Transforming cement production with a new electrochemical process

A scalable, lower-cost method for producing cement feedstock relies on abundant minerals, recycled concrete, water electrolysis and atmospheric carbon dioxide.

“Our newly developed electrochemical material manufacturing approach opens a new area in cement production and waste upcycling at scale,” said Jiaqi Li, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Michigan and staff scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Instead of relying on limestone as cement feedstock, the process uses calcium silicates derived from abundant minerals and recycled concrete. When exposed to electricity, these materials react with water and pull carbon dioxide out of the air to form calcium carbonate, which can directly replace limestone in cement kilns. In traditional cement production, calcium carbonate is formed by heating limestone in a kiln until it releases carbon dioxide.

“The products readily meet present-day regulatory standards and demands, and the approach readily synergizes with business-as-usual cement manufacturing and concrete construction, which are important for upscaling and structural safety, promising ready reception by the public and industries,” the researchers state in the abstract of a paper published in Energy and Environmental Science.

In addition to making cement production more efficient, the process creates as a byproduct green hydrogen that could be used to fuel the kiln. Read more about the work.

This is a summary of an article written by Patsy DeLacey.