Our Research

Core projects
Partner projects

Core projects

Nanocem's on going and finished projects within their core, long term research projects.

The Core Projects under the Programme of Activities are fundamental long term projects research projects carried out by two or more Contractors and funded by the resources of the Nanocem Consortium. Typically 2-3 academic partners work together sharing a PhD or Postdoc student who moves between the partners.

The Core Projects are listed below.

Ongoing

 

  • High-temperature thermodynamics of Portland Cement Clinkers

    University of Aberdeen, UK
    SIMaP, Grenoble, FR
    University of Weimar, DE
    UNiversity fo Sheffield, UK

     

    Date This project started on 30 April 2019

    Status

    This project is Ongoing

    Authors

    University of Aberdeen, UK
    SIMaP, Grenoble, FR
    University of Weimar, DE
    UNiversity fo Sheffield, UK

     

    Objectives

    There is an urgent need to optimise clinker formulations to minimise the environmental
    impact of their production while maintaining or increasing their hydraulic reactivity.
    Unfortunately, the thermodynamic databases/tools currently available do not focus on the
    high-temperature cement clinker system and thus predictive modelling of clinkerization (and
    its optimization) remains out of reach. As outlined in the call document, there is a long
    history of thermophysical measurements and crystallographic observations available in the
    cement literature. This has led to several important tabulations of the Gibbs free energy for
    the C-A-S system; however, our own experience has shown that many of these sources
    contain errors, both typographical and within their source data (e.g., the calorimetry results).
    Some results are also historical and thus elemental/reference free-energy data and
    techniques have improved dramatically in the intervening time. Minor elements and solid
    solutions are also generally not included aside from the species which have metallurgical
    applications. Nevertheless, we have successfully developed a stoichiometric thermodynamic
    database for C$A production which demonstrates the utility of thermodynamics in
    advancing clinkering technology. The availability of such a tool immediately enables powerful
    studies, such as carbon-accounting clinker production, and the advancement of thermal
    models for the kiln pyroprocessing, thus establishing a full clinker thermodynamic model
    including minor elements is a critical step in advancing cement manufacturing as a whole.