Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/493534
Solidia concrete hollow core. Solidia concrete pavers; Solidia concrete railway tie. A PR IL 2015 | 13 Precast Concrete PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY LAFARGE NORTH AMERICA T The improved sustainability promised by a new pro- cess on the cusp of commercialization could prove to be a major boost for the precast concrete sector. The Solidia technology, which involves sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the curing process of precast concrete, and first mentioned in Award about a year ago, is on track for industrial production at Lafarge North America's Edmonton plant later this summer. Support from government and industry is helping with further development and commercialization of Solidia's two key technologies. Besides the new curing process, the company's other innovation, first devel- oped at Rutgers University, is a green alternative to ordinary Portland cement. The new binder is based on monocalcium silicate, which can be synthesized from the same raw materials used for Portland cement. It can be made in ordinary cement facilities, but with about 30 per cent fewer CO2 emissions. Solidia is receiving $500,000 from the Alberta- based Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC) as part of the funding agency's Innovative Carbon Uses program. Also, last October, a press release from Solidia announced an additional $752,000 from the US Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). In the near term, Solidia concrete is to be used on a commercial basis only for precast applications, but eventually it could be used on cast-in-place projects. Research continues at Rutgers, and collaborative research efforts are also underway at Purdue University, Ohio University and the University of South Florida. Besides Lafarge, Solidia's technology is attracting inves- tor interest from BASF, BP, Total Energy Services as well venture capitalists and private investors. The buzz is perhaps not surprising. Not only is Solidia's patented technology expected to be cost competitive with ordinary cement and concrete, but the combination of its cement-making process and CO2 sequestration in concrete curing reduces carbon emissions by up to 70 per cent – and recycles 60 to 100 per cent of water used in production of precast Solidia concrete. The strength and durability of Solidia concrete have been verified by the CTL Group, formerly the R&D laboratory of the Portland Cement Association, according to ASTM and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (A ASHTO) specifications. The AASHTO sets technical standards for the design and construction, including materials, of highways and bridges. For now, its current state of development makes Solidia's technology best suited for relatively thin precast applications like cladding and hollow- core panels, says Don Zakariasen, director of market ing at Lafarge North America. But, as he points out, one of the Solidia system's t echnic a l adva nt ages could start making a dif- ference very soon. For instance, a reinforcement challenge for concrete cladding has stemmed from the fact that an ideal strengthener like glass, as in glass fibre reinforced concrete (GFRC), reacts with conventional con- crete, so that the glass has to be coated with a plastic first. This raises the cost, but because of its chemistry, Solidia concrete doesn't react with the glass. "Now, we no longer need to use plastic. So this changes the whole economics of the GFRC prod- uct. Before, the Achilles heel for the product was the need for plastic coating," Zakariasen says. From a precast standpoint, the Solidia system has other advantages. It doesn't have the kind of shrink- age issues associated with most formed or precast con- crete. Unlike PLC, which is still shrinking and changing slightly in camber after almost a month, Solidia con- crete is at about full strength within a day or so, mak- ing it a perfect fit for today's just-in-time business environment. Also, the whitish coating that can form during curing, known as efflorescence, won't happen with Solidia. Because of the time and cost involved in removing the unwanted coating, Zakariasen says it was sometimes viewed as a drawback to concrete fac- ings. "The Solidia technology solves a whole bunch of things," Zakariasen says. Provided the manufacturing process is validated in time, Solidia-based hollowcore panels could be avail- able on a commercial basis from Lafarge's Edmonton plant early in the third quarter of this year. Perhaps because of the Solidia technology the U.S. might skip using the new Portland Limestone cement (PLC), introduced as a Type GUL cement in Canada a few years ago. It is sold by Lehigh Cement as EcoCem PLC. "It is not yet made in the U.S. The standard in Canada allows for higher limestone content than in the U.S," says Rob Asquith, sales manager at Lehigh. Other industry players are taking note of the prom- ising Solidia technology. "This is quite revolutionary for sustainability. In the war between the big three – wood, concrete and steel – this could give concrete the edge," says Dominic Lemieux, managing director for Peikko Canada. Founded in 1965, Peikko is a global supplier of con- crete connections and composite structures. Noting that his company works in concert with Lafarge, New technologies for cement and precast concrete promise a huge drop in carbon emissions by GODFREY BUDD Lasting Bonds