I wrote about driving to work before, wondering if we could cut emissions with sustainable fuels. Now I’m wondering – what about the roads we drive on?
From streets to buildings, concrete is the most widely used material in the world. Concrete is made from sand, crushed rocks, and water and is glued together with cement. Unfortunately, cement factories are some of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. The emissions come from decarbonizing limestone and the very high temperatures needed to manufacture cement.
Manufacturing a single ton of cement requires the equivalent energy of burning four hundred pounds of coal
Paul Hawken https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/materials/alternative-cement
So, how can we design a more sustainable version of concrete? Imagine a high-tech skyline with remarkable towers and shopping centers. And heat, a lot of heat. This week we are covering an invention from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Kemal Celik, an assistant professor at NYU Abu Dhabi, researches how to make sustainable cement. He explores using by-products from other industries. Basically, making cement from recycled materials.
There are a lot of desalination plants in the United Arab Emirates to produce drinking water from seawater. A by-product of the desalination process is residual brine. Kemal figured out a way to make cement with the leftover brine. This is how it works:
His invention, reactive magnesium oxide cement, is produced at much lower temperatures than traditional cement. And the best thing? It actually absorbs carbon dioxide during the hardening process and long after it has been mixed into the concrete, making it carbon negative.
Roads and buildings made with it could actually absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over the years and help combat climate change
Kemal Celik, https://nyuad.nyu.edu/en/research/impact/our-research/2018/just-add-salt.html
Another inspiring innovation. Let’s hope we can all drive on roads made from sustainable concrete sometime soon.
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