Revealed: The cement that eats carbon dioxide (!!!)

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/31/cement-carbon-emissions

Revealed: The cement that eats carbon dioxide

Alok Jha, green technology correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 31 December 2008 14.59 GMT

Cement, a vast source of planet-warming carbon dioxide, could be transformed into a means of stripping the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere, thanks to an innovation from British engineers.

The new environmentally formulation means the cement industry could change from being a "significant emitter to a significant absorber of CO₂," says Nikolaos Vlasopoulos, chief scientist at London-based Novacem, whose invention has garnered support and funding from industry and environmentalists.

The new cement, which uses a different raw material, certainly has a vast potential market. Making the 2bn tonnes of cement used globally every year pumps out 5% of the world's CO₂ emissions - more than the entire aviation industry. And the long-term trends are upwards: a recent report by the French bank Credit Agricole estimated that, by 2020, demand for cement will increase by 50% compared to today.

…

Novacem's cement, based on magnesium silicates, not only requires much less heating, it also absorbs large amounts of CO₂ as it hardens, making it carbon negative. Set up by Vlasopoulos and his colleagues at Imperial College London, Novacem has already attracted the attention of major construction companies such as Rio Tinto Minerals, WSP Group and Laing O'Rourke, and investors including the Carbon Trust.

…

[gristy]

1. I'm not particularly optimistic

From the article:

A spokesperson for the British Cement Association expressed a sceptical note, saying that though there was much ongoing laboratory work on new types of cement, there were also problems. "The reality is that the geological availability, and global distribution, of suitable natural resources, coupled with the extensive validation needed to confirm fitness-for-purpose, make it highly unlikely that these cements will a be realistic alternative for volume building."

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. It reminds me a bit of "superconductors"

Superconductivity was first observed almost a century ago. It was generally treated as a scientific curiosity, because it only occurred at extremely low temperatures, making any real applications of it impractical.

However, research showed that superconductivity was possible at higher temperatures in different substances. Now, even relatively small hospitals in the US have MRI's.


As for a statement from the "British Cement Association," well, what would you say to a statement from the "American Coal Association" or the "American Nuclear Association" saying that Alternative Power sources are hopelessly impractical for a number of reasons.