January 13, 2015

Crush those clinkers while they’re hot



Rice University study suggests changes to cement manufacturing will save energy

Making cement is a centuries-old art that has yet to be perfected, according to researchers at Rice University who believe it can be still more efficient.

Former Rice graduate student Lu Chen and materials scientist Rouzbeh Shahsavari calculated that fine-tuning the process by which round lumps of calcium silicate called clinkers are turned into cement can save a lot of energy. Their new findings are detailed in the American Chemical Society journal Applied Materials and Interfaces.