C. After 24h, they are performed the granulometric study because of the great fineness
demolded, then stored in a water bath at a constant temperature of of the white slag and the absence of the laser diffraction technique.
20 °C. The samples will be crushed after 2, 7 and 28 days to evaluate However, other similar studies have shown that white slag has a
their Compressive Strength (CS) and Flexural Strength (FS). maximum size of 140µm [21].

Results Cleanliness: The sand equivalent test carried out on the white
slag gives 33%, which shows that it is a material of low cleanliness
Characterization
compared to natural sand. In addition, the Methylene blue test gives
0.25. These two results allow to classify the white slag between
sandy-loam and sandy-clay soils according to the Moroccan catalog
of road earthworks (GMTR). On the other hand, and for the sand
used, the sand equivalent value is very high.

The apparent density: The apparent density of the white

slag measured in a cylindrical container of 10 liters gives as result
1.183g/cm3. This value is very close to that of the cement (0,9-1,2g/
cm3).

Chemicals composition: The elemental composition of the of

the white slag is given in Table 1. The results show that the white
slag mainly consists of: CaO, SiO2 and CaF2. with small amounts
Figure 4: Visual aspect of Sonasid’s white slag.
of: Al2O3, MgO, and FeO. The comparison of these results with the
General appearance and grain size: The visual observation chemical composition of black slag [4], shows that the latter is
of the white slag shows that it is a fine powder of gray color rather rich in CaO and Fe2O3 with, also, a low content of Al2O3, MgO.
very similar to cement, they can contain impurities of a few mm For the used cement, we also present its chemical composition on
of dimension in the form of imbrulate (Figure 4). we have not the Table 2.

Table 1: Elemental composition [%] of white slag and comparison with black slag.

Chemical Element CaO SiO2 Fe2O3 FeO Al2O3 K2O PbO CaF2 MgO S
White Slag 61 25 - 1,4 3,7 - - 11 5 3
Black Slag [4] 44,47 13,55 23,39 6,25 0,02 0,01 - 4,16 -

Table 2: Elemental composition [%] of used ciment (CPJ35).

CaO SiO2 Fe2O3 Al2O3 MgO Na2O K2O

62-67 19-25 1-5 2-9 0-3 0-1,5

Study of the feasibility of using white slag in mortar formulation. The second and the third contain respectively 5% and
10% of slag of the total mass of cement (450g). After curing, the
Variation of the mechanical properties of mortars according
mortar prisms studied were crushed, at different ages, by flexion
to the dosage of white slag: We remind that in this study, we used
and compression. The results obtained are summarized in Table 3
white slag in the mortar as a partial substitute of cement (CPJ35).
and Figures 5 & 6 below.
Three series of mortars were confectioned: the first is the standard
Table 3: Mixture composition and compressive and flexural strength of the mortars studied.

Composition (g) CS (MPa) at Different Ages (Days) FS (MPa) at Different Ages (Days)
Cement Sand Slag Water 2 7 28 2 7 28
20.77 29.19 31.52 3.72 5.52 4.60
Mortar Reference 450 1350 0 225
(3,63) (2,27) (3,34) (0,021) (0,54) (0,041)
18.35 27.83 29.60 3.63 4.58 5.25
5% of White Slag 427,5 1350 22,5 225
(0,27) (0,02) (0,008) (0,003) (0,04) (0,2)
17.48 26.03 27.96 3.37 4.26 4.56
10 % of White Slag 405 1350 45 225
(1,93) (2,74) (3) (0,041) (0,28) (0,06)

Interpretation of results increases with age. Thus, for the standard mortar, the CS at 2 days is
20.77Mpa which represents a very satisfactory result with respect
The results presented in Table 3 and Figures 5 & 6 below show
to the strength class of used cement [21]. At 28 days age, the CS
that the Compressive Strength (CS) for the three mixes studied
of the standard mortar approaches 32MPa and is conforms to the

Aspects Min Miner Sci Copyright © Souad El Moudni El Alami

 AMMS.MS.ID.000723.9(5).2022 1081

standard (between 25 and 45MPa) [22]. For 5% of white slag, we slag) change slightly compared to that of the standard mortar
noticed, at all ages, a small decrease in the CS (-2MPA), but the but remains within the norms [22]. These strengths can become
strength at 28 days approaches 30MPa and remains conform to more important if we have ground as has been shown in other
the standard (>25MPa) [22]. For the third series of mortars, we similar studies [4] because the fineness of the particles increases
used 10% of white slag, the results of CS show a decrease of 3MPa the specific surface and decreases the porosity which increases
compared to the reference mortar, but this decrease is small and the compressive strength. However, we noticed that the FS for the
the CS at 28 days is still tolerable and exceeds the limit (>25MPa) standard mortar increased at 7 days to reach its maximum value
[22]. For the variation of Flexural Strength (FS), we note that the (5.52Mpa) then decreases at 28 days to a value of 4.6MPa which
values recorded for the two series based on slag (5% and 10% remains an unexplainable result.

Figure 5: Variation of the Compressive Strength (CS) of the three series of mortars studied.

Figure 6: variation of the Flexural Strength (FS) of the three series of mortars studied.

Aspects Min Miner Sci Copyright © Souad El Moudni El Alami

 AMMS.MS.ID.000723.9(5).2022 1082

Conclusion Application in Road Engineering, Oujda. State Doctorate Thesis, Faculty

of Sciences, Mohamed Premier University, Oujda, Morocco.
This study is carried out on one of the by-products of the steel
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Building Materials. Faculty of Sciences, Mohamed Premier University,
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The results of this research are an initial step in the recycling of 15. Singh N, Mithulraj M, Arya S (2018) Influence of coal bottom ash as fine
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Acknowledgement Sustainable silicon waste material utilization for road construction: an
application of modified binder for marshall stability analysis. Appl Sci
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giving us the samples of white slag to make this study and also for 19. Lin Y, Hu C, Adhikari S, Wu C, Yu M (2019) Evaluation of waste express
having realized the chemical analysis to these by-products. As we bag as a novel bitumen modifier. Appl Sci 9(6): 1242.
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Aspects Min Miner Sci Copyright © Souad El Moudni El Alami