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。像粉煤灰这样的工业副产品可以取代水泥，减少混凝土的碳足迹，改善其性能。粉煤灰从燃煤电厂获得的成本很低，但随着这些电厂为实现气候目标而关闭，其可用性将会减少。因此，需要新的低碳水泥替代品。这个项目将开发新的生物炭混凝土混合料。生物炭来自有机材料，如农业饲料，是废物，否则将被填埋。生物炭已被用于捕获和储存材料中的碳，但对生物炭混凝土的研究很少。现有的研究表明，生物炭混凝土的好处除了碳补偿之外，还包括控制水分、隔热和提高强度，但由于生物炭的来源和生产方法，结果相互矛盾。已经探索了一些解决方案，但只对特定的生物炭有用。生物炭的成功和局限性的报道范围以及缺乏模拟现实钢筋混凝土构件的大规模测试表明，需要进行更多的研究。这个项目将提高我们对生物炭-混凝土混合料的认识。生物炭将被优化用于混凝土，并进行研究，以评估其生命周期和碳抵消潜力。优化的生物炭混凝土将在较小的尺度上进行测试，以研究对混凝土压缩和拉伸行为的影响。然后，将对较大的钢筋混凝土梁进行测试，以评估生物炭如何与钢筋相互作用。这个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。项目成果包括如何制作注入生物炭的混凝土的指导，关于生物炭可能抵消多少碳的详细信息，以及显示加拿大原料生产的生物炭混凝土如何响应负载的数据。我们的目标是开发一种生物炭混凝土生产技术，这种技术有利于我们的物理环境，作为一种长期的碳封存方法，同时与没有生物炭的混凝土相比，它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.