Since April 2016, Kashima (President and CEO: Hiromasa Amano) has been collaborating with Nippon Concrete Industry Co., Ltd. (President: Hiroshi Tsukamoto, hereinafter 'Nichicon') on environmentally friendly concrete that can significantly reduce CO2.

We have developed a technology that simultaneously reduces labor and CO2 emissions through i-Construction. This is a combination of CCU (CO2 recovery and storage) aggregate and powder material 'Ecotancal', which is a calcium carbonate fine powder immobilized with CO2 developed by Nichicon, and technology for mixing a large amount of calcium carbonate fine powder into high-flow concrete developed by Kashima, saving labor in concrete compaction work and significantly CO2 at the same time, it is possible to reduce the number of This concrete can be widely applied not only to precast concrete but also to cast concrete. Cement, the main raw material for concrete, emits a large amount of CO 2 during the manufacturing process, so efforts to reduce it have become an urgent issue in the construction industry as a whole.

In order to solve this problem, various environmentally friendly concrete studies have been carried out, and CO2 absorbed concrete that absorbs AND cures CO2, and CO2 for return concrete and residual concrete technology to produce fine powders of calcium carbonate has already been developed and commercialized. However, these technologies have become a problem for popularization with the drastic cost increase of concrete.

On the other hand, the advantages of high-flow concrete have been reviewed in the i-Construction initiative recommended by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to save labor and improve productivity in the construction industry. High-flow concrete is attracting attention as a technology that leads to automation of concrete placing in the future because it eliminates the need for compaction during concrete installation and can save labor.

Nichicon is developing 'Ecotancal', a light calcium carbonate fine powder produced by carbon dioxide (CO2)recovered from exhaust gas at the precast concrete product plant and calcium, a concrete waste material. By mixing this 'ecotancal' in large quantities into high-flow concrete, it is possible to save labor and significantly reduce CO2 in concrete compaction work. Specifically, by mixing blast furnace slag fine powder and fly ash, the amount of cement is reduced, and 'Ecotancal' can be mixed by313 kg perm3, thereby reducing CO2 by 256 kg /m3 compared to ordinary concrete. This results in a carbon negative of -5 kg perm3. In addition, by using cemR3(SEM THREE), a recycled cement developed by Kashima, further CO2 reduction is possible. In the future, if the application of high-flow concrete increases from the viewpoint of i-Construction, it is possible to simultaneously save labor and reduce CO 2 of further work.

As a technology-based company, the two companies will continue to work tirelessly to innovate, and will actively contribute to the transition to a decarbonized society that makes full use of these live carbon technologies and to improve productivity in the construction industry.

(C) 2022 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire