Discovery paves way for stronger, more eco-friendly cement

A team from the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen discovered that adding waste ash from sugar production helped bind water into cement; making it stronger, less likely to crumble, and able to withstand high temperatures. "At the same time, energy is saved and pollution from cement production is reduced," said researcher Heloisa Bordallo. "Cement production uses a lot of energy and emits large amounts of CO₂, because it needs to be heated up to very high temperatures. "Cement production accounts for 5% of global CO₂ emissions. If you replace 20% of the content with ash, you are saving both CO₂ emissions and raw materials."