https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Concrete remains popular construction medium

CONCRETE DEVELOPMENT Admixture technologies are assisting in improving the control properties of concrete such as workability/pumpability, durability, aesthetics and cost effectiveness

CONCRETE DEVELOPMENT Admixture technologies are assisting in improving the control properties of concrete such as workability/pumpability, durability, aesthetics and cost effectiveness

11th October 2013

By: Ilan Solomons

Creamer Media Staff Writer

  

Font size: - +

Modern civilisation relies heavily on concrete, as it is the world’s most used construction material, says South African cement producer PPC architec- tural concrete specialist Daniel van der Merwe.

Cement, which makes up about 11% of concrete, is a vital and strategic commodity, with about 2.9-billion tons of concrete pro-duced each year, he said at media and events company Alive2green’s Green Building Conference, held at the Sandton Convention Centre, in July.

“This is a significant amount of concrete, so every step taken to reduce the levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions produced as a result of the concrete production process, by improving the efficiency of the process, is an important step towards creating a more sustainable future [for the building industry],” said Van der Merwe during his presentation, entitled Concrete and Sustainable Strategies.

He added that concrete accounted for about 5% of worldwide CO2 emissions.

Van der Merwe explained that the South African building industry was concerned about CO2 emissions resulting from building operations and construction.

A building’s operating energy consumption over its lifetime was 87% to 97% of the total energy requirement for the building process, while the embodied energy consumption of construction only accounted for 3% to 13% of a building’s total energy requirement, he noted.

Van der Merwe acknowledged that cement production was energy intensive, but highlighted that, owing to technological advances in the cement manufacturing process, energy consumption had dropped by 40% from 1962 to 2005. In 1962, cement production required 7.5 GJ/t to manufacture, but this had dropped to 4.2 GJ/t by 2005.

“Further, by using cement extenders and industrial by-products, such as fly ash, limestone and slag, CO2 emissions for every ton of cement are dramatically reduced,” he noted, adding that all CEM II cement products were already mixed with cement extenders, comprising several million tons of construction material by-products that would otherwise have ended up in landfills.

He also highlighted that admixture technology was assisting in improving the control properties of concrete, such as workability/pumpability, durability, aesthetics and cost-effectiveness.

“Admixture technologies have a major positive effect on improving the levels of building sustainability and could reduce cement con-tent requirements by as much as 15%,” he emphasised.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

Comments

Showroom

SMS group
SMS group

At SMS group, we have made it our mission to create a carbon-neutral and sustainable metals industry.

VISIT SHOWROOM 
John Deere (Pty) Ltd
John Deere (Pty) Ltd

In 1958 John Deere Construction made its first introduction to the industry with their model 64 bulldozer.

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Photo of Martin Creamer
On-The-Air (15/03/2024)
15th March 2024 By: Martin Creamer
Magazine round up | 15 March 2024
Magazine round up | 15 March 2024
15th March 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.067 0.114s - 152pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now