Concept: Swiss chemical company Sika in cooperation with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne has developed concrete admixtures leveraging the Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LC3) technology that lowers CO2 emissions. The technology aims to facilitate the production of performant and sustainable cement with less clinker.
Nature of Disruption: The LC3 uses a mix of calcined clay, limestone, and gypsum instead of conventional clinker. As a result, LC3 decreases clinker use and, as a result, CO2 emissions when compared to traditional cement types. The calcination of the newly added clay necessitates lower fire temperatures than clinker synthesis, and the lack of calcination of the limestone decreases CO2 emissions significantly during production. The LC3 initiative aims to minimize cement’s CO2 footprint by using calcined clay in concrete, which can replace up to 50% of clinker in cement. To allow new LC3 features, the Sika product contains cement additives and concrete admixtures.
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Outlook: This advancement seeks to make it easier to produce high-quality, long-lasting cement with less clinker. Sika’s concrete admixtures allow for the inclusion of calcined clay in concrete while lowering carbon emissions. The technology has the potential to play a large and expanding role in the concrete industry, and it provides an opportunity for Sika to help the construction industry quickly and efficiently adopt it.
