Concrete advantages
Concrete is critical for modern life, but carbon intensive to make. Kiwis Zarina Bazoeva and Matt Kennedy-Good are working on a solution,
Versatile, durable, affordable and ubiquitous: concrete, it could be argued, is one of the truly foundational building blocks of modern civilisation.
And with about three tonnes of the stuff poured globally per person annually, it’s also one of the world’s most consumed materials – second only to water.
There’s a problem with that: traditionally, the grey stuff just hasn’t been that green. It takes very high temperatures to produce a thermochemical process required to make concrete, and those temperatures are usually achieved by burning fossil fuels. The chemical process itself also produces significant CO2 emissions, and as it stands, the cement industry is one of the highest producers of carbon dioxide in the world, producing about 8% of the globe’s emissions of the potent greenhouse gas.
Now a solution may be within reach. Zarina Bazoeva and Matt Kennedy-Good founded Kiwi company Neocrete, which is seeking to create concrete that is both strong and carbon-neutral.
‘‘I pretty much grew up in my father’s lab,’’ says Bazoeva, Neocrete’s managing director. ‘‘Me and my brother learned everything about concrete because my dad was obsessed with it. He dedicated his life to making a better, more durable concrete, and he achieved that.’’
Bazoeva’s father, Dr Oleg Bazoev, developed the D5 additive in Russia over the last two decades, and has already used the formulation to help build stronger and more resilient dams, bridges and high-rise buildings around the world.
Joining forces with entrepreneur KennedyGood in 2018, Bazoeva founded Kiwi startup Neocrete, and is now working to refine her father’s invention to tackle the modern world’s sustainability challenges. ‘‘We believe that Neocrete can be the solution for reducing carbon emissions in the manufacturing process, but also for transitioning our economy to a greener more sustainable future,’’ says Kennedy-Good.
Made from volcanic ash (just like the ancient Romans did) Neocrete production doesn’t
require 1400C temperatures. Rather, the volcanic ash is refined into a pozzolan-rich concrete admixture called D5 Green, which, when added to the concrete solution, produces an extremely strong concrete product, requiring less cement, and packing a far-less-substantial carbon punch.
Even better, volcanic ash is common in New Zealand. Bazoeva and Kennedy-Good say there is a genuine opportunity to create a stronger, more durable, significantly greener commercial concrete product, right here in Godzone.
‘‘Neocrete reduces the carbon from cement production significantly,’’ says Bazoeva. ‘‘It’s made of naturally processed minerals, and the volcanic ash we use has been created during a volcano eruption so we don’t need to create more carbon. But at the same time, the product is completely waterproof and more durable than conventional concrete.’’
For a startup just five years old, the group already has some impressive runs on the board. It has received grants from Callaghan Innovation and Waka Kotahi, and won the Sustainable Business Network’s Climate Action Leader Special Commendation Award in December.
Whanganui-based homebuilder eHaus is using D5 Green in its eco-houses and the group is trialling Neocrete with family-owned Higgins Concrete.
A big milestone for this year will be finalising a manufacturing site and setting up a pilot production plant. Bazoeva says currently everything is done from the lab, so bringing it up to scale has its logistical challenges.
With full commercial production now within spitting distance, the group is focused on winning the hearts and minds of an industry which in the past has been wary of change. ‘‘It’s a very conservative industry, so there needs to be more incentives for the industry to make the change,’’ says Bazoeva.
‘‘Currently, there’s not enough benefit for the bigger companies to adopt lower-carbon technology, so I think the Government needs to play a bigger role in guiding profit-driven businesses towards these greener, more sustainable decisions.’’