ABSTRACT

Sustainable Development Goal number 12, ‘Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns’, establishes the objective of sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources by the year 2030 and substantial reductions of waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse. In this context, the recycling of waste from the steel and iron-making industry for use as raw material in the construction industry is addressed in the present work. In doing so, in addition to recycling waste that might otherwise be dumped, the consumption of natural raw

materials is reduced. With these aims in sight, several mortars are designed, seeking to achieve different strengths, with the partial substitution of natural components for by-products from the steelmaking industry. Fresh and hardened mortar properties were tested. The main use of the mortars was for structural rehabilitation works, so special attention was placed on the bond between fresh mortars and hardened substrate. Achieving dosages with high bonding strengths figured among the main challenges of this work in which very encouraging results were obtained.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to express their gratitude to the following entities for having funded this research: the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033; the “European Union”, through NextGenerationEU/PRTR [PID2020-113837RB-I00; PID2021-124203OB-I00 and TED2021-129715B-I00], “ERDF A way of making Europe”, and ERDF [UIC-231]; the Junta de Castilla y León (Regional Government); the Basque Government [IT1619-22 SAREN research group]; and the University of Burgos [Y135.GI].