By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
DailynewsegyptDailynewsegypt
  • Home
  • Business
    BusinessShow More
    Popular video-sharing app TikTok was granted by the U.S. government a 15-day extension to reach a deal with U.S. buyers, a federal court filing showed Friday. This means the deadline for ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, to reach a deal with Oracle and Walmart has been extended from Nov. 12 to Nov. 27, according to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
    TikTok updates its community guidelines
    March 23, 2023
    IFC to invest in Mediterrania Capital Partners’ fund to support African mid-cap businesses
    IFC to invest in Mediterrania Capital Partners’ fund to support African mid-cap businesses
    March 23, 2023
    Sukari gold mine’s production reaches 5.2 million ounces with $7.5bn revenues in February 2023
    Sukari gold mine’s production reaches 5.2 million ounces with $7.5bn revenues in February 2023
    March 23, 2023
    EFG Hermes records EGP 11bn revenue in FY22
    EFG Hermes records EGP 11bn revenue in FY22
    March 23, 2023
    Egyptian Environment Minister discusses cooperation with WFP representative in Cairo 
    Egyptian Environment Minister discusses cooperation with WFP representative in Cairo 
    March 23, 2023
  • Politics
    PoliticsShow More
    Egypt's Health Minister discuss bilateral cooperation with an Italian delegation 
    Egypt’s Health Minister discuss bilateral cooperation with an Italian delegation 
    March 23, 2023
    Egypt’s foreign minister phones Algerian counterpart over boosting ties
    Egypt’s foreign minister phones Algerian counterpart over boosting ties
    March 22, 2023
    Turkish President  Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Egypt President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi met in Doha
    Opinion| Türkiye and Egypt: For better times with many opportunities
    March 22, 2023
    Drought caused 43,000 deaths in Somalia in 2022: UN
    Drought caused 43,000 deaths in Somalia in 2022: UN 
    March 22, 2023
    Opinion| The Chinese dragon occupies America's place in the Middle East
    Opinion| The Chinese dragon occupies America’s place in the Middle East
    March 22, 2023
  • Interviews
    InterviewsShow More
    Government should help Egyptian arts revive its pioneering role: Omar Abdel Aziz
    Government should help Egyptian arts revive its pioneering role: Omar Abdel Aziz
    March 15, 2023
    Interconnected healthcare systems in Africa require political will from North African leaders: Amref official
    Interconnected healthcare systems in Africa require political will from North African leaders: Amref official
    March 12, 2023
    EGX ready for government’s IPOs programme: Chairperson
    EGX ready for government’s IPOs programme: Chairperson
    February 15, 2023
    British International Investment invests $4.5bn in 700 businesses across Africa: Sherine Shohdy
    February 15, 2023
    Valeo has invested around €0.5bn in Egypt over the past 10 years: CEO
    Valeo has invested around €0.5bn in Egypt over the past 10 years: CEO
    December 27, 2022
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
Reading: Tiny algae could help fix concrete’s dirty little climate secret – 4 innovative ways to clean up this notoriously hard to decarbonize industry
Share
Notification
Latest News
Popular video-sharing app TikTok was granted by the U.S. government a 15-day extension to reach a deal with U.S. buyers, a federal court filing showed Friday. This means the deadline for ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, to reach a deal with Oracle and Walmart has been extended from Nov. 12 to Nov. 27, according to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
TikTok updates its community guidelines
Business
Strong representation of women in TV series of Ramadan 2023
Strong representation of women in TV series of Ramadan 2023
Culture Cinema
IFC to invest in Mediterrania Capital Partners’ fund to support African mid-cap businesses
IFC to invest in Mediterrania Capital Partners’ fund to support African mid-cap businesses
Business
Sukari gold mine’s production reaches 5.2 million ounces with $7.5bn revenues in February 2023
Sukari gold mine’s production reaches 5.2 million ounces with $7.5bn revenues in February 2023
Business
EFG Hermes records EGP 11bn revenue in FY22
EFG Hermes records EGP 11bn revenue in FY22
Business
Aa
Aa
DailynewsegyptDailynewsegypt
  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Interviews
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Interviews
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
  • Advertise
© 2023 DNE News. All Rights Reserved.
Dailynewsegypt > Blog > Environment > Tiny algae could help fix concrete’s dirty little climate secret – 4 innovative ways to clean up this notoriously hard to decarbonize industry
EnvironmentOpinionScience

Tiny algae could help fix concrete’s dirty little climate secret – 4 innovative ways to clean up this notoriously hard to decarbonize industry

Daily News Egypt
Last updated: 2022/09/07 at 9:56 PM
By Daily News Egypt 8 Min Read
Share
Tiny algae could help fix concrete’s dirty little climate secret – 4 innovative ways to clean up this notoriously hard to decarbonize industry
Tiny algae could help fix concrete’s dirty little climate secret – 4 innovative ways to clean up this notoriously hard to decarbonize industry
SHARE

Humans produce more concrete than any other material on the planet. It is the literal foundation of modern civilization – and for good reason.

Contents
It doesn’t have to be 100% cementWhat electrification and carbon capture can doGoing cement-free, possibly with algaeUsing concrete to lock captured CO2 awayA growing problem

Concrete is strong, durable, affordable and available to almost every community on the planet. However, the global concrete industry has a dirty little secret – it alone is responsible for more than 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions – more than three times the emissions associated with aviation. Those emissions doubled in the past two decades as Asian cities grew, and demand is continuing to expand at an unprecedented rate.

It’s also one of the most difficult industries to decarbonize, in part because manufacturers are typically hyperlocal and operate on slim margins, leaving little to invest in technologies that could lower emissions.

However, difficult does not necessarily mean impossible.

Architects, engineers, scientists and cement and concrete manufacturers around the world are investigating and piloting several new strategies and technologies that can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of cement and concrete. Here are a few of them, including one my team at the University of Colorado is working on: figuring out ways to use all-natural microalgae to solve concrete’s biggest emissions problem – cement.

It doesn’t have to be 100% cement

The primary culprit behind concrete’s climate impact is the production of portland cement – the powder used to make concrete.

Cement is made by heating limestone rich in calcium carbonate to over 2,640 degrees Fahrenheit (1,450 Celsius). The calcium carbonate decomposes into calcium oxide, or quicklime, and carbon dioxide – a climate-warming greenhouse gas. This chemical reaction, what the Portland Cement Association calls a “chemical fact of life,” is responsible for a whopping 60% or so of cement-related emissions. The remainder comes from energy to heat the kiln.

One of the most promising short-term strategies for reducing concrete’s carbon footprint uses materials like fly ash from coal plants, slag from iron production, and calcined clay to replace some of the portland cement in concrete mixtures. These are known as supplementary cementitious materials.

Using 20% to 50% fly ash, slag or calcined clay can reduce the embodied carbon of concrete mixtures by about the same percentages.

Another method uses small amounts of ground limestone to replace some of the cement and is becoming a best practice. After rigorous testing, the California Department of Transportation recently announced it would allow portland-limestone cement mixes, known as PLC, in its projects. With 5% to 15% ground limestone replacing cement, PLC can reduce emissions by about the same amount. California’s decision quickly led other states to approve the use of PLC.

Many researchers are now advocating for the adoption of limestone calcined-clay cement, which contains about 55% portland cement, 15% ground limestone and 30% calcined clay. It could cut emissions by more than 45%.

What electrification and carbon capture can do

Cement plants have also started testing carbon capture technologies and electric kilns to slash emissions. But carbon capture is expensive, and scaling the technology to meet the demand of the cement and concrete industry is no easy feat.

Kiln electrification faces the same barriers. New technologies and large capital investments are required to electrify one of the world’s most energy-intensive processes. However, the promise of zero combustion-related emissions is enticing enough for some entrepreneurs and cement companies – including those interested in using 100% solar energy for cement production – who are racing to find solutions that are both technologically and economically viable at scale.

The Inflation Reduction Act, which Congress passed in August 2022, could help put some of these technologies to wider use. It includes funding for modernizing equipment and adding carbon capture capabilities, as well as tax credit incentives for manufacturers to cut their emissions.

Going cement-free, possibly with algae

Another strategy is to produce functionally equivalent materials that contain no portland cement whatsoever.

Materials like alkali-activated slag or fly ash cement concrete are produced by combining slag, fly ash or both with a very strong base. These materials have been shown to cut carbon emissions by 90% or more, and they might meet scale and cost criteria, but they still face technical and regulatory challenges.

Some examples of low-carbon, portland cement-free concrete products that have gained market traction include wollastonite-based modular components, compressed earth blocks and prefabricated biocement products – including those produced using photosynthetic, biomineralizing microalgae.

Algae have also been used as an alternative biofuel for heating cement kilns, and algae cultivation systems have also been linked with cement production to capture carbon. https://www.youtube.com/embed/2Y461Y4Nu9s?wmode=transparent&start=0 Author Wil Surubar describes his team’s work with algae to make concrete.

My team at the University of Colorado Boulder and I are looking into the use of algae-derived limestone for portland cement production, which could help eliminate 60% of the emissions associated with cement manufacturing. This technology is appealing because it is plug-and-play with conventional cement production.

Using concrete to lock captured CO2 away

Engineers are also experimenting with injecting captured carbon dioxide into concrete as well as using aggregates made of carbon dioxide in place of gravel or sand that is mixed into concrete.

It’s an exciting concept, but so far injection has yielded limited carbon dioxide reductions, and production of carbon-dioxide-storing aggregates has yet to scale up.

A growing problem

Ultimately, time will tell whether these and other technologies will live up to their promise.

What is certain is that there has been a worldwide reckoning within the cement and concrete industry that it has a problem to solve and no silver bullet solution. It may take a suite of solutions tailored to both local and global markets to address the immediate and long-term challenges of keeping up with an ever-growing population and rapidly changing climate.

Wil Srubar, Assistant Professor of Architectural Engineering and Materials Science, University of Colorado Boulder

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

You Might Also Like

Opinion| Türkiye and Egypt: For better times with many opportunities

Opinion| The Chinese dragon occupies America’s place in the Middle East

Beyond GDP: Changing how we measure progress is key to tackling a world in crisis

Quantum mechanics: how the future might influence the past

Climate change: farmers in Ghana can’t predict rainfall anymore, changing how they work

TAGGED: climate, COP27
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Email Print
Previous Article Egypt’s net international reserves inch down to $33.141bn in August: CBE Egypt’s net international reserves inch down to $33.141bn in August: CBE
Next Article Egypt Post to acquire SMART for smart cards for EGP 1bn Egypt Post to acquire SMART for smart cards for EGP 1bn
Ad image

Stay Connected

Facebook Like
Twitter Follow
Instagram Follow
Youtube Subscribe

Latest News

Popular video-sharing app TikTok was granted by the U.S. government a 15-day extension to reach a deal with U.S. buyers, a federal court filing showed Friday. This means the deadline for ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, to reach a deal with Oracle and Walmart has been extended from Nov. 12 to Nov. 27, according to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
TikTok updates its community guidelines
Business
Strong representation of women in TV series of Ramadan 2023
Strong representation of women in TV series of Ramadan 2023
Culture Cinema
IFC to invest in Mediterrania Capital Partners’ fund to support African mid-cap businesses
IFC to invest in Mediterrania Capital Partners’ fund to support African mid-cap businesses
Business
Sukari gold mine’s production reaches 5.2 million ounces with $7.5bn revenues in February 2023
Sukari gold mine’s production reaches 5.2 million ounces with $7.5bn revenues in February 2023
Business
//
Egypt’s only independent daily newspaper in English. Discuss the country’s latest with the paper’s reporters, editors, and other readers.

Quick Link

  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Interviews
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

© 2023 DNE News. All Rights Reserved.

Join Us!

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss our latest news, podcasts etc..

Zero spam, Unsubscribe at any time.

Removed from reading list

Undo
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?