Clay-based cement is made by Meru University researchers
Clay-based cement is made by Meru University researchers
Clay-based cement is made by Meru University researchers
To combat climate change and bring down the cost of housing, scientists at Meru University of Science and Technology (MUST) have developed innovative clay-based cement.
The invention seeks to meet the growing need for affordable housing by providing an alternative, more economical, and environmentally friendly cement.Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LC3) is being adopted in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Dr. Joseph Mwiti, who oversees TRC Africa at the university, is optimistic that the cement will be available and will significantly lessen the consequences of climate change.
Mwiti is also in charge of the varsity’s Institute of Cement & Concrete. According to him, the innovation aims to lower the amount of clinker—the solid used in the production of traditional cement and the source of the high carbon dioxide emissions. According to Mwiti, the sector will lower manufacturing costs and carbon dioxide emissions by moving to cement based on clay.
“Cement industry emits between six and eight per cent of carbon dioxide emissions, and it places the cement industry as the third polluting industry in the world,” he said.
Scientists from Israel, Switzerland and Cuba visited MUST’s main campus in Nchiru, Tigania West sub-county for the opening of the alternative cement laboratory and resource cement.
The centre will host scientists, who are putting final touches to the product and serve as a resource centre for the innovation that they hope to commercialise and supply to Africa.The partners have been working together to develop the product.
According to Mwiti, the resource center’s primary goal is to encourage Sub-Saharan Africa’s adoption of limestone-calcined clay cement.With an eye toward mass production, he stated, the cement would be tested in a laboratory and on an industrial scale with cutting-edge machinery.
“LC3 is cost-saving. We will be able to realise affordable housing and other essential infrastructure that we require in the built environment. This type of cement has the potential to also set up new industries where we have clay. As it is, cement industries are located in some localised places along the Rift Valley and along the Coast of Kenya,” he said. “We have a chance to set up cement industries in the northern part of Kenya and places where we have a lot of clay. That means job creation and development.”
The don said harnessing readily available clay will reduce clinker imports.“We have for a long time been importing the clinker, and the prices of cement have been prone to price volatility due to fluctuations in the international market. But now we have a chance to use less clinker and lower the cost of cement,” he said.
“We are a part of the solution to the shortage of cement, which is a major ingredient in construction and is expensive and difficult to access in Sub-Saharan Africa. We are also fighting climate change,” Mwiti stated.
Karen Scrivener from EPFL, a Swiss institution, applauded the center’s opening.The development of this crucial material, which can meet the enormous need for housing with little impact on the climate, should benefit Africa. People still need homes, so while the climate is important, we must remember that, according to Scrivener.
