Making Cement at Ambient Temperature Using 55% Municipal Solid Waste Ash

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Program:
Exploratory Topics
Award:
$1,000,000
Location:
Winona, Minnesota
Status:
ALUMNI
Project Term:
05/19/2021 - 05/18/2023

Technology Description:

Designs by Natural Processes, Inc., aims to make novel cement at ambient temperature using 55% municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerator ash. The team will add low-cost chemicals to better sequester environmentally problematic combustion gases, chemicals, and heavy metals during incineration, eliminating undesired chemicals in the ash-rich cement leachate. The team's objective is to develop an alternative to traditional ordinary Portland cement (OPC), which cannot sequester nearly as much ash (16%). OPC requires a temperature of 1300°C for its manufacture, and sets up in about a month for a compressive strength of approximately 3000 psi. In contrast, the novel cement uses more ash, is chemically based, uses no heat, gives off no CO2, hardens quickly, and averages high strength.

Contact

ARPA-E Program Director:
Dr. Douglas Wicks
Project Contact:
Dr. Carolyn Dry
Press and General Inquiries Email:
ARPA-E-Comms@hq.doe.gov
Project Contact Email:
drycementmixer@aol.com

Partners

University of Minnesota, Duluth
Sandia National Laboratory

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