MIT researchers find a way to eliminate carbon emissions from cement production

MIT researchers find a way to eliminate carbon emissions from cement production which is a major global source of greenhouse gases.
It’s well known that the production of cement — the world’s leading construction material — is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for about 8 percent of all such releases. If cement production were a country, it would be the world’s third-largest emitter.

A team of researchers at MIT has come up with a new way of manufacturing the material that could eliminate these emissions altogether, and could even make some other useful products in the process.

About 1 kilogram of carbon dioxide is released for every kilogram of cement made today.

The number of buildings worldwide is expected to double by 2060.

So it’s a real challenge to find ways of reducing the material’s carbon emissions without making it too expensive.

MIT researchers have spent the last year searching for alternative approaches, and hit on the idea of using an electrochemical process to replace the current fossil-fuel-dependent system.

Ordinary Portland cement is made by grinding up limestone and then cooking it with sand and clay at high heat, which is produced by burning coal. The process produces carbon dioxide in two different ways: from the burning of the coal, and from gases released from the limestone during the heating. The new process would eliminate or drastically reduce both sources. Though the researchers have demonstrated the basic electrochemical process in the lab, the process will require more work to scale up to industrial scale.

News Source: MIT