Victorian Sustainability Conference

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Victorian Sustainability Conference
Earthship Brighton (UK) The first building
utilising TecEco eco-cements
I will have to race over some slides but the
presentation is always downloadable from the
TecEco web site if you missed something.
John Harrison B.Sc.
B.Ec. FCPA.
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The Problem A Planet in Crisis
TecEco are in the BIGGEST Business on the Planet
- Solving Sustainability Problems Economically
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Demographic Explosion?
?
Undeveloped Countries
Developed Countries
Global population, consumption per capita and our
footprint on the planet is exploding.
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Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide
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Global Temperature Anomaly
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Ecological Footprint
Our footprint is exceeding the capacity of the
planet to support it. We are not longer
sustainable as a species and must change our ways
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Ecological Footprint
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Victoria Before Settlement
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Victoria Now
Forestry - Cover removal
Vehicles - carbon dioxide
Cows - methane
Immediate and polluted run-off.Pollution.Carbon
dioxide and other gases.Sewerage. Huge linkages
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Victoria with a Little Lateral Thinking Effort
TecEco technology provides ways ofsequestering
carbon dioxide and utilising wastes to create our
techno - world
Evolution away from using trees paperless office
Vehicles more efficient and using fuel cells
Porous pavement prevents immediate and polluted
run-off. Carbon dioxide and other gases absorbed
by TecEco eco-cements. Sewerage converted to
fertilizer and returned to soils. Buildings
generate own energy etc.
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Innovative New Materials Vital

• We need to think at the supply and waste end when
  we design building materials not just about the
  materials utility phase in the middle
• Making the built environment not only a
  repository for recyclable resources (referred to
  as waste) but a huge carbon sink is an
  alternative and adjunct that is politically
  viable as it potentially results in economic
  benefits.
• Concrete, a cementitous composite, is the single
  biggest material flow on the planet with over 2
  tonnes per person produced and a good place to
  start.
• By including carbon, materialsare potentially
  carbon sinks.
• By including wastes many problems at the waste
  end are solved.

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TecEco Integrated Processes

• Silicate ? Carbonate Mineral Sequestration
• Using either peridotite, forsterite or serpentine
  as inputs to a silicate reactor process CO2 is
  sequestered and magnesite produced.
• Proven by others (NETL,MIT,TNO, Finnish govt.
  etc.)
• Tec-Kiln Technology
• Combined calcining and grinding in a closed
  system allowing the capture of CO2. Powered by
  waste heat, solar or solar derived energy.
• To be proved but simple and should work!
• Direct Scrubbing of CO2 using MgO
• Being proven by others (NETL,MIT,TNO, Finnish
  govt. etc.)
• Eco-Cement Concretes in the Built Environment.
• TecEco eco-cements set by absorbing CO2 and are
  as good as proven.

TecEco
EconomicunderKyoto?
TecEco
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The TecEco Total Process
Serpentine Mg3Si2O5(OH)4
Olivine Mg2SiO4
Crushing
Crushing
Grinding
CO2 from Power Generation or Industry
Grinding
Waste Sulfuric Acid or Alkali?
Screening
Screening
Magnetic Sep.
Silicate Reactor Process
Iron Ore.
Gravity Concentration
Heat Treatment
Silicic Acids or Silica
Magnesite (MgCO3)
Simplified TecEco ReactionsTec-Kiln MgCO3 ? MgO
CO2 - 118 kJ/moleReactor Process MgO CO2 ?
MgCO3 118 kJ/mole (usually more complex
hydrates)
Solar or Wind Electricity Powered Tec-Kiln
CO2 for Geological Sequestration
Magnesium Thermodynamic Cycle
Magnesite MgCO3)
Magnesia (MgO)
Other Wastes after Processing
Oxide Reactor Process
CO2 from Power Generation, Industry or CO2
Directly From the Air
MgO for TecEco Cements and Sequestration by
Eco-Cements in the Built Environment
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Why Mangesium Compounds

• Because magnesium has a low molecular weight,
  proportionally a much greater amount of CO2 is
  released or captured.
• This, together with the high proportion of water
  in the binder is what makes construction the
  built environment out of CO2 and water so
  exciting.
• Imagine the possibilities if CO2 could be
  captured during the manufacture of eco-cement!

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TecEco Kiln Technology

• Grinds and calcines at the same time.
• Runs 25 to 30 more efficiency.
• Can be powered by solar energy or waste heat.
• Brings mineral sequestration and geological
  sequestration together

• Captures CO2 for bottling and sale to the oil
  industry (geological sequestration).
• The products CaO /or MgO can be used to
  sequester more CO2 and then be re-calcined. This
  cycle can then be repeated.
• Suitable for making reactive reactive MgO.

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A Post Carbon Age
We all use carbon and wastes to make our homes!
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TecEco Cements
TecEco concretes are a system of blending
reactive magnesia, Portland cement and usually a
pozzolan with other materials and are a key
factor for sustainability.
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Eco-Cement compared to Carbonating Lime Mortar.

• The underlying chemistry is very similar however
  eco-cements are potentially superior to lime
  mortars because
• The calcination phase of the magnesium
  thermodynamic cycle takes place at a much lower
  temperature
• Magnesium minerals are generally more fibrous and
  acicular than calcium minerals and hence a lot
  stronger.
• Water forms part of the binder minerals that
  forming making the cement component go further.
• Magnesium hydroxide in particular and to some
  extent the carbonates are less reactive and
  mobile and thus much more durable.
• A less reactive environment with a lower long
  term pH. (around 10.5 instead of 12.35)
• Because magnesium has a low molecular weight,
  proportionally a much greater amount of CO2 is
  captured.
• Carbonation in the built environment would result
  in significant sequestration because of the shear
  volumes involved.
• Carbonation adds considerable strength and some
  steel reinforced structural concrete could be
  replaced with fibre reinforced porous carbonated
  concrete.

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TecEco Binders - Solving Waste Problems

• There are huge volumes of concrete produced
  annually ( 2 tonnes per person per year )
• The goal should be to make cementitious
  composites that can utilise wastes.
• TecEco cements provide a benign environment
  suitable for waste immobilisation
• Many wastes such as fly ash, sawdust , shredded
  plastics etc. can improve a property or
  properties of the cementitious composite.

There are huge materials flows in both wastes and
building and construction. TecEco technology will
lead the world in the race to incorporate wastes
in cementitous composites
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TecEco Binders - Solving Waste Problems (2)

• TecEco cementitious composites represent a cost
  affective option for both use and immobilisation
  of waste.
• Lower reactivity (less water, lower pH).
• Reduced solubility of heavy metals (lower pH).
• Greater durability.
• Dense.
• Impermeable (tec-cements).
• Homogenous.
• No bleed water.
• Are not attacked by salts in ground or sea water.
• Are dimensionally more stable with less cracking.

TecEco Technology Converting Waste to Resource
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Lower Solubility of Metal Hydroxides
There is a 104 difference
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Change

• It is not the strongest of the species that
  survives, nor the most intelligent it is the one
  that is most adaptable to change (Darwin, C.,
  1859).
• Drivers for Change
• The necessity of converting waste to resources
• The demand for sustainability
• The introduction of robotics into construction.
• Improved materials.
• More economic materials

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Drivers
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The Solution must be Economic.

• With record energy prices the argument of Hawken
  and Lovins in the book Natural Capitalism that
  sustainability makes good business sense has
  never been more vindicated
• Moves towards ensuring a sustainable future by
  changing the materials we use have to be more
  economic than not changing them.
• Otherwise, given human nature, they will not
  happen

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Economically Driven Sustainability
The challenge is to harness human behaviours
which underlay economic supply and demand
phenomena by changing the technical paradigm in
favour of making carbon dioxide and other wastes
resources.
ECONOMICS
Sustainable processes are more efficient and
therefore more economic. What is needed are
sustainable process that also deliver sustainable
materials and innovation will deliver these new
technical paradigms.
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Cultural Change and Paradigm Shifts in Technology
Increase in demand/price ratio for sustainability
due to educationally induced cultural drift.

Supply
Greater Value/for impact (Sustainability)
Equilibrium shift
ECONOMICS
Demand
Increase in supply/price ratio for more
sustainable products due to innovative changes in
the technical paradigm.

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To Make Carbon and Wastes Resources the Key is To
Change the Technology Paradigm

• By enabling us to make productive use of
  particular raw materials, technology determines
  what constitutes a physical resource1
• Pilzer, Paul Zane, Unlimited Wealth, The Theory
  and Practice of Economic Alchemy, Crown
  Publishers Inc. New York.1990

Changing the technical paradigm will affect the
supply of and demand for more sustainable
materials
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Materials The Key to Sustainability
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A Killer Application for Waste?

• Wastes
• Utilizing wastes based on their chemical
  composition involves energy consuming transport.
• Wastes could be utilized as resources depending
  on their class of properties rather than chemical
  composition.
• in vast quantities based on broadly defined
  properties such as light weight, tensile
  strength, insulating capacity, strength or
  thermal capacity in composites.
• Many wastes contain carbon and if utilized would
  result in net carbon sinks.
• TecEco binders enable many wastes to be converted
  to resources. Two examples
• Plastics
• Sawdust and wood waste

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Sustainability Summary

• A more holistic approach is to reduce energy
  consumption as well as sequester carbon.
• To reduce our linkages with the environment we
  must convert waste to resource (recycle).
• Sequestration and recycling have to be economic
  processes or they have no hope of success.
• We cannot stop progress, but we can change and
  historically economies thrive on change.
• What can be changed is the technical paradigm.
  CO2 and wastes need to be redefined as resources.
• New and better materials are required that
  utilize wastes including CO2 to create a wide
  range of materials suitable for use in our built
  environment.

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Policy Summary

• Governments cannot easily legislate for
  sustainability, it is more important that ways
  are found to make sustainability good business.
• Feel good legislation does not work.
• Deposit Legislation works but is difficult to
  implement successfully.
• Carbon rationing would be difficult to achieve
  globally.
• Need to underpin Kyoto with a real price for
  carbon.
• It is therefore important for governments to make
  efforts to understand new technical paradigms
  that will change the techno-process so it
  delivers sustainable outcomes

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The Largest Material Flow - Cement and Concrete

• Concrete made with cement is the most widely used
  material on Earth accounting for some 30 of all
  materials flows on the planet and 60 - 70 of all
  materials flows in the built environment.
• Global Portland cement production is in the order
  of 2 billion tonnes per annum.
• Globally over 14 billion tonnes of concrete are
  poured per year.
• Thats over 2 tonnes per person per annum

TecEco Pty. Ltd. have benchmark technologies for
improvement in sustainability and properties
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Embodied Energy of Building Materials
Concrete is relatively environmentally friendly
and has a relatively low embodied energy
Downloaded from www.dbce.csiro.au/ind-serv/brochur
es/embodied/embodied.htm (last accessed 07 March
2000)
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Cement Production Carbon Dioxide Emissions
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Emissions from Cement Production

• Portland cement used in construction is made from
  carbonate.
• The process of calcination involves driving off
  chemically bound CO2 with heat.
• CaCO3 ?CaO ?CO2
• ?
• Heating also requires energy.
• 94 of energy is still derived from fossil fuels.
• Fuel oil, coal and natural gas are directly or
  indirectly burned to produce the energy required
  releasing CO2.
• The production of cement for concretes accounts
  for around 10(1) of global anthropogenic CO2.
• (1) Pearce, F., "The Concrete Jungle Overheats",
  New Scientist, 19 July, No 2097, 1997 (page 14).

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Average Embodied Energy in Buildings
Most of the embodied energy in the built
environment is in concrete.
But because so much is used there is a huge
opportunity for sustainability by reducing the
embodied energy, reducing the carbon debt (net
emissions) and improving properties.
Downloaded from www.dbce.csiro.au/ind-serv/brochur
es/embodied/embodied.htm (last accessed 07 March
2000)
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Landfill The Visible Legacy of Not Recycling
Landfill is the technical term for filling large
holes in the ground with waste. Landfills release
methane, can cause ill health in the area, lead
to the contamination of land, underground water,
streams and coastal waters and give rise to
various nuisances including increased traffic,
noise, odours, smoke, dust, litter and pests.
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TecEco Binders - Utilising Wastes

• An important objective should be to make
  cementitious composites that can utilise wastes.
• TecEco cements provide a benign environment
  suitable for waste immobilisation.
• Many wastes such as fly ash, sawdust , shredded
  plastics etc. can improve a property or
  properties of the cementitious composite.

There are huge materials flows in both wastes and
building and construction. TecEco technology
leads the world in the race to incorporate wastes
in cementitous composites
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The Impact of TecEco Technology

• TecEco magnesian cement technology will be
  pivotal in bringing about sustainability in the
  built environment.
• Tec-Cements Develop Significant Early Strength
  even with Added Supplementary Materials. Around
  25 30 less binder is required for the same
  strength.
• Eco-cements carbonate sequestering CO2
• Both tec and ecocements provide a benign low pH
  environment for hosting large quantities of waste
• The CO2 released by calcined carbonates used to
  make binders can be captured using TecEco kiln
  technology.

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TecEco Challenging the World

• The TecEco technology is new and not yet fully
  characterised.
• TecEco cement technology offers
• a new tool
• sustainability in the built environment not
  previously considered possible.
• The world desperately needs a way of sequestering
  large volumes of CO2 such as made possible by
  eco-cements.
• Formula rather than performance based standards
  are preventing the development of new and better
  materials based on mineral binders.
• TecEco challenge universities governments and
  construction authorities to quantify performance
  in comparison to ordinary Portland cement and
  other competing materials.
• We at TecEco will do our best to assist.
• Negotiations are underway in many countries to
  organise supplies to allow such scientific
  endeavour to proceed.