CO2 Concrete – High-Grade Recycled Concrete using Carbon Dioxide

A interdisciplinary team from School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment at Western Sydney University (led by Professor Vivian Tam with Associate Professor Khoa Le and Dr. Anthony Butera) invented CO2 Concrete utilising waste material and greenhouse-gas-emission for high-grade material for structural applications. “CO₂ Concrete” team has invented innovative carbon-conditioned recycled concrete for structural applications using construction waste, CO₂, and cutting-edge technologies. CO₂ Concrete is the greenest, and cost effective recycled concrete for the industry.

CO₂ Concrete has been a result of multi-disciplinary collaborations, which aims to utilise waste material and greenhouse-gas-emission to create new high-grade material for structural applications. Using high-tech signal processing methods with experimental results, optimal design criteria can be effectively identified, which shortens the mixing process, simplifies mix design and hence creates CO₂ Concrete with a matching strength to virgin concrete. The new CO₂ Concrete is the first of its kind for recycled concrete research to: (i) fully realise the effectiveness of recycled concrete; (ii) raise the industry’s awareness on the severe impact of greenhouse-gas emissions to the environment; and (iii) recognise the potential of CO₂ Concrete for high-grade structural applications under the built environments. It is emphasised that recycled concrete has been used only for non-structural applications and its potential has been significantly suppressed mainly because thorough research has been insufficiently performed. Using our new techniques, the new CO₂ Concrete has matched its strength to that of virgin concrete. The new CO₂ Concrete also uses less cement than virgin concrete which makes CO₂ Concrete more environment-friendly.

The anticipated impacts of this innovative research are: (i) to improve the confidence and awareness of the Australian industry in the development of recycled concrete for high-grade structural applications; (ii) to improve the economy in the proposed analysis, design and production of recycled concrete for high-grade structural applications; and (iii) to keep the Australian construction industry abreast with latest developments in recycled concrete around the world.

This team has been selected by Innovyz Institute Pty. Ltd. as one of the top 8 research teams through a rigorous selection process involving other top research teams from around Australia. Innovyz Institute Pty. Ltd. has supported this research team with (i) training through a 9-month intensive Waste and Recycling Technology Program in Adelaide over three consecutive terms; (ii) turning their research ideas into commercialisation with a company name “Ecobond” (http://www.ecobond.com.au); and (iii) offering start-up consultancies to collect training datasets for optimisation. The company is intended to sell innovative ideas using CO₂ in which concrete is one possible application, and “Ecobond” company may look into different directions to invest its technologies. There is a big horizon on the prospect of CO₂ Concrete and Ecobond.

Our world-first CO₂ Concrete has been cast as biosecurity platforms in March 2018, which have been upscaled to four 3m x 3m CO₂ Concrete slabs in March 2019 for WSU Hawkesbury Farm. CO₂ Concrete has gained recognition and support from Innovyz Institute Pty. Ltd., Volumetric Concrete Australia and Green Industries, South Australia, which have been promoting the “CO₂ Concrete” team nationally and internationally for commercialisation. The innovation of CO₂ Concrete has been registered under International Patent (Ref.: WO 2021/127728 A1).

We are looking for Investors, Partners and Network connectors in the sector to publicise this new material.

You can find more information via http://www.ecobond.com.au.