Vertua Ultra Zero – clinker-free geopolymer concrete technology to decarbonize the construction industry
Country of development/application:
Mexico
Scope of innovation
☐ Office work
☒ Production / Service supply process
Sector-specific
☒ Yes / please, specify sector(s): Construction
☐ No (relevant for all sectors)
Description of the needs
Concrete is the most widely used man-made material in the world, due to its versatility, durability, and affordability. Used in virtually all types of construction projects, from buildings, bridges, and roads to airports, concrete’s unique properties make it an essential component of modern civilization. Moreover, concrete’s importance goes beyond the physical structures. Concrete also supports the economy and creates job opportunities, making it an important contributor to global development.
Ready-mix concrete is a carefully crafted combination of cement, fine and coarse aggregates, water, and admixtures. Each component plays a critical role in the final product, and an experienced team knows exactly how to adjust the proportions of these ingredients to achieve the desired strength, durability, workability, and other essential factors.
With over 1,270 ready-mix concrete plants worldwide, the Mexican company CEMEX is a leading producer of high quality concrete for sustainable construction worldwide.
With a wide variety of specially designed concrete, CEMEX helps its clients overcome the toughest construction challenges. CEMEX specializes in tailor-designing concrete to meet the specific needs of its customers. The expert technologists use their extensive knowledge of ready-mix concrete technology to modify the properties of concrete through the use of innovative chemical admixtures and precise proportions of concrete constituents. To meet today’s construction challenges, the company continuously works to improve its ready-mix concrete that makes it a key component of sustainable construction: durability, resistance to aggressive environments, light reflection, and capacity to store energy, among others.
Recognizing that global climate action goals require stronger efforts, and ensuring sustainability is at the core of its activity, CEMEX created Future in Action, a program focused on developing lower-carbon products, solutions, and processes to become a net-zero CO₂ company.
Future in Action recognizes that the opportunity for reducing emissions is not limited to the production process but to the entire life cycle of products, as well as transforming the industry’s value chain. The objective is clear: achieving carbon neutrality. In order to reach it, CEMEX is setting aggressive decarbonization goals with a very specific roadmap to achieve them and works with external partners to validate and endorse its commitments. The company estimates to annually invest ~US$150 M to achieve its 2030 CO₂ targets. CEMEX’s ultimate goal is to become a net-zero CO₂ company by 2050. To ensure it is on the right track, the company has set the most ambitious 2030 targets available to the industry:
2030 goals:
• 47% less of CO₂ per ton of cementitious material / 1990 baseline;
• 41% less of carbon content in concrete / 1990 baseline;
• 65% in clean electricity consumption;
• 25% reduction in CO₂ per ton of purchased clinker and cement / 2020 baseline;
• 30% reduction in transport emissions / 2020 baseline;
• 40% reduction of Scope 3 emissions per ton of purchased fuels / 2020 baseline;
• 42% reduction in absolute Scope 3 emissions from the use of traded fuels / 2020 baseline.
2050 goals: To become a net-zero CO₂ company.
Future in Action focuses on achieving sustainable excellence through climate action, circularity, and natural resource management with the primary objective of becoming a net-zero CO₂ company.
With respect to the above objectives, CEMEX has developed Vertua® – industry-leading sustainable construction solutions. Vertua® is company’s breakthrough family of products with sustainability attributes like energy efficiency, resource efficiency, among others, with a low or neutral CO₂ footprint. Vertua® technology uses innovative geopolymer-based concrete to reduce our carbon footprint by up to 70% compared to traditional concrete. CEMEX has achieved record-breaking CO₂ reductions since 2020, putting us on the path to carbon neutrality.
CEMEX initially launched the Vertua low CO2 products in France in 2018. Following its success, it was introduced globally and the company continues the rollout of Vertua in the recent years. Vertua ready-mix concrete is possible thanks to innovative breakthroughs lead by CEMEX’s R&D center in Switzerland and is a crucial part of CEMEX’s ambition to achieve carbon neutrality as part of its Future in Action program.
Description of the solution
Vertua® portfolio of sustainable products leverages cutting-edge technology to help clients meet their construction needs sustainably. Vertua® products offer verifiable sustainable attributes, including lower carbon, energy efficiency, water conservation, recycled materials, and design optimization.
CEMEX Vertua® is a range of low carbon concrete products: Vertua Ultra Zero, Vertua Plus and Vertua Classic. The Vertua product line has been designed to enable embodied carbon reductions allowing customers to meet their construction needs. Vertua was launched in 2020 and its products have already been used for large infrastructure projects in Europe and show high acceptance in Mexico, the United States, and South America.
Sustainable Attributes of CEMEX Vertua®:
• Lower Carbon Footprint
CEMEX Vertua® products and solutions have lower CO₂ footprint when compared to a defined industry or market reference.
– Concrete: ≥ 30% of CO₂ reduction
– Concrete Products: ≥ 60% of CO₂ reduction
– Asphalt ≥ 10% of CO₂ reduction
• Energy Efficiency
CEMEX Vertua® products and solutions have reduced thermal conductivity. Thanks to their adoption, the respective buildings and structures have an improved energy efficiency, which in-turn impacts CO₂ emissions.
– Mortars: Lambda ≤ 0.1 W/mK
– Concrete: Lambda ≤ 0.45 W/mK
• Water Conservation
CEMEX Vertua® products and solutions conserve water with positive impact on the environment:
a) Reducing water consumption during construction;
b) Enabling water to filter back to the soil.
• Recycled Materials
Material Reuse & Waste Minimization – products and solutions: a) Incorporate by-products, recycled and reuse of materials in their composition b) Processes that minimize landfill waste
Concrete: ≥ 15% of Recycled Aggregates
Asphalt: ≥ 10% of Reclaimed Asphalt
• Design Optimization
CEMEX Vertua® products and solutions enable emission reductions through their choice of concrete floor slab geometry and system, choice of concrete column spacing and optimization of concrete strength/element size/reinforcement percentage.
Concrete: ≥ 15% Reduction of CO₂ /m2 in Structural Elements
Concrete Products: ≥ 15% Reduction of CO₂ /m2 in Structural Elements
Vertua Ultra Zero is a net-zero CO2 concrete made as a result of an innovative solution created by CEMEX´s Research and Development Center. Vertua Ultra Zero is a geopolymer clinker-free concrete with a substantial CO2 reduction versus standard concrete manufactured with CEM I cement type. The embodied carbon reduction achieved from this material is up to 70%. The remaining 30% footprint is neutralized through carbon offsetting efforts.
Description of the effect
The efforts and achievements of CEMEX to reduce carbon emissions, primarily focused on the cement production process, have proven successful. The technology and the processes the company needs in order to achieve its 2030 goals have already been tested and are implemented in some of its operations, and need only to be scaled.
Environmental benefits
• Up to 70% CO2 reduction versus standard concrete (with CEM I) and net-zero strategy by offsetting remaining 30%.
• Carbon Neutral certificate provided by a third party through the use of high quality instruments that meet the requirements of the Carbon Neutral Protocol.
• Can be fully recycled at the end of its life.
Financial benefits
• Allows customers to obtain higher scores in Green Building Certification Systems such as LEED and BREEAM .
• Enables customers to bid for low carbon construction projects.
• Use of low carbon materials facilitates investment from ethical investors.
Company/companies that developed/implemented/offer the innovation
CEMEX is a global building materials company providing high-quality products and reliable services to customers and communities around the world. Its operations network produces, distributes, and markets cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, and related building materials, services, and solutions. Mitigation of climate change has been a priority for the company for many years. In 2020, CEMEX announced its Climate Action strategy, defining a global target of a 35% reduction of CO2 emissions per ton of cementitious products by 2030. For its operations in Europe, CEMEX also defined a 55% reduction target, in line with what the European Commission set as a new goal for all its member states. CEMEX has an externally validated CO2 Reduction Roadmap to meet our 2030 goal. This roadmap assesses the carbon mitigation potential that can be seized across each of the cement manufacturing sites, taking into consideration local challenges, regulations, materials supply, technical limitations, and market dynamics, among other decisive factors. To complement this strategy with a longer-term vision, CEMEX has also established the ambition to deliver Net-Zero CO2 concrete to all its customers globally by 2050. These targets are aligned with the International Energy Agency’s roadmap to reducing CO2 emissions and what is expected from the cement industry to contribute to the Paris Agreement. CEMEX supports the urgency of collective action to achieve compliance with the Paris Agreement commitments and the fulfillment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on climate action.
CEMEX S.A.B. de C.V.
Valle de Santa Engracia, 66268 San Pedro Garza García, N.L., Mexico
Website: www.cemex.com
Additional information
Video: Vertua Low Carbon Concrete From CEMEX CEMEX