Solidia Technologies White Paper on Water Use by Global Cement and Concrete Industry Finds Potential Savings of 2 Billion Tons of Water Per Year

A white paper on water use in the global production of cement and concrete finds that a savings of two billion tons of water per year could be realized with the adoption of a patented process developed by Solidia Technologies® that cures concrete with carbon dioxide (CO2) instead of water. Starting with a sustainable cement, the CO2-curing technology reduces water consumption in the production of concrete up to 80%, carbon emissions up to 70%, and the curing time to one day.

"Water scarcity and rising CO2 emissions are among the most pressing concerns of our time," commented Solidia’s Chief Technology Officer and paper co-author Nicholas DeCristofaro, Ph.D. "With Solidia Cement™ and Solidia Concrete™, we can address these environmental challenges with innovative solutions that offer tangible value to manufacturers and inestimable value to the planet."

Entitled “Water Savings in Concrete Made from Solidia Cement,” the paper’s additional authors include Solidia Technologies Director of Research and Development Vahit Atakan, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist Jitendra Jain, Ph.D., Research Scientist Deepak Ravikumar, Ph.D., and Senior Research Scientist Larry McCandlish, Ph.D.

Abstract

Concrete is the second most consumed substance in the world, after water. Portland cement-based concrete is made by mixing aggregates (both coarse and fine), ordinary Portland cement (OPC), admixtures (mineral or chemical) and water. Over 30 billion tons of concrete were produced in 2011, consuming over three billion tons of OPC. The water-to-cement ratio for a typical concrete formulation varies from 0.35 to 0.4 (0.35 ton of water per ton of cement). Based on these numbers, it is estimated that 1.3 to 1.5 billion tons of water (3 x 109 tons of cement x 0.35 ton of water per ton of cement = 1.3 billion tons of water) is chemically consumed annually during concrete production. Because concrete may take up to 28 days to fully cure, additional water is often added to the concrete to compensate for evaporation. When this added water is considered, the overall water consumed annually during OPC-based concrete production is estimated to be between 2.15 to 2.6 billion tons, or 2.15 to 2.6 trillion liters.

Solidia Technologies has developed a new class of sustainable cement, hereafter referred to as Solidia Cement, that reacts with gaseous CO2 rather than with water to form Solidia Concrete. Like their OPC-based concrete counterparts, concrete objects made with this sustainable cement require the incorporation of water for shaping and forming only. However, the water used in concrete formulations based on Solidia Cement is not consumed chemically and can be recovered during the CO2 -curing process.

On average, 70 to 80 percent of the water used in the Solidia Concrete formulation can be recovered during CO2-curing process. The remainder of the water is retained in the concrete and can be recovered if needed.

If Solidia Cement were used instead of OPC, the amount of water consumed during the production of concrete could be reduced around 0.26 to 0.45 billion tons. This corresponds to an annual global water savings approaching two billion tons, or two trillion liters.

The white paper can be downloaded at www.solidiatech.com.

Solidia Technologies® makes it easy and profitable to use CO2 to create superior and sustainable building materials. Solidia was honored with the 2013 R&D Top 100 Award, named a finalist in both the 2014 CCEMC Grand Challenge First Round and the 2013 Katerva Award, shortlisted to both the 2013 Cleantech 100 and MIT’s Climate CoLab, and named a 2014 Best Place to Work in NJ. Based in Piscataway, N.J., Solidia’s investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Bright Capital, BASF, and BP. Follow Solidia Technologies at www.solidiatech.com and on LinkedIn and Twitter: @SolidiaCO2.