Authors: Shuai Wang
Advisors: Nima Rahbar
Category: Graduate
Abstract: Concrete is one of the main contributors to global CO2 emission, and efforts to find an alternative to concrete have not been fully successful. Inspired by the process of CO2 exchange in biological cells, we introduced a novel method to create a CO2 negative-emission enzymatic construction material (ECM) with self-healing capabilities. The proposed concept uses carbonic anhydrase (CA) to catalyze the condensation of CO2 and water to promote the precipitation of calcium ions in the aqueous solution as calcium carbonate crystals. The resulting ECM has compressive strength and Young’s modulus more than twice that of the minimum acceptable for cement mortar and other alternative building materials.
UN SDGs: SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 13 – Climate Action
Video Presentation:
Link: https://echo360.org/media/89ccd10f-8ba7-4590-a491-f165ede07829/public
Poster Presentation: