Semi-dry carbonation of recycled concrete paste

MacIej Zajac*, Jørgen Skibsted, Frank Bullerjahn, Jan Skocek

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaperJournal articleResearchpeer-review

55 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Demolished concrete is a large carbon sink which has not been utilized yet. Carbonation of hydrated cement paste from old concrete can effectively store CO2, and in addition, the resulting carbonated cement paste can be used as a pozzolanic material in new composite cements. This concept reduces the CO2 footprint of cement and promotes circularity and recycling. This work investigates a semi-dry gas-solid process for the carbonation of recycled cement paste. Decreasing gas humidity and hence the content of water adsorbed on the solid cement grains limits the transport of reactants from the dissolving hydrates and the overall reaction kinetics. It also leads to co-precipitation of the carbonation products, i.e., calcium carbonate and the alumina-silica gel, into a single dense matrix within the original grains. A decreasing water availability increases also the complexity and heterogeneity of the microstructure formed, since calcium carbonate precipitates as different polymorphs, including an amorphous form, and because the final phase assemblage comprises intermediate phases such as decalcified C-(A)-S-H, remains of the original hydrates in addition to the final carbonation products.

Original languageEnglish
Article number102111
JournalJournal of CO2 Utilization
Volume63
ISSN2212-9820
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2022

Keywords

  • Carbonation
  • CO
  • Concrete fines
  • Conditions
  • Mechanisms

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