Researchers say they have discovered a way to recycle steel and cement at the same time, in what would be a breakthrough zero-carbon solution for industry’s two most carbon-unfriendly processes, New Atlas reported.
Cambridge University scientists have discovered that throwing old concrete into steel-processing furnaces not only purifies iron but also produces “reactivated cement” as a byproduct, the story in the science and tech news website went on.
Concrete is the world’s most used building material, and making it is a dirty business – concrete production alone is responsible for about 8% of total global CO2 emissions, the report continued, but if a steel mill was using renewable energy the process could produce completely carbon-zero cement.
The technique has already been trialled in furnaces that produce a few dozen kilograms of cement, and the researchers say the first industrial-scale trials are underway this month.
Read the full story: New Atlas
- By Sean O’Meara
Also on AF:
China Shifting to ‘Green’ Steel Production as EU Levy Looms
Pure O2 Key to World’s First Carbon-Neutral Cement Plant – IE
Green Hydrogen Power Breakthrough in Steel Production – CT
Demand for Steel Soaring from Renewable Energy Farms: BHP
