Significant oil shale deposits have been found in the northern Negev of Israel, and contains
a relatively small amount of organic material.

The major components of Israeli oil-shales are calcium oxides. The second major
components are silica, alumina and iron oxides.

The relatively low silica content means it's lacking the pozzolanic properties required for
clinker additive. However, the ratio of major oxides compatible to clinker composition.
Thus, Israeli oil-shales could be potentially used for clinker production.

Our research project will enable using Israeli oil-shales as a raw material for clinker
production. We are characterizing the chemical, mineralogical, and physical properties of
the various layers of oil shales using advanced analytical methods.

Clinker composition consist of mainly oil-shales ("green clinker"), as well as composition
with low content of oil-shales ("gray clinker") are in laboratory trials.

Optimal conditions for both types of clinker production will be studied and the challenges
associated with impurities within the oil-shales such as phosphorus, chlorides and sulfur
oxides will be identified and treated.

The produced clinkers are being tested for compliance with quality requirements. It was
demonstrated that "green clinker" obtained from the oil-shales meets the required mineral
composition and the required compression strengths.

Using oil-shales for clinker production can reduce CO2 emissions by up to ~25%.
The oil-shales mining exposes the bedrock layer of bituminous phosphate, thus enabling
multi-layered exploitation of natural resources. Local cement supply for construction is only 45%. Hence, additional local cement source is strategically required by Israeli governments.

Current results demonstrate the feasibility of producing clinker using the oil-shales both as
mineral source and as energy source, and benefit our community strategically and
environmentally.

The next step in the research is industrial production scale, to find the method to use the
oil-shales in the manufacturing process with optimal engineering and yield results.