Evaluation of Cretaceous-Tertiary Limestones and Clay for Portland Cement in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Due to the high demand for construction in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, it is economically natural resources used to minimize importing from other countries, and to increase working hands. Since, limestone is one of the basic raw materials in the cement industry, for this purpose, in the Harir anticline limestone of the Shiranish Formation was mixed with clay of Fatha Formation, in the Shakrok anticline limestone of the Shiranish Formation mixed with clay of Injana Formation, and in the Binabawi anticline limestone of the Shiranish Formation in mixed with clay of the Mukdadiya Formation, dependent on their suitable nearby site locations for factories from each other. The chemical analysis observed by XRF for specifying the major oxides content of CaO, MgO, SiO2, Al2O3, and Fe2O3. three theoretical mixtures of the cement raw materials showed that they have lower liquid content and higher minimum burning temperature in the burning zone, this problem was solved by adding 0.5% iron ore. The Scanning Electron Microscope and Energy-Dispersive by X-Ray spectroscopy carried out for better observation of clinker phase formation showed that the major phases are alite and belite, which indicates suitable burning conditions. Presence of free lime after burning as shown in SEM is due to high CaO content in the limestone raw material.