Solid waste valorization can reduce clinker consumption in cement based materials. This study investigated low clinker ordinary Portland cement (OPC) based binders incorporating phosphorus slag (PS), fly ash (FA), and lithium slag (LS). Unary and binary controls and a three stage ternary design were used to evaluate SCM composition and OPC replacement level. Fresh-state flow, strength, water absorption, quantitative X-ray diffraction (QXRD), thermogravimetric and derivative thermogravimetric analysis (TG/DTG), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), and material-level carbon and energy indicators were evaluated. Among the investigated ternary compositions, the 1:3:6 PS:FA:LS mass ratio at 30% OPC replacement exhibited the highest observed mean strength. Its 7 and 28 d strengths were 32.85 and 51.74 MPa, respectively, with activity indices of 100.74% and 101.47%. Neither strength differed significantly from the OPC reference, and its flow was 198 mm. Increasing OPC replacement to 60% reduced the flow to 150 mm and the 28 d strength to 35.04 MPa. Water absorption concurrently increased from 7.48% to 8.26%. QXRD analysis showed that the normalized CH fraction decreased from 32.0% in the reference to 8.3% at 30% replacement, while AFt increased from 19.4% to 36.2%. TG/DTG showed lower CH content, while representative SEM-EDS fields showed more continuous Ca-Si-Al-bearing hydration-product coverage at 30% than at 60% replacement. Within the adopted inventory boundary, the calculated carbon and energy reductions increased from 27.89% and 28.12% at 30% replacement to 55.78% and 56.25% at 60% replacement. These findings support the joint valorization of PS, FA, and LS as a resource efficient route to reduce clinker demand and material-level carbon and energy burdens while retaining mechanical performance.
