Low carbon cement to accelerate constructions journey to net zero
A new Teesside-based operation to mass produce ultra-low carbon cement is on the cusp of an industry breakthrough, rapidly transforming our built environment.
Material Evolution, the driving force behind the £7.6million Mevocrete project, have been working closely with academic and industrial partners to develop it’s ultra-low carbon cement technology for production at scale. The organisation, which is based in Middlesbrough, is due to put the technology into production at its first manufacturing site in Wrexham in October.
The move will make the company the biggest producer of low carbon cement in the UK.
Currently, Material Evolution’s cement solution provides up to 85% less embodied CO2 than traditional Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), with the business aiming to deliver 150,000 tonnes of cement annually.
The firm plans to replicate and scale its production process across the UK and Europe, generating excitement among concrete specifiers and producers about the potential for embedded carbon reductions, according to Prof. David Hughes, CSO at Material Evolution and co-lead of the Mevocrete project.
Hughes said: ‘This project really is a collaborative journey for a more positive carbon neutral built environment which, through Mevocrete and new technology, sees an untapped supply of historic by-products from heavy industry diverted away from landfill.
‘Concrete is ubiquitous in nature being the second most used material on earth, and is one of the world’s biggest contributors to CO2 emissions, so presenting solutions for its decarbonisation is at the heart of circular efforts within the construction industry.’
‘Cement is a binder and what we’re looking at here is creating a net zero embodied carbon cement which is inherently more durability, which means our houses, infrastructure and transport highways would be transformed on mass industry scale, really tapping into a local and national picture of a net zero environment,’ Hughes said. ‘We’re already having conversations with leading contractors, architects, government agencies and institutions that ultimately have a huge say in the way cement is made and specified.’
Material Evolution, which was founded in 2017 by Dr Liz Gilligan and Sam Clark, is comprised of a team of innovators, scientists and experts committed to driving change in the building materials industry.
Dr Gilligan said: ‘We are on a mission to rapidly and radically decarbonise the construction industry, by creating a product that emits 85% less carbon than traditional OPC, followed by our net zero carbon cement which we are working on scaling into production.
‘In just a few years, we’ve achieved a remarkable position within the industry, and soon we’ll be able to launch our first industrial-scale cement factory in Wrexham working at volume – delivering a product that’ll enable today’s contractors, engineers and architects to build a greener tomorrow.
‘Our ultimate goal is to remove one gigaton of carbon by 2040, and these ambitious targets are driving our research forward with likeminded collaborators across various industries as we continue to accelerate the net zero agenda.’
Image: Material Evolution
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