Real Green Concrete
Real Green Concrete (RGC) is a young, UK based company, that has developed an environmentally friendly cement. RGC’s patented binders are made from by-products and wastes sourced from industries including steel manufacturing, power stations, and mining processes, many of which would otherwise go to landfill. The binder is made without using Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and can be used to produce a range of concrete grades suitable for diverse industries and applications.
The manufacturing process for OPC is a resource intensive process & includes a calcination step where raw materials, consisting mostly of limestone and clay, are heated in kilns at very high temperatures of around 1450°C. Not only is it a highly energy-intensive process, the chemical reaction during calcination is also a major contributor of CO2 emissions. Around 50-60% of the CO2 emissions come from the calcination process itself while the other 40% come from the combustion of fossil fuels used to heat the kilns.
Concrete made using an RGC binder, has a reduced carbon footprint of a minimum 65%, compared to concrete made with traditional OPC.
Real Green Concrete is the brainchild of Dr. Aissa Bouaissi, a chemical engineer with extensive experience in academia and industry. Aissa discovered a chemical process that activates the hardening of the concrete mixture, unlike the crystallisation and hydration process associated with OPC. This carefully calculated process can be tailored to meet various concrete application requirements. As it is a chemical reaction, it allows for the inclusion of a wide variety of waste materials in the mix.
Aissa worked as a senior process engineer in national and multinational companies in Algeria, where he built his expertise in well cementing services and the Oil and Gas industry. It was during this period, that Aissa came to the realisation that there is a lot of concrete in the world and the process to make it is far from sustainable. Aissa took the plunge and decided to go back into education to learn more about sustainable construction, through a MSc Cert in Chemical Engineering, at the National Polytechnic School of Algiers followed by a PhD in Civil Engineering (Materials), at the University of Plymouth.
As part of his PhD, Aissa was investigating alternative methods to make cement including the use of waste materials. Aissa developed his first product and was looking for a partner to help with the testing of the material & met David Young of The Una Group, a business operating in the commercial property and business investment field. The meeting led to further discussion and the formation of UNA Developments Ltd with RGC as a trading name in 2019.
RGC have developed a range of patent-protected, non-OPC binders, using the usual mixture of sand and aggregate with a range of different waste materials, but with processed chemical activators. The RGC binders provide a number of benefits in the making of concrete. As the hardening process is a distinct chemical reaction to conventional concrete production, far less water is used and there is no significant rise in temperature. Setting times are flexible and can be modified to suit project needs but can be as quick as one hour. Initial strength is gained rapidly so that striking of moulds could take place within 8 to 10 hours. RGC have protected their intellectual property with patents, with one patent granted and another pending.
RGC have developed a range of binders, with each tailored for different concrete applications, such as high strength, highly permeable, shock absorbent, conductive, durable and rapid setting. RGC have also developed non-OPC binders to work with a variety of waste construction materials for the manufacture of the concrete.
In 2023, RGC was awarded an Innovate UK Grant to Scale Novel Eco-Friendly, Permeable Concrete Technology, which enabled the company to develop an eco-friendly permeable concrete. This work has helped RGC develop non-OPC binders to be used in concrete applications requiring superior engineering properties such as strength, porosity, and water resistance.
RGC are now looking to find commercial partner(s) in the construction sector to help them scale up their manufacturing and take their products to market. Ideal partners include concrete manufacturers looking to improve the sustainability of their products, construction contractors, businesses with materials blending capability and investors to provide funds to scale up manufacturing and to continue R&D of new binder formulations.
If you are interested in partnering with Real Green Concrete or would just like further information please reach out by email to info@realgreenconcrete.com. Please also check out the Real Green Concrete website.
Good luck to RGC in finding an industrial partner, we’ll certainly be watching your progress!
Images & video courtesy of Una Developments Limited, trading as Real Green Concrete