Pitch
To overcome barriers to uptake of new binder technologies, build on the strengths of Portland cement with enhanced substituting materials.
Description
Summary
A major barrier to the uptake of alternatives to Portland cement is the lack of codes and Standards for their use in the built environment. Designers and engineers are rightfully conservative and to specify these alternate materials need to be assured of their performance, predictability and durability. Most of the existing codes and Standards are Portland cement based and there is little data to show that performance of alternative binders can be fully characterised using existing methods. They need to be validated for alternative binder systems.
This project would lower the clinker content of concrete, use the knowledge residing in alkali activated materials technology, and provide a solution for lower embodied emissions.
These outcomes would be achieved by constructing a Venn diagram of Portland cement performance characterisation and alkali activated binder performance characterisation. By examining the intersection of these two modes, validation of performance can be mor rapidly gained, accelerating the acceptance and specification of lower embodied emission binders.
The envisaged outcome would be a binder composed of Portland cement with higher level of substituting cementitious materials. Activation of the substituting material would overcome any deficit in performance that may occur with lower Portland cement content.
It would provide a staged move to lower embodied emissions allowing full validation of performance for Portland cement - free binders.
Category of the action
Industrial Efficiency: Cement Industry
By:
