CEMEX has announced its participation in the FastCarb Project, administrated by IREX. The scheme aims to capture the CO2 trapped in concrete, before the material is recycled and re-used as aggregates.
The approach seeks to improve the quality of this type of recycled aggregate by plugging the porosity and ultimately reducing the impact of the CO2 trapped inside many concrete structures.
CEMEX is involved in a working group focused on the transition to concrete as well as applications for prefabricated parts and structures.
The project wants to understand the accelerated carbonation mechanism for recycled concrete aggregates.
The FastCarb Project started in 2016 with a multidisciplinary group of partners, such as public organizations, private research centres, contractors, engineering companies, laboratories, and different industries, including CEMEX.
After completing the first phase of the experimental approach, at the laboratory level, with promising preliminary results, the project is now entering the second phase seeking to tackle the industrial processes involved.
In this industrial approach phase, CEMEX was recently assigned to evaluate the physical and mechanical properties of the carbonated recycled concrete aggregates when used in ready-mix concrete in the laboratory facilities of the National Technical Centre CEMEX France.
“This initiative is a relevant component of our ambition to deliver net-zero CO2 concrete globally to all of our customers by 2050,” said Vicente Saiso, CEMEX’s director of Sustainability.
“FastCarb aims to allow us to develop the circular economy of concrete by improving the quality of recycled concrete aggregates.”
