Displaying items by tag: 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.

UK: Contractors poured 736m³ of cement-free concrete in an 11-hour continuous pour at the Hurst substation tunnel drive shaft of the London Power Tunnels project on 11 May 2023. Construction Index News has reported that Capital Concrete supplied the concrete. It uses a formula developed by Earth Friendly Concrete to replace 100% of cement with fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) in the presence of an activator and admix solution. The supplier said that the concrete will reduce CO₂ emissions by 64% compared with ordinary Portland cement (OPC), corresponding to 111kg/m³ of concrete.

France: The Scientific and Technical Center for Building (CSTB) has certified Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies’ clinkerless H-UKR alkali-activated slag cement for structural use in buildings of all types. BusinessWire News has reported that the certification confirms the product’s safety, sustainability, lifespan and performance in conformity with Eurocode 2 and Eurocode 8 design standards.

Co-founders Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann said “In the midst of ongoing frenetic communication regarding carbon neutrality, Hoffmann Green Cement is as usual endeavouring to back its announcements with verified and evaluated elements. The granting of these evaluations further objectifies the quality of our cement, notably with the awarding of a lifespan of 100 years. In this regard, we would like to thank the CSTB’s teams for drafting this unprecedented technical appraisal and our own teams who are working tirelessly on seeking innovative decarbonised solutions to preserve tomorrow’s world.”

UK: Ecocem and construction company Taylor Woodrow have conducted the first pour of the Exegy ultra-low CO₂ concrete at waste management site in London. The mix used on the project is reported to reduce the carbon footprint by up to 70% when compared to traditional concrete. Cemex also collaborated on the project by producing the concrete used for the pour.

The concrete product was developed by Ecocem and Vinci Construction, using Ecocem Ultra, as part of Vinci Construction’s ultra-low carbon concrete range. Ireland-based Ecocem is a producer of cement and additives made using ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS). Exegy is already being used at a pilot site of the Grand Paris Express and in the construction of the Athletes’ Village in Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

Micheál McKittrick, managing director, Northern Europe, Ecocem, said, “Our Ecocem Ultra technology is already being used at scale in France, and we’re excited to now see it being adopted in the UK.” He added, “The cement and construction industries are developing and deploying a range of emission reduction technologies to help the UK Government reduce emissions by 78% by 2035, and reach net zero by 2050, and Ecocem will add a further dimension to these efforts.”

Germany: GMI Global’s Slag & Ash Trade Europe 2020 slag and ash conference will take place on 1- 2 October 2020 in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. Keynote speaker Ana Heitor will give a speech entitled “The Use of Granular Waste Materials for Transport Infrastructure Applications,” reflecting on the construction applications of materials including granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS).

Japan: 240,000t of unapproved steel slag have been found buried at a US$66m residential development in Sodegaura, Chiba Prefecture, according to local press. The slag lacks the approval of the landowner contravening the Land Readjustment Act. The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry has started to investigate.

The Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation's Kimitsu works produced the slag before selling it to the developers. Research by the Mainichi newspaper suggests that the developers used the slag for ground improvement in 2012 before approval was obtained affecting the finances of the project.

Due to the swelling of slag when it absorbs water, if the slag-to-soil ratio surpasses 30%, users should to test in advance how much the mixture will expand. Steel slag is treated as industrial waste if it is not recyclable. Disposal of such slag costs US$170 – 340/t.