Chemical technologies for modern concrete production

Abstract

Modern era is linked with global issues in limited energy resources and ecological degradation as hurdles for sustainable industrialization and urbanization. In these contexts, concretes are the most widely adopted construction materials to build supporting civil structural systems. However, massive productions of concretes significantly consume global energy resources and induce negative impacts to ecology which should be paid with serious attentions. Modern concrete productions are strived for not only producing highly performing materials but also being continuously more ecological and energy efficient. The uses of chemicals as additives and admixtures are recognized to be relatively more obvious approaches to answer the needs of modern concrete production for more energy efficiencies and carbon footprint reductions. Chemical additives are added to the cement and it is usually during the comminution stage. Chemical admixtures are intermixed together with other concrete constituents. In the current situation, the momentum of increasing concrete consumption contributes the energy requirement and creates negative ecological impacts massively spreading all over the world. The present study aims to identify the transformations and outlooks in additive and admixture chemical technologies used for modern and future concrete productions. The perspective discussed in this study can assist to formulate research needs for future developments of additive and admixture chemicals.