Reducing cement and concrete environmental impact: a physicist's perspective
| Quand ? |
Le 13/11/2023, de 11:00 à 12:00 |
|---|---|
| Où ? | Salle Condorcet |
| Participants |
Emanuela Del Gado |
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Cement is the main binding agent in concrete, literally gluing together rocks and sand into the most-used synthetic material on Earth. However, cement production is responsible for significant amounts of man-made greenhouse gases—in fact if the cement industry were a country, it would be the third largest emitter in the world. It has become clear that even a slight reduction of cement carbon footprint will dramatically reduce the global anthropogenic CO2 emissions of the whole construction sector, and that meeting emission-reduction targets for new constructions calls for deeper scientific understanding of cement properties and performance. I will analyze recent insights into the physics of this complex material and how they open a new path to scientifically grounded strategies of material design for greener cements. I will (very briefly) discuss examples of how physicists and policy experts can work together to devise available strategies for reducing cement and concrete environmental impact, and of the role that new technologies, such as additive manufacturing, can play.