Editor's Notes: To promote innovation, improve UHPC industry development ideal, and discuss sustainable UHPC production, application techniques, and practical experiences, On June, 2020, Aalborg Portland China under the Cementir Group, together with China Concrete & Cement-based Products Association (CCPA) UHPC Branch, and Tongchuang Think Tank, held an online technique exchange conference of ultra-high-performance concrete. An interview with Michele Di Marino, the Chief Sales, Marketing & Commercial Development Officer of the organizer, Cementir Group was conducted. Interview summaries and relevant notes are in the form of Q&A for publication.
Last November, invited by Aalborg Portland (Anqing) Co., Ltd. and other associated companies and institutions, China Concrete & Cement-based Products Association (CCPA) UHPC (Ultra-High Performance Concrete & Technology) Branch and CCPA’s International Cooperation Centre organized a visiting research group of UHPC European to France, Belgium and Denmark. Through international communications, the team promoted exchanges and cooperations on new products and new technologies both in and out of China, and in turn improved China’s UHPC innovation development.
On the night of 30/6/2020, an online technological exchange conference under the theme of “Sustainable UHPC and its application” was held with the participation of China’s industrial peers and professional scholars. This is another international exchange activity following the one in Denmark last year. The conference was hosted by Innovation team of Cementir Group, with the support of CCPA-UHPC Branch and organized by CCPT (砼创智库). ZHAO Jun (赵筠), the Chief Secretary of CCPA-UHPC, WANG Hong Sheng (王红升) Technological Engineer of Aalborg Portland (Anqing) Co., Ltd., Eric Pram Nielsen, White Cement Innovation and Commercial Development Leader of Cementir Group, BI Zhuo Qin (毕卓勤), Marketing Manager of the Cementir Group were invited and the Officer of International Cooperation of CCPA, LI Zhi Ling (李志玲) hosted the conference.
The online conference of “Sustainable Development of UHPC and its application” includes 3 sessions: 1) topic report, 2) technological exploration into the sustainable application of UHPC, 3) Q&A and exchange. Technical engineer, WANG Hong Sheng (王红升), delivered the topic report on behalf of Aalborg Portland (Anqing) Co., Ltd. covering the history and introduction of UHPC; traditional and new generation of UHPC; and the features, application and case sharing of the green cementitious materials used in the new generation of UHPC. He also introduced the technological capabilities, sustainability, mixing methods, quality control and assessment, of two newly launched, pre-mixed, new generation of UHPC products by Cementir under the name of Aalborg ExtremeTM and Aalborg ExcelTM.
ZHAO Jun, the Chief Secretary of CCPA-UHPC, was in charge of the session on the application of the sustainable UHPC technology. Together with Erik Pram Nielsen, White Cement Innovation and Commercial Development Leader of Cementir Group, they had an in-depth exchange in respect of the capabilities of Futurecem green cementitious materials, its application and trend of the new UHPC technology, as well as the capabilities, etc., of the above two new generation of UHPC products. This session engaged the pre-fabricated manufacturers, and used video formats in the introduction of manufacturing facilities, mixing and pouring of concrete, curing and demoulding process, which allowed the audience to experience the features of this new generation of UHPC products more directly.
The Q&A (Question & Answer) session was co-hosted by Eric Pram Nielsen, BI Zhuo Qin (毕卓勤), and WANG Hong Sheng (王红升). They answered the questions in sequence in the message zone.
We had an interview with Michele Di Marino, the Chief Sales, Marketing & Commercial Development Officer of the Cementir Group, also the host of this event. This interview was not just a background review of Cementir’s White Cement business, but also an in-depth breakdown of the company regarding the innovation and application of UHPC of the Cementir Group.
China Concrete (CC): Unlike grey cement, the manufacturing of white cement calls for professional manufacturing capabilities. As a pioneer in the field of white cement, does Cementir have any manufacturing plants in China?
Michele Di Marino (MDM): Cementir Holding was established in Italy in 1947. It is in the vanguard of the manufacturing and distribution of traditional cement, white cement, aggregates and concrete. it also has an active presence in the waste management, industrial and commercial recycling and processing industries. Aalborg Portland, set up in 1889 in Denmark with a history of more than 130 years, is a subsidiary of the Cementir Group. At present, Cemetir has an annual production capacity of 3.3 million tonnes of white cement. We have plants all over the world producing Aalborg White ® Cement products of high whiteness, strength and stability for more than 70 countries. The white cement plant in Anqing, China has its own quarry, and can manufacture 700,000 tonnes of white cement annually. Application of our products ranges from precast concrete, dry mix mortar, paving and masonry products as well as ready mix concrete.
CC: UHPC is a very prevalent material in the construction industry both in and out of China. What is the original rationale for the establishment of the Aalborg InWhite Solution? The fundamental ingredient of white UHPC is white cement. What’s the relationship between white cement and high value-added UHPC?
MDM: Our innovative application of InWhite Solution aims to bring about a brand-new and practical solution for white cement known and emerging application fields via a series of global initiatives in line with the general industrial trend of circular economy and high energy efficiency solutions. InWhite Solution benefits from the knowledge of the application and practical experience of the white cement, established by Cementir’s innovation team and RQT Centre in Aalborg, Denmark. Cementir’s Global RQT Center (Research, Quality and Technology Centre) is an international first-class research and development center for cement and concrete. In 1970s and 1980s, Hans Henrik Bache, a prominent scholar, brought up the theory of DSP and idea of Compact Reinforced Composite (CRC, high reinforcement UHPC, or R-UHPC) there and carried out an abundance of research on the capabilities of CRC.
Ultra-high performance concrete is a newly prevalent and high value-added application of the white cement, which has indivisible relations with the chemical properties, purity and mechanical capabilities of the white cement. The excellent performance and advanced production technology possessed by UHPC makes it one of the most sustainable construction materials. It supports design and construction process synchronization and prefabricated constructions. UHPC is light -weighted, easy to install, aesthetic and durable. What’s more, it is proven to be a highly optimized material, possessing excellent specific strength, which can lower material consumption of finished products. Through viable design and installation, UHPC precast elements are highly efficient, ductile and durable with low maintenance cost, and high repetitive utilization rate.
Compared to grey cement, white cement has a high degree of chemical purity. Paired with different raw materials, white cement can attain stable quality and perfect colour, which in turn can strengthen interaction between different additives, and obtain predictable reliability. The degree of whiteness is a primary functional parameter of white cement. Only raw materials with extremely low levels of iron can be used to manufacture white cement, which will mitigate the formation of inert cement clinkers, making white cement more compact after hydration, reaching higher strength at a later stage and produce concretes with lesser pores.
CC: UHPC has excellent properties compared to common concrete. Its properties are full in line with the strategic needs of sustainability and green construction materials of China. How can Cementir achieve environmental-friendly sustainability for its recently patented binder technology?
MDM: In the 80s of the 20th century, Cementir’s laboratory in Aalborg of Denmark conducted an innovative research and created very sticky cement-based cementitious matrix, which can be further applied to make full use of the concrete. These research activities acted as catalysts for the first patented ultra-high-performance steel fibre reinforced concrete, which is called “CRC”. This Aalborg White cement based material provided highly efficient chemical capabilities, purity, and excellent mechanical properties.
Cementir group’s recently patented binder technology Futurecem TM, develops a sustainable future cement. The innovation team of Cementir and the laboratory of Aalborg in Denmark refined this product further, and applied Futurecem TM binder technology to the pre-mixed UHPC. This binder technology makes use of the well-known binder components known to the cement and concrete industries and can offer highly advantageous Pozzolanic reactions. Besides, this new binder components are not constrained by the availability and quality of industrial by-products. Application of the Futurecem TM technology requires the absence of silica fume, quartz powder, slag or fly ash, and thus enables the outperformance of this UHPC product in terms of environmental protection, sustainable production and stable properties.