3-week course 

Calcined Clay Cement Course

A 12-part training course covering the technology, issues and challenges of switching to calcined clay cement production from traditional cements.

There is a long history of the use of calcined clay in cement and concrete. However, the levels of clinker substitution that are being targeted with the latest limestone calcined clay cement, LC3, are higher than has been attempted in the past. In this respect the technology is new and is being pushed into hitherto unchartered territory. Inevitably this poses challenges and questions for the cement companies implementing this strategy:

• What type of clay must be sought and calcined?
• How will the clay need to be processed before calcining?
• How reactive will the calcined clay when replacing clinker in cement and concrete?
• Which technology to use for calcining the clay?
• Should the calcined clay be used as a clinker substitute in blended cement?.......or as a cement substitute in concrete?
• In blended cement should the calcined clay be interground with the clinker or separately ground and blended?
• How to switch existing cement customers from current cement products to new cement products containing calcined clay?
• How will the performance of the new cements be matched to existing cement products?
• How to gain customer acceptance of the new calcined clay cement products?
• What will be the product licensing requirements for the new cements?
• Are there other complementary products that could be produced alongside the calcined clay cements?

In this course we are going to attempt to address all these questions. Often there is no right and wrong answer to these questions, only options.


The 12 sessions of the course will cover the following:

1. Introduction to calcined clay cements
2. History of calcined clay cements
3. Clay raw material
4. Calcined clay reactivity and product development
5. Product licensing
6. Rotary kiln or flash calcining
7. Clay mining, stockpiling and preparation
8. Clay thermochemistry
9. Grinding and blending
10. Calcined clay cement plant design
11. Beyond calcined clay
12. Calcined clay projections and latest projects

The online lectures will be supplemented by Excel based exercises to supplement the learning and understanding process in the tried and proven CemNet Training format. Around 5+ hours per week over the 3 week course are required to complete this course.

The course is suitable for anyone who is interested in the ways and means to decarbonise the cement industry. This will include managers, technical and commercial cement industry personnel. In particular anyone who is involved in the development of strategy for cement companies.

Course Material

Throughout the course the lectures are supplemented with exercises allowing participants to relate course material to their cement factories, or the cement factories of their clients in the case of equipment or service suppliers to the cement industry. 

Certification is achieved by completing a satisfactory level of exercises, and by end of module exams.The course is complete with downloadable handouts of the lectures, exercises, and reading material for the training record. Around 5+ hours of study per week.