Displaying items by tag: CO2

Saudi Arabia: Saudi Readymix and Finland-based Betolar have launched two new reduced-CO₂ concretes, produced using ground granulated blast furnace slag and natural pozzolans with Betolar’s Geoprime technology. One of the products is cement-free and the other has an ultra-low (2.5%) cement content. TradeArabia News has reported that the dual launch concludes a successful partnership between the companies, which began in 2023.

Saudi Readymix technology and strategy director Chris Leptokaridis said "Saudi Readymix has been at the forefront of developing new technologies to meet our customers' increasing demand for eco-friendly, low-CO₂ solutions. Our partnership with Betolar has enabled us to successfully deliver on this goal, offering groundbreaking concrete recipes that significantly reduce carbon emissions."

Betolar senior researcher Ahmad Alzaza said "This project pushed the boundaries of innovation by bringing low-carbon technology into the ready-mix concrete space. We are proud to have contributed to a solution that will help advance sustainable construction across Saudi Arabia."

US: Novel concretes developer Greencraft has made a patent application for a new method of CO₂ mineralisation using a microporous material containing mineral oxides, like slag. Global Warming Focus News has reported that the method also works for natural hyaloclastite, bottom ash, fly ash, volcanic ash and lava.

Greencraft said that its method marks an ‘improvement’ in current techniques for sequestering CO₂ in alternative materials.

Saudi Arabia: Al Kifah Ready Mix & Blocks has updated the market on its achievements in the sustainable concrete space in Saudi Arabia. The producer’s mixes include slag-based aggregates, as well as natural pozzolans and CO₂ injected using equipment developed by Canada-based CarbonCure. Gulf Construction News has reported that the company's range of ultra-low CO₂ ConGreen concrete products and BloGreen concrete blocks have supported projects including the Aramco Stadium project in Al Khobar, Qiddiya amusement park in Riyadh and King Salman Global Maritime Industries Complex in Jubail.

General Manager Nigel Harries said "Al Kifah Ready Mix & Blocks’ products have been widely adopted in mega and giga projects across the kingdom and have proved their high performance, thus strengthening the company’s position in the Saudi market. Al Kifah’s green solutions have unique properties that facilitate tasks on the job site through their better workability and finishability. They can be considered an all-in-one solution, offering zero wastage, zero mobilisation time, lower emissions and a smart way for supplying concrete in remote areas."

Denmark: Building products company IBF says that it will replace some cement in all of its drainage products with ground granulated blast furnace slag. Dagbladet Licitationen News has reported that performance and prices will be unaffected, according to the company.

CEO Jesper Bang said that trials will commence with a few specific drainage products, prior to full roll-out. This will eventually result in a 40% drop in the products’ CO₂ emissions.

UAE: Emirates Steel Arkan has concluded a partnership for the deployment of Finland-based Magsort’s technology in steel slag processing at its Al Ain cement plant. ZAWYA News has reported that the partners expect the technology to help reduce the plant’s limestone and fuel consumption. This will reduce its CO₂ emissions by 15%.

Emirates Steel Arkan CEO Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi said "Green solutions such as this will help decarbonise the sector's value chain."

US: The Department of Transportation has announced a US$5m initiative to investigate the use of steel slag in cement and concrete. This will take the form of a collaboration between the Department of Transportation and a selected US-based steel producer and university partner. The initiative seeks to reduce CO₂ emissions in the production of building materials. Prospective participants may view the grant opportunity here.

Transport secretary Pete Buttigieg said "We're proud to make this funding available to help develop the next generation of construction materials so that the future of our transport infrastructure is more resilient, more sustainable and made in America.”

Robert Hampshire, deputy assistant secretary for research and technology and chief science officer, said “This funding initiative will develop and advance innovative materials and technologies that support the nation’s goals to decarbonise the transportation sector by 2050, strengthen resilience of the nation’s transportation infrastructure, and address adverse environmental impacts created by the transportation system.”

Malaysia/Singapore: Pan-United Corporation has signed a new contract with renewable power provider Cleantech Solar. With the support of Keppel, Keppel Asia Infrastructure Fund and Shell Singapore, the partners will install 900 solar panels at Pan-United Corporation sites, including its Johor slag grinding plant in Malaysia. The building materials producer is executing the project as part of an existing three-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Shell Singapore for the decarbonisation in the built environment. Commissioning of Pan-United Corporation’s new solar power capacity is scheduled later in 2024.

Pan-United Corporation CEO May Ng said “We are delighted that our partnership with Shell has advanced our efforts to adopt renewable energy solutions, which are crucial in reducing our operational carbon emissions. Industry partnerships to leverage collective strengths is a sure way to decarbonisation. Solar deployment in collaboration with Cleantech Solar supports our efforts in contributing to the sustainability goals under the ‘Energy Reset’ pillar of the Singapore Green Plan 2030 and brings us closer to our sustainability target of becoming a carbon-neutral ready-mix concrete company by 2050.”

Canada: Carbon-negative concrete producer CarbiCrete has signed a deal with Holcim subsidiary Lafarge Canada. Under the deal, Lafarge Canada will process steel slag at its St. Constant cement plant in Québec for use as an ingredient in CarbiCrete’s CO2-cured cement-free concrete.

CarbiCrete partner Patio Drummond produces carbon-negative concrete blocks using CarbiCrete’s technology at its Drummondville concrete block plant in Québec. The company is on a drive to double the production of CarbiCrete blocks. It first partnered with CarbiCrete during trial production of its material in 2018.

Lafarge Canada vice-president of cement Andrew Stewart said “We are committed to reducing our environmental footprint and leading the way in sustainable construction. Our partnership with CarbiCrete is a testament to our dedication to offering sustainable solutions and actively participating in the circular economy.”

CarbiCrete CEO Chris Stern said “Collaborating with Lafarge allows us to leverage long-established infrastructure and years of expertise in processing steel-related by-products. This enables us to make an immediate climate impact as we scale the deployment of our technology which reduces embodied carbon in concrete by both avoiding emissions and removing carbon through mineralisation.” Regarding the on-going scale-up of production at Patio Drummond’s Drummondville plant, Stern said “Increased production of our carbon-negative blocks brings us closer to our common goal of decarbonising production of the world’s most consumed man-made substance.”

UK: Holcim subsidiary Aggregate Industries has commenced its construction of a cement blending plant and import hub on the River Thames at the Port of Tilbury in Essex. The facility also includes units for the production of reduced-CO₂ cement components, including ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and construction demolition waste (CDW)-based materials. The Tilbury site has five loading heads and will help Aggregate Industries to maintain its continuous supply of conventional, reduced-CO₂ and circular cementitious materials to London and South East England.

CEO Dragan Maksimovic said “This important investment will further strengthen our position in the market, allowing us to drive our sustainability ambitions and lead the way in low carbon and circular building materials. The London and South East construction market has major regional projects on the horizon, and we are primed and ready to meet the region’s rising demand for sustainable solutions.”

Steve Curley, managing director cement, added “Our ECOPlanet range of green cement was recently added to our green offering. By investing in this impressive facility within the Port of Tilbury, we will truly boost our sustainable offering and be more agile and efficient in the way we manufacture, transport and supply our products across this region.”

UK: CCP Building Products has been working with Carbon8 to develop cement-free, carbon negative concrete blocks. The blocks will be produced using parent company SigmaRoc’s Greenbloc technology with Carbon8’s carbon negative aggregates. The approach is based upon reducing the cement content in concrete and CCP has developed a process that uses ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) as the main raw ingredient. Carbon8’s technology captures and stores more CO₂ in the aggregates than is released in the manufacturing process, resulting in a carbon negative block.

CCP and Carbon8 announced in July 2023 that the first trials of the project had been successful. Ian St Hillaire, the Technology & Innovation Director for SigmaRoc, said “We set about producing trial samples of concrete blocks at site production scale to push the boundaries of possible. This led to some exciting developments in our Greenbloc technology using Carbon8 carbon-negative aggregate. Combining the alternative aggregate with cement-free technology in the right proportions allows us to successfully produce a concrete block that is not only ultra-low in carbon embodiment, but is actually carbon negative.”

CCP are planning to move on to larger plant trials and then start producing environmental product declarations (EPDs) to verify the new product’s carbon negative claims.