Beyond Portland: Creating the Next Generation of Low Carbon Hybrid Cements

Grants and Contracts Details

Description

The overarching goal of the project is to develop next generation, novel, low-energy low-CO2 hybrid cement formulations that are scalable to industrial manufacturing. The proposed approach will focus on developing the following unique cements: 1) alite/calcium sulfoaluminate (A/CSA) cement; 2) belite-rich calcium sulfoaluminate (BCSA) cement; and 3) ferrite-rich/calcium sulfoaluminate/alite (F/A/CSA) cements all below 1280oC, while assessing energy and carbon intensity through lab pilot-scale production in a rotary kiln. The greatly reduced firing temperature of the novel clinker formulations will allow a unique opportunity to explore nontraditional pyroprocessing techniques that require substantially less intensive energy needs and controlled emissions, through electrification of cement manufacturing. This proposal has a unique team comprised of those experienced in alternative clinker formulations and manufacturing systems (University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research), energy and CO2 emissions assessments (Oak Ridge National Laboratories), and technology to market consultant (Nathan Ball); with manufacturing advisors/contributors: Titan America, Buzzi Unicem USA, Imerys – Americas, Eco Material Technologies, Green Cement Company, Orcem Americas, Inc., and Design by Natural Processes, Inc. Each of the industry team members have sustainability and carbon reduction as an integral part of their business model. Along with industry partner Ozinga for end-user testing and validation of developed cements and concretes. Additionally, to understand, educate, and engage underserved communities and underrepresented groups the project intends to support an intern selected through UK’s Sustainability Internship Program to develop and communicate, through social media the challenges, achievements, and progress towards decarbonizing the cement and concrete industry and what that means for society. The proposed technology will enable cement manufacturing reductions in CO2 emissions of at least 60%, with concrete strength and durability outperforming Ordinary Portland Cement. The CO2 emissions reduction is based on decarbonizing OPC with the proposed “Next-Gen Hybrid Cements”, clinker and binder approach. The reduction was calculated from the U.S. DOE Cost and Performance Metrics, using OPC as a baseline comparison. This translates to a CO2 savings of 434,000 tons per year from 1 million tons of Next-Gen Hybrid Cement production, which represents approximately a 57% decrease of CO2 emitted from Next-Gen Hybrid Cement production as compared to OPC production. This would also result in the consumption and beneficial use of 170,000 – 400,000 tons of industrial waste, depending on the cement composition.
StatusActive
Effective start/end date10/1/238/31/27

Funding

  • Department of Energy: $617,990.00

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