Green Concrete: A Future Low-Carbon Innovation

Created By RISC | 2 years ago

Last modified date : 2 years ago

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As climate change affects our well-being, many sectors are looking to reduce carbon emissions, including construction. From the previous article, we know that the industry has a huge impact on the environment and uses lots of resources, especially concrete.

Did you know that concrete is the second most used building material after water?

Concrete has loads of great properties. It’s durable, fire resistant, and low cost. But concrete needs a lot of cement, whose production has a big impact on the environment. Each ton of cement produces about one ton of carbon dioxide.

Cement is made by burning limestone at 1,500 °C, which creates a lot of carbon dioxide. Globally, this process generates 8% of annual greenhouse gas emissions.

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions from concrete is tough. Technological development around the world aims to cut emissions by using less cement, replacing it with other materials with similar properties.

Chement use electrochemical processes at room temperature rather than 1,500°C. Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) concepts include CarbonCure, which injects carbon dioxide into the concrete while it is still soft. This technology can help reduce carbon by halving energy consumption. Carbon dioxide reacts with the calcium ions in cement to form calcium carbonate, which is retained in the concrete.

Amid climate change, using low-carbon concrete or other materials instead of concrete is vital to meet the world’s 2050 net zero target.

Story by: Woraporn Poonyakanok, Senior Research Engineer at RISC

References: ​
https://breakthroughenergy.org/fellows-project/chement/
https://www.carboncure.com/technologies/