Cementir launches new low carbon cement

FUTURECEM is a new grey cement innovated by the Group’s research and development department in Aalborg, Denmark, in close collaboration with its Danish subsidiary, Aalborg Portland.

The product is an innovative, validated and patented technology which allows for more than 35% of the energy intensive clinker in cement to be replaced by limestone and calcined clay. The combination of materials in FUTURECEM has resulted in a more sustainable, high grade cement with up to 30% lower carbon footprint compared to regular Portland cement. The low carbon benefits have been achieved without compromising strength and quality.

Following the final approval and standardisation in Denmark of the new cement type, 01 January 2021 has been set as the official launch date of FUTURECEM from the subsidiary Aalborg Portland. With cement being the main component of concrete, which is the most widely used building material in the world, the launch of the patented low carbon cement strikes a chord in the construction industry, helping to clear the path to more sustainable and eco-friendly constructions in the future.

“FUTURECEM is a giant step on the way towards more sustainable cement production. This is immensely important if we are to achieve our sustainability goals at Cementir Group, but it is also an important contribution to the green transition of the concrete and construction industries in general. Thanks to the efforts of our research and development department in Aalborg, we are ready to begin distributing the FUTURECEM technology in Denmark and soon other subsidiaries in Europe will follow”, says Chief Sales, Marketing & Commercial Development Officer at Cementir Holding N.V., Michele Di Marino.

According to Michele Di Marino, FUTURECEM is one of the company’s strategic climate change actions, as they are aware that cement and concrete will continue to play a key role as the building materials of the future.

“FUTURECEM is a significant but also necessary contribution to the construction industry where cement and concrete are essential building materials both in the present and in the future. The launch of FUTURECEM is the result of many years of research and development, placing Cementir Group at the forefront as the market leader in sustainable cement.”

However, development efforts do not stop with the launch of FUTURECEM. Cementir Group and its subsidiary Aalborg Portland have invested in further development and commercialisation of the cement technology which has taken place at Cementir Group’s research and development department in Aalborg, Denmark.

“By launching FUTURECEM, we have reached an important milestone in our innovation and sustainability efforts, but we are not done. Currently, we are incorporating the technology to more cement types in our product range. This includes white cement, and we have already introduced two white UHPC (ultra-high performance concrete, edit.) premix types with FUTURECEM technology,” Michele Di Marino concludes.

Within its innovation pipeline, under InWhite^®, Cementir Group launched UHPC solutions with FUTURECEM technology in late 2019. The new technology has therefore already been utilised in white cement based innovative pre-mixes such as Aalborg Extreme^® and Aalborg Excel^®.

Collaboration pushes development

FUTURECEM is the result of several research and development projects since 2008, culminating with the Green Concrete II project that was supported by Innovation Fund Denmark and was backed by several companies, public institutions and knowledge centres.

The ambition was to develop a new, sustainable cement technology which could also prepare the cement and concrete industry for a future without fly ash which is becoming an increasingly scarce resource with the phasing out of coal-fired power stations.

The results were promising and have formed the basis of FUTURECEM which is a carbon reduced composite cement utilising the synergy between calcinated clay and limestone filler and allows the replacement of more than 35% of the clinker in cement. But where the replacement of clinker has often resulted in cement of a reduced strength, FUTURECEM maintains the same qualities as pure Portland cement.

The Group’s subsidiary, Aalborg Portland, has already received the first requests for FUTURECEM, and the Group expects interest in this new cement type to increase as focus on sustainability in the construction industry continues to grow.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/product-news/16122020/cementir-launches-new-low-carbon-cement/