Life Cycle Assessment of the Carbonated MgO Cement- a Green Building Material
International Conference on Accelerated Carbonation for Environmental and Material Engineering ACEME
2015
2015 International Conference on Accelerated Carbonation for Environmental and Material Engineering (ACEME)
Posters
Poster Session
Cement industry is one of the main CO2 emitters, which accounts for up to 7% of the man-made carbon emissions, and thus exists a big demand for cutting its CO2 emissions. Reactive MgO cement mainly consisting of reactive MgO and industrial wastes was usually considered as a type of low-carbon alternative cement owing to the CO2 sequestration as a result of the formation of Mg-bearing carbonates during its CO2 curing process. The accelerated carbonation, microstructure and physical properties of the reactive MgO cement were investigated in some previous studies. However, limited work has been focused on the CO2 footprint of the carbonated MgO cement particularly considering the varieties of accelerated carbonation techniques, MgO resources, and product types, etc. In this study, the life cycle assessment was employed to evaluate the CO2 footprint of the carbonated MgO cement product throughout the whole service life. A life cycle assessment model for the carbonated MgO cement was established, and the implications of the carbonation techniques, MgO resources and product type on the CO2 footprint of MgO cement were analyzed. Results showed that with the accelerated carbonation technology, the reactive MgO cement could be used to prepare green building materials with low-CO2 emissions, and the CO2 emissions of the building materials strongly depended on the performance of the products. Therefore, a performance-based design concept for the MgO cement considering the mixes of raw materials, carbonation parameters and performance of product was established. This study provides a reasonable way to estimate the CO2 emissions of the carbonated MgO cement products and meanwhile gives a basic guidance for the optimum design of green building material with the reactive MgO cements based on the performance requirement.