Subheader Icon 877-412-3651
Request a quote
Article ThyssenKrupp is making roads out of metal? Image

ThyssenKrupp has found a way to produce an asphalt cover material from refuse from the steel manufacturing process. In conjunction with its partly owned DEUTAG, they have created LiDonit. LiDonit is a synthetic mineral substance produced using slag from the steel melting process in conjunction with calcium and silicon oxide.  “This creates a high volume of stability and equally strong firmness”. “Mixed with bitumen, fiber and mineral substances the resultant material assures cars of a better grip on the road while protecting the pavement from heavy loads.” In reusing a refuse material for another purpose, ThyssenKrupp has found a way to step into the Green Movement.

This material will cut down on the natural stone that would have to be broken out of quarries, reducing the footprint on natural resources.  Slag has finally been found to be more than just waste.  Steel works No. II of ThyssenKrupp Stahl AG in Duisberg-Beeckerwerth, Germany is the only plant in the world where slag is being stabilized. After the slag is separated from the steel it is carted away, where additives are added and mixed to produce the LiDonit material. It is then poured into beds that have been created for this purpose. This process continues for several days in a row. Left for a week to cool, it solidifies with total evenness, after the cooling period bulldozers remove the material.  The material is then “cracked down into different granulations” for use with asphalt.

Loaded train cars filled with slag have been dumped from the other steel mills for years, creating large deposits of this unused resource. How much better for the environment would it be to use this product worldwide? How would this impact the world’s natural resources? Can other useful products be manufactured from steel production refuse?

Related Articles

Latest Sandia Researchers Develop Faster Method to Evaluate Heat-Shield Materials Image
Aerospace

Sandia Researchers Develop Faster Method to Evaluate Heat-Shield Materials

Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a method to more rapidly evaluate heat-shield materials used on hypersonic vehicles. The work was carried out as part of a three-year research project that combined computer modeling, laboratory testing, and flight experiments. Heat shields, formally known as thermal protection systems, are used to protect vehicles from extreme heat and p

Latest G20 Critical Minerals Framework Sets Out Path for African Processing and Jobs Image
Industry News

G20 Critical Minerals Framework Sets Out Path for African Processing and Jobs

Africa holds more than half the world’s cobalt, nearly 48% of its manganese, and roughly a fifth of its natural graphite. It also sits on significant reserves of copper, nickel, lithium, and platinum group metals. Yet most of these minerals leave the continent in raw or semi-processed form, only to return as finished clean energy products made elsewhere. A new framework developed under South Af

Latest General Galactic Plans October Launch to Test Water-Only Satellite Propulsion Image
Aerospace

General Galactic Plans October Launch to Test Water-Only Satellite Propulsion

Space startup General Galactic is preparing to fly a 500 kg (1,100 lb) satellite powered entirely by water. The company has booked a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare slot for October 2026 to carry out the demonstration, called Trinity. General Galactic was co-founded by CEO Halen Mattison, a former SpaceX engineer, and CTO Luke Neise, a Varda Space veteran. Their satellite will carry a single tank of

Latest NASA Funds Hypersonic Flight-Test Studies With Two New Awards Image
Aerospace

NASA Funds Hypersonic Flight-Test Studies With Two New Awards

NASA has awarded contracts worth a combined $1.7 million to two companies to study how their existing vehicles could support reusable hypersonic flight testing. The work sits under NASA’s Hypersonic Technology Project, part of the agency’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program. SpaceWorks Enterprises of Atlanta, Georgia, received $500,000 to examine its X-60 platform. Stratolaunch of Mojave, California