Researchers in Spain and Brazil have developed a new type of cement manufactured from olive stone ash and blastfurnace slag as a more sustainable alternative to currently-produced cements.

The new cement has been created by researchers from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) and the Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) of Brazil, according to UPV sources.

Dr Jordi Payá, researcher at the Institute of Science and Technology of Concrete (ICITECH) of the UPV, says that this new cement stands out especially for its "low carbon footprint" and its climate change impact "is much lower if compares with the cements currently used in construction”. Moreover, it also enables the use and energy recovery of a biomass, in this case olive stones.

The new cement currently used in tests contains around 20 per cent of olive stone ash and 80 per cent of blastfurnace slag, and has a good mechanical performance. In addition, the production of the alkaline activation cement does not require the high temperature required during Portland cement manufacture. "This is the first example worldwide in which an alkaline activation cement has been manufactured where only materials from waste are required," says the researcher at the Universitat Politècnica de València. "Our work now focusses on improving the formulation to obtain better mechanical performance and study its durability and application options," adds Dr Payá.