New era for cement replacement materials: Importance of service life design (NewDurCem)

Research Project, 2021 – 2024

Our developed societies require a built environment that is unimaginable without the widespread use of cement-based materials that allow cheap construction anywhere with complex and massive shapes! Other available building materials cannot answer the large demands for infrastructure as they are available in very small quantities in comparison to concrete, are more expensive and generally have a higher environmental footprint than cementitious materials. However, the large consumption of cement has associated it with large CO2 emissions from the manufacturing process: about 8% of the global anthropogenic CO2 emissions are from cement production and therefore without decisive actions, the very beneficial importance of this vital material for our future built environment will be forgotten instead of being rectified.

Consequently, aiming to fulfill United Nations sustainable development goals for a sustainable future built environment (SDG 11), carbon neutrality (SDG 13), in relation to cement production (SDG 11) should be achieved and therefore, a flagship study, where, an extensive investigation of all known and novel strategies, to reduce CO2 emissions from cement production with clinker substitution/reduction, in parallel with carbon capturing, storage and use methods, with consideration of all touchpoints, synergies and conflicts between the proposed actions, is proposed in this study.