Reducing our Footprint

Reducing our footprint: improved slag processing at Dearborn Works

Since acquiring the Dearborn Works facility in Michigan, Cleveland-Cliffs has undertaken a number of important projects to be a good neighbor and further reduce the plant’s environmental footprint. One area of focus has involved employing new techniques to improve the processing of slag at the site. 

Slag is a co-product of the steelmaking process, which can be sold or used for new applications, such as in road construction where it is used as a base for concrete and hot mix asphalt. 

Dearborn Work’s slag processor, Edw. C. Levy Co., began implementing a new process to produce a co-product from granulated slag called “LevyLite.” LevyLite is manufactured from blast furnace slag and can be used as a lower-GHG emission alternative to cement in concrete production. Concrete made from LevyLite meets or exceeds the performance characteristics of regular cement. Every ton of LevyLite used in concrete production eliminates one ton of GHG emissions and avoids the quarrying of 1.5 tons of natural aggregates and minerals, which substantially reduces the environmental footprint of concrete manufacturing and creates a valuable co-product from steel production.

In partnership with our slag processor in 2020, we improved the slag cooling process to reduce dust generation. We also improved the slag transportation process to reduce steam, odor and potential dust during transport. Other improvements have focused on mitigating roadway dust through sweeping at the gates and along public roadways. Additionally, in response to feedback from neighbors, truck scales were relocated to reduce traffic through residential areas, and we’ve limited the height of material stored in areas visible to the community.

Building on the success of these initiatives at Dearborn Works, we have begun engaging our slag processing contractors at our other steelmaking facilities with the goal of identifying similar improvement projects.