Novel biochar-infused concrete for carbon sequestration and concrete improvement

混凝土行业是碳排放的主要来源，其中大部分来自水泥生产。粉煤灰等工业副产品可以取代水泥，减少混凝土的碳足迹并改善其性能。粉煤灰来自燃煤电厂，价格低廉，但随着这些电厂关闭以实现气候目标，其可用性将减少。因此，需要新的低碳水泥替代品。该项目将开发新的生物炭混凝土混合物。生物炭来自有机材料，如农业饲料，这些产品是废物，否则将被填埋。生物炭已被用于材料中的碳捕获和储存，但生物炭混凝土的研究很少。现有的研究表明，生物炭混凝土除了碳补偿外，还具有水分控制、绝缘和提高强度等优点，但由于生物炭来源和生产方法的不同，结果相互矛盾。已经探索了一些解决方案，但仅对特定的生物炭有用。报告的成功和生物炭的局限性，以及缺乏更大规模的测试模拟现实的混凝土构件表明，需要更多的研究。该项目将推进我们对生物炭混凝土混合物的了解。将优化生物炭在混凝土中的使用，并对其进行研究，以评估其生命周期和碳抵消潜力。优化生物炭混凝土将在较小的规模进行测试，以研究对混凝土压缩和拉伸性能的影响。然后，将测试更大的混凝土梁，以评估生物炭如何与钢筋相互作用。该项目将允许工程师同时考虑生物炭混凝土的环境和结构方面。项目成果包括如何指导制作注入生物炭的混凝土，详细说明生物炭可以抵消多少碳，以及显示加拿大原料生产的生物炭混凝土如何对负荷作出反应的数据。我们的目标是开发一种生物炭混凝土生产技术，作为一种长期的碳封存方法，有利于我们的物理环境，同时与没有生物炭的混凝土相比，还具有更好的机械性能。

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.