Keeping in mind the Waste to Wealth and Clean India campaigns, in collaboration with the Ministry of Steel and major steel manufacturing companies, the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), Delhi, has developed innovative steel slag, which is the waste generated during steel production. Steel slag usage is ideal for road construction, it offers an eco-friendly approach to managing industrial waste, is about 30 per cent cheaper than conventional methods and it prevents depletion of precious natural resources. R SRINIVASAN spoke to Satish Pandey, Principal Scientist, CSIR-Central Road Research Institute, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, to learn more. 

India has embarked upon a massive road development programme under Bharatmala and the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP). For the  construction of 1 km of six-lane bituminous road around 60,000 to 80,000 tonne of natural aggregates are required. Many NHAI projects face an acute shortage of this perishable natural resource. Steel slag road technology addresses the scarcity of natural aggregates as it facilitates 100 per cent substitution of natural aggregates with processed steel slag aggregates derived from steel industry waste. CSIR-CRRI has developed guidelines to process and use steel slag as processed steel slag aggregates for road construction. These guidelines were released in November 2023 for pan-India implementation and use of steel slag in road construction.