Displaying items by tag: cementfree concrete

France: Clinker-free alternative cement producer Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies has signed a strategic partnership deal with Marne Béton. Marne Béton operates five ready-mix concrete batching plants in Eastern France.

Boursier News has reported that Marne Béton expects to benefit from the ‘Environmental and technical advantages of Hoffmann cements’ in striving to meet growing local demand for low-carbon concretes.

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.

France: Lafarge France is participating in a 76-unit housing development project called Recygénie, at Gennevilliers in Hauts-de-Seine. Lafarge France will supply the project with 100% recycled concrete for use in facades, interior walls and roof slabs. It produced 2000t of 100% recycled 'clinker' at its Altkirch cement plant in Haut-Rhin during a suspension of ordinary clinker production in 2022. It has produced 1600m³ of recycled concrete to date. The concrete won the New Materials Prize at L'Usine Nouvelle's Sustainable Industry Awards 2023.

The Recygénie housing project is due for delivery in late 2024.

World: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has named the 15 anticipated deliverers of low-CO₂ cement and concrete production shortlisted for participation in its second Innovandi Open Challenge. The association chose the start-ups based on their potential to deliver CO₂ emissions reduction in the global cement and concrete sector in line with its Concrete Future 2050 Net Zero Roadmap. The applicants are presenting their pitches to GCCA members on 30 June 2023. All those accepted will gain access to members' plants, labs, networks and expertise. The following start-ups made the Innovandi Open Challenge 2023 shortlist:

GCCA cement director and innovation lead Claude Loréa said “We received more than 70 quality applications, so drawing up a shortlist was challenging." Loréa continued "Our essential industry needs something easily scalable and affordable. Those start-ups on the list demonstrated the most potential, and we look forward to hearing more about their ideas. But we’ll also be keeping in touch with other start-ups who didn’t make this year’s shortlist, with future projects in mind.”

US: Eco Material Technologies has supplied its PozzoCEM Vite clinker-free cement to 3D printing construction firm Hive 3D for its The Casitas @ The Halles project in Texas. PozzoCEM Vite cement has 92% lower CO₂ emissions than ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The producer said that concrete produced using PozzoCEM Vite is also more durable and longer lasting than OPC-based concrete. Eco Material Technologies and Hive 3D developed a custom batching system to mix PozzoCEM Vite cement and local Texan sand for use in the project. Eco Material Technologies said that the system created a significant cost reduction compared with other available printable mortar technologies.

Eco Material Technologies recently launched a new 99% reduced CO₂ PozzoCEM formulation, which it expects to use in future projects with Hive 3D. Other reduced-CO₂ cements produced by Eco Material Technologies include its PozzoSlag 50% ground granulated blast furnace slag cement. In total, Eco Material Technologies has supplied 1Mt of reduced-CO₂ cements across 4000 construction sites since 2012. It said that it expects to announce multiple new infrastructure projects and strategic partnerships later in 2023.

Eco Material Technologies' CEO Grant Quasha said “Hive 3D’s commitment to building the first 100% cement replacement 3D printed homes aligns with our goal of transitioning the construction industry away from using materials that generate approximately 8% of the world’s carbon emissions each year."

UK: SigmaRoc subsidiary CCP has launched Greenbloc Standard, Ultra and Premium. The new designations correspond to 50%, 80% and 100% cement substitution. Professional Builder News has reported that Using Greenbloc Standard reduces structures’ CO₂ emissions by 77% compared with structures built with conventional ordinary Portland cement (OPC)-based blocks. For an average semi-detached house, this is equivalent to 2.7t of CO₂.

CCP general manager Phil Rotheram said “The expansion of our Greenbloc range continues our commitment to sustainable alternatives to our product offering as we fully commit to the challenges of removing embodied carbon from the built environment.”

Greenbloc Ultra featured in a gold medal-winning garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023 in May 2023.

India: Finland-based Betolar has launched its first concrete products manufactured using Geoprime on the Indian market. Geoprime is an additive designed for use in cement-free concrete production with ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS). The new concrete product range consists of precast blocks, paving slabs and tiles, and is currently on display at World of Concrete India in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Betolar's India managing director Abhishek Bhattacharya said "We are happy to introduce our first products to our customers for the Indian markets. We have now moved from laboratory tests into the production phase, and can show concretely how well this solution works. It is great to hear the feedback from the concrete industry in the region to our sustainable solution. Decarbonisation of the concrete industry is a very current and important topic."

France: Sustainable concrete producer Materrup has shared plans for its upcoming Bordeaux precast concrete elements plant. The L’Usine Nouvelle newspaper has reported that the facility will produce precast elements from Materrup’s cement-free concrete, which it produces from uncalcined clay, an activator and a precursor at room temperature. The technology, called Clay Cement 1 (MCC1), reduces CO₂ emissions by 50 – 80% compared to ordinary Portland cement (OPC), according to the producer. It previously opened a Euro7m 50,000t/yr plant in the Atlantisub Business Area in Saint-Geours-de-Maremne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine.