New Green Construction Material Innovation_Low energy cement production by Celitement via IOM3: The Global Network for Materials, Minerals & Mining Professionals

"Low energy cement production

Researchers in Germany have developed a high-performance mineral binder, which, they say, can help reduce the energy consumption and CO2 emissions associated with cement production.

Celitement, the material’s trade name, is based on hydraulic calcium hydrosilicates."

Energy Saving

Celitement is made by forming calcium silicate hydrates in a hydrothermal reaction at temperatures between 150 and 200ºC. In a second step the autoclaved material is co-milled with a SiO2-rich material, such as quartz-sand.

‘Production of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) at temperatures of up to 1,450°C is a highly energy-consuming process,’ explains Dr Hanns-Günther Mayer, Managing Director of Celitement, a spin-out of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). ‘In addition, cement plants emit more than two billion tonnes of CO2 annually (2x10^9 tonnes CO2). In comparison to OPC Celitement has the potential to reduce both energy use and CO2 by up to 50%.’

Materials Strength:

 ‘During hydration, Celitement transforms to calcium silicate hydrate gel. This material is the cement hydrate, which defines the mechanical strength and stability of traditional concrete. Thus material properties of test samples made with Celitement, such as strength development and final compressive strength (up to 80 MPa) resemble those of samples made with OPC,’ adds Mayer.

Strength can be regulated by varying the mixing and processingparameters. ‘One big advantage of Celitement is the fact that it can be used just like any other cement.’

 Scale-Up

In spring 2011, a small pilot with a production rate of 100kg/day will start operation at KIT to perform extensive material tests and prepare scale-up.

REFERENCE:

Low energy cement production | IOM3: The Global Network for Materials, Minerals & Mining Professionals

  More on Celitement 

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SPOOKY? - Coal Mining Debris Rule Is Approved - This adds to Industries already poor image as a major source of CO2-GHG Emissions

As a member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, UK. I am posting this as much as a reminder-obligation to bring this article to the attention of out concerned professional members experts in the field as well as the wider blogger communities

"WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday approved a final rule that will make it easier for coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys.
The rule is one of the most contentious of all the regulations emerging from the White House in President Bush’s last weeks in office.

James L. Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, confirmed in an interview that the rule had been approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget. That clears the way for publication in the Federal Register, the last stage in the rule-making process.

Stephen L. Johnson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, concurred in the rule, first proposed nearly five years ago by the Interior Department, which regulates coal mining.

Edward C. Hopkins, a policy analyst at the Sierra Club, said: “The E.P.A.’s own scientists have concluded that dumping mining waste into streams devastates downstream water quality. By signing off on this rule, the agency has abdicated its responsibility.”

Environmental groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council see the mountaintop mining rule and pending changes in air pollution regulations as part of a final effort by the Bush administration to cater to the needs of energy industries.

The proposal that would give more leeway to coal-burning power plants, to increase their emissions when they make repairs and renovations, was on the original wish list of the energy task force convened by Vice President Dick Cheney in 2001."


SOURCES:

1. Full news article ....

2. Graphical representation of Mountain Mining

"Engineering Skills" in Shorter Supply than previously Imagined!

I have just taken a visit to Dave Bradley's Sciencebase site- mostly about chemstry.

It was a worthwhile visit. Of course it usually is. In this instance the added value concerned not chemistry, but engineering policy.

I stumbled upon a checklist entitled " Technological To-Do List " the list of most important engineering challenges by "experts."

Quite eye opening critical comments where made by David.

In particular he points out that since we are so close to engineering solar power, economically (I am translating liberally) why invest so heavily in Nuclear Fusion?
(NB. I am based in France-but not in the favoured South East of France- where the experimental reactor ITER is to be based. Worse, I remember quite clearly the Nobel prize winner the late Pierre-Gilles de Gennes' criticism of the ITER project. In one sentence P-G. de Gennes pointed out that this project lacked not only the resolution of some fundamental physics problems, but also did not respect the basic scaling rules of sound chemical engineering! NB. P-G, another of my mentors, was until his death, the Director of The Paris School of Industrial Physics & Chemistry, (ENSPCI) and member of the Board, for R&D, of several companies, noteably Rhodia)

As for the GHG-Green House Gases-critics, since we are concerned with "safety engineering safely", the only valid question, to my mind, is what engineering can and will be done to alleviate, mitigate, alter the current predicted "unmanageable" climate changes.

I am pleased he was not to harsh with my "mentor" Rob Socolow, source of my "Wedge-a-War" web-log.

Having let-off some steam, body temperature back to normal, I promise to read Dave Bradley (FRSC) Technological To-Do List on Sciencebase as well as R Socolow's comments at Princeton Engineering & Applied Science with more care, and to accept R Socolow's invitation to visit Engineering Challenges[Link]

R Socolow's invitation

Comments suggestions questions on my interpretation welcome.