REACTIVE ALUMINIA · POZZOLANS · PC
Technical and Scientific Consulting Services in the industrial manufacturing of more eco-efficient and less polluting cements and concretes.
Since 2017, SACAH SL has offered consulting services, advice, and scientific and technical support for the manufacture of Calcined Clays (CC) at appropriate temperatures and aerobic conditions in cement Plants.
To design and dose new Portland-based cements, with or without limestone filler and/or other SCMs, with the optimal amount of setting regulator (natural gypsum stone) for their construction use and with the pozzolanic activity, mechanical strength, volume stability, and durability required by current standards and regulations, which are more eco-efficient and environmentally friendly than current cements.
We offer our services in each of our clients’ OWN LABORATORY.
Which REDUCES COSTS and, therefore, the price of our technical and scientific advice.
Experience
More than a decade innovating in cement, reinventing its manufacturing and minimizing its contribution to Global Warming or Greenhouse Effect.
With our pioneering methodology you can perform better, safer, faster and more economical, the Quality Control of each batch of CC produced and its chemical verification, and the amortization of the economic investment to produce it (CAPEX, OPEX).
Industrial design
Project management
Engineering design
Research + Online
Technical support
Strategic planning
We are specialized in…
Chemical and physical characterization of natural and artificial active mineral additions
Chemical characterization (including pozzolanic and sulphatic), physical (including particle size distribution), and mechanical (Strength Activity Index) of:
Natural and artificial active mineral additions, especially pozzolans, above all, because their variability is considerably greater in all orders, as will be seen below, than ground granulated blast furnace slags or GGBFS (SCMs).
Non-active: siliceous (QF) and limestone filler (LF) type.
These SCMs must always have priority, supremacy and preponderance over the limestone filler especially and, above all, under penalty of a shorter expected useful life of their Portland-based cements.
SCMs: Natural pozzolans, whether calcined or not, fly ash, thermally activated clays, calcined shales, silica fume, etc., and GGBFSs, which should always have priority, supremacy, and preponderance over non-active ones, especially and, above all, limestone filler (LF), to replace PC in amounts according to their reactive alumina content (Al2O3r– (%)) or tetra- and/or penta-coordinated aluminium, case of the pozzolans, and to minimize the contribution of cement Plants to Global Warming.
However, in the case of siliceous filler, whose nature and chemical character is completely opposite to that of limestone, its optimal quantity will determine and ensure the necessary acid><base–solid><liquid chemical reaction that must occur with the hydration of the PC-based cementitious system and the liquid phase, like that of pure PC, ensuring the mechanical strength, volume stability, and durability necessary for its construction purpose.
To learn the reason for each optimal quantity of siliceous filler required, but above all, to learn how it is determined in each case, don’t hesitate:
Durability of Portland cement concrete with and without mineral additions
Active mineral additions: natural pozzolans, fly ash, thermally activated clays, calcined shale, silica fume, etc., and GGBFSs, and non-active mineral additions: siliceous and limestone fillers.
In front of sulphates and chlorides attack, separately and exclusively, or together in seawater, of CO2 from the air (carbonation) and aggregate><alkali reactivity (AAR).
Why choose us?
The team of professionals at SACAH S.L. combines innovative technical and scientific experience, specialized knowledge, and ongoing specific support in the cement Plant’s own LABORATORY, which REDUCES COSTS.
Technical specialization
Extensive experience and specialized knowledge allow us to offer detailed analysis and unique, specific solutions tailored to the available clay matrix (whose mineralogical composition and colour variability can be considerable from one quarry to another) for the new chemical challenges that the cement Plant will have to face in order to become more competitive in every sense, including the environmental aspect, above all and very especially.
Processes Optimization
We help to identify areas for improvement in the production process of new PC with or without CC and/or other SCMs, and in the formulation of their blends with or without the limestone filler (LF) of each cement Plant, the optimization of the rest of the raw materials and, particularly, the setting regulator: quantity of natural gypsum depending on the Al2O3r– content (%) of the CC produced in the cement Plant itself and the C3A content (%) of its PC manufactured as well, its ratio of possible mixtures for each construction use and the ratio of the CP/GGBFS blend (which begins to have autogenous pozzolanic characteristics in endogenous ones and guarantees greater replacement), or that of the PC/siliceous filler (QF) ratio (QS), and the reduction of other industrial waste (from paper mills origin and from other industries, mine tailings, etc.) and urban waste for its recovery as artificial pozzolan through its proper incineration also if necessary.
Quality Control
We develop and oversee new quality control programs to ensure and verify that the final product –produced CC and its Portland-based blended cements with and without limestone filler (LF) and/or other active mineral additions– meets the required standards for pozzolanic activity, mechanical strength, volume stability, and durability. To this end, we will provide rapid, cost-effective analytical methods to first guarantee the quality of each batch of calcined clay produced and then verify it in order to promptly determine the appropriate kiln temperature and transit speed of each batch of matrix clay through it.
Research and development
We collaborate in R&D projects to environmentally improve existing products, design and develop new CC type MCSs (with and without limestone filler as their raw material is clayey marl or clay only, respectively), pozzolans and/or calcined schists, based on their Al2O3r– (%) content, or innovative processes to produce them, and thus maintain the competitiveness of the Cement Plant by further minimizing its current contribution to Global Warming with CC.
Problem resolution
We offer our expertise to identify the root cause of variations in the quality of the CC produced in the cement Plant or problems with the optimal dosage of setting regulator (natural gypsum stone), rheological, setting and heat of hydration, mechanical strength, volume stability and/or durability of new Portland-based cements and concretes manufactured with said produced CC and propose effective solutions to solve them.
Training and qualification
We can provide training and capacity building in matters related to the thermal activation of clays with and without significant contents of Fe2O3 (%), limestone and other mineral salts or oxides and their quality control and rapid verification of the acceptance or rejection of the batch produced, which contributes to the development of skills and increased operational efficiency of employees who will be involved in the design, manufacture and quality control and verification of the new cements and concretes mentioned above.
