Global Concrete News

Canada: Mexico-based Cemex has concluded a deal to acquire aggregates producer Atlantic Minerals Limited. Atlantic Minerals Limited operates an aggregate quarry and port facilities in Newfoundland. Cemex described the business as 'well-positioned' to supply aggregates to its customers in Florida, where it expects 'sustained' growth in demand, as well as elsewhere in the Eastern US. After the acquisition is complete, Atlantic Minerals Limited will continue to operate as Cemex Materials Newfoundland.

Cemex USA president Jaime Muguiro said “This acquisition significantly strengthens our existing network and enables us to serve new markets. I look forward to building on the success of this business as we meet increased demand from the private and public sectors, including critical investments in federal and state infrastructure.”

US: Holcim US has begun selling ECOPact reduced-CO₂ concrete in the Colorado Springs, Denver and Pueblo markets in Colorado. The producer says that the range offers 30 - 90% lower CO₂ emissions than concrete produced using ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Colorado aims to achieve CO₂ emissions reductions of 50% by 2030 and 90% by 2050.

Holcim US' Mountain regional general manager and senior vice president Kevin Peart said "Sustainable construction is essential to building a net-zero future in Colorado and across the nation. Denver has consistently ranked as one of the fastest-growing areas in the nation, and Colorado Springs is projected to become the state's largest city within the next 15 years. Low-carbon, high-performance building solutions such as ECOPact are essential to mitigating climate change and creating a more sustainable, resilient urban landscape."

Austria: Alpacem Gruppe subsidiary w&p Beton has commenced construction of a new ready-mixed concrete plant in Klagenfurt, Carinthia. Recovered industrial heat will power operations at the plant, reducing CO₂ emissions by 40t/yr. It will also use reduced-CO₂ cement supplied by the group's Wietersdorf cement plant. The concrete producer says that the ready-mix concrete plant will cost Euro3m and be ready for commissioning in early 2024.

New Zealand: Fletcher Building's Concrete Division, comprising Firth, Golden Bay, and Winstone Aggregates, has stepped up its commitment to developing innovative and increasingly sustainable concrete solutions with the opening of New Zealand's first commercial Concrete Innovation Lab, in Christchurch, South Island.

The Concrete Innovation Lab has been established to fast track the development of new concrete products and solutions with a particular focus on innovating to decarbonise concrete. The aim being to support customers as their building needs and specifications change in response to the need to build for climate change.

Dene Cook, Divisional Technical Manager, said "As an industry we have committed to decarbonising concrete, with the Global Cement & Concrete Association (GCCA), detailing a roadmap to net zero by 2050. Fletcher Building is excited by this challenge and the work we will do in the Concrete Innovation Lab will turn this from a paper commitment to a reality."

US: Researchers at Washington State University (WSU) have developed a method for making low-carbon concrete using cement and biochar, a type of charcoal made from organic waste that is nearly as strong as standard concrete. The team, led by doctoral student Zhipeng Li, strengthened the biochar with concrete wastewater. The biochar was able to suck up to 23% of its weight in carbon dioxide from the air.

Previous attempts to add biochar as a substitute in cement have significantly reduced the strength of the resulting concrete. However, the WSU project found that by treating the biochar with concrete washout wastewater it was able to add up to 30% biochar to cement mixtures. The paste made of the biochar-amended cement was able to reach a compressive strength after 28 days comparable to that of ordinary cement. The researchers used calcium in the concrete washout water to induce the formation of calcite, which benefits the biochar and, eventually, the concrete that incorporates it.

Xianming Shi, professor in the WSU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said, “We’re very excited that this will contribute to the mission of zero-carbon built environment.” He added, “Most other researchers were only able to add up to 3% biochar to replace cement, but we’re demonstrating the use of much higher dosages because we’ve figured out how to engineer the surface of the biochar.”

The synergy between the highly alkaline wastewater that contains a lot of calcium and the highly porous biochar meant that calcium carbonate precipitated onto or into the biochar, strengthening it and allowing for the capture of carbon dioxide from the air. A concrete made of the material would be expected to continue sequestering CO2 for the lifetime of the concrete, typically 30 years in pavement or 75 years in a bridge.

The researchers have been working with the WSU Office of Commercialization to protect the intellectual property and have filed a provisional patent application on their carbon-negative concrete work. They recently received a seed grant from the Washington Research Foundation to produce more data for a variety of use cases. They are also actively seeking industry partners from the building and construction sector to scale up production for field demonstrations and licensing this WSU technology.