Displaying items by tag: alternative raw materials

UK: Construction firm John Sisk & Son has successfully concluded its construction of part of the Wembley Park mixed development using concrete produced with Ecocem’s ACT alternative circular cement. The concrete met design specifications for all elements, while reducing embodied CO₂ emissions by 70%. Construction Index News has reported that Capital Concrete and Creagh Concrete also participated in the project, which commanded €594,000 in Innovate UK funding.

US: Representatives of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) have testified before a congressional appropriations subcommittee that their organisations are investigating ways of incorporating ‘advanced construction methods’ into their operations. These methods include mass timber construction, as well as the use of carbon fibre-reinforced polymers, geosynthetics, ‘high-performance’ concrete mixes and composite materials. The stated aims of the investigations are to improve resilience, reduce costs and accelerate construction timelines.

NAVFAC Chief Engineer Keith Hamilton said that NAVFAC is currently piloting hybrid mass timber exterior envelope construction, including cross-laminated timber walls and diaphragms, at a childcare facility for Navy families. USACE Director of Military Programmes Dave Morrow said that USACE has designed a barracks featuring mass timber structural elements.

New Zealand: Holcim New Zealand has received permission to build and operate a new ready-mix concrete batching plant in Dunedin. Local press has reported that the site will feature two silos: a 67t vertical cement silo and a 50t horizontal silo for supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs).

US: CR Minerals has secured a patent for supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) that incorporate coal ash and pozzolanic remediation agents, including volcanic ash. Mining & Minerals News has reported that the compositions aim to raise the performance characteristics of lower-quality fly ash to ASTM C618 standards.

Australia: Permacast Future Industries, a joint venture of nickel slag-based cement developer Suvo Strategic Minerals and precast concrete producer Permacast, has signed a binding two-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) to supply its reduced-CO₂ concrete to wind farm developer Wind With Purpose (WWP). WWP will explore the use of the concrete in wind turbine foundations and towers. The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper has reported that WWP’s upcoming wind farms in Western Australia require 500 turbines, each using 1000m³ of concrete.

Finland: Betolar has analysed ash from utilities provider Alva’s power plants in Finland using its AI-driven SidePrime software to map its potential for use as a binder to replace cement in concrete production.

Betolar said that it sees potential for future integration of Alva’s ash into its material network.

Finland/Germany: Finland-based Carbonaide has cured 1kg of concrete with CO₂ captured using NeoCarbon’s direct air capture (DAC) method. The partners blended the CO₂ with other CO₂ from biogenic sources. They said that the project, called NeoDuo, successfully demonstrated concrete production with 50% reduced CO₂ emissions, and can also be used to produce carbon-negative concrete when cement is substituted with alternative binders.

The companies plan to scale this technology to achieve 1000t of CO₂ sequestered by 2026. They are reportedly on track to begin providing carbon removal credits to customers later in 2025.

US: Canada-based CarbiCrete has launched its CarbiFlo cement-free paving grids in the US market. It says that CarbiFlo paving grids allow permeation for stormwater runoff and soil stabilisation. Maine-based retailer Gagne & Son will distribute the product.

UK: Construction firm Skanska is using 3000 planks of precast concrete made with 50% ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) for the upcoming 105 Victoria Street commercial development in Westminster, dubbed ‘London’s most sustainable office building.’ Engineering firm Laing O’Rourke will design and produce the planks at its Worksop, Nottinghamshire, concrete plant. Construction Management Magazine News has reported that the 105 Victoria Street building will include 2000m² of green space and terraces.

France: Saint-Gobain subsidiary Chryso has launched EnviroMix C-Clay, a new range of additives designed for the production of concrete using calcined clay cement. Chryso says that the product enables concrete producers to reduce their CO₂ emissions by 50% by displacing ordinary Portland cement (OPC).