CEMCOR, a leading name in the construction materials market, has successfully completed production trials of a new low carbon cement product, CalcinX, set to revolutionise the industry.
This development represents a first for the UK cement industry and a significant milestone in the development of next generation low carbon cementitious materials.
Driven by CEMCOR’s focus of providing its customers with the highest quality, industry leading products, the successful development of CalcinX is the result of an ambitious project which commenced shortly after CEMCOR’s inception in early 2022 and has been spearheaded by Dr. Allistair Wilkinson, Technical and Innovation Manager at CEMCOR.
With an awareness of the construction industry’s contribution to global emissions and a desire to transform the industry’s outputs, the Cookstown-based CEMCOR places sustainability as a top priority having previously pledged an investment of over £6million in multiple industry-leading upgrades, focusing on ESG.
The UK-first innovation, CalcinX is a calcined clay product produced using locally available raw materials which are then heat treated at lower temperatures compared with conventional clinker. Calcined clay is widely regarded as an important decarbonisation tool for the construction industry due to its significantly reduced carbon footprint compared to conventional cement products.
During the course of 2022 numerous studies and investigations were carried out to identify suitable materials from existing quarrying operations and optimal raw clay blend for calcination and production of a reactive, high-quality material. In March 2023, the first calcination trial by an OPC manufacturer in the UK was carried out by CEMCOR. This was done through the existing raw material preparation and calcination lines utilising the Lepol kiln system technology, now unique to Cookstown in the local cement industry.
This initial trial was followed up in May 2023 by an extended trial, producing in excess of 1200 tonnes while further optimising calcination parameters to minimise the temperature required to process a high-quality calcined material. An extra element was also added to the trial with the inclusion of grinding trials, again using the existing cement grinding mills. These grinding trials resulted in the production of two reduced carbon products; CalcinX, a supplementary cementitious material for use as a low carbon cement replacement suitable for blending to specific product requirements on site by concrete producers and a CEM IV/B-Q cement containing 50% CalcinX and less than 50% clinker, drastically the embodied CO2 compared with CEM I.
CEMCOR has partnered with two of its successful customers to trial CalcinX in industrial scale concrete applications. Tobermore, an industry leading concrete paving manufacturer, has produced a range of paving bricks using up to 50% CalcinX as a CEM II replacement. Moore Concrete, an innovative, quality focused precast concrete manufacturer, produced demonstration precast concrete units using up to 50% CalcinX as a CEM I replacement. These trials have proven to be very successful with the feedback received playing a critical role in the ongoing development and optimisation of CalcinX.
Supporting the ongoing technical development of CalcinX, funding has been received from Innovate UK through its Contracts for Innovation: Decarbonising Concrete programme. This funding has allowed CEMCOR to partner with Queen’s University, Belfast on the technical development of CalcinX to optimise the calcination process and material properties.
To date, more than 3,000 tonnes of CalcinX has been produced across a number of industrial scale trials, resulting in the trial production of two products. The first is CalcinX which can be blended with Portland cement by the end user on site to specific requirements. The second is a specially formulated blend containing less than 50% clinker and up to 50% CalcinX, suitable for a wide range of concreting applications.
David Millar, Managing Director, CEMCOR said: “While our existing product range is well established in the market, at CEMCOR we are always looking to the future to develop innovative products which can help our customers to achieve their own sustainability goals. CalcinX will enhance our current product range, allowing us to develop a range of low carbon cement products for a wide range of applications. CalcinX further enhances our commitment to invest in sustainable outputs and to protect the environment around us following other significant investments over the last 3 years. The development to date of CalcinX is a significant milestone not only for CEMCOR but also the wider industry and we are delighted to have partnered with two valued customers in Tobermore and Moore Concrete in this process.”
David Henderson, Managing Director, Tobermore said: “Tobermore is absolutely delighted to be working alongside CEMCOR on this exciting project. We have trialled CalcinX in a number of products across our extensive range and are really pleased with the results.”
Wilbert Moore, Managing Director, Moore Concrete said: “We are excited to work with CEMCOR as they release their CalcinX cement replacement and have been greatly encouraged by our initial production with the material. We are delighted to be so closely linked with CEMCOR’s innovation providing a market ready reduced carbon cement replacement.”
