Phys.org June 26, 2024 The current concrete carbonation approaches are hindered by low CO2 capture efficiency and high energy consumption, often resulting in weakened concrete. An international team of researchers (USA – Northwestern University, Switzerland) experimentally explored a carbonation approach that resorts to injecting CO2 into a cement suspension subsequently used to manufacture concrete, turning the carbonation reaction into an aqueous ionic reaction with a very fast kinetics compared to traditional diffusion-controlled approaches. This approach achieved a CO2 sequestration efficiency of up to 45% and maintained an uncompromised concrete strength. The study showed that the CO2 injection rate influenced the […]
Tag Archives: Concrete
Concrete and the hard-core bacteria that stubbornly persist within
Phys.org August 4, 2021 Researchers at the University of Delaware hypothesized that the microbial communities of concrete reflect those of the concrete components and that these communities change as the concrete ages. To show how microbial communities change over 2 years of outdoor weathering they used two sets of concrete cylinders, one prone to the concrete-degrading alkali-silica reaction (ASR) and the other having the risk of the ASR mitigated. After identifying and removing taxa that were likely laboratory or reagent contaminants, they found that precursor materials, particularly the large aggregate (gravel), were the probable source of ∼50 to 60% of […]