ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India launches eco-friendly steel slag brand Aakar; Aakar supplies steel slag for national highways, bullet trains, and construction projects, reducing carbon footprints and waste disposal issues

▪ The steelmaker has pioneered the technology for reusing steel slag in the construction of roads and is supplying it for national highways, bullet train, and other projects.

ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India), a joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel, two of the world’s leading steelmakers, today launched its steel slag brand ‘Aakar’ at Sthapatya exhibition in Surat.

The brand launch took place in the presence of Union Minister of State for Railways and Textiles Darshana Jardosh, Surat Mayor Hemali Boghawala, Surat Municipal Corporation Standing Committee Chairman Paresh Patel, and attended by leading civil engineers, industry representatives, and government officials.
 
AM/NS India has pioneered the technology for reusing steel slag, a by-product obtained during the primary steel manufacturing process, in the construction of roads and national highways. AM/NS India has also demonstrated the use of steel slag in road construction and is supplying the same for national highways and other road projects.
 
“Steel slag is an environment-friendly and cost-effective alternative to natural aggregate in road and building construction. The launch of our steel slag brand Aakar is to make the steel slag market more organised and to create greater awareness about it and its various benefits,” said Aruni Mishra, Head of Capex Procurement & Secondary Sales, AM/NS India.
 
Steel slag is an ideal aggregate material due to its shape, high abrasion resistance, and excellent skid resistance properties. It also has a higher load-bearing capacity compared to natural aggregates.
 
The substitution of natural aggregates with those made from steel slag in construction of roads and highways can revolutionise road construction segment. It not also reduces carbon footprints and waste disposal issues but can be a substitute for natural aggregate. Extensive research work is going on in this field and results are encouraging that roads constructed with steel slag will meet out NH specifications and we are looking at ways to increase the use of steel slag in highway construction,” said Tushar Vyas, Project Director at National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
 
In addition to road construction, steel slag also has applications in precast, paver blocks, brick making, ready mix concrete, tetrapod, landfilling, land reclamation, etc. Moreover, slag is readily available in bulk quantity.

AM/NS India’s 9 million tonnes per annum integrated steel plant at Hazira alone generates around 5.5 lakh tonnes of processed steel slag per annum. The size of the steel slag ranges from 0.5 mm to 250 mm.
 
AM/NS India built the country’s first road using steel slag in Hazira near its steel plant in May 2021. The company used one lakh tonnes of 100% processed steel slag aggregates in the construction of the 1.2 km all-steel slag road. The company is supplying steel slag for the construction of a nearly 37 km stretch of the Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway, besides various state highways and roads in Surat.
 
AM/NS India’s steel slag is being used in the construction of the Surat airport, and the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor (bullet train) project. Four patches of 1 km each from the highway to the upcoming Diamond Bourse in Surat have also been built using steel slag aggregates.