Essay Sample on Manufacturing Concrete: Innovations to Minimize Carbon Emissions

Introduction

The manufacture of concrete is one primary source of environmental pollution facing the world today. The main ingredient of Portland cement concrete production is responsible for the eight percent estimate of the total carbon dioxide emission worldwide (Poskas 464-474). Springwise, we have recently come out with innovations aiming at minimizing carbon emission in concrete production. The changes are intended out of using different measures to make Portland cement manufacturers more environmental sustainable apart from adding graphene. Engineers at Lancaster University incorporate with CelluComp Ltd have come with adding root vegetable extracts in concrete as a way of strengthening it and, at the same time, making it more environmentally friendly. This research is aimed at discussing the outcomes of durable concrete made of vegetable waste, their importance on the environment as well as its application in the learning environment.

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Design and Importance

Research currently being done by Lancaster University suggests that a stronger concrete can be extracted from vegetables, which will not only reduce carbon emission but also will reduce energy consumption (Martirena & Monzo 57-64). The study is being funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020, which provides measures of solving global food waste. The traditional manufacture of concrete involves the mixing of water, Portland cement, and aggregate. This process is responsible for the highest levels resulting in greenhouse gas pollution, amounting to seven percent of the total world carbon emission output as per the report of the International Energy Agency. Manufacture of concrete also results in damages in the top fertile layer of the earth, which is vital for the sustainability of the world's food supply.

IPCC's landmark report has highlighted dangerous results of continuous soil erosion leading to land destruction; it has come to an emergency that new technologies should develop methods of curbing environmental consequences being done by human activities. This is where fibers extracted from vegetables can help to reduce the carbonic footprint and any other associated environmental hazards of concrete. By the use of vegetable particles, which was provided by CelluComp Company located in Scotland, aimed at developing sustainable construction materials, researchers have created a firm cement mixture that is environmentally friendly.

Engineers have added nanoplatelets' to the concrete, which is an extract of fibers from carrots and sugar beet aiming at making it stronger (Poskas 464-474). Sugar beets and carrots are known for increasing the amount of calcium silicate hydrate, making the best choices in this process for its moral responsibility of strengthening concrete. It is also found that the addition of sugar beets and carrots saves 40 kilograms of Portland cement in every cubic meter of concrete. Thus, this reduction of 40 kilograms of cement equals 40 kilograms of carbon dioxide kept in the atmosphere. Concrete made by the addition of these sugar beets and carrots also reduces corrosion, causing them to out-perform other cement additives, including the grapheme.

Professor Mohamed Saafi, a researcher on Lead from Lancaster University, described root vegetables as mechanical and microstructure properties that have superior adding (Sgobbo 61-72). It is with this superiority that it reduces both carbon dioxide emission and energy consumption associated with the manufacture of cement. Cellcom Ltd is working on new materials that aim at using vegetable composites for the sustainability and strength of their workability and durability. Vegetable-based concretes are found to have a denser microstructure; thus, it's an essential way of increasing the lifespan and the reasonable time preventing corrosion of concrete.

Project research is also looking at adding thin vegetable sheets of sugar beets and carrots in the existing structures to reinforce their strength. A two-year study is investigating the science behind the proof-of-concept results studies to gain a full understanding of how sugar beets and carrots produce fibers that enhances concrete mix. The research is also to seek to optimize reliable performance in delivering a mixture that can be well used in the construction industry. Dr. Eric Whale from Cellucomp Ltd, which is already using root vegetable fibers, said that they are excited with their continuous collaboration with Professor Saafi in developing new applications for their materials where they bring both environmental and performance benefits.

Application Information

The growing interest in constructing sustainable materials has led to the spotlight of using bio-fibers in concrete manufacturing as a reinforcement. Bio-fiber reinforcement concrete contains elements that achieve mechanical properties as compared to the traditional products with an added value of being renewable sources, less expensive, and possibilities of recycling (Sgobbo 61-72). The life cycle in the innovation of both conventional and reinforced concrete was developed silicate and magnesium products. However, different assessment in the life cycle was performed to consider the number of materials required in different scenarios, which involves energy requirements in processing, transportation as well as disposal.

It was concluded that the use of reinforced bio-fiber concrete would produce a significant environmental saving under specified conditions. Material quantity conditions noticed them, while factors like transport, disposal, and possibilities of recycling did not provide substantial impact. The replacement of traditional concrete by the reinforced one could not only bring environmental savings in the construction industry but could come with remarkable cost reduction, making concrete the best option in the growing demand for housing development. In places where bio-fires grow naturally, opening opportunities will be created for affordable and sustainable construction materials, employment opportunities, and the creation of businesses.

The need for sustainable building materials such as life cycle wide embodied energy will minimize resource consumption in construction, reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, direct knowledge centers, and give out innovative solutions to construction industries in solving environmental problems presented by traditional concrete construction (Sgobbo 61-72). It has already proposed that bio-fiber concrete will produce an overall positive impact on the performance of specific products. Several reviewed types of research have focused on mechanical properties, among them being the strength to over-perform steel. Bio-fiber concrete is also sensitive to water absorption, which makes it more superior in construction industries for its structures cannot crack when subjected to rainwater and any other form of water spillage.

Two different fields in application of bio-fiber concrete have also been identified, the non-load bearing and the load-bearing elements. At the end of the first performance on environmental scanning, it was discovered that the non-load bearing concrete has little ecological saving. The focus was then directed to the load-bearing products, which was reported to have successful mechanical achievement much as compared to steel. The load-bearing involved combining of bamboo slats and concrete, thus producing sustainable alternative in the structure construction and affordable housing.

Conclusion

Bio-fiber reinforcement concrete carries significant environmental savings. These savings can be significantly impacted by the transoceanic transport leading to the utilization of extra saving. Vegetable waste is air toxins as well as hazards in the environment; it's great that this conversion of garbage into concrete manufacturing will end this harmful emission. Many households are unable to come fund concrete structured houses, but with the introduction of bio-fiber concrete at affordable prices, the most household will come up with these structures. The global atmosphere is daily contaminated with Portland cement emission; the launch of this bio-fiber concrete will, therefore, lower this emission as a result of reducing carbonic content in the manufacturer of concrete.

Works Cited

Martirena, F., and J. Monzo. "Vegetable ashes as supplementary cementitious materials." Cement and Concrete Research 114 (2018): 57-64.

Poskas, P. "Disposal of very low-level radioactive waste: Lithuanian case on the approach and long-term safety aspects." Science of the Total Environment 667 (2019): 464-474.

Sgobbo, A. "Recycling, waste management, and urban vegetable gardens." WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment 202 (2016): 61-72.