The cement, ready-mix concrete, and construction industries have launched a joint response to expand on-site adoption of low-carbon building materials.
The Korea Cement Association held the "Integrated technology symposium for cement, ready-mix concrete, and the construction industry" on the 10th at the Korea Automobile Association Hall in Seocho-gu, Seoul. The event is hosted by the Korea Industry Alliance Forum and organized by the Korea Cement Association, the Korea Ready-mixed Concrete Industry Cooperative Federation, and the Korea Concrete Institute.
Jeon Geun-sik, head of the Korea Cement Association, said, "For the expansion of low-carbon cement use in the cement industry, which produces basic materials for the construction industry, the ready-mix concrete sector must handle mix design technology and quality control, while the construction sector must review optimal application from the design standards and construction to the ordering stage. As such, related industries should, based on trust, move forward with the development of carbon-neutral technologies and the establishment of standards."
In the keynote presentations, Lee Jae-yun, Deputy Minister at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade (KIET), gave a lecture on "Innovation of the construction industry supply chain and policy tasks for carbon neutrality." Then Park Jeong-jun, research fellow at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT), presented "Global carbon neutrality transition and technology linkage plans for the construction materials industry."
In the subsequent cement session, topics included expanding supplementary cementitious materials to reduce limestone heating processes and clinker use, and manufacturing technologies for high-performance clinker and blended cement. In the ready-mix concrete session, mix design and admixture technologies needed for low-carbon cement and concrete were covered, while the construction session presented trends in eco-friendly processes and carbon-reducing concrete development.
Industry officials stressed that along with technology development, related standards must be made realistic. Kim Ui-cheol, managing director at the Korea Cement Association, said, "In the cement industry, technologies to expand supplementary materials for greenhouse gas reduction and to cut clinker use have already reached the demonstration stage, but carbon neutrality is being delayed because institutional conditions such as KS and standard specifications are not in place," proposing the practical implementation of the KS standard and the standard concrete specifications system, as well as joint research and development (R&D) support across cement, construction, and ready-mix concrete.
Kim Sang-cheol, a professor at Hanseo University, also said, "We urgently need to explore ways to form a standing council and expand technical support to spread low-carbon practices," adding, "It is essential to build a cooperative network that spans the entire construction industry."
Lee Han-seung, a professor in the School of Architecture at Hanyang University ERICA, said, "The cement industry needs to create a new growth engine that captures greenhouse gases to produce high value-added advanced materials, rather than emitting them," adding, "It is important to develop low-carbon ready-mix concrete that secures compressive strength equivalent to conventional cement through cement with equal compressive strength and the application of special admixtures."
The association plans to have the cement, ready-mix concrete, and construction industries jointly accumulate performance data for the material, mix design, and construction stages, establish related standards and a joint research and development system, and expand on-site adoption of low-carbon building materials.