CHINA

f reenhouse gases, mainly CO2, are important role in CO,

\J affecting global ctimate change in
an increasingly rapid way. According to a
greenhouse gas butletin pubtished bythe
Wortd MeteorotogicaI Organisation in 2020,
the gtobal average mole fraction of CO, in
2020 was 4I3.2t0.2ppm, which is 149 per
cent of pre-industrial tevels.
As a basic buitding materialindustry,
the cement sector ptays an important
role in economic devetopment, but the
manufacturing process atso resutts in
significant amounts of CO. emissions.
China is the world's [argest cement
producer and in 2021 the countrY
manufactured -2.4bnt of cement,
representing about 55 per cent oftotal
gtobal production. CO, emissions from
China's cement industry account for about
13.6 per cent ofthe country's totat, and
the industry is the main CO, emissions
source within the manufacturing sector.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to
address the chatlenges of devetoping
green and low-carbon buitding materials
utilisation.
CO, curing in large-
scaie industrial
production
Atthough the chemical
reaction between CO, and
ctinker has been ctarified
for decades, the issue of CO,
not being able to penetrate
into concrete products
within a short period of time
has not been effectively
solved. This probtem has
prevented CO, curing
technotogy from being used
in large-scale industriaI
production.
Foltowing many years of
research and development,
Professor Caijun Shi
and his'team at Hunan
University, Changsha, China,
successfully proposed a synergetic theory process was tested at a demonstration

to enable the sustainabte development of
China's cement industry.
There are two ways to achieve this
goa[. On the one hand, totaI CO, emissions
shoutd be reduced, while on the other
hand, CO, emissions can atso be cottected
and utilised efficientty. The impact of
the gradualoptimisation of the cement
production process through technological
i m provements, alternative fuets usage
on moisture regulation-gas migration-
carbonation reaction, which provides the
scientific basis for the fast penetration of
CO, into concrete products. The group has
since developed pre-curing technologies
for the [arge-scale CO, curing of concrete
p rod ucts.
Hunan University and Huaxin
cement collaboration
line at Huaxin Cement's Wuxue Building
Materials industriaI park using kiln
exhaust gas from the producer's nearby
cement works.
The existing autoclave concrete brick
production line was modified into a CO,
curing production [ine. After one week
of operation, the [ine worked very wel[.
Atthough the kiln exhaust gas onty has a
CO, concentration of about 20 per cent,

and ctinker substitution to reduce CO,
emissions per unit of product is graduatly
decreasing. Meanwhite, the devetopment
of new, low-carbon cementitious
materiats, and CO, capture and utitisation
technologies witt ptay an increasingly
Prof Shi's group worked with a team led
by Dr Yeqing Li, president and director of
Huaxin Cement Co's Technology Center,
for more than two years to acquire the
CO, curing parameters for the fult-scate
oroduction of concrete bricks. The
the average compressive strength ofthe
COr-cured concrete bricks reached more
than 15MPa, thereby meeting the relevant
nationaI standards. ln fact, the strength
ofthe COr-cured concrete bricks increases
with time after curing.
 "The concrete b k
production hne atthe
e industrialpark

concrete bricks per yea r.

It is esti mated that it will
consume about 000tof
and save gMkWh of
electrici annuallywith
the substituted steam
tt
vv' trinn
r't t'
'J'

using a relativety low concentration of CO,

The concrete brick production line at
the Wuxue industrial park can produce
24O0m concrete bricks peryear. lt is
estimated that it wit[ consume about
62,000t of CO, and save 9MkWh of
etectricity annualty with the substituted
steam curing.
The successfuI implementation of this
COr-cured concrete brick project is an
excellent example of the combination of
the btock/brick and cement production
industries. The bricks produced in the
factory can be immediatety cured using
CO, from the cement kitn exhaust gas
emitted during cement manufacture. The
method does not require a COrcapture and
pu rification process, which significa ntty
reduces costs. Furthermore, the brick's
raw materials contain a large amount of
waste residue from aggregate production,
which not onty deats with industriatwaste
effectivety, but also means that production
costs are approximately 30 per cent less
than simitar bricks on the market.
(about 20 per cent) to cure bricks and other
concrete products. This is of particutar
significance and importance for the use
of CO, produced in the cement industry,
power plants and some other industries,
as it etiminates high CO, capture and
purification process costs.
Moreover, this technological
breakthrough provides an efficient path
for the utilisation of CO, in the buitding
materiats industry. In addition to bricks,
CO, cu ri ng technotogy can be a pplied to
more buitding materiats with carbonatable
phases in their components.
Based on the premise of a reasonabte
process design, the buitding materials
industry - with its huge production
capacities - witt hopefutty become a
Setting the path sustainabte industry with the largest scate
CO, emissions from the cement industry of sotidification and utilisation of CO, in
largety determine overall CO, emission the future. This wilt provide a new strategy
levets around the wortd. As one of the most to tackle ctimate change in addition to
widety used buitding materials, bricks reducing production levels. I
have significa-nt
potentiaI for CO,
solidification
due to their high
production and
consumption
rates. The
combination
of these two
industries brings
new and efficient
solutions for the
reduction of CO,
emissions. More
importantly,
the success of
this production
[ine has proved
the feasibitity of

ICR APRIL 2022