CO2 utilisation in concrete
Recent ICR articles have given plenty of attention to the theme of decarbonisation of cement manufacture. One way of using this CO2 is to “lock” it into concrete as the world requires increasing amounts of this building material.
Concrete use has spiralled upwards as the global population has increased
Back in April 2021 the Technical Forum took the theme of the imperative and the challenge of decarbonising cement manufacture. We can read various estimates of the proportion of anthropogenic carbon dioxide, CO2, arising from cement manufacture. Historically this was said to be approximately five per cent but is quoted more recently as seven per cent or above. Total cement-related CO2 emissions approach 2.5bnta of CO2. Therefore, the cement industry is emitting vast quantities of CO2. Surely that CO2 byproduct can be used in some useful way?
This topic was explored by CarbonCure’s Senior Vice President of Technology Development, Sean Monkman, in his presentation ‘CO2 utilisation to produce more sustainable concrete’, originally given at the International Conference of Sustainable Production and Use of Cement and Concrete (ICSPCC) in June 2019 at Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba.
