Sinem Ünlü Orhan – UTO / ETA Expert – CPC Certification
Our cement industry, which is a small part of our civilization struggling with epidemics, natural disasters caused by the climate crisis, and economic and political crises, has another crisis, which is the raw material crisis. Certainly not because it has less impact than all the other negative developments listed, but highly relevant to all of them. This is due to the fact that cement is an important input to the construction industry, as well as one that affects human health and life as a result of its use in the sector, which means it must be produced and monitored in accordance with public interest since it has a significant environmental impact. These are the aspects that make cement more than just a building material. The safety of each business it is involved in is only possible with the existence of producers with the appropriate quality infrastructure and awareness, institutions that define the provisions that these producers must follow, and institutions that monitor and supervise whether all this production is made in accordance with the provisions.
In times of crisis, where raw materials are more valuable than ever, it is difficult to be a manufacturer that strives to make its product different from that of its competitors, because there are few combinations left to try to produce higher quality cement, and this innovative chemical additive that will make a difference will likely deviate from the standard that should be provided. Deviations from the standard are not always negative, as there are always silver linings to be found, such as when a result is better than expected.
I would like to make things more concrete with an exampl within the industry. The use of fly ash in cement has been going on since the beginning of the last century. With its standardization, the quality of cement with fly ash added increased from day to day. Both the raw material crises that I mentioned at the beginning of my article and the ecological approaches that should be adopted by everyone are pushing us all to be more eco-friendly. The use of this material, which is released by the burning of coal and kept with the help of filters in the chimneys, in cement, and obtaining positive results are the manifestations of this approach I mentioned. What about when you want to use a non-standardized additive, all the answers to the questions of what to do, from which institutions to prove its reliability with which approvals, are available in the National Regulation on Construction Products.
The nature of regulations is that they are not very enjoyable to read. This article includes a summary that we assure you will be more enjoyable than reading the regulatory text.
In Turkey, materials without harmonized or national standards or those deviating from them can be placed on the market with the National Technical Approval (UTO), followed by the G Marking. ETAs (European Technical Approval) and CE markings follow the ETA to offer the equivalent of this approval to the market throughout the EU countries, within member states of the European Free Trade Union, and within countries that have mutual agreements with the EU, even if they do not belong to this union.
Going back to my example, the use of fly ash as a cement additive is a practice that has existed since the beginning of the last century, as I said. The use of floor ash, which is very similar to fly ash in nature, not only in the chimney part like fly ash but also accumulated in the boiler as a cement additive, took place in recent history that we have witnessed. We had the opportunity, as CPC Certification, to work with companies producing cement with bottom ash during the certification phase, observe their processes, and support them. Let us also give you the news that domestic/agricultural waste ashes will be preferred by the producers in the coming days since the source of the ash is not a fossil fuel like coal, but domestic and agricultural wastes and these wastes are quite suitable for use as cement additives in terms of their physical, chemical and mineralogical content. In fact, we have conducted similar UTO/ETA studies with our solution partner companies that produce cement using this additive, and we are sure, thanks to the results of the tests, that this additive gives better results in some aspects than the standard values. Thus, these products were placed on the market in accordance with the regulations.
A similar situation exists for slag waste generated in the iron and steel industries. The slag can be used as an additive in cement by passing through crushing and screening units and making it workable, thanks to its pozzolanic feature originating from the minerals it contains. Likewise, the preparation of the technical specifications for cement with steelwork slag, which has been transformed into raw material from being waste, was also a process that we were a part of.
Since the use of these alternatives in cement makes it possible to optimize costs for producers in addition to their eco-friendly aspect, it is obvious that this budget-friendly approach will be adopted in the sector and will not lose its effect for a long time.
All those crises that I mentioned at the beginning of my article do not drag all of us, our economies, and our sectors to dead ends. All these crises push us all to be more creative, to increase our research and development activities, to make appropriate regulations, and to follow them, and there is no reason why all these crises should not be turned into opportunities. The use of wastes or alternative raw materials in cement without conflicting with the regulations is possible by documenting them with the technical specifications that we will prepare tailor-made for your product.
