Cement absorbs carbon dioxide, obtained by own production

At the base of modern civilization is cement, it is also one of the main culprits of global warming, producing more than five percent of the global emissions of carbon dioxide. Now scientists from the US, UK and China saying the same cement us more and save us from warming by absorbing carbon.





The emissions themselves appear even during production at temperatures over a thousand degrees Celsius, the limestone is converted into cement, moreover, that carbon dioxide appears at the stage of transformation of one substance into another, and the heating furnace coal produces huge amounts of greenhouse gas.

It is estimated that between 1930 and 2013 it was produced more than 76 billion tons of cement, which led to the release of 38.2 gigatons of carbon dioxide. And this is a huge number. As it turned out, the cement absorbs the gas back, but how much he can absorb?

A new study on the carbonation of cement is headed by a Professor from the University of East Anglia, Dabo Guan.

Using the data on cement materials during their service life, the destruction and reuse of waste, and new data from field research in China, researchers have created a model of regional and global uptake of atmospheric CO2 with cement in the period from 1930 to 2013. They found that 4.5 gigatons or 43 percent of the emissions from the entire period of the cement production is reabsorbed during the same period, that is, 57 percent of the generated carbon dioxide still remain in the atmosphere.





At the same time, have destroyed a cement structure absorbed more gas, between 2000 and 2013 was reabsorbed 14 and 25 percent, respectively. According to the study, the average annual absorption of carbon, 5.8%, showed a slight increase compared to the emissions of 5.4 per cent, of cement between 1990 and 2013.

Now the environmentalists will need to rethink some of their concepts because they have long restricted the use of cement and was looking for "green" materials for construction. Also now scientists are discovering study on improvement of concrete and cement, they want to find a Supplement that will improve absorbency.published

 

Source: newatlas.com/cement-overlooked-carbon-sink/46569/