Sustainable Cementitious Materials for the Construction Industry

Dear Colleagues,

The construction industry plays a central role in efforts towards achieving a sustainable development, because of its size and ubiquity. Concrete is the most-used construction material, both for residential buildings and infrastructure. Portland cement production is an industrial sector, which, despite being a high contributor to CO₂ emissions, has made significant efforts towards sustainability by increasing energy efficiency, using alternative or renewable fuels, and by replacing considerable proportions of clinker with supplementary cementitious materials. These latter are termed "additions to cement" and include fly ash, blast furnace slag, silica fume, natural volcanic pozzolanic materials, rice husk ash, limestone powder, calcined clays, etc. Many of these additions are wastes or by-products of other industries, thus leading to a double benefit in terms of sustainability, since they reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and reduce waste treating and disposal needs.

Another key contribution to sustainability has come from the introduction of the idea of using aggregates obtained from construction and demolition wastes. Mineral aggregates are beginning to face shortages in certain countries, or their extraction is progressively subjected to severe environmental normative restrictions. Special mention needs to be included here to emerging fields, such as geopolymer-like cementitious materials. The binding properties of these materials are obtained, excluding the use of Portland cement clinker, through alkaline activation of slags, fly ash, etc. We must finally consider that all the above-mentioned creative initiatives for obtaining more sustainable materials need the guarantee that we obtain adequate levels of mechanical load bearing and durability properties for constructions.

The present Special Issue of Sustainability welcomes research papers reporting on studies that deal with new or classic cementitious materials, or strategies aiming to increase the sustainability and the durability of constructive elements and structures.

Prof. Dr. Miguel Ángel Climent
Prof. Dr. Isidro Sánchez
Prof. Dr. José Marcos Ortega
Guest Editors

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