Cement structures can be used to absorb carbon emissions, potentially offsetting emissions from cement production itself, according to a study issued Monday by researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the United Kingdom. The “natural carbonation process of cement materials represents a large and growing ‘sink’ of CO2,” the study says, but the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change does not consider the absorption of carbon during the process in quantifying CO2 emissions from cement production.
“Existing cement is a large and overlooked carbon sink and future emissions inventories and carbon budgets may be improved by including this,” UEA climate change economics professor Dabo Guan said in a press release published on Phys.org. “Also, efforts to mitigate CO2 emissions should prioritise the reduction of fossil-fuel emissions over cement process emissions, given that produced cement entails creation of an associated carbon sink.”
According to the study, existing cement structures, including concrete, mortar, construction cement waste, and cement kiln dust, absorb approximately 1 billion tons of atmospheric C02 each year worldwide.