Cement has long been an important component in the construction of roads, buildings, bridges or dams, yet is widely recognised to be a major pollutant, due to the carbon dioxide emitted in its production.
According to research conducted by scientists at Princeton University, traditional cement production accounts for 8% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions – four times more than the aviation industry. They also say that until the overall emissions from cement production are cut worldwide, the environment will continue to be polluted with over 4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
What’s the solution?
For years scientists have been attempting to come up with alternatives to traditional cement, with varying degrees of success. The latest, called BioBased Tiles, uses bacteria to grow a product that offers the strength and durability of conventional cement with a fraction of the waste and carbon emissions.
Developed as a collaboration between Dutch sustainable building material manufacturers StoneCycling and US biotech firm Biomason, the new material began as an experiment to imitate the way nature grows ultra-strong materials like coral.
The project combines StoneCycling’s expertise in construction waste mitigation with Biomason’s innovative biocement, a binder that produces a material made by bacteria and sand.
Combined with StoneCycling’s recaptured mineral waste, the biocement becomes a tile that is three times stronger and 20% lighter than typical concrete masonry while maintaining a near-zero carbon footprint.
Even more impressive for home builders is possibly the speed with which they will be able to build their new house. While conventional cement takes 28 days to fully cure, precast modules of BioBased tile cure in just 72 hours.
Both companies were started to solve major problems in the built environment: Biomason to address cement production and StoneCycling to address waste generation, and have had considerable success to date, so maybe this collaboration will bring about a much-needed change in the industry.
