As the world responds to the climate crisis, industry and investments are looking towards technology and innovations to respond to the challenge. Writing for Materials Performance magazine, Graeme Jones, CEO of construction technology provider, C-Probe Group Ltd, discusses an innovative approach taken for applications in the built environment to repurpose industrial wastes as an alternative alkali-activated [or geopolymer] cementitious material.
Industry has for many years relied on non-renewable resources as cathodic protection materials. An alternative approach is discussed for the built environment where repurposed industrial wastes produce alkali-activated cementitious or geopolymer conductive anode binders. These hardened mortars and concrete activate galvanic anodes for net-zero reinforced concrete repair as well as sustainable impressed current anodes sprayed, chased into decks, or tucked within mortar joints.
Case studies are highlighted in the US and UK that demonstrate success in different structures and exposure conditions. These systems are also installed with imbedded corrosion rate monitoring to allow remote service life tracking of performance.
As the world responds to the climate crisis with intent to control emissions and effect changes to ensure global temperature rises remain below 1.5C so industry and investments are looking towards technology and innovations to also respond to the challenge.
The corrosion and protection industry has its own challenges towards decarbonization given the tendency for business to look towards maintaining fossil fuel industries and with technologies that are largely non-renewable.
Examples of this are seen in cathodic protection [CP] with the use of sacrificial anodes that once they corrode cannot be recycled and are, therefore, lose their embodied carbon forever; this is true for oil & gas as well as concrete applications. Moreover, with impressed current [ICCP] anodes and the use of rare earth metals to form dimensionally stable oxides on titanium substrates that in turn are embedded [for concrete] cannot easily be repurposed. These anodes do have longevity in use however and use of ICCP is reported to be the best option to preserve embodied carbon in reinforced concrete structures. Competition with other industries for such metals and their impact on the environment in their extraction are likely to come under increasing scrutiny, however.
Cement is an essential industry but with Portland cement identifying with around eight per cent of harmful global emissions then this is, not surprisingly, receiving focus with R&D of alternatives and adjusted Portland formulations to drive down such emissions.
This article discusses an innovative approach taken for applications in the built environment to repurpose industrial wastes as an alternative alkali-activated [or geopolymer] cementitious material [AACM] that can not only be used to repair and build concrete structures but has been developed in the form of an anode AACM binder that activates galvanic anodes and can act as an ICCP anode mortar and concrete.
Read on: Graeme Jones' full article for Materials Performance can be accessed here.
Photo by Ümit Yıldırım on Unsplash
