Current projects
Ultra-Green Concrete
The ultra-green concrete (UGC) concept is founded in a well-known fact: cement is not a construction material, concrete is. While cement plays a major role in the overall CO2 footprint of concrete, what matters in the end is the embodied CO2 content of one cubic meter of concrete that will be placed in the field. In a sense, the UGC concept shifts the attention from clinker factor (kg CO2eq/kg cement) back to concrete (kg CO2eq/m3 concrete).UGC founds itself on previous developments that advanced low-carbon technologies significantly, such as LC3. However, by shifting the attention back to concrete, it becomes clear that in addition to clinker factor reduction in cement, the concrete mixture design process should be addressed. This configures the UGC two-fold strategy that sustain the scientific and technical support of the UGC technology.
The UGC project is currently supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation through an Ambizione fellowship granted in 2022 to Prof. Franco Zunino, principal investigator of the project who coined the UGC concept.
Limestone Calcined Clay Cements (LC3)
The LC3 project is an international research and technological transfer effort led by EPFL in Switzerland aiming to develop and introduce new formulations of cements with low CO2 footprint where clinker is replaced by a combination of limestone and calcined clays. LC3 achieves the same mechanical performance than PC from 7 days onwards, and exhibits enhanced durability against chloride, alkali silica reaction and sulfate attack.
The success of this technology has reflected in the introduction of LC3-type cements in the European standard for cement (EN 197-5) and several industrial projects in construction or already producing LC3 around the globe. Dr. Zunino remains an active member of the LC3 team, both in extension, education and collaborative research activities.