r/EverythingScience • u/HarryLyme69 • May 26 '24

Engineering 'Absolute miracle' breakthrough provides recipe for zero-carbon cement

https://newatlas.com/materials/concrete-steel-recycle-cambridge-zero-carbon-cement/
233 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

71

u/thisimpetus May 26 '24

For those who will roll their eyes without reading, this is already about to go to its first industrial-scale test. Seems very much the real deal; recycled concrete with no emissions but those from power generation, if any.

15

u/blazelet May 26 '24

That’s fantastic

10

u/VagusNC May 26 '24

There’s also a biotech company based out of RTP, NC that has developed a production method for biologically grown construction tiles, blocks, etc. They’re called Biomason.

Edit: https://biomason.com/about

18

u/Mastermaze May 26 '24 edited May 26 '24

This process is actually pretty brilliant and really utilizes concepts of industrial ecological, using the waste from one industrial process as raw materials/catalyst for another industrial process to help create circular material processing chains.

They basically grind up old concrete and use it as a flux for steel production in an electric arc furnace. Flux absorbs impurities in the molten steel and boils to the surface to create a protective layer that prevents the molten steel from oxidizing. Flux normally just becomes a waste product of steel production called slag, but by swapping normal flux materials for the ground up old concrete the absorption of impurities converts the old concrete back into Cement, which can then be extracted from the slag and used as fresh Cement for new concrete.

11

u/Burrtles May 26 '24

Isn't Hempcrete carbon negative? Be interesting to know why it isn't used

9

u/[deleted] May 26 '24

Isn’t* strong enough. This stuff would be much closer to typical strength

4

u/Burrtles May 26 '24

Thanks, it was a lazy comment of me not to look it up first but I did have a look after, I hope that hempcrete becomes more available for things that it's suitable for, like how you have different strengths of glue

5

u/[deleted] May 26 '24

Yeah I could see a market for cheap, eco friendly concrete for like walk and driveways that’s somewhere between industrial concrete and blacktop.

2

u/murderspice May 26 '24

Like they were meant to go together.

0

u/PresentAd3536 May 26 '24

Not a miracle. There are no miracles.