Dr. Muhammad Basheer
Title of Talk:
Enhancing the mineralogical, mechanical and durability characteristics of concrete using a novel CO2 sequestration method
Talk Abstract:
Globally, the urban ecological footprint is increasing due to the boom in infrastructure – indicating that the world foresees massive amounts of construction activities and will lead to a significant usage of Portland cement (PC). Every 1 kg of PC production generates ≈0.8 kg of CO2, which is about >250 million metric tonnes of CO2 emission per year for the PC production. CO2 sequestration in concrete is one of the ways to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete. It is estimated that the existing approaches can capture ≈1-2% by volume of CO2 in concrete (bvcc) and limit further ingress of CO2, whereas a concrete structure in its lifetime could capture greater than 10% CO2 bvcc. Therefore, these approaches are not widely practised or have become widely used industrial procedure. This paper proposes a novel approach to enhance CO2 sequestration in both ready-mix and precast concrete, without the requirement of any special chamber. For this, the effect of novel sequestration method on thermal, mineralogical, and microstructural characteristics of cementitious systems were evaluated using DSC, TGA, EDX, XRD, and SEM to achieve the enhanced mechanical and durability characteristics of concrete manufactured with PC, fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag. Results indicate that the novel approach could significantly enhance the CO2 sequestration (possibly up to 20% bvcc), without compromising the rheological, mechanical, and durability characteristics of these concretes, which is a significant step towards achieving the net zero carbon agenda.
Short Bio:
Professor P.A. Muhammed Basheer, CBE, CEng, PhD, DSc, FREng, FIAE, FICE, FIStructE, FACI, FICT, FIAAM, FIOM3, FRILEM
Basheer is the Executive Dean of the School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society (EGIS) and the Chair Professor of Civil Engineering at Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh. He is a visiting/guest professor at University of Jinan and Chongqing University, China. He is also the immediate past President of the Institute of Concrete Technology, UK. Basheer has been an educationalist and researcher in the field of civil (structural) engineering for more than 40 years. His research on non-destructive tests and structural health monitoring resulted in him establishing two University spin-outs, Amphora Non-destructive Testing Limited and Sengenia Limited. He has received numerous awards/prizes for his contributions to research, including a lifetime achievement award from the Civil Engineering Research Association of Ireland and CANMET/ACI award for his sustained contributions to the field of concrete technology. The India Chapter of the American Concrete Institute also honoured him by organising an international conference in his name in Mumbai in 2016. Basheer’s sustained contributions to the field of Civil Engineering beyond his contributions as a university professor resulted in King Charles III honouring him with the title of the Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE, in June 2023 as part of HM’s birthday honours list.