Carbon Footprint and CO2 Emissions in the Concrete-Polymer Composites Technology

Abstract

In the building materials industry, similarly to other industry sectors, the quantification of greenhouse gas emissions is undertaken, enabling the identification of GHG sources both for individual production processes and in total – for specific material solutions and products. While recently a lot of attention is paid to analyze carbon footprint of ordinary concrete and development of low-emission cements with significantly reduced Portland clinker content, the issue of GHG quantification in the context of concrete-like polymer composites (including concretes with polymer binders e.g. PCC or PC and concretes with significant amounts of polymer modifiers) is not recognized. This article attempts to make a preliminary assessment of the impact of the presence of polymers on the carbon footprint of such composites.