Limestone Calcined Clay Cement Project

LC3 is a ternary cement that can achieve strengths similar to OPC even at
clinker factors as low as 40% to 50%. The remaining cement is a blend of crushed
limestone and calcined clay. LC3 promises to support a sustainable growth by
reducing emissions, energy consumption, capital and production costs, and wastage of
raw materials.
LC3 has been developed in an international collaboration between the University
of Las Villas, Cuba and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzlerand,
which was funded by the Swiss government. LC 3 takes advantage of the synergetic
hydration of clinker, calcined clay and crushed limestone to achieve the performance
required from commercial cements, even at clinker factors as low as 0.40. The low
quality limestone and clay used in the LC 3 blend ensure that the cement can be
produced at costs lower than even PPC, without the risk of unsoundness. Since clays
with low kaolinite contents, after calcination at relatively lower temperatures of
700°C to 800°C, can be used along with low calcite limestones with impurities such as
quartz and dolomite, this cement can reduce wastage of raw materials and increase
the life of mines. Furthermore, the lower processing required in the ingredients of LC 3
ensures a lower capital investment required for the same incremental increase in
production capacity.
Funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, this project will
carry out the research and development required to develop a standard that would
allow the use of this cement in general use applications. The international,
collaborative and inclusive approach makes this a unique project that will consider
the interests and concerns of stakeholders from academia and industry, and the
government. Most importantly, LC3 promises to support the commitment of the
Indian cement industry to grow sustainably.
Researchers from IIT Delhi, IIT Madras and IIT Bombay are working together
with the personnel of TARA to understand and develop LC 3 for the Indian cement
Industry. The current studies focus on:
• Ecology and economy including energy, emissions, resource availability and
capital and production costs,
• Workability and ease of construction including water demand, admixture
compatibility, rheology, setting and fneness,
• Mechanical properties including compressive, tensile and fexural strength,
creep and shrinkage,
• Durability including transport properties, corrosion due to carbonation and
chloride ingress, alkali silica reaction, sulphate attack and leaching.
Through this work, draft standards on LC 3 will be developed and submitted to
the Bureau of Indian Standards to allow the use of the cement in India.
 The LC3 Technology
Two pilot productions of LC3, producing around 170 tonnes of fve diferent
blends of the cement, have been carried out in India. Several other blends of LC3
have been produced and tested in the laboratory. Wide-ranging laboratory and feld
studies on LC3 have been carried out in India and the current understanding of LC3 is
discussed below.
The production of LC3 requires either inter-grinding or blending of clinker,
limestone, calcined clay and gypsum. Clays, typically containing 50% to 60% of
kaolinite have been found to be suitable. Such clays are widely available in India with
ferruginous minerals, other clay minerals and quartz as impurities and are not
suitable for use in other industries. The clays can be calcined at 700 °C to 800 °C to
remove its chemically attached hydroxyl groups, making it amorphous and reactive.
Suitable clays can be easily identifed by measuring the weight-loss in the clay
between 300 °C and 800 °C using Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) or a mufe
furnace since the kaolinite phase loses 14% of its weight in this temperature range.
This can be verifed using X-Ray Difraction (XRD), where the kaolinite and other
peaks are visible.
Siliceous and aluminous limestones with as little as 35% CaO and dolomitic
limestones with as little as 29% CaO and 21% MgO, measured using X-Ray
Fluorescence have been found to be suitable for LC3. Such limestone is widely
available limestone mines of cement plants in India and is generally not usable for
clinker production. Suitable limestones can be identifed by measuring the weight-loss
between 700 °C and 800 °C and by XRD. The calcined clay and limestone can be
ground or blended with normal clinkers and gypsum available in India.
LC3 blends containing around 50% clinker along with clay and limestone in
gravimetric ratios of 2:1 have been found to give 28-day strengths similar to OPCs
made using the same clinker. This is due to the synergetic reaction of all components
of LC3 with each other. While the early (1 to 7 day) strength of LC3 has been seen to
be similar to slightly lower than OPC, it is higher than that of PPC produced using
the same clinker and a typical Indian fy ash. The fneness of the clay should be
controlled since fner clays can increase water-demand of the cement. The presence of
limestone reduces the water-demand of the cement.
LC3 is understood to have a fner pore-structure than OPC and a high chloride
binding capacity. It is therefore durable against corrosion, sulphate attack and other
deterioration mechanisms, making it suitable in aggressive conditions.
It is expected that LC3 will be economical to produce at most locations where
good quality fy ash is not available easily. CO 2 emissions from LC3 production are
expected to be 30% lower than OPC and 11% lower than PPC. Energy consumption
in its production is also expected to be lower than OPC and PPC.