RILEM WEBINAR: Reducing the CO2 Footprint of Concrete Using Existing Tools

The next ROC&TOK webinar of 2022 will take place on Thursday, April 14th, 2022 at 3PM Paris Time and will be one hour long (30-minute presentation + 30-minute interaction). The registration for this webinar is free.

Speaker: Professor Emeritus R. Douglas Hooton, University of Toronto

Title: Reducing the CO2 Footprint of Concrete Using Existing Tools

Approximately 90% of the carbon footprint from concrete production is from portland cement (assuming portland cement is used as the sole cementitious binder). Therefore, to reduce its carbon footprint, the amount of portland cement clinker per cubic meter of concrete needs to be reduced. There are different ways of doing this, including optimization of combined aggregate gradations, use of water reducing admixtures, use of portland-limestone cements (PLC), and use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). While some of these measures only provide incremental improvements to sustainability, when combined they can result in significant reductions to greenhouse gas emissions without the use of extremely high SCM replacement levels that might reduce early-age concrete properties.  This presentation will discuss how these measures can be used prudently to achieve significant reductions in carbon footprints while simultaneously improving durability in aggressive exposure conditions.