Environmentally friendly cement

The researchers have been working as part of a UK-India Education & Research Initiative (UKIERI) project, led by Dundee University, on how to reduce the carbon footprint of cement, which contributes to around five per cent of global CO₂ emissions.

Portland cement, a major constituent of concrete, is made by heating limestone with clay at high temperatures, a process that produces approximately one tonne of carbon dioxide for every tonne of cement made.

The researchers are looking into ways of reducing this carbon footprint by replacing part of the Portland cement with waste materials such as fly ash from burning coal, slag from iron works and even rice husks.

Dr Moray Newlands and Prof Ravindra Dhir, from the Concrete Technology Unit at Dundee and Dr Kevin Paine, from Bath University’s Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering, have been researching ways to develop the new types of cement with a lower carbon footprint.

Dr Paine said: ’Concrete is the second most used material in the world after water, and so reducing the CO₂ emissions produced by it could make a real difference to climate change. India is the second largest producer of cement in the world, after China. Therefore this collaboration with Indian research institutes is developing the new technologies in the countries where it’s most needed.’