Filipino scientist develops substitute for cement

DAVAO CITY – A Filipino scientist has developed a “geo-polymer,” a substitute product for cement that was developed from the waste of coal-fired power plants, to minimize the emission of carbon dioxide and provide a more eco-friendly alternative building material for the booming construction industry.

Dr. Michael Angelo B. Promentilla, professor at the Dela La Salle University who is a delegate at the Second Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Science Diplomat Assembly being held from April 23 to 27 at the Ritz Hotel here, said in an interview that he developed the product in order to upscale coal ash, the major by-product in coal-fired power plants.

He pointed out that “production of cement requires a lot of energy and produces carbon dioxide as well.”

“My project would try to address this problem by trying to really use the ‘fly ash’ alone without using the Portland cement. What we are trying to do is to utilize the wastes from coal-fired power plants to produce a material comparable to Portland cement,” Promentilla said.

He said his “geo-polymer,” patterned on similar technology created by eco-friendly companies in France, Australia, and US, seeks to reduce the carbon footprint of the cement industry and to prevent the future problem in managing the coal ash in the future.

The Filipino scientist, who obtained his doctorate degree in socio-environmental engineering from Hokkaido University in Japan, said they are still in the research and development stage but they plan to do field-scale testing a year from now, and hope to commercialize it in five years.

He said they hope to utilize the new geo-polymer for low-cost housing or even on road embankments.

From extraction of the raw material, he said the process begins with crushing the limestone, then proceeding with calcination, which requires a temperature of 1,000 degrees Celsius, to make the cement.

“The cooking process requires a lot of energy because of the high temperature, normally 1,000 degrees Celsius. Where does it come from? Normally, there is fuel and usually coal is being used. If you burn it, you release another carbon dioxide,” he said.

He said for every ton of cement produced, it is also the same amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. But his technology can convert a low value waste to a high value product.

“If you can reduce the energy or try to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, that’s one way to mitigate climate change.