Concrete is the second most used substance in the world after water, largely due to its low cost, abundance, and reliability in a wide variety of environments. While concrete has been a building block of society dating back to the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, current production and utilization methods pose significant energy and emissions challenges.

This research proposes a resource and energy efficiency opportunity in the cement industry, which is the main carbon emitter within concrete, by utilising industrial by-products from the steel industry to create a new cement and establish a circular economy between these two foundation industries. We need to rapidly and radically decarbonise the foundation industries in the UK, and we can do this by improving resource efficiency.

The main motivation for this project is to take our existing technology developed by Material Evolution (utilising 95% waste and saving 85% CO2 emissions) to market quicker in the use case of soil stabilisation, whilst creating new skilled jobs in geotechnical fields and using waste material local to Teesside to remediate land on the freeport.

The market opportunity is huge in the UK with current cement shortages, rising prices and CO2 emissions becoming a deciding factor in the construction projects. We are in a perfect position to remove our reliance on importing cement into the UK, becoming self-sufficient in our cement needs by reusing waste currently sent to landfill.