Most people who are lucky enough to inhabit the Western world realize that they’re walking around with a huge carbon price tag hanging over their head. But how often do we stop to think about exactly how this resource use is apportioned? Certainly much of it goes to food consumption, and a great deal of it goes to transportation, but who knew that a sizable portion of it is owed to concrete? Manufacturer Novacem aims to temper the damaging effects of this all-too plentiful source of CO2—their new brand of concrete is actually carbon negative.

Carbon Negative Cement. Designed and Manufactured by Novacem.

Smart, Sustainable Novacem Cement Sequesters CO2

The idea of sequestering something or someone who isn’t contagious takes some adjusting to, but it’s a leap we’ll have to make if we want to ward off the pernicious effects of climate change. Novacem does its part by re-envisioning the recipe, if you will. Rather than using the typical calcium carbonate compounds, Novacem’s CNC (carbon negative cement) employs magnesium oxides and silicates.

The switch decreases carbon output in several ways. Using magnesium oxide enables the cement to be formed at lower temperatures, thus reducing fossil fuel use in the process. Further, since the base element is magnesium, no CO2 emissions are released. Lastly, the process for carbonating magnesium for Novacem’s CNC actually absorbs atmospheric CO2: “Overall, the production process to make 1 tonne of Novacem cement absorbs up to 100 kg more CO2 than it emits, making it a carbon negative product.”

Novacem says they’re aiming for functional parity with conventional Portland cement. The company’s carbon negative cement already performs at levels comparable to conventional cement in several applications, including masonry products. Magnesium silicates are easily available and widely dispersed throughout the world (accessible worldwide reserves are estimated to be greater than 10,000 billion tons), so the technology has enormous potential to offset the high ecological price tag of conventional cement.

Via ContractDesign.

About the Manufacturer: Novacem was founded in 2007 as an offshoot from Imperial College London. The company has developed an alternative method for manufacturing cement that employs magnesium silicate rather than carbon. This enables production at lower temperatures. It also results in more CO2 being trapped than is created during production. The result is an energy-efficient, sustainable product with great potential to offset the use of conventional cement: “Our long term goal is widespread global adoption of our cement, significantly reducing cement as a source of CO2 emissions.”