TürkCimentoâs DigitalCem discusses the way to a net zero emission future 21 April 2021
TürkCimento, the Turkish cement association, hosted Digitalcem from 20-21 April 2021 and covered discussions in decarbonisation in its opening session and the current state of the cement sector’s path towards net zero emissions by 2050.
Koen Coppenholle, CEMBUREAU CEO, outlined the EU cement sector carbon neutrality roadmap. He advocated that the cement sector should be proud that cement is an enabler of the Green Deal. Cement will allow the construction of green wind energy and transport networks.
He examined the 2050 industry roadmap and stressed that carbon capture will account for around 42 per cent of emission reduction. While carbon capture pilot projects are currently being implemented, Martin Schneider, managing director at the European Cement Research Academy (ECRA), said it will not be until 2030-50 that commercialisation of carbon capture will start to make a
Concrete can perform just as well if three-quarters of its content has been recycled, a team has found.
Concrete is made from granular materials such as sand and crushed stone – known as aggregates – bound together by a cement paste. Cement has a high carbon footprint due to the chemistry of its production and the high processing temperatures, while the aggregates have a high ‘resources footprint’ because they come from finite natural sources. With global construction rates predicted to rise by 35% by 2030, researchers are looking for ways to reduce both footprints through recycling or using other materials.
A team led by Italian engineers has refined the processing of demolition waste on site and tested ways of using the resulting streams of powders and aggregates in fresh concrete.