Novel biochar-infused concrete for carbon sequestration and concrete improvement

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The concrete industry is a major source of carbon emissions with much coming from cement production. Industrial by-products like fly ash can replace cement to reduce concrete's carbon footprint and improve its properties. Fly ash is cheaply sourced from coal power plants but its availability will diminish as these plants are shut down to meet climate goals. Therefore, new, low-carbon cement alternatives are needed. This project will develop new biochar-concrete mixes. Biochar comes from organic material, such as agricultural feeds that are waste products that would otherwise be landfilled. Biochar has been used to capture and store carbon in materials but there are few studies on biochar-concrete. Existing studies show benefits of biochar-concrete beyond carbon offsets including moisture control, insulation, and improved strength but there are conflicting results due to biochar source and production methods. Some solutions have been explored but are only useful for specific biochars. The range of reported successes and limitations of biochar and lack of larger scale testing simulating realistic reinforced-concrete members show that more study is needed. This project will advance our knowledge of biochar-concrete mixes. Biochars will be optimized for use in concrete and studied to assess their life-cycle and carbon offset potential. Optimized biochar-concrete will be tested at smaller scales to study effects on concrete compression and tension behaviour. Then, larger reinforced-concrete beams will be tested to assess how biochar interacts with rebar. This project will allow engineers to consider biochar-concrete's environmental and structural aspects at the same time. Project outcomes include how-to guidance on making biochar-infused concrete, details on how much carbon offsets are possible with biochars, and data showing how biochar-concrete produced from Canadian feedstock responds to loading. The goal is to develop a biochar-concrete production technique that benefits our physical environment as a long-term carbon sequestration method while also having improved mechanical properties compared to concrete without biochar.