terça-feira, 22 de dezembro de 2020

The Economist__How do you recycle CO2 to make stronger concrete ?



ARAMCO just paid a full page in the last edition of The Economist to advertise a patent on steam-based carbon curing of concrete that allows achieving a  30 MPa strength after just 3 days instead of 28 days. The text of the ad claims that their "new curing method" allows to store up to 200kg of carbon dioxide in every ton of cement and also that it could recycle 246 million tons of carbon dioxide every year if this curing method was used by the whole concrete precast industry. 

Who could ever imagine that the 2 trillion USD Saudi oil company could one day worry about concrete curing ! Most unfortunately the ad says nothing on how the new curing will increase the cost of concrete in an industry that is especially focused on up-front costs (an issue that never worried the Saudi oil industry) and in a world that refuses a much-needed high carbon tax!