{"id":16673,"date":"2023-05-07T10:37:35","date_gmt":"2023-05-07T17:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/using-concrete-to-store-carbon-as-canada-transitions-to-net-zero\/"},"modified":"2023-05-07T10:37:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T17:37:35","slug":"using-concrete-to-store-carbon-as-canada-transitions-to-net-zero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/using-concrete-to-store-carbon-as-canada-transitions-to-net-zero\/","title":{"rendered":"Using concrete to store carbon as Canada transitions to net-zero"},"content":{"rendered":"

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May 2, 2023 \u2013 Net-zero can\u2019t be achieved unless carbon dioxide removal technologies are used, according to a report released last week, and an Alberta company is helping to pave the way to reduced emissions.<\/p>\n

On April 13, the Pembina Institute released a report on the need for Canada to use carbon dioxide removal (CDR) along with emission reduction to hit net-zero target by 2050.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is critical to do all we can to make early, deep and sustained reductions of direct emissions from industry, transportation, agriculture and other sectors,\u201d the report reads.<\/p>\n

Carbon Upcycling, a company from Calgary, is exploring the CDR potential in concrete by using waste material to reduce the amount of cement in concrete and combining it with flue gas CO2 to make the end product more durable.<\/p>\n

But what is CDR and why is it needed?<\/p>\n

The Pembina Institute report said CDR can be an \u201cindirect solution for hard-to-reduce emissions,\u201d and \u201ccan extract some of the legacy carbon that humanity has released into the atmosphere over the last few centuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the report CDR is a method to extract CO2 from the atmosphere and store it so \u201cit does not re-enter the atmosphere.\u201d The process must remove more C02 than it emits, and it is an additional measure to \u201canything that is already happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are two types of CDR engineered and biological. Biological CDR solutions include afforestation, reforestation, soil sequestration.<\/p>\n

Engineered non-biological CDR solutions are newer technologies that, according to the report, could play a larger role in the future, \u201cbut need additional attention getting there.\u201d<\/p>\n

These newer technologies include direct air capture, ocean alkalinity enhancements, carbon mineralization, geological storage, and carbon use \u201cwhich takes carbon dioxide and turns it into products\u201d which includes concrete.<\/p>\n

Dante Luu, spokesperson for Carbon Upcycling, said in cement there is a raw material called clinker that is made up of limestone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you heat limestone up, super, super hot, then a bunch of CO2 is released from it, and your end result is clinker, that clay gets put into your cement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Luu said Carbon Upcycling offsets the cement and carbon- intensive clinker with waste material.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll take recycled glass, or we\u2019ll take fly ash from coal production or steel slag from steel, and we\u2019ll combine that with CO2. Now the CO2 comes from like your flue gas from natural gas power plant. We\u2019ll combine that CO2 with waste to offset the cement in concrete.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you have less raw material going into your cement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The concrete itself is more durable because of the chemical composition of the materials, Luu explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou actually have more resilient concrete at the end of the day. So, when I say resilient, that means it\u2019s able to fend off chloride and sulfate attacks much better. It\u2019s stronger and more durable. We\u2019ve seen like a 40 to 60 per cent increase in strength and durability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Luu said it is important to reduce the amount of embodied carbon in concrete because we are surrounded by concrete.<\/p>\n

According to the Government of Canada, concrete is the most used building material on the planet. In Canada, cement accounts for 1.5 per cent of CO2 emissions while globally cement accounts for seven per cent of C02 emissions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can reduce that by say, one per cent, then we\u2019re kind of obligated to,\u201d said Luu. (The concrete industry) is one of the largest emitters in the world, but it\u2019s almost never talked about. So, it\u2019s this massive problem, and that\u2019s kind of what we\u2019re tackling here.\u201d<\/p>\n

In February, the government of Alberta announced $58 million for circular economy projects through Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA). Carbon Upcycling received $4.4 million for a project that will \u201csupport the first commercial-scale deployment of two carbon capture and cementitious material production facilities in the Albertan construction sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carbon Upcycling is partnered with BURNCO and Lafarge for the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project will support the first commercial-scale deployment of two carbon capture and cementitious material production facilities in the Albertan construction sector,\u201d the ERA website stated.<\/p>\n

Luu said Carbon Upcycling is working on reducing the embodied carbon and dealing with waste.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have waste from steel, you have waste from coal, waste glass, and all this stuff just ends up in a landfill. What we\u2019re doing is we\u2019re upcycling it or in other words transforming this waste into a valuable material for another industry, building that circularity,\u201d said Luu.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n