Geological Investigation of Parh Limestone for Suitability of Cement Industry

Abstract: In the present study, Parh limestone of Cretaceous age is investigated for its physicochemical and mineralogical characteristics to evaluate for cement manufacturing. The representative limestone samples were collected from various locations of Addu Goth, Winder, Baluchistan. Chemical analysis revealed that the mean concentration of CaO is 57.06% which dominates over other oxides including SiO2 (8.78%) and Al2O3 (1.51%). While the remaining oxides are present in traces in the order of Fe2O3 (0.73%) > MgO (0.57%) > K2O (0.46%) > MnO (0.29%) > TiO2 (0.19%) > NiO (0.18) > Na2O (0.14%). Petrographic study shows the limestone is micritic and varies between packstone to Wackstone. Particle surface morphology using SEM analysis shows the occurrence of fine to medium grain size with compact characteristics which are good for cement manufacturing. Physically it is dark to light grey. Other physical characters such as Loss On Ignition mean value is about (1.40%), Insoluble Residue (9.5%), Specific Gravity (2.64%) and Moisture Content (0.09%) also meet the requirement of cement manufacturing. The ratios analysis revealed that the high value of lime saturated factor (2.1) as compared to other major oxides (SiO2 ,Al2O3 and Fe2O3). The occurrence of the higher amount of CaO in Parh limestone and the presence of other oxides in traces make Parh limestone suitable for white Portland cement manufacturing (WPC) due to the less amount of coloring element. The addition of the required amount of clay for balancing the lime saturated factor will make it feasible for the manufacturing of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). Keywords: Parh Limestone, geological investigation, suitability, cements industry © International Journal of Ground Sediment & Water, ©Sun Jichao. The website is http://ijgsw.comze.com