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INSIGHTS
The project aims to demonstrate that concrete can be recycled to create an addition which could, when cooled rapidly, replace Portland cement
If successful, it could not only further advance the cement, steel and construction industries, but influence how we recycle, construct and maintain our built environment and transport infrastructure, shaping the future of towns and cities, while simultaneously boosting economic development and reducing CO2
emissions.
If Cambridge Electric Cement lives up to the promise it has shown in early laboratory trials, when combined with other innovative technologies, it could be a pivotal point in the journey to a zero-emissions society. The Cement 2 Zero project is an invaluable opportunity to collaborate across the entire construction supply chain, to expand CEC from the laboratory to its first commercial application.
It also has the potential to make a significant contribution to achieving a zero-carbon society, secure and increase jobs in the UK cement and steel sectors and challenge conventional production processes, creating high-value materials from demolition waste. The science behind CEC is truly innovative. Three researchers at the University of Cambridge; Dr Cyrille Dunant and Professor Julian Allwood, along with co-author of this piece Dr Philippa Horton, invented a process that converts construction and demolition waste to cement over molten steel (using an EAF, normally used to recycle scrap steel).
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The Cement 2 Zero project aims to demonstrate that concrete can be recycled to create a Slag Forming addition which could, when cooled rapidly, replace Portland cement.
Dr Dunant has discovered that the chemical composition of used cement is virtually identical to that of the lime-flux used in the conventional EAF steel recycling process. Traditional Portland clinker, one of the main ingredients in cement, is produced by firing limestone and other minerals in a kiln at extremely high temperatures (1,450°C) – the process that accounts for more than 50% of the cement sector’s emissions. Cement 2 Zero takes a different approach – it will use recycled cement as the flux in the electric steel recycling process (in an EAF powered by renewables). The by-product of this, when cooled and ground, produces Portland cement clinker, which is then blended to make ‘zero-emissions’ cement. With this in mind, this innovative cement product (CEC) could be produced using a virtuous recycling loop, that not only eliminates the significant emissions of cement and steel production, but also saves raw materials.
This is a project that aims to be transformational for the cement and steel industries, creating a zero-emission supply chain from demolition to construction. And, when it comes to housebuilding, CEC represents a huge opportunity to massively reduce the impact of our industry. And when you combine this with the lower carbon steel technology which is also enabled by this trial, there is a real sense that we’re well on our way to real net-zero homes.
Will Lavelle is embodied carbon lead at Atkins and Dr Philippa Horton is a business manager in the Engineering Department of the University of Cambridge
ADF APRIL 2023
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