Cement 2 Zero is a new project based in the UK for the development of new zero-carbon cement. The project is backed by £6.5m of UK Research & Innovation government funding as part of the Transforming Foundation Industries Challenge. It hopes to promote the decarbonisation of cement and steel. The Cement 2 Zero project aims to demonstrate that concrete can be recycled to create a slag-forming addition that could, when cooled rapidly, replace Portland cement.
The first phase of trials has already begun, and a two-year plan will test every step of the process using a 250 kg induction furnace. Once the process has been trialled and refined, industrial-scale melts will follow in Celsa Steel’s EAF in Cardiff, after two years the cement will be used in a real UK construction project.
The development of Cambridge Electric Cement came from three researchers at the University of Cambridge inventing a process that converts construction and demolition waste to cement over molten steel, using an electric arc furnace (EAF), which is used to recycle scrap steel.
Chris McDonald, chief executive of the Materials Processing Institute, said: “Cement 2 Zero has the potential to make a significant contribution to achieving a zero-carbon society, secure and increase jobs in the UK cement and steel sectors and challenge conventional production processes, creating high-value materials from demolition waste.”
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