Replacing the cement currently used is one of the most complicated challenges on the journey to a safer global climate without accelerated greenhouse gas emissions. There are many options for making the product with reduced emissions – mainly based on the mixture of reactive cement and other complementary materials. However, until now, it had not been possible to make the reactive component of cement without emissions. A new invention by researchers from the University of Cambridge in England, however, managed to achieve this for the first time.

The inspiration for the innovation, called Cambridge Electric Cement, came from inventor Cyrille Dunant, when he realized that cement chemistry is virtually identical to that of the "lime-flux" substance used in conventional steel recycling processes. The new cement is therefore made in a virtuous recycling cycle, which not only eliminates emissions from cement production, but also saves raw material, and even reduces the emissions needed to make lime.

The innovative process begins with the concrete waste from the demolition of old buildings, which is crushed to separate the stones and sand that form the concrete from the mixture of cement powder and water that unite them. Old cement powder is then used instead of lime-flux in steel recycling. As the steel melts, the substance floats in liquid steel to protect it from oxygen from the air.

The new cement was invented as part of the multi-university program that aims to allow a rapid transition to zero emissions based on the use of current technologies differently – rather than waiting for new hydrogen and carbon energy technologies, for example. The creation was rewarded with a £1.7million research grant (about £10.2million) to allow studies to continue.

The investment will allow the hiring of an additional team of researchers, with the task of investigating the variety of concrete waste that can be processed at Cambridge Electric Cement, evaluating how the process interacts with steel making and confirming the performance of the resulting material.

Source: Um só Planeta