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OKIsItJustMe

(19,937 posts)
Tue Feb 21, 2012, 07:27 PM Feb 2012

Drexel Engineers Develop Cement With 97 Percent Smaller Carbon Dioxide and Energy Footprint

http://www.drexel.edu/now/news-media/releases/archive/2012/February/Engineers-Develop-Cement-With-97-Percent-Smaller-Carbon-Dioxide-and-Energy-Footprint/
[font face=Times, Times New Roman, Serif][font size=5]Drexel Engineers Develop Cement With 97 Percent Smaller Carbon Dioxide and Energy Footprint[/font]

PHILADELPHIA, February 20, 2012

[font size=3]Drexel University engineers have found a way to improve upon ordinary Portland cement (OPC), the glue that’s bonded much of the world’s construction since the late 1800s. In research recently published in Cement and Concrete Composites the group served up a recipe for cement that is more energy efficient and cost effective to produce than masonry’s most prevalent bonding compound.

Drexel’s “green” variety is a form of alkali-activated cement that utilizes an industrial byproduct, called slag, and a common mineral, limestone, and does not require heating to produce. According to Dr. Michel W. Barsoum, A.W. Grosvenor professor in Drexel’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, this alternative production method and the ubiquity of the mix ingredients, lessens the cost of materials for Drexel’s cement by about 40 percent versus Portland cement and reduces energy consumption and carbon dioxide production by 97 percent.

“Cement consumption is rapidly rising, especially in newly industrialized countries, and it’s already responsible for 5 percent of human-made carbon dioxide. This is a unique way to limit the environmental consequences of meeting demand,” Dr. Alex Moseson, one of the lead researchers on the project, said.

While forms of alkali-activated cement have been used as far back as the 1950s and 1960s in several buildings in the former Soviet Union, much of the inspiration for this research came from the Pyramids in Egypt, as well as buildings in ancient Rome.

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Drexel Engineers Develop Cement With 97 Percent Smaller Carbon Dioxide and Energy Footprint (Original Post) OKIsItJustMe Feb 2012 OP
Great news! IIRC cement manufacture is responsible for ~10% of CO2 emissions ... nt eppur_se_muova Feb 2012 #1
According to the OP: OKIsItJustMe Feb 2012 #2
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