Exploring the effects of scaling up the use of alternative binders to reduce the climate impact from concrete

This thesis explores the potential of using alternative bindersto replace cement clinkeron a European scale in order to reduce thecarbon dioxideemissions associated withconcrete/ cement. Numerous studies highlight the importance of increasing the replacement ratioto meet international environmental goals[1]. However, little advancementhas been made with respect todescribing how to achieve these replacement goals. This thesis work isfocused on estimating the resource base, and the regional availability,of two conventional alternative binders, fly ash and blast furnace slag, in the EU. The availability offly ash wasestimated based onexisting coal-fired power plants block net capacity. The blast furnace slag resource base estimated based on the existing and projected capacity of EU blast furnaces.Further, the thesis, through scenario analysis,explore how the availability ofalternative binders may changeover time as existing capital stock in the power and steel industries are phased out. The scenarios were assessedusing simulations from Matlab and furtheranalysed with a softwarefor spatial analysis. The results show that in theshort term(5-10 years) it is possible, in most EU regions, to meet the demand for conventional alternate binders. In the long term (10-30 years), however, it will not be possible tofulfil a sufficient replacement in all Europeanregions using only these two alternative binders. These finding confirms the importance of increasing the efforts to develop other measures to reduce the climate impact from concrete and cement, including increased use of lesser-knownbinders. This study can hopefullyencourage further researcher aimed at developing:a better understanding of the availability of other alternative binders, of processing techniques and of meanstodistribute them, so that the environmental goals in the concrete and cement industriesmay be achieve