CASE STUDY 1: ECO2BLOCKS (Portugal)

Pedro Humberto, a PhD student from the University of Beira Interior (UBI), invented the ECO2BLOCKS in 2018.

Pedro found that the manufacturing process of traditional cement blocks consumes a lot of energy and emits a lot of CO² while using natural raw materials such as drinking water, river sand and gravel. So, as part of his doctoral thesis and in collaboration with his mentor João Castro – professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture of the UBI–, he tried to find a more sustainable way of producing cement blocks. After several trials, they found a material that is very similar to concrete and is much more sustainable and less harmful to the environment.

The material they have developed uses industrial waste mixed with non-potable water or water from the sea and waste. The material becomes a building block in an environment specially created for hardening, where CO² prevails: it is a carbonisation process, unlike cement, which hardens through a hydration process.

The cost of this material is 50% inferior to traditional concrete, it is much more resistant and resembles a concrete block. The main difference is the colour and density, but this issue has also been resolved: this block can withstand up to 900 ºC, while regular concrete can only withstand 400 ºC.