Applications of Calcined Clay in Lower Carbon Concrete

The construction industry’s transition to low embodied carbon concrete faces a hurdle.

While replacing ordinary Portland cement with supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) like fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag has been a successful strategy, their availability is diminishing. This is driven by two factors: the closure of coal-fired power plants producing fly ash, and the electrification of steelmaking changing the chemical properties of slag. Without these traditional SCMs, the industry needs new materials to produce low carbon concrete.

A promising solution is calcined clay concrete, which offers a 30-40% CO2 reduction and comparable performance to traditional concrete while using readily available clay materials. This project, led by Boral, Calix, and UTS, will assess the economic viability and environmental sustainability of calcined clay concrete while addressing industry questions regarding the performance and material properties.

PROJECT PARTNER

• Boral Limited (Boral)
• Transport for NSW
• Calix Limited (Calix)