Perhaps the most important and widely-used building material, concrete also has an enormous environmental impact. This is largely because in order to produce one ton of cement – the material that binds together rock aggregate in concrete – about 900 kg of C02 are emitted. In fact, the concrete industry is responsible for roughly 5% of carbon emissions worldwide, making it one of the two largest industrial producers of the greenhouse gas.
But, thanks to an accidental discovery, a environmentally-friendly substitute to cement may be on the horizon. A recent report by PBS features the invention of environmental chemist David Stone: a cement-like material that isn't just carbon-neutral but actually carbon-negative. Called 'Ferrock,' the material primarily contains iron dust and silica, both of which can be sourced via recycling. In fact, in order to obtain silica (basically crushed glass), Stone has employed a local man to collect glass bottles that have been left in the desert. While making traditional cement requires immense heat powered by burning coal, Ferrock only hardens when exposed to high concentrations of carbon dioxide, which it actually absorbs and traps. Moreover, the material is about 5x tougher than conventional concrete!
While the material is still in a developmental phase, Stone has been able to receive funding, incidentally creating new jobs for residents of the nearby Native American reservation.
For more information, check out the PBS report, the video by the University of Arizona posted below, or this article here.
5 Comments
very very informative and interesting.
Where is the CO2 coming from? Is it captured out of the atmosphere (how?) or industrially produced (which seems to defeat the purpose)?
Great idea!
I hope he's successful!
what happens when the steel dust eventually rusts
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