Sustainability is the process of maintaining change in a balanced environment.

This is important to the well-being of our planet to support continuous growth of

our society, and human development. Our lives are full of artificial materials –
plastic bottles, steel structures and glass facades. But while these may seem like
the most common man-made materials, our world is built on concrete. As the
most popular man-made material on Earth, today, second only to water, concrete
is the most consumed material, it is used most widely in the construction
industry due to its high compressive strength and durability. There is little doubt
that concrete will remain in use as a construction material in the future because
up to now there still no known material that could replace concrete.
Worldwide, over ten billion tons of concrete are being produced each year. That’s
230 Million houses or 1 Million Condominiums or 12,500 Burj Kalifa.
Concrete is a composite material composed of cement, aggregates and water.
Through a chemical reaction called hydration, the paste hardens and gains
strength to form the rock-like mass known as concrete.
Global construction industry is expected to grow by 3.7% this 2019. Also this year,
Philippine construction Industry is expected to grow by 10.9% due to the Build
Build Build program of the present administration which seeks to accelerate
infrastructure spending and develop industries that will yield robust growth,
create jobs and improve the lives of Filipinos.

However, the production of cement, an essential constituent of concrete, leads to

the release of significant amounts of CO2, a greenhouse gas. The environmental
issues associated with greenhouse gasses, in addition to natural resources issues,
will play a leading role in the sustainable development of the cement and
concrete industry during this century. So the question is “How can cement plants
help in concrete sustainability?”

Our answer is the production of blended cement. Blended cement are cements in
which part of the clinker is substituted with other materials. In this case,
supplementary cementitious materials are used as a clinker substitute. This
materials can replace clinker up to 20-50%. The most common supplementary
cementitious materials are fly ash, blast furnace slag, pozzolans and other
cementitious materials that offers sustainable and performance advantages on
concrete.

Fly ash is a fine powder that is a byproduct of burning pulverized coal in coal fired
power plants. Fly ash is a pozzolan, a substance containing aluminous and
siliceous material that forms cement in the presence of water. When mixed with
lime and water, fly ash forms a compound similar to Portland cement. This makes
fly ash suitable as a prime material in blended cement.

Blast furnace slag is a byproduct of iron and steel making. It is ground to suitable
fineness and is used to replace a certain percentage of clinker. Blast furnace slag
is a cementitious material characterized by high compressive strength, good
durability and is cost-effective.
A pozzolan is a siliceous or siliceous and aluminous material that in itself
possesses little or no cementitious value, it will activate if it is in the finely divided
form and in the presence of moisture, chemically react with calcium hydroxide at
ordinary temperatures to form compounds having cementitious properties. It is
therefore classified as cementitious material. The quantification of the capacity of
a pozzolan to react with calcium hydroxide and water is given by measuring
its pozzolanic activity.
The usage of blended cement on concrete provides superior advantages

Strength: Blended cement is significantly stronger than ordinary Portland cement

when cured for a period of time in both compressive and flexural stress. Strength
depends on the proportion and quality of supplementary cementitious material.
As we can see in the graph, blended cement surpasses the compressive strength
of Portland cement after 28 days. Also, blended cement shows a significant
increase in strength development as time passed by unlike Portland cement
which exhibits little change on its strength development.
Permeability: The lower permeability of blended concrete extends its useful life
and hardness by reducing penetration of aggressive water run-off compounds
such as sulfates and chlorides, which have increased impact as ordinary Portland
cement ages.
Thermal Stress: As you can see in the graph Ordinary Portland cement have
higher concrete temperature than blended cements. And take note that high
concrete temperatures can affect the compressive strength of concrete. The
temperature difference between the core and surface of concrete should not be
allowed to be more than 150 C because it can cause cracking due to thermal
stress. Blended cement concrete mixes can reduce concrete temperatures and
lessen the risk of thermal stress.
Water Conservation: Supplementary cementitious materials improves the
segregation of the concrete and makes it easier to pump. Compared to ordinary
Portland cement with same water-cement ratio, blended cement can achieve
higher slump making it easier to work with and shape.
Conservation of Resources: As the supply of good-quality limestone and clay to
produce cement decreases, producing adequate amounts of Portland cement for
construction will become more difficult. There is a possibility that when there is
no more good-quality limestone and clay, then production of Portland cement will
end. All the employment associated with the concrete industry, as well as new
construction projects, will be terminated. With the help of supplementary
cementitious materials which are from the waste products of steel and coal
power plants, it lowers the demand on good quality limestone and clay, helping to
preserve our natural resources.
Reduce CO2 Emission: Cement is an energy-intensive product to manufacture,
but it is essential to construction. The process may account for up to 8 percent of
the global CO2. There are two aspects of cement production that result in
emissions of CO2.
The first is the chemical reaction involved in the production of the main
component of cement, clinker, as carbonates mainly CaCO3 are decomposed into
oxides and CO2 by the addition of heat.
The second source of emissions is the combustion of fossil fuels to generate the
significant energy required to heat the raw ingredients to 1450 ◦C to produce
clinker.
In fact, producing 1 ton of clinker corresponds to 1 ton of CO2 emitted in the
atmosphere. Clinker substitution by supplementary cementitious materials is a
powerful tool for reducing the CO2 emission in the production of cement.
Cost: As the expensive clinker is replaced by pozzolanic material, the price of
blended cement per bag is less than the OPC, hence, helping you save 5 to 10% of
your total cost.
C-S-H: So with the discussed advantages of blended cement let’s take a look on
what is the science behind theses supplementary cementitious material towards
cement. One of the primary benefits of these materials is its reaction with the
inherent free lime from the clinker and the reactive silica from the supplementary
material, (so by hydration), it can produce additional calcium silicate hydrate,
which is the material responsible for holding concrete together. Thus obtaining
additional concrete strength.
Strength Comparison: To achieve the desired amount of strength of concrete, it’s
necessary to select the right type of cement.
Initial strength and long-term strength are the two primary factors while selecting
the right type of cement.
The initial strength of Ordinary Portland cement is higher than PPC.
But the long term strength of blended cement is greater than the Ordinary
Portland cement.

Durability: The decrease in free lime and the resulting increase in cementitious
compounds, combined with the reduction in permeability enhance concrete
durability. That’s why ancient roman buildings are still standing like the
Colosseum, Temple of Jupiter and the Basilica of Constantine which Roman
Engineers used crushed volcanic ash (a pozzolan) with lime to construct this
magnificent architectures. The mixture used by the Romans is just like the
principle behind the production of blended cement.
Improved resistance to sulfate attack: Supplementary cementitious induces
three phenomena that improve sulfate resistance:

 Supplementary cementitious materials consumes the free lime making it

unavailable to react with sulfate.
  The reduced permeability prevents sulfate penetration into the concrete
 Replacement of cement reduces the amount of reactive aluminates
available

NCC Sustainability: As part of our plant’s initiative on concrete sustainability,

Northern Cement introduced blended cement on contractors for example the
DMCI with their TPLEX project, a bridge in Laoag, Ilocos Norte and also in the
construction of our cement silo.

Solutions to concrete sustainability are not impossible if we are

committed. Maybe our single efforts may seem small but if thousands of people
can unite together towards sustainability then one day our efforts will be a drastic
step to protect our motherland Earth from destruction. In behalf of Northern
Cement Corporation, we promise to fulfil our responsibilities towards protecting
our environment and to hand over clean and green planet to our future
generations. Thank you!