Study of the Mineral and Chemical Variation of the Raw Material Mix Used for Production of the Clinker and the Sulfate Resistant Portland Cement of Al-Hadbaa Plant, Hammam Al-Alil, Iraq

Abstract

Twenty-four samples (6 samples of raw material mix slurry, 9 samples of cement clinker, 9 samples of sulfate resistant cement) are collected during four months from the production line of Al-Hadbaa Cement Plant, which operates in a wet production method, in Hammam Al-Alil district, south of Mosul city. Some of the studied samples are analyzed for mineral diagnosis by X-ray diffraction device, chemical analysis by X-ray fluorescence device, gravimetric titrimetric chemical methods, and petrographic study for the clinker samples by reflected light microscope and using etching solutions. The research aims to study the variation of the mineral and chemical content in the studied samples. The mineral and petrographical study show that there is no significant difference in the mineral content between the samples of the same type and that the difference is in the percentage of the presence of minerals. The raw materials mix mainly contains calcite and quartz. As for clinker and cement, it contains a lite phase C3S with a stable growth (pure) type with a monoclinic crystal system and a type of unstable growth (impure and containing inclusions) with a trigonal crystal system. In addition to the belite phase C2S of shapes β, α, and ᾱ, the aluminate phase C3A and C12A7 type and the alkaline type containing Na, the ferrite phase C4AF and C2F and the phase of fine crystalline glass. The chemical study indicates that the content of most of the main components SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO, MgO, SO3, Na2O, K2O, TiO2, MnO, P2O5, Cl, and LOI for the raw materials mix, clinker, and cement are close to the samples of the same type of the studied samples. It confirms the proposed specifications by some researchers, except for the deviation in K2O, Fe2O3. It is noticed from comparing the expected clinker content with the actual clinker, as well as calculating some of the qualitative control modules (lime saturation factor, silica, and alumina modulus) to the presence of relative stability in the content of the raw mix and cement produced in the studied cement plant.