Displaying items by tag: CO2

Germany: Cemex Zement has bought two iONTRON eMixer electric ready-mix concrete mixer trucks from Putzmeister Group. The ready-mix concrete producer will deploy the vehicles in its Berlin operations, with one based at its Hohenschönhausen batching plant and the other at its Spandau batching plant. The vehicles offer a full eight-hour workday from a single overnight charge. When recharged using renewable energy, they can reduce journey’s CO₂ emissions by 100%. They will also contribute to a reduction in urban air pollution and noise along the routes on which they operate.

Cemex Zement’s director materials Marcel Busch said "We are reducing emissions throughout our value chain, and transport plays an important role in this.” He added “We are investing in the electrification of our vehicle fleet at our sites throughout Germany."

Greece: Titan Group has established a ready-mix concrete batching plant at the construction site of the Ellinikon new city project. The 6Mm² development is converting a disused airport into housing and hotels. It has also started building what will be the Mediterranean’s tallest ‘green’ skyscraper. Titan Group says it will maximise its recycling rate of concrete and demolition waste at the site, as well as using new concrete recycling system and a treated water reuse method.

Titan Group’s Greece general manager, Angelos Kalogerakos, said “We have invested fast and early to accompany this large city infrastructure project. I am certain our partners will be delighted with the outstanding concrete solutions delivered by our group specialists thanks to this digital, state-of-the-art unit and our portfolio of green and value-added products. We take pride in contributing to the transformation of The Ellinikon as this iconic project is reshaping the coastline.”

Saudi Arabia: Partanna has supplied its carbon-negative concrete for the construction of the Diriyah tourism hub. The US$63.2bn hub expects to attract 27m visitors annually from 2030. Partanna produces its concrete from waste streams, mineralised with CO₂ from the water desalination sector. Saudi Arabia is currently 70% reliant on desalination for its water consumption.

Partanna co-founder Rick Fox said "This partnership marks a new era in sustainable construction. Our carbon-negative binder technology is poised to fundamentally transform the way the world builds and represents an environmentally restorative and cost-effective alternative to cement. Since launching our business at COP27, we have sought to scale our business by partnering with organizations who are committed to less talk and more action on combatting climate change. The world needs solutions like ours and that’s why we’re delighted to have identified a partner in Diriyah that combines vision with decisive action.” He concluded “Together we are proving that it’s possible to delink development from pollution. The world is watching, and our journey has just begun."

US: Carbon Built’s proprietary technology for the production of reduced-CO₂ concrete blocks won awards across three categories at the Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards 2023. The product won the Circular Design, Materials and Sustainability prizes. Carbon Built’s technology enables existing concrete block plants to use common alternative raw materials to produce blocks with 70 – 100% lower CO₂ emissions than ordinary Portland cement-based blocks.

US: Block-Lite plans to install a system to cure concrete blocks using direct air capture (DAC)-sourced CO₂ at its Flagstaff, Arizona, concrete block plant. The upgrade will implement CarbonBuilt’s low-CO₂ concrete production technology and AirCapture’s modular DAC technology, across five or six capture units. Direct air capture will thus remove 500 – 600t/yr of CO₂ from the atmosphere, while process changes will reduce CO₂ emissions from the Flagstaff plant by over 2000t/yr. The project has attracted fundraising from the 4 Corners Carbon Coalition (4CCC), with a goal of US$50,000. The Arizon Daily Sun newspaper has reported that Block-Lite plans to supply its first shipment of low-CO₂ blocks to a 50-home development by Habitat for Humanity in Flagstaff.

UK: Cemex UK says that it has achieved a 30% reduction in the CO₂ emissions of its mortars range, enabling it to bear the company's Vertua sustainability label. The producer said that it has incorporated its Vertua CEM II A-L Portland limestone cement (PLC), alongside new admixture technology, in its mortar mixes. It added that it has upgraded drying processes in its mortar production, increasing energy efficiency.

Cemex's Europe regional mortars production manager Andy Bright said “By utilising designed mortar formations, we have been able to make a considerable carbon reduction to the products in our mortars range. These products are prized by our customers because of their strong performance and strength, flexibility of supply and wide range of colours and we are confident they will appreciate the opportunity to choose a more sustainable product too.”

US: Geopolymer cement and concrete producer Renca has supplied its geopolymer 3D printing mortar for the construction of a house in the Western US. The product contains no cement, lime or gypsum due to the non-hydraulic binding properties of the mortar. It contains industrial by-products and has a faster setting time than mortar produced with ordinary Portland cement (OPC), as well as 90% lower CO₂ emissions.

Renca said that its geopolymer mortar performed well despite the desert setting of the project, with dramatic changes in temperature. It added, "Even though geopolymer mortars require a specific approach towards the mixing procedure and, unlike cementitious-based products, need to be mixed in a batch mixing system, this milestone opens new horizons. Renca's current research and development seeks to develop a one-component geopolymer mortar for continuous mixers, as well as a 2K system where you can control the setting time right at the nozzle."

US: C-Crete Technologies supplied its binder for a pour of 60t of cement-free concrete at a construction site in Seattle, Washington. CNNW News has reported that the binder replaces cement, eliminating 1t of CO₂ emissions per tonne of concrete.

C-Crete Technologies president Rouzbeh Savary said "We are thrilled to introduce our cement-free concrete, a game-changer in sustainable construction.” He added “Given that our product meets industry standards and has cost-parity with conventional concrete, it opens up an entirely new era in construction."

Denmark: Finland-based Betolar has supplied its Geoprime additive for its maiden construction project in Denmark. Its customer IBF used the additive to produce low-cement paving stones for a 1.5 hectare expansion to the lorry park at the Port of Aalborg. The stones consisted of an 84mm-thick cement-free base made of Geoprime material, with a 6mm-thick cement-based concrete top. The supplier said that the use of Geoprime reduced the project's cement consumption by 90%. This more than halved the carbon footprint of the work.

Betolar's chief commercial officer Ville Voipio said "This shows that the circular economy solution we have developed, which utilises industrial side streams, also works in large construction projects. We have been doing development work with IBF for a long time. Now there is a product on the Danish market that radically cuts emissions compared to traditional products."

Denmark is committed to eliminating 70% of its annual CO₂ emissions between 2020 and 2030.

Japan: A team at the University of Tokyo has developed cement-free alternative concrete from ultra-fine sand and fly ash. NHK has reported that the process uses recyclable alcohols and has lower CO₂ emissions compared to concrete production using ordinary Portland cement. Research with industrial partners into possible construction sector applications is underway. Partnerships with Japanese ready-mixed concrete producers are reportedly also under discussion.

Further information is available from Yuzo Tobisaka, an independent Japanese consultant in the cement and ready-mixed concrete industry, at yuzo.tobisaka@gmail.com.