The rapid decommissioning of coal power plants in the UK has inadvertently created a supply chain crisis in the construction industry, as most cement and concrete producers use coal fly ash as a staple supplementary cementitious material (SCM) in cements. The lack of local SCMs from the coal power and steel industries has led to increased imports from mainland Europe and elsewhere, further exacerbating the carbon emissions associated with the UK construction industry. Carbon Upcycling Technologies UK (CUT) is a subsidiary of Carbon Upcycling Technologies, an award-winning Canadian startup (e.g., Carbon X-Prize winner and Solar Impulse Efficient Solution Label owner) scaling a carbon utilization technology that can activate a range of abundantly available waste materials such as landfilled ash, glass, clays, and volcanic rocks to permanently store CO2 and produce reactive low carbon cements.

For this project, CUT will bring together a consortium of partners from two critical foundation industries: the glass industry--represented by Glass Technology Services and MKD32--and the cement industry, represented by CEMEX. This consortium will create a first-of-a-kind circular economy solution that converts local low-grade, contaminated glass cullets into high-performance SCMs.

CUT and its project partners will work together to produce a first-of-its-kind CO2-enhanced glass pozzolan that will lower the carbon footprint of cement and concrete while simultaneously upcycling contaminated post-consumer glass into cementitious materials, diverting it from its current use as an inert filler in precast blocks. This CO2-enhanced glass pozzolan will be blended into cement at the CEMEX Rugby plant and used in ready-mix and precast concrete for sidewalks, curbs, gutters, driveways, foundations to lower the carbon footprint of UK built infrastructure. The glass-derived pozzolan will reduce the amount of cement in a concrete mix by over 25% through superior strength activity performance, and improve concrete durability by up to 45%; improving infrastructure resilience against environmental impacts of climate change. This project will directly facilitate the UK's aspiration to move towards a more circular economy \[1\] and will help support the UK's commitment to achieving an 80% reduction in its carbon emissions by 2050\. With the infrastructure sector having control over almost one-sixth of total emissions, it will play a key role in contributing to the national reduction.\[2\] Currently, low carbon cement and concrete are projected to be responsible for a 12% reduction towards reaching net-zero \[3\].

\[1\]Policy paper: Circular Economy Package policy statement, 30 July 2020

\[2\]HM Treasury: Infrastructure Carbon Review, November 2013

\[3\]thisisukconcrete.co.uk/TIC/media/root/Resources/MPA-UKC-Net-Zero-Roadmap\_Summary2pp\_October-2020.pdf