Cement production by cement-bonded wood particleboard wastes

To improve the sustainability of cement and concrete production, there is an increasing trend towards using industrial wastes throughout their production processes. The aim is to find new resources that can be used in any step of cement and concrete production and to find solutions to many problems related to the disposal of wastes. This article discusses the use of wastes generated from cement-bonded wood particle board (CB) manufacturing in cement production. CB waste, which basically contains wood chips and hydrated cement, cannot be recycled within the CB process itself; it thus has to be disposed of and does not have any economic value. However, CB waste can be burned in cement rotary kilns, which may result in certain energy savings due to the presence of wood particles as a secondary fuel. Furthermore, the hydrated cement may decompose and clinker compounds may reform during a calcination process. This work investigated the possibility of using CB waste in cement manufacturing and its effects on energy consumption and cement characteristics. The results indicate that CB waste can be successfully used to partially replace the raw mix in cement plants.