Boral Limited, a prominent construction materials company, is spearheading an innovative project to develop a lower-carbon concrete product using Australian calcined clay as an alternative supplementary cementitious material (SCM).
This groundbreaking initiative aims to ensure a sustainable supply of Boral’s lower carbon concrete offerings, addressing the anticipated decline in global availability of traditional SCMs like blast furnace slag and fly ash.
The project brings together a consortium of industry leaders and researchers:
- Boral Limited
- University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
- Transport for NSW
- Calix (environmental technology company)
This collaborative endeavour is supported by SmartCrete CRC, an independent cooperative research centre that fosters partnerships between industry, research institutions, and government to enhance the viability of Australia’s concrete infrastructure.
The two-year initiative, co-funded through the Commonwealth’s CRC Program, aims to demonstrate the technical feasibility of calcined clay concrete for use in Australian buildings and infrastructure.
Key aspects of the project include:
- Accelerated lab testing
- Field trials
- Validation of the new concrete product
The project has already achieved a significant milestone with the successful calcination of the first batch of Boral clay using Calix’s unique renewably powered electric calcination technology.
This achievement demonstrates the potential of producing a low-carbon-intensity SCM through this innovative approach.
Vik Bansal, CEO and Managing Director at Boral emphasised the company’s commitment to a lower carbon future, stating: “We are continuously improving and diversifying our lower carbon concrete offering by identifying new ways to reduce the cementitious intensity of our products.”
Dr Ali Nezhad, Head of Sustainability and Innovation at Boral and project lead expressed enthusiasm about the research, noting, “Given the abundance of clay in Australia, using Australian calcined clay was a natural decision for us.”
This project represents a significant step forward in the construction industry’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.
As the demand for sustainable building materials continues to grow, innovations like Boral’s calcined clay concrete could play a crucial role in shaping the future of construction in Australia and beyond.
