Bouygues Construction is putting Ecocem’s ACT technology through its laboratories, with the two companies’ research development teams collaborating.
Ecocem’s ACT cement replaces clinker with a range of alternative, low carbon cementitious materials including hydraulic, pozzolanic and filler materials, covering both industrial and natural sources. ACT reduces the clinker content of cement from 75% to below 25%, reducing the carbon content by 70%, it is claimed.
The Ecocem-Bouygues partnership is focused on three areas designed to validate ACT technology: independent laboratory testing; initial full scale field testing; and full-scale mock-up construction.
Bouygues will conduct a testing program at its COFRAC (French Committee for Accreditation) accredited Materials Engineering Lab (Laboratoire Ingénierie Matériaux) to evaluate the performance of ACT technology under laboratory conditions.
Structural concrete walls will be built at Bouygues’ Scale One facilities in Chilly-Mazarin, France, during both winter and summer conditions. The walls will be monitored using instrumentation to ensure testing on all aspects of preparation, handling, pouring, maturity measurements, and early formwork removal of the concrete. The process will be overseen by Bouygues’ on-site production team and its Materials Engineering Lab.
After this initial testing, a full-scale model, including all structural components (slabs, walls, columns, beams), will be constructed by Scale One under typical site conditions. This will allow for full evaluation of the in-situ use of ACT technology, in parallel with the completion of the ACT technology certification process by Ecocem.
Edward Woods, head of R&D and innovation at Bouygues Construction, said “We are committed to making construction sustainable and less resource-intensive. Any low carbon solution deployed by Bouygues Construction must deliver the required concrete performance, using standard working practice, and must be globally scalable and cost efficient. Together with Ecocem, we share a focus on and commitment to innovation and finding scalable solutions that drive down emissions at speed. Validating ACT technology in a variety of applications and conditions, with the ambition of incorporating it into our projects is an integral part of Bouygues Construction’s R&D and innovation team’s remit in tandem with Bouygues Construction’s procurement department.”
Conor O’Riain, Ecocem’s managing director for Europe, said “This commitment to validating Ecocem’s ACT technology by a major player like Bouygues Construction marks a decisive turning point in the decarbonization of the construction sector. This partnership will demonstrate that scalable, cost-effective solutions to drastically reduce the carbon footprint of concrete are ready for large-scale deployment.
“As the construction sector accelerates its environmental transition, speed, scale and cost efficiency are what matters. This collaboration highlights the convergence of technological innovation and climate commitment and will create an immediate and measurable impact on CO2 emissions.”
