!["If [it] lives up to the promise it has shown in early trials, when combined with other innovative technologies, it could be a pivotal point."](https://www.thecooldown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Cambridge-Electric-Cementimage.jpg?w=1920&h=800)
A steel and cement co-recycling process developed at the University of Cambridge is now a spinoff company with $2.9 million in seed funding.
Cambridge Electric Cement (CEC) is grinding up concrete from old roads and buildings and separating the sand, stone, and cement for reuse. The latter material can replace lime flux as part of the steel recycling process, which uses electric arc instead of fossil-burning blast furnaces. Slag made during that effort is cooled, ground, and used as the clinker needed to make new Portland cement, according to a description from the company.
A diagram shared by the developers highlights the circular nature of the innovation, from demolition of old buildings and roads, to the creation of recycled steel and concrete.
"We are excited to start our commercial journey to deploying our co-production process at scale with our great set of early investors and industry partners," co-founder Bill Yost said in a press release.
CEC was started in 2022 to tackle air pollution generated from the cement and steelmaking industries. The prolific building materials are often reported as generating up to 8% and 7% of the world's heat-trapping air pollution each year, respectively, according to Chemistry World, Inside Climate News, and Arizona State University.
The researchers have been making headlines with the tech since announcing a process that can reduce some of those fumes. The key breakthrough is using recycled cement paste in place of lime used in steelmaking, improving the polluting process needed to manufacture the key building materials, all per Cambridge.
Steel has traditionally been made through an iron-purification process that involves fossil-powered blast furnaces. Electric-arc furnaces produce less pollution and are gaining traction in the sector, as Yale reports.
The researchers are in the midst of an $8.4 million trial run called Cement 2 Zero to test the production process. The goal is to make more than 110 tons of recycled cement during the two-year program. The material would be used in "low-risk, non-structural" builds, according to CEC.
"The build environment requires substantial change to reduce emissions and reach net zero," John Bromley, of U.K. Financial Services firm and project investor Legal & General, said in the press release.
Researchers at other labs are also working on ways to clean up the concrete industry. The goal is to limit our planet's overheating (as explained by MIT), avoiding worst-case scenarios like the increased risk of severe weather noted by NASA. Ultimately, extreme storms, wildfires, and other calamities are impacting property owners through higher insurance premiums and even limited coverage.
Nature reports that more than 33 billion tons of concrete is used worldwide each year.
Recycling it, and other building materials, can play a crucial role in reducing air pollution.
"If Cambridge Electric Cement lives up to the promise it has shown in early trials, when combined with other innovative technologies, it could be a pivotal point in the journey to a zero-emissions society," Philippa Horton, a clean energy analyst for Legal & General, said in a press release.
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