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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/T26870/01
Title: Waste Minimisation through sustainable magnesium oxide cement products
Principal Investigator: Al-Tabbaa, Professor A
Other Investigators:
Clegg, Professor WJ Lees, Professor J
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Ballast Phoenix BRE Group (Building Res Establishment) Buro Happold
Causmag International CIRIA CJC Chemical & Magnesia Ltd
Forticrete Roofing Products Ltd International Power plc Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rethinking Construction Wales Ltd TecEco Pty Ltd
Department: Engineering
Organisation: University of Cambridge
Scheme: Faraday (PreFEC)
Starts: 06 December 2004 Ends: 05 December 2007 Value (£): 180,104
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Waste Minimisation
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Construction
Related Grants:
GR/T26887/01
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
Cement and cementitious building products consume vast quantities of natural resources and constitute a large proportion of industrial waste. There is therefore an urgent need for innovative, creative, cost-effective and sustainable approaches to reduce the tremendous environmental impact of conventional cement-based technology and applications. One developmental area with significant potential has been the inclusion of wastes and industrial by-products in building materials. However, in spite of clear environmental and cost advantages work in this area has been limited probably due to anticipated lower quality and shorter life span products. The recent emergence of magnesium oxide cements (MgO cements) such as the muchpublicised 'Eco-cement' provides a unique opportunity to develop durable high quality novel cement-based construction products that incorporate a large proportion of waste materials. MgO cements use 'reactive' magnesia that is manufactured at much lower temperatures than Portland cement (PC), contain a large proportion of by-product pozzolans, are far more recyclable than PC and are expected to have improved durability and a high propensity for binding with waste materials. This project proposes to investigate the fundamental properties and behaviour of MgO cement formulations and MgO cement-waste mixes and their potential application in the development of construction products that contain large quantities of waste yet have either comparable or improved durability and/or reduced leachability when compared to PC-based products.
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Organisation Website: http://www.cam.ac.uk