Despite the many advantages of concrete as a modern construction material, including its high strength, low cost, and ease of manufacture, its production currently accounts for approximately 8 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
Despite the many advantages of concrete as a modern construction material, including its high strength, low cost, and ease of manufacture, its production currently accounts for approximately 8 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
Recent discoveries by a team at MIT have revealed that introducing new materials into existing concrete manufacturing processes could significantly reduce this carbon footprint, without altering concrete’s bulk mechanical properties.
The findings are published today in the journal PNAS Nexus, in a paper by MIT professors of civil and environmental engineering Admir Masic and Franz-Josef Ulm, MIT postdoc Damian Stefaniuk and doctoral student Marcin Hajduczek, and James Weaver from Harvard University’s Wyss Institute.
After water, concrete is the world’s second most consumed material, and represents the cornerstone of modern infrastructure. During its manufacturing, however, large quantities of carbon dioxide are released, both as a chemical byproduct of cement production and in the energy required to fuel these reactions.
Read more at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Image: Introducing additives to concrete manufacturing processes could reduce the sizeable carbon footprint of the material without altering its bulk mechanical properties, an MIT study shows. Credits: Courtesy of the researchers
