Engineered UK clays for production of low-carbon cements

波特兰水泥混凝土是地球上仅次于清洁水的使用量最大的人造材料，它是现代生活不可或缺的一部分。然而，每年40亿吨波特兰水泥的产量占全球人为温室气体排放量的8%。随着气候变化的威胁越来越大，迫切需要对水泥生产进行脱碳处理。目前，减少水泥碳足迹的最可行的方法是广泛使用辅助胶凝材料(SCM)，如发电飞灰和钢铁制造的磨细高炉矿渣。然而，随着电力脱碳和英国钢铁制造业的衰落，这些材料正变得越来越稀缺。因此，我们需要开发低碳替代品，而不会破坏建筑实践，也不会影响长期性能。这就是这个项目的终极目标。最近，人们对在低碳混凝土生产中使用粘土作为胶凝材料越来越感兴趣，因为他们实用，负担得起，并且可扩展。英国拥有丰富的粘土资源，可以很容易地从现有采石场和基础设施发展项目的过载中获得这些资源，在这些项目中，它们目前被视为废物。然而，英国和全球的大多数粘土都是低品位的，与高纯度高岭石粘土相比，活性较低。因此，有必要根据这些低品位粘土矿床开发有针对性的解决方案，而不是依赖于从数千英里处进口替代品。该项目是及时的，因为增加的基础设施活动，如Crossail，HS2，以及推动对水泥和混凝土的需求增加，也将导致含有废弃粘土的建筑垃圾的产量增加。因此，我们将利用当地来源的含粘土建筑和采矿废料开发新的低碳水泥。在混凝土生产中使用这些材料是一种高度可持续和循环的解决方案；将废弃粘土转化为宝贵的资源。开发低碳水泥至关重要，但如果这些新材料不从实验室转移到建筑工地，那么必要的变化就不会出现。为了实现这一目标，我们将检查这些新型低碳水泥从制造到现场实践到了解长期耐久性的性能。研究团队将与供应链上的所有行业合作，确保新开发的材料满足行业要求，并尽可能广泛地被采用，以最大限度地减少建筑环境的碳排放。总而言之，研究团队和他们的工业合作伙伴将从当地来源的低品位废粘土中开发新的水泥，以显著减少混凝土的碳足迹，并确保基础设施整个生命周期的性能。这将有助于英国实现其脱碳和实现净零经济的计划。

Portland cement concrete is the most heavily used manufactured material on the planet after clean water, and it is integral to modern life. However, the production of 4 billion tonnes of Portland cement per year is responsible for 8% of global man-made greenhouse gas emissions. With the growing threat of climate change, there is an urgent need to decarbonise cement production. Currently, the most viable approach to reduce cement's carbon footprint involve the widespread use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), such as fly ash from electricity generation and ground granulated blast furnace slag from steel manufacture. However, with decarbonisation of electricity and the decline of UK steel manufacture, these materials are becoming increasingly scarce. Therefore, we need to develop low-carbon alternatives, without disrupting construction practice nor compromising on long-term performance. This is the ultimate goal of this project.Recently, there has been growing interest in using clays as cementitious materials in the production of low-carbon concrete because they are practical, affordable, and scalable. The UK has abundant clay resources that can be easily obtained from overburdens of existing quarries and infrastructure development projects, where they are currently regarded as wastes. However, most of the clay in the UK and globally are low grade and are less reactive compared to high purity kaolinite clays. Therefore, there is a need to develop focussed solutions based on these low-grade clay deposits, rather than to depend on the importation of alternatives from thousands of miles. This project is timely since increased infrastructure activity, e.g. Crossrail, HS2, as well as driving increased demand for cement and concrete, will also lead to higher production of construction spoils that contain waste clays. Thus, we will develop new low-carbon cements from locally sourced clay-bearing construction and mining spoils. Using these in concrete production is a highly sustainable and circular solution; turning waste clays into valuable resources.The development of low-carbon cements is vital, but if these new materials are not translated from the laboratory to the construction site, then the necessary change will not arise. To achieve this, we will examine the performance of these new low-carbon cements from manufacture, through site practice to understanding long-term durability. The research team will work with industry from all along the supply chain to ensure that the newly developed materials satisfy industry requirements and are adopted as wide as possible to maximise carbon reductions of our built environment. In summary, the research team and their industrial partners will develop new cements from locally sourced low-grade waste clays to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of concrete and ensure performance along the entire lifetime of infrastructure. This will help the UK to deliver on its plans to decarbonise and achieve a net-zero economy.