Concrete is the second-most-used material in human civilization, second only to water. Every year, according to industry figures, more than three tons of concrete are used for every person on the planet.
But making concrete produces huge amounts of greenhouse gases because making the cement that binds together aggregate and water—the other two components of concrete—requires heating up a limestone mixture to more than 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. And that requires a lot of energy.
Now, researchers at Lawrence Technological University are working with a startup company to recycle some of the carbon dioxide produced by cement production and turning it into chemicals such as calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate to create a concrete mix.
The process involves a patented machine that converts captured carbon dioxide produced in the production of “klinker,” the base product that’s mixed with gypsum and other chemicals to become the cement that binds concrete together. The machine traps the captured CO₂ and converts it to calcium carbonate or magnesium carbonate in a form that is amorphous rather than crystalline in structure, giving the material so-called “cementitious” properties to later be used in the production of cement.
“There is a lot of chemical engineering in this process,” said Elin Jensen, PhD, chair of the LTU Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and principal investigator in the research.
LTU’s corporate partner in the project, Carbon Capture Machine, is based in Fairfield, Conn. The company also has sites in Dayton, Ohio, and Aberdeen, Scotland.
The project has also earned two Department of Energy grants totaling more than $5.8 million, with subcontracts to LTU totaling more than $650,000.
“The collaboration with LTU has provided an incredible opportunity for our young company to work closely with some of the top minds in the country and access state-of-the-art facilities such as the Nabil Grace Center for Innovative Materials Research,” said CCM CEO Lance A. Scott. “Dr. Elin Jensen has assembled a talented cross-disciplinary team in civil and architectural engineering, chemistry, biomedical engineering, and materials testing that has proven to be a model for successful public-private-academia collaboration. CCM captures CO₂ from flue gas and converts it into high-value, carbon-negative products for use in cement, food, pharmaceutical, paint, plastic, agricultural, and other markets, so the breadth of talent and entrepreneurial leadership at LTU is a perfect fit.”
Scott said the technology has also won international recognition:
LTU’s role in the research is to characterize the material produced by the patented machine. LTU takes pictures of the material down to the nanoscale in visible light and X-ray and runs a variety of tests on it, including its behavior at various temperatures. Future parts of the project will involve using the materials in actual concrete, then testing the concrete in terms of fresh mix behavior and early- and long-term properties.
Co-principal investigators on the research are Meng Zhou, PhD, associate professor of chemistry in the Department of Natural Sciences in LTU’s College of Arts and Sciences; Yawen Li, PhD, department chair and associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering; and Nishantha Bandara, PhD, associate professor in LTU’s Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, and director of the Lawrence Tech Transportation Institute and the university’s degree program in concrete technology and management. The project also has involved several undergraduate students in the materials testing process over the past two years—LTU majors in biomedical engineering, chemistry, computer science, and civil engineering.
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