Trade Journals for the Concrete Industry

Concrete has a great number of advantages compared to other building materials, not least from the viewpoints of climate protection, resource conservation and recycling. The primary energy requirement for constructing buildings with concrete is generally reasonable and allows for durable, structurally complex and high load-bearing solutions. CO2 emissions are unavoidable in producing cement as a binding agent due to the chemical reaction during the deacidification necessary for limestone and due to fuel consumption in the subsequent sintering process at 1,450 °C. Numerous efforts are being undertaken on a global basis to modify cement as a binding agent and concrete as a construction material with regard to CO2 emissions or to replace both with alternative materials. Irrespective of these important objectives, a reduction in construction component dimensions can not only cut CO2, but also reduce the need for natural raw materials such as sand. Modern high-performance cements enable concretes to be created with exceptional property profiles that open up new possibilities in terms of strength, durability and processability. The following report describes successful projects carried out by Drössler/Ventur, a precast company from Siegen, in cooperation with Dyckerhoff, a cement manufacturer from Wiesbaden.