National Concrete Pavement Technology Center

Project description

Concrete’s high carbon footprint is an ongoing concern for infrastructure sustainability and environmental stewardship. A primary strategy in the quest for low-carbon concrete is to replace a portion of the portland cement with pozzolanic wastes generated by other industrial or societal activities. Biochar is a product of biowaste combustion. Some sources are pozzolanically active and can therefore enhance concrete’s later-age mechanical and durability properties of concrete. In addition, biochar efficiently absorbs atmospheric CO2, a first step in CO2 sequestration in concrete by carbonate mineralization. But despite this potential multifunctional nature of biochar, its assured use in concrete for bridge elements will not be realized until its influences on freshstate workability and early strength development are better understood and controlled. New materials enabled by this research will significantly decrease anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs), increase the resilience and sustainability of civilian infrastructure, and provide a sink for biowaste materials that otherwise would be deposited in landfills.