Production and properties of ferrite-rich CSAB cement from metallurgical industry residues

Blast furnace slag from the steel industry is commercially utilized as a cement replacement material without major processing requirements; however, there are many unutilized steel production slags which differ considerably from the blast furnace slag in chemical and physical properties. In this study, calcium sulfoaluminate belite (CSAB) cement clinkers were produced using generally unutilized metallurgical industry residues: AOD (Argon Oxygen Decarburisation) slag from stainless steel production, Fe slag from zinc production, and fayalitic slag from nickel production. CSAB clinker with a target composition of ye'elimite-belite-ferrite was produced by firing raw materials at 1300 °C. The phase composition of the produced clinkers was identified using quantitative XRD analyses, and the chemical composition of the clinker phases produced was established using FESEM-EDS and mechanical properties were tested through compressive strength test. It is demonstrated that these metallurgical residues can be used successfully as alternative raw materials for the production of CSAB cement that can be used for special applications. In addition, it is shown that the available quantities of these side-streams are enough for significant replacement of virgin raw materials used in cement production

Alternative raw materials for the production of calcium sulfoaluminate cement : ladle slag and phosphogypsum

Calcium sulfoaluminate belite (CSAB) cement clinkers were produced using two industrial by-products: ladle slag and phosphogypsum. The phase composition of the produced clinkers was identified using quantitative XRD analyses, and the chemical composition of the clinker phases produced from phosphogypsum was established using FESEM-EDS. We demonstrate that ladle slag and phosphogypsum can be used as alternative raw materials for the production of CSAB cement. We also show that phosphorous from the phosphogypsum can be incorporated into the larnite crystal structure. The mechanical properties of the hydrated/hardened cement are also presented and are comparable with those produced from reagent-grade materials

Ferritic calcium sulfoaluminate belite cement from metallurgical industry residues and phosphogypsum : clinker production, scale-up, and microstructural characterisation

The production of ferrite-rich calcium sulfoaluminate belite (CSABF) cement clinker, also containing MgO, from ladle slag, Fe-slag, and phosphogypsum was translated from a lab-scale to a pilot demonstration in a 7-metre kiln at 1260 °C. An account of the pilot trials/manufacturing is presented, and the process was robust. Laboratory tests prior to scale-up showed that gehlenite formation can be inhibited in the CSABF clinker by adding excess CaO in the raw meal; however, this reduces the amount of iron (Fe) that can be incorporated into ye'elimite and leads to higher ferrite (C6AF2) content. Detailed microstructural analyses were performed on the clinker to reveal the clinker composition as well as the partition of the minor elements. Different ferrite phases with varying amounts of titanium and iron are distinguished. Eighty-five percent of the clinker raw meal was comprised of side-stream materials and the clinker produced in the kiln had chemical raw-material CO2 emissions 90% lower than that of Portland cement made from virgin raw materials. These results can have a significant impact in regions with a prospering metallurgical industry, enabling industrial decarbonisation and resource efficiency

Tasting Soil Fungal Diversity with Earth Tongues: Phylogenetic Test of SATé Alignments for Environmental ITS Data

An abundance of novel fungal lineages have been indicated by DNA sequencing of the nuclear ribosomal ITS region from environmental samples such as soil and wood. Although phylogenetic analysis of these novel lineages is a key component of unveiling the structure and diversity of complex communities, such analyses are rare for environmental ITS data due to the difficulties of aligning this locus across significantly divergent taxa. One potential approach to this issue is simultaneous alignment and tree estimation. We targeted divergent ITS sequences of the earth tongue fungi (Geoglossomycetes), a basal class in the Ascomycota, to assess the performance of SATé, recent software that combines progressive alignment and tree building. We found that SATé performed well in generating high-quality alignments and in accurately estimating the phylogeny of earth tongue fungi. Drawing from a data set of 300 sequences of earth tongues and progressively more distant fungal lineages, 30 insufficiently identified ITS sequences from the public sequence databases were assigned to the Geoglossomycetes. The association between earth tongues and plants has been hypothesized for a long time, but hard evidence is yet to be collected. The ITS phylogeny showed that four ectomycorrhizal isolates shared a clade with Geoglossum but not with Trichoglossum earth tongues, pointing to the significant potential inherent to ecological data mining of environmental samples. Environmental sampling holds the key to many focal questions in mycology, and simultaneous alignment and tree estimation, as performed by SATé, can be a highly efficient companion in that pursuit

Computational methods for exploiting image-based data in paper web profile control

Abstract Sheet and film forming processes such as paper manufacturing pose a challenging monitoring and control problem, where quality variations are classified into machine direction (MD), cross-machine direction (CD) and residual variation. The measurements are typically collected with a scanning sensor that covers only a small part of the paper web, and therefore provides a very limited view of the paper web, setting performance limitations on the online monitoring and control. The development of cameras, light sources and computation hardware enable the consideration of utilizing in-use web inspection systems in paper machines to measure the paper web variations with a considerably higher resolution, sampling rate and coverage. The light transmittance images captured with this kind of system need, however, to be converted into a controllable quality property, such as basis weight, in order to utilize the new measurement information for control purposes. In this thesis, computational methods are identified and developed that are capable of combining light transmittance and scanning measurements, and can efficiently utilize the combined information for control purposes. The possible benefits gained with these image-based measurements in paper machine online monitoring and profile control are evaluated in a simulation environment. In a real paper machine, the benefits are ultimately dependent on the machine configuration and the nature of paper variations therein. It was found that with a suitable estimation method, light transmittance could increase the awareness of basis weight variations such as fast MD variation, tilted waves and dynamic CD variation patterns, which are practically undetectable using scanner-based measurement. The enhanced basis weight estimation enables a considerable improvement in the dynamic performance of profile controls. CD control was able to handle fast variations earlier classified as uncontrollable residual variation. In MD control, enhanced estimation enabled the development of a control strategy that led to improved reference tracking and disturbance rejection properties.Tiivistelmä Paperinvalmistus on yksi esimerkki levyjen tai kalvojen valmistusprosesseista, jotka ovat tyypillisesti haasteellisia prosessin monitoroinnin ja säädön kannalta. Laatuvaihtelut näissä prosesseissa luokitellaan koneensuuntaisiin (MD), poikkisuuntaisiin (CD) ja jäännösvaihteluihin. Paperikoneella mittaukset kerätään tavallisesti radan yli liikkuvalla skannaavalla sensorilla, joka tarjoaa vain hyvin rajoitetun määrän informaatiota paperiradasta, asettaen siten rajoituksia online monitoroinnin ja säädön suorituskyvylle. Kameroiden ja valonlähteiden kehitys sekä laskentakapasiteetin kasvu mahdollistavat paperiradan vaihteluiden mittaamisen huomattavasti korkeammalla resoluutiolla ja näytteenottovälillä jo käytössä olevilla vianilmaisujärjestelmillä. Vianilmaisujärjestelmän keräämä valon transmittanssitieto pitää kuitenkin muuntaa esimerkiksi neliömassatiedoksi, jotta uutta mittausinformaatiota voitaisiin hyödyntää myös prosessin online säädössä nykyisillä toimilaitteilla. Tässä työssä on identifioitu ja kehitetty laskennallisia menetelmiä, jotka kykenevät yhdistämään kuvantavan ja skannaavan mittauksen sekä käyttämään tätä yhdistettyä tietoa säätötarkoituksissa. Kuvapohjaisen mittauksen mahdollisia hyötyjä online monitoroinnissa ja profiilien säädössä on arvioitu simulointiympäristössä. Saavutettavat hyödyt paperikoneella ovat lopulta riippuvaisia myös koneen konfiguraatiosta ja koneella ilmenevien laatuvaihteluiden luonteesta. Tulokset osoittavat, että transmittanssimittauksen ja tehokkaan estimointimenetelmän avulla kyetään lisäämään tietämystä neliömassamuutoksista, joita ei käytännössä voida havaita pelkän skannaavan mittauksen avulla. Estimoinnin parempi suorituskyky mahdollistaa myös profiilisäätöjen dynaamisen suorituskyvyn kasvattamisen. CD-säätö voitiin laajentaa kattamaan myös nopeita vaihteluita, jotka ovat aiemmin luokiteltu jäännösvaihteluksi. MD-säädölle voitiin kehittää säätöstrategia, jonka avulla sekä asetusarvojen seurantaa että häiriöiden vaimennusta pystyttiin parantamaan

Observations on the parameter estimation problem of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell polarization curves

Abstract The optimal operation of fuel cells in changing environmental and variable load conditions requires mathematical modeling. The electrochemical behavior of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) is commonly described with a semi‐empirical model requiring fuel cell specific model parameter values. A large number of different nature inspired, heuristic optimization methods have been proposed for this PEMFC parameter estimation problem. In this study, those studies are listed and critically reviewed. In particular, the aim is to elaborate the generalization ability of the results and discuss the fair comparison of the algorithms used for the parameter estimation of the polarization curve. The observations made in this review could further increase the quality of future contributions in this particular area, as well as applications of heuristic optimization methods in other related problems in fuel cell systems

Sarcosoma globosum - an indicator of climate change?

Occurrence of a spring ascomycete, Sarcosoma globosum has increased in Finland during the last three decades. River banks and old spruce forests are its typical habitats. Some of its habitats are damaged or even destroyed, however, because of forestry and building of roads and houses. It is a care-demanding fungus on the Finnish Red List, according to the IUCN criteria, but its present status is being discussed