Scaling Up Low Carbon Cement

The cement industry is on the cusp of a significant transformation, driven by the need to tackle the massive carbon emissions associated with the industry. Environmental concerns, increasing government regulation, and innovation are aligning to push the US$400 billion cement industry toward a greener future.

However, real-world adoption remains low. This is due to the (rightly) risk-averse nature of the construction industry, which remains cautious about replacing a product that has many hundreds of years of demonstrated performance. It will take innovation and industry collaboration to unlock the green cement industry at scale. Material Evolution’s new ultra-low carbon cement product may provide the key. The ultra-low carbon cement product, MevoCem, represents an innovation in the cement industry, combining sustainability and cutting-edge technology to address the pressing challenges of traditional cement production, supply, and performance.

Environmental challenges and the need for alternatives

The environmental impact of ordinary portland cement (OPC) production is profound, contributing approximately 8% of global CO₂ emissions. Beyond carbon emissions, OPC manufacturing is resource-intensive, relying heavily on extractive processes that deplete finite natural resources. Construction as a whole consumes 32% of the world’s natural resources and generates 25% of total solid waste. Material Evolution addresses these challenges by focusing on alternative feedstocks. By harnessing untapped and underutilised waste materials, such as mineral and construction waste rich in silica and alumina, MevoCem significantly reduces dependency on virgin resources. The use of alternative feedstocks and a novel production pathway enables the product to achieve up to 85% reduction in carbon emissions compared to OPC.

Technological innovations

The development of MevoCem hinges on three core technological innovations:

• Alkali fusion technology: Material Evolution’s process enables the transformation of industrial by-products and waste materials into reactive supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) without requiring heat, drastically reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The technology is a mechano-chemical process which increases the number of reactive sites in the precursor materials and induces solid state fusion with chemical activators. This leads to a one-part 52.5N cement solution that only requires water to be added, but still achieves high early strengths of minimum 12 MPa at day 1, increasing to 35 MPa depending on the powder content and water-cement ratio used.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive modelling: Material Evolution uses advanced computational tools to analyse and optimise cement compositions, ensuring consistent quality and efficiency across production batches. The company's formulation prediction tool, for example, can predict compressive strength performance based on mineral feedstock composition and optimise for activator ratios with >90% accuracy.
• Scalability: MevoCem’s production process bridges the gap from laboratory research to industrial-scale application, enabling widespread adoption. The Mevo A1 production facility exemplifies the scalability of the technology. Constructed in just 8 months, this facility sets a new standard for ultra-low carbon cement production. The A1 facility is situated in Llay, Wrexham, at the site of CCP Building Products, a producer of precast concrete blocks. This innovative co-location integrates cement and concrete production within a single site, significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the final product by minimising transport needs.

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