CEE Seminar - Impact of fillers and SCMs derived from CO2 mineralization schemes on cement-based materials

To meet climate goals, there is a need to lower the embodied carbon of concrete. A potential pathway is to implement carbon mineralization schemes to convert industrial wastes (e.g. construction and demolition waste) into fillers and supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). This can simultaneously upcycle waste and provide a permanent form of CO2 storage. Further, by tuning the parameters of the mineralization process, it is possible to tailor the properties of the derived fillers and SCMs with the aim to introduce beneficial properties to the final cement-based system. This talk will present a summary of an investigation where a two-step pH swing approach was implemented on hydrated cement paste (simulating demolished concrete) to produce two products, high-purity calcium carbonate (CaCO3) fillers and Si-rich SCMs, and their impact on key cement properties were determined.