Imagine building a house with Lego blocks made from captured air pollution and industrial waste. Instead of using steel bars that rust over time, these blocks are shaped to support weight naturally and can be taken apart and reused later. It turns buildings into giant sponges that soak up CO2 instead of releasing it.
Traditional concrete production is a major CO2 emitter and relies on steel reinforcement that corrodes, shortening building lifespans. There is a lack of structural materials that are both carbon-negative and easy to disassemble for reuse.
A 3D-printable carbon-negative concrete and a digital design pipeline for creating compression-dominant, demountable structural blocks.
If you are a design firm dealing with strict carbon neutrality mandates — this project developed a digital design pipeline and carbon-negative concrete that allows for the creation of load-bearing walls and columns that sequester CO2.
If you are a printing company dealing with material waste and low strength — this project developed a 100% secondary binder concrete that reaches a compressive strength of 21 MPa and can be printed in blocks up to 0.7 m high.
If you are a processor dealing with excess slags and ashes — this project developed a method to incorporate these by-products into carbon-negative concrete, turning waste into high-value structural blocks.
Based on available project data, specific pricing or cost-reduction figures are not provided; however, the system reduces costs associated with raw material usage by using industrial by-products.
The project has successfully performed 3D printing of blocks with a buildable height of around 0.7 m, indicating a move toward scalable component production.
Based on available project data, the IP and licensing terms are not specified, but the project is coordinated by Universiteit Gent with a consortium of 11 partners.
The project aims to establish compliance with relevant standards of building operational performance to enable architects and engineers to use the system.
The project period runs from 2024-10-01 to 2028-09-30, suggesting that full validation will be completed by late 2028.
The project features a strong industrial lean with 6 industrial partners (55% ratio), including 5 SMEs, which suggests a high focus on commercial viability. The collaboration spans 7 countries (AT, BE, CH, DE, EL, IT, UK), combining academic research from 5 universities with practical manufacturing expertise.
Contact Universiteit Gent regarding the CARBCOMN project
Contact us to connect with the CARBCOMN consortium for early adoption of carbon-negative 3D printing.
