Evaluation of Clay Deposits and Limestone for the Manufacture of Ordinary Portland Cement in the Bazian Basin, Northern Iraq

This study aims to provide a potential reserve of clay and limestone suitable for manufacturing Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) in the Bazian Basin area within Sulaymaniyah Governorate. The limestone rocks of the Sinjar Formation and the limestone rocks of the Pela Spi Formation were evaluated, and the clay deposits from the Quaternary sediments and the clay of the Gercus and Kolosh formations were assessed. In the chemical study of the limestone of the Pila Spi Formation, the percentage of magnesium oxide (MgO) is very high, reaching 22.17%. This percentage does not meet the requirements of the cement industry, as the chemical study showed, the limestone deposits of the Sinjar Formation are considered to have high purity and lime content. The chemical analysis of clay deposits for the Kolosh Formation showed the percentage of magnesium is very high, reaching 22%, this high percentage is impossible to use as raw materials for cement production OPC. As for clay deposits in the Gercus Formation contain a good percentage of iron oxide, which is considered an important oxide for the cement industry, but the high percentage of magnesium made it unsuitable as a raw material for the cement industry. It can be used by as little up to 10% to raise iron oxide, As for the Quaternary deposits, the study showed that Quaternary deposits with physical and chemical properties are suitable for the cement industry OPC. The common minerals in the clays showed X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) and photography of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) that they contain a variety of clay minerals, namely smectite, chlorite, ilite, and palygorskite. Clinker was produced from the mixture of raw materials (RW) using clay of Quaternary deposits of 32.31% with limestone rocks of the Sinjar Formation by 67.69% with a lime saturation factor of 96%. All the equivalent coefficients of oxides were calculated and the mixture (RW) was burned. The metal phases of the produced clinker were diagnosed using X-ray diffraction (XRD).