A new ultra-low carbon cement production will start this autumn

This year, in October 2024, the UK government-funding factory Material Evolution will start producing brand-new, low-carbon cement. This material must cause a revolution in the building industry, decreasing carbon levels and helping to solve debris programs. But some manufacturers are afraid, and they have good reasons for that.

The main source: Ultra-low carbon cement factory production to start this autumn

What are the features of this material?

The first and the main feature and advantage of the material is its low carbon emission. This cement produces an 85% lower amount of CO2 than analog. Concrete is one of the lead materials in the building industry, and this influence will be very significant.

The second – is solving problems with construction waste. By-products from the steel industry are used during the creation of material. They are put in a specialized reactor, that works at room temperature.

Prof. David Hughes, CSO at Material Evolution and co-lead of the Mevocrete project said: “Cement is a binder and what we’re looking at here is creating a net zero embodied carbon cement which is inherently more durable, which means our houses, infrastructure, and transport highways would be transformed on mass industry scale, really tapping into a local and national picture of a net zero environment. We’re already having conversations with leading contractors, architects, government agencies, and institutions that ultimately have a huge say in the way cement is made and specified.”

Which advantages ultra-low carbon cement have?

Now, the company has a plan to produce 150,000 tons of cement annually and increase production capability further. Also, manufacturers plan to build new factories in Europe, because of which manufacturers of traditional cement are already sounding the alarm.

Business co-founder Dr Liz Gilligan said that Material Evolution aimed to remove one gigaton of carbon by 2040, while replacing OPC as the ‘go-to’ product for UK construction, given its 8% contribution to worldwide CO2 emissions.

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