Seawater-derived cement could decarbonise the concrete industry
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Publicly released:
2022-08-19 09:59
Magnesium ions are abundant in seawater, and researchers have found a way to convert these into a magnesium-based cement that soaks up carbon dioxide. The cement industry is currently one of the world’s biggest CO2 emitters, and while this seawater-derived cement is currently unsuitable for steel reinforced concrete, it could be readily adopted for small-scale use in footpaths, masonry and paver. The manufacturing process requires a similar amount of energy as regular cement, but if the electricity used comes from carbon-free sources, the overall process would consume rather than emit carbon, and keep it locked away from the atmosphere.
Journal/conference: PNAS Engineering
Link to research (DOI): 10.1073/pnas.2114680119
Organisation/s: Columbia University
Funder: S.K. and D.V.E. acknowledge seed funding from the Columbia University School of Applied Sciences and Engineering Interdisciplinary Research Seed program. A.H.A. acknowledges financial support from The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TUB€ _ITAK).
Media release
From: PNAS
Magnesium-based decarbonized cement
Researchers report a process for converting magnesium ions from seawater into magnesium hydroxides and further into magnesium-based cement that soaks up carbon dioxide; the magnesium-based cement exhibits compressive strength comparable to that of Portland cement and, although the process requires a similar amount of energy per ton as the manufacture of Portland cement and is currently unsuitable for use in conventional reinforced concrete, the overall process would consume rather than emit carbon dioxide if the electricity that powers the electrochemical processing step is derived from carbon-free sources, according to the authors.
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