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Formation of carbon-nanotubes insitu by electrolysis of CO2 during the calcination process allows direct capture of CO2 whilst increasing the mechanical stability of the cement.
About
The calcination process is responsible for more CO2 release than the whole aerospace traffic of the world. Thus the potential impact, when reducing the emission during this process, is incredibly high. Carbon Nanotubes are tubular molecules with extraordinary mechanical, electrical and chemical abilities. The current formation mechanism is via a chemical vapor deposition or arc ablation process. But a new promising mechanism could also be included into the calcination process. This mechanism follows an electrolysis process converting CO2 directly to carbon nanotubes and possibly also other carbon species. By adopting the electrolysis parameters as well as the catalysts, explicit carbon properties might be defined enhancing the concretes strengthness, durability or even electrical properties. For eletrolysis process, excess solar/wind energy could be addressed in order to make the process fully renewable and even CO2 negative. By this mean, the CO2 of the calcination process would be captured insitu while enhancing concrete properties.
Key Benefits
- new cement products with unique properties may be developed + increased mechanical stability allows potentially the reduction of cement addition to concrete for reaching same stress levels + enhanced electrical abilities might allow smart concrete applications (e.g. monitoring of mechanical stress, moisture content,... by measurement of impedance) - CO2 neutral to negativ impact for the worlds most CO2 intense process of cement calcination + by capturing insitu CO2 during process + by reducing the cement addition to concrete for reaching same stress levels
Applications
- cement and concrete industry