Steel Slag for road construction and railways

A recent seminar on promoting awareness and usage of steel slag, organised by the Ministry of Steel and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) saw prominent participants advocating the use of steel slag for railways and road construction. The slag, which is a byproduct generated during the steel making process, has high abrasion resistance, good soundness characteristics, high bearing strength and basicity which make it suitable to be used as ballast for railways as well as in road making as a replacement for natural aggregates. The seminar served a platform to bring regulators as well as stakeholders from various industries to achieve the goal of framing proper regulations, procedures and guidelines for the testing, processing and usage of steel slag. It was felt that the roads sector in India, being the world’s largest, has the highest capability to absorb industrial co-products such as steel slag, while also addressing costs of road construction.