Activated Clay as Cementitious Supplementary Material for the Reduction of CO2

09:45 - 10:00: Welcome by Stephan Oehme (VDMA / ECTS)

10:00 - 10:30: Keynote: The importance of activated clay for the cement industry
Dr. Simone Schulze, VDZ Technology gGmbH

The presentation will give insights to the use of activated clay in the cement industry and give an overview about the technical challenges and the regulatory framework.

10:30 - 12:00: Podium
The podium will discuss the topic calcined clay from various perspectives.

- Moderation: Stephan Oehme, ECTS/VDMA
- Low Carbon Cement (Calcined Clay Opportunity) in African countries: Unlocking Low Investment Cost in Increasing Cement Capacity to Build Required Infrastructure - Daniel Adedokun, Director Geocycle Hauxin Cement Nigeria
- Thermo-processing of clay for a new building material - Reiner Furthmann, Managing Director/CTO/CSO-Aumund Fördertechnik GmbH
- Calzisol® - Clays from the Westerwald area as a source for high reactive main cement constituent - Dr. Christoph Piribauer, Stephan Schmidt Gruppe
- A different way to activate clay - Leo Fit, Product Manager Activated Clay, thyssenkrupp Polysius GmbH and Dr. Simone Schulze, VDZ Technology gGmbH 

12:00 - 12:30: Keynote: Meta-Clay Development: Methods and Process Optimization at IAB
Matthias Händel, IAB Weimar gGmbH

The presentation provides a scientific overview of meta-clay development at IAB, covering calcination routes using flash calcinator, rotary kiln, chamber kiln, and hydrothermal reactor. It discusses the influence of additives as well as milling strategies and mechanical activation on the reactivity of calcined clays. The talk highlights both the possibilities and the key challenges for optimizing meta-clay as a future building material.

12:30 - 13:00: Keynote: Activated clays as SCMs: Challenges from raw materials to application
Dr. Matthias Maier, Fraunhofer-Institut für Bauphysik IBP 

The presentation will focus on the application of activated clays as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). It covers the impact of clay mineralogy and activation methods on the reactivity and performance in cementitious systems, including workability, strength development, and durability. It further discusses challenges arising from raw-material variability, processing scale-up, and standards, with case studies illustrating sustainability gains in cementitious systems.

13:00 - 13:30: Keynote: Benefits of dry agitated bead mills for mechanical activation of clays
Mario Stolz, Netzsch Feinmahltechnik GmbH 

Benefits of dry agitated bead mills for mechanical activation of clays Mechanochemical activation (MCA) is a rapidly growing technology in many areas of materials science. One of the main applications of MCA is the activation of additives in cement, known as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). SCMs such as fly ash, granulated blast furnace slag, and silica fume are by-products of other industries and therefore contribute to waste recycling. Although these materials have inherent pozzolanic properties that qualify them for use in concrete mixes, their reactivity is significantly enhanced by mechanochemical activation. In addition, materials such as clays, which have little or no pozzolanic properties by nature, can also be made usable by MCA. When activating clays, waste materials from existing pits or low-grade clays from the clay and ceramics industry can also be mechanically activated, thus offering a similar resource-efficient production of SCMs as the by-products mentioned above. The presentation will provide insights in the generals working principle of dry agitated bead mills used for MCA of clays and underline the benefits of the PAMIR for this application.

13:30 - 14:00: Jan Böhringer, HÄNDLE GmbH Maschinen und Anlagenbau