New Superplasticizers for CO₂-Reduced Concrete

Superplasticizers for CO₂-Reduced Concrete

Concrete production is responsible for approximately 8% of human-caused CO₂ emissions worldwide, with up to 90% of these emissions coming from the production of cement clinker. Substitution of the clinker contained in cement and consequently concrete with alternative materials such as limestone fillers or supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) can save significant amounts of carbon emissions. Depending on the type of SCMs used, they have a detrimental effect on the concrete properties in terms of workability, flow behavior and strength.

The new MasterCO₂re superplasticizer technology, based on an intelligent cluster system, overcomes the performance losses associated with low-clinker concrete production and supports our customers' demanding CO₂ reduction process to achieve more sustainable and high-performance concrete production.

Features and Benefits

Excellent fresh concrete properties: Thanks to the intelligent cluster system, MasterCO₂re releases the polymer over time, ensuring consistent flowability and workability during concrete transport and placement.
Modern rheology enhancement: Concrete with advanced MasterCO₂re technology has a lower viscosity than concrete with traditional superplasticizers. This makes the concrete easier and quicker to pump and place. The water content can also be further reduced in concrete mixes with a reduced clinker content without affecting the rheological properties.
Excellent strength properties: MasterCO₂re promotes the formation of a dense and homogeneous microstructure in the concrete, which leads to optimal strength development
Unsurpassed robustness: Given the increasingly complex cement and concrete compositions, stability and consistent quality are a challenge for the daily operation of concrete plants. MasterCO₂re successfully counteracts this increasing complexity through its intelligent mechanism of action.
Intelligent cluster system: MasterCO₂re is a groundbreaking plasticizer technology based on an intelligent cluster system (ICS) that delivers its effect exactly when it is needed. Some of the freely available polymers are immediately used for initial water reduction. The finely tuned chemical structures of the different clusters optimize both consistency maintenance and early strength development by adapting the polymer release mechanism to the cement properties.

Advantages

MasterCO₂re reliably ensures excellent concrete consistency and rheology even at high temperatures and enables easy pumping and placement of the concrete.

Reduction of material and production costs
Reduction of water consumption
Reduction of bound carbon in concrete