Int. J. Appl. Ceram. Technol.

, 1–9 (2013)
DOI:10.1111/ijac.12083

Sustainable Infrastructure Materials: Challenges

and Opportunities
Mohammad Pour-Ghaz
Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University,
Campus Box 7908, 431C Mann Hall, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27695-7908

The recent quest for developing new low carbon footprint construction materials to lower the environmental emissions
and implications of infrastructure has imposed many challenges and has created many opportunities for research and develop-
ment in academia and industrial sectors. The present paper, discusses and summaries these challenges and opportunities and
provides a synopsis of the ideas presented in the Infrastructure sessions of the Fourth International Congress on Ceramics
(ICC4). This paper also discusses recent advances in the development of sustainable infrastructure materials.

Executive Summary
Barcelo,4 Dr. A. Tselebidis,5 Mr. T. S. Rushing,6 Dr. M.
Raimondo,7 and Dr. W. Vichit-Vadakan.8
The recent quest for developing new low carbon foot-
Five major areas of emerging opportunities are
print construction materials to lower the environmental
discussed: (1) integration of life-cycle assessment into
emissions of infrastructure has imposed many challenges
design methodologies and the use of innovative design
and has created many new opportunities for research and
to reduce the environmental loadings of the use stage
development in academia and industrial sectors. The pres-
of the built environment; (2) research and develop-
ent article discusses these challenges and opportunities and
ment is the area of multifunctional bio-inspired mate-
summaries the presented ideas in the infrastructure sessions
rials with the overall goal of sustainable development
of the Fourth International Congress on Ceramics (ICC4).
of construction materials; (3) research and develop-
Specifically, this article discusses the ideas presented by Dr.
ment in the area of carbon sequestering construction
H. Jennings,1 Dr. R. Moon,2 Mr. L. Lemay,3 Dr. L.
materials; (4) developing new material processing
*mpourghaz@ncsu.edu
techniques to utilize engineered nanoparticles in
© 2013 The American Ceramic Society construction materials with an emphasis on developing
2 International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology—Pour-Ghaz 2013

methods for dispersing engineered nanoparticles; (5) methods to reduce the environmental loadings of
developing “multiphysics multiscale” modeling tech- cement production.13 Approximately 60% of the CO2
niques that can contribute to our fundamental under- produced in the manufacturing of the cement is the
standing of the structure and long-term performance result of carbonate calcination9,12,13 (despite the com-
of materials with the overall goal of developing bot- mon belief of 1 tonne of CO2 per tonne of cement,
tom-up material design approaches and reducing the more accurate calculations show that the direct CO2
experimental effort required to fundamentally charac- emission from cement is approximately 0.680 tonne of
terize new materials. CO2 per tonne of cement4). Substitution of limestone
with other low carbon materials such as slag and fly ash
can result in lower liberation of CO2.13,14 The use of
History and Current
slag may also result in lowering of fuel consumption as
lower amounts of calcium carbonate need to be dissoci-
The projected annual demand for concrete by 2050
ated.13 The use of industrial waste raw materials in
is approximately 16 billion tonnes.9† In general, only 13
cement production has been more successful in Europe
–15% (by total mass) of concrete consists of cement. In
compared to North America.4
comparison with other materials, concrete is not essen-
Currently, cement manufacturers are investigating
tially a high carbon footprint material. The significant
more innovative approaches to reduce the environmental
use of concrete as a construction material, however,
emissions of cement. An example of these efforts is pro-
results in a large overall energy consumption and envi-
duction of high-belite Portland cements. High-belite
ronmental loadings: Cement is responsible for 70–80%
cements require less calcium carbonate for production
of the global industrial energy use by the nonmetallic
and therefore release less CO2.12,13 High-belite
production sectors, 5% of the global anthropogenic CO2
cements also are produced at lower temperatures, which
emissions, and 3.4% of the global CO2 emissions.10
translates into lower CO2 emission from fuel consump-
To reduce the environmental emissions and energy
tion. CO2 savings from calcium carbonate and burning
consumption of cement, cement manufacturers have
temperature in production of high-belite cement can
been leading intensive research and development efforts
amount to 10%.12 High-belite clinker, however, is sig-
in Portland cement manufacturing technology. As a
nificantly harder material, and grinding this clinker
result of these efforts, today, the Portland cement manu-
requires more energy. It is unclear whether the produc-
facturing technology is an extremely efficient technology
tion of high-belite cement will result in less CO2 emis-
(if the best available technology in manufacturing is used
sion. High-belite cement also suffers from slow rate of
with approximately 3000 MJ/t clinker11) compared with
hydration.13
the cement manufacturing technology used prior to the
Recently, Lafarge has produced belite calcium sul-
mid-1990s.12 While research in improving the cement
foaluminate ferrite (BCASF)4‡ cement that not only
manufacturing technology continues, research in this
results in 30% reduction in the direct CO2 emission
area will most likely result in incremental improvements
(compared with Portland cement) but also this product
and reduction in environmental emissions and implica-
keeps the desired characteristics of Portland cement
tions since this technology is already advanced12 (of
including producibility from abundant local materials,
course, the question of whether “the best” manufactur-
durability, rapid strength gain, and producibility in the
ing process available is being used by all cement manu-
existing cement plants.4 In addition, this product can be
facturing plants is not only a question of environmental
substituted with supplementary cementitious materials
emission implications and regulations, but it also
in relatively high-volume fractions.4 BCASF is a softer
requires economic feasibility). Therefore, the cement
material compared with the Portland cement clinker
manufacturers have been investigating other avenues to
which reduces the energy consumption during grinding.4
reduce the environmental emissions of cement produc-
Despite the lack of data on the long-term performance
tion.
The use of low carbon raw materials to reduce the
CO2 release from carbonate calcination is one of the
‡
Certain commercial products are identified in this paper. In no case does such identifica-
tion imply endorsement by the authors, nor does it indicate that the products are neces-
†
A tonne is a unit of mass in SI system of units and represents 1000 kg. sarily the only or the best available.
www.ceramics.org/ACT Sustainable Infrastructure Materials
of this cement, this cement is a promising product for
significant reduction in CO2 emission.4
In addition to the research and development in the
area of low carbon footprint cements, researchers are
developing new materials and methods to reduce the
environmental impacts of concrete. Traditionally, a large
portion of efforts have aimed at replacing large quantities
of cement (or the entire cement) with industrial byprod-
ucts (such as fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag,
and silica fume) or naturally occurring materials (such as
limestone powder or Metakaolin). Examples of these
concrete materials, among others, are high-volume fly
ash (HVFA) concrete,15 alkali activated slag cements,16
alkali activated fly ash materials,17 and replacement of
cement with fine limestone powder.14,18 In addition to
direct methods (i.e., cement replacement) of reducing
the environmental impact of concrete, indirect methods
of reducing environmental impact of concrete have also
been explored by researchers and industry practitioners.
Examples of indirect methods are the replacement of
aggregates with crushed glass19 or the use of recycled
concrete.20
Recently, more advanced approaches that can
potentially decrease the environmental loadings of con-
crete have been used. The use of lightweight aggregates
(LWA)21 and superabsorbent polymers (SAP)8,22,23 as
internal water reservoirs for providing internal curing
(as opposed to traditional external curing) are examples
of these new methods. Internal curing reduces the risk
of shrinkage cracking and potentially can increase the
service life of the structure by decreasing the rate of
mass transport.24,25 Recently, internally cured concrete
mixtures using prewetted LWA have been used in con-
struction of superstructure of bridges, and the benefits
of internal curing have been confirmed in field condi-
tions.24,26 While production of LWA and SAP requires
energy inputs and is associated with significant environ-
mental emissions (especially in the case of LWA), if the
increased service life of the infrastructure and reduced
number of repairs and replacements are considered in
calculating the overall environmental impact of the
internally cured concrete, an overall reduction in the
energy consumption and environmental loading might
be achieved. To further enhance the sustainability of
internally cured mixtures, researchers have incorporated
internal curing into HVFA concretes,27 where the net
benefit from the use of internal curing is further
increased by decreasing the amount of cement used in
production of concrete.
3
The recent advances in nanotechnology have also
provided many innovative methods to reduce the energy
consumption and environmental loading of construction
materials. Recently, researchers have used calcium silicate
hydrate (C-S-H) nanoparticles to accelerate the hydra-
tion rate of Portland cement28,29 and have used lime-
stone nanoparticles30,31 to accelerate the pozzalanic
reaction. The slow hydration of HVFA concrete has been
a major obstacle in its extensive application. The
mechanical measurements using micro- and nano-inden-
tations have provided significant information on the
mechanical properties of C-S-H32 and secondary hydra-
tion products.33 These experimental data are valuable for
multiscale modeling of cementitious materials. Carbon
nanotubes34 and cellulose nanomaterials (as an alterna-
tive to carbon nanotubes)2 have shown potential to be
used in construction materials to enhance the mechanical
properties of construction materials (such as strength and
fracture toughness), which can translate into thinner
members and ultimately lower environmental emissions.
Field application of cement-based carbon nanotube com-
posites, however, may not be expected in close future due
to economic and technical difficulties.
The recent advances in molecular simulations have
enabled researchers to develop breakthrough approaches
toward low carbon footprint construction materials.
Molecular simulations have been used to study and
enhance the reactivity of belite by aluminum and sulfate
doping.35 This research can result in reduction in envi-
ronmental loading of cements as manufacturing belite
requires substantially lower energy input and requires less
limestone (i.e., decreased CO2 release from carbonate
calcination).12,13 Molecular simulations have also
enhanced our understanding of the role of water on the
mechanical performance of C-S-H36 and formation of
hydration products at extremely small time increments.37
This understanding can enable us to develop potentially
transformative approaches for “design for sustainability”
by engineering the materials using bottom-up philoso-
phy. For example, computer simulations and nanoscale
measurements have enhanced our understanding of the
role of Ca/Si ratio on mechanical properties of cement-
based materials.38 While it is not currently feasible, engi-
neering clicker and hydration products for optimum Ca/
Si ratio to enhance their mechanical properties can ulti-
mately reduce the amount of cement used in construction
by reducing the size of concrete-based structural elements.
Despite all the recent advances and the plethora of
knowledge and research data, many challenges lay
4 International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology—Pour-Ghaz
ahead of us. These challenges provide opportunities for
research and development in academia and industrial
sectors. In the following sections of this article, these
challenges and opportunities are discussed.
Challenges
While developing new materials has been the main
approach to reduce the environmental emissions and
implications of cement-based construction materials,
characterizing and understanding the long-term behav-
ior of the newly developed materials require significant
amount of experimental efforts before they can be uti-
lized as structural materials.1 Such experimental efforts
can be a multidecade effort, while the need for con-
struction material continues to increase.
The use of byproducts in cement-based construc-
tion materials has been extensively studied, and litera-
ture is replete with research data on this subject. While
the use of byproducts, such as fly ash, results in energy
savings in production of concrete, the end-of-life impli-
cations of these materials are unclear. For example,
concrete ground residue (CGR)—which results from
grinding processes used for resurfacing of concrete
pavements—is traditionally considered as a nonhazard-
ous material.39 CGR from concrete containing byprod-
ucts, such as fly ash, may, however, contain heavy
metal elements and may be considered as hazardous
materials.40 Therefore, considering appropriate bound-
aries in performing life-cycle analysis (LCA) to assess
the net environmental impact of byproducts is an
important task, which imposes many challenges.41
The raw materials and processes used in the indus-
tries producing byproducts that are used in concrete are
evolving. These changes can have drastic impact on the
quality of the byproducts and can significantly impact
the mechanical properties and the long-term perfor-
mance of construction materials. Consequently, the pre-
viously developed empirical models (and research data)
to predict the properties and the long-term performance
of the concrete materials produced with these byprod-
ucts might not be directly applicable to the materials
that will be produced using future byproducts.
The use of nanoparticles in construction materials
can impose environmental and health risks42,43 and has
not been explored adequately. The environmental risks
of engineered nanoparticles used in construction materi-
als are especially important as workers may potentially
2013
be subjected to direct contact with these materials.
Transportation of nanoparticles can also be a potential
risk as large quantities of these materials are used and
need to be transported. Exploring the use of potentially
nonhazardous nanoparticles such as cellules-based nano-
particles44,45 might provide a solution to the risk associ-
ated with the use of engineered nanoparticles.2
While engineered nanoparticles have been very suc-
cessful in the laboratory, the dispersion of engineered
nanoparticles remains a challenging issue and has been
a major obstacle in widespread application of these
materials.2,46 Dispersion of engineered nanoparticles is
especially problematic in high-performance cementi-
tious mixtures that are produced with low water-to-
cementitious material ratio (w/cm). Dispersion of engi-
neered nanoparticles remains one of the major chal-
lenges in widespread application of these materials.
Acceptance of new materials by practitioners has
always been a major issue.3 Standardization of the new
materials can help the acceptance of these materials;
however, other factors such as experience (and therefore
preference) in using a certain materials influences the
decision-making processes. Resolving this issue requires
an extensive collaboration between academic and indus-
try partners.
Emerging Opportunities
Utilizing Innovative Approaches to Reduce the
Environmental Loadings of the Use Stage
Recent studies using LCA have shown that the
embodied energy of buildings amounts to a small por-
tion of the total energy consumed during the life time
of the structure.3,47 Figure 1, for example, compares the
global warming potential (GWP) of a steel and a con-
crete commercial building located in Chicago, IL, and
Phoenix, AZ, over a 60-year period. The overall GWP
of concrete and steel buildings is approximately the
same (concrete buildings show slightly lower GWP47).
In all cases illustrated in Figure 1, the embodied (pre-
use) GWP of the structure is only a small fraction of
the total GWP and the use stage is the major contribu-
tor to the total GWP of the building. Therefore, reduc-
ing the environmental emissions during the use stage
can result in significantly more reduction in total emis-
sions compared with the use of lower carbon footprint
materials in the construction of the building (i.e., reduc-
ing the preuse environmental emissions). Innovative
www.ceramics.org/ACT Sustainable Infrastructure Materials
Fig. 1. Embodied and operational emissions of commercial
buildings (courtesy of Mr. L. Lemay3)
approaches can be utilized to reduce the environmental
loadings of the use stage. Examples of these innovative
approaches include the use of heating/cooling elements
in floors and walls, the use of solar panels as roofing sys-
tems,48 the use of phase change materials encapsulated
in LWA to store thermal energy in concrete,49 and the
use of thermal mass of concrete structures to reduce
energy requirement for heating the buildings.3,47 High
thermal mass in concrete structures (as compared to low
thermal mass in steel structures) can result in annual
energy savings of 5–6% depending on the climate
(Fig. 1).3,47 The use of innovative approaches to reduce
the environmental loading of the use stage is one of the
emerging opportunities in the field of sustainable infra-
structure. Over the next few years, more innovative
approaches in design of buildings and infrastructure are
expected to be seen.
Bio-Inspired Materials
The nature is full of biological materials with com-
plex structures that offer extraordinary mechanical and
durability performance (Meyers et al.,50 and references
therein). These materials very often serve multiple func-
tionalities. The recent advances in nanotechnology,
imaging, and computer modeling and simulation have
enabled us to gain more insight to the underlying
mechanisms responsible for the extraordinary perfor-
mance of biomaterials.6,51 The hierarchical structure of
5
Fig. 2. Water drop on a super-hydrophobic surface. The contact
angle is 178o (Picture courtesy of M. Raimondo7).
biomaterials is the main reason for their unexpected
performance.52 Such a structure has been observed in
antlers53—one of the most impact resistant materials—
dactyl clubs of stomatopod,54 and abalone shell.55 The
lessons learned from biological materials may be used
in developing new construction materials that are light-
weight, tough, and ductile.
While understanding the underlying reason for
superior mechanical performance of biomaterials has
been a major focus in many studies, other interesting
aspects of biomaterials are also being studied. Self-clean-
ing (the Lotus effect) is one of the extraordinary proper-
ties of biological surfaces, which is a result of super-
hydrophobic effect.7,56 Interestingly, similar to the
mechanical properties of biomaterials, the super-hydro-
phobic properties of Lotus leaves are also tied to their
hierarchical structure.7,56 Recently, self-cleaning building
materials with super-hydrophobic surfaces that are
inspired by the structure of Lotus have been developed.7
Figure 2 illustrates a water droplet sitting on a super-
hydrophobic surface having a contact angle of close to
178o.7 Research and development in the area of bio-
inspired materials and multifunctional bio-inspired
materials is one of the emerging opportunities in the area
of developing sustainable construction materials.
Carbon Capture for Production of New Materials
Carbon sequestering is one of the Grand Chal-
lenges of the 21st century.57 Many strategies for car-
bon sequestering including injection of CO2 to
6 International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology—Pour-Ghaz
depleted oil wells and ocean floor have been suggested
and studied.57 The use of CO2 in production of new
materials can provide opportunities for locking CO2
away.3
By mimicking natural biological processes, research-
ers have developed biological processes to convert CO2
to solid carbonates that can potentially be used as con-
struction materials.58 Recently, CALERA Corporation
has developed a process to produce stable minerals (such
as calcium and magnesium carbonates) by Mineraliza-
tion via Aqueous Precipitation (MAP).59 TIS & Part-
ners Ltd, a Japanese company, has developed a process
in which CO2 is used to produce bricks.60 In this pro-
cess, CO2 reacts with silica to form the initial skeleton
of a porous brick. The brick is then epoxy impregnated.
While in this process CO2 capture is used, performing
LCA might be necessary to better quantitate the net
environmental loading of this product.
This class of construction materials is relatively
new, and structural application of these materials might
not be feasible in close future. Nonstructural applica-
tions of these materials (such as decorative concrete and
sidewalks) are expected to be seen in close future.
New Material Processing Techniques
Despite the recent advances in material processing,
material processing techniques that can ensure proper
and uniform dispersion and distribution of nanoparti-
cles within the cementitious mixtures are required.
Such material processing techniques can potentially
result in breakthroughs in large-scale application of
advanced engineered nanoparticles. The current meth-
ods of dispersion of nanoparticles in cementitious mate-
rials are either limited to small laboratory-scale
specimens or they are limited to very low dosage of
nanoparticles. Only recently advanced material process-
ing techniques such as the Green Sense Concrete,5
developed by BASF, has become available. Green Sense
Concrete is developed by fundamental understanding
of different aspect of concrete materials such as hydra-
tion kinetics and physical–chemical interaction of nano-
particles.5 This new technology has been used in
construction of the new World Trade Center.61 Devel-
oping material processing techniques, with an emphasis
on developing techniques for dispersion and incorporat-
ing engineered nanoparticles in construction materials,
is an emerging opportunity in the area of sustainable
construction materials.
2013
Physically Based Multiscale Modeling
Developing “multiphysics multiscale” modeling
approaches with the goal of understanding and predict-
ing the properties of construction materials is one of
the emerging opportunity in the field of sustainable
construction materials1 (the term “multiphysics multi-
scale” is borrowed here from reference62). The two
major impacts of such a multiphysics multiscale
(among others) on developing sustainable materials
include the following: (1) rapid characterization of new
materials as they become available (or before their pro-
duction)1 and (2) reducing the environmental emissions
of materials by identifying the underlying mechanisms
that contribute to their environmental loadings.1
If the macroscale properties of construction materi-
als can be related to their microstructure and molecular
structure, using multiphysics multiscale modeling,
researchers and engineers may be able to reduce the
amount of necessary experimental efforts for character-
izing, predicting the long-term performance, and
understanding the coupled nonlinear properties of new
construction materials.1
Multiscale modeling can also provide a solution to
the major problem facing the cementitious materials
made with industrial byproducts: The fact that the
physical and chemical properties of industrial byprod-
ucts are changing rapidly and therefore influencing the
properties of cementitious materials made with these
byproducts. Multiscale modeling offers a great potential
in predicting the influence of these byproducts used in
production of binders (e.g., used as raw materials in
cement production) or used as supplementary cementi-
tious materials (to replace the cement). Furthermore,
multiphysics multiscale modeling can be used for engi-
neering the cementitious materials so that change in
molecular structure of the byproducts can be compen-
sated by other byproducts or tailored to benefit the
long-term performance of the materials.
Accurate service life prediction is another area
where multiphysics multiscale modeling can have signif-
icant contributions. Generally, accurate prediction of
the service life of concrete infrastructure is a challenging
task as concrete is an aging material, different mecha-
nisms contribute to degradation of concrete materials,
and concrete is subjected to varying boundary condi-
tions during its service life. Currently, more advanced
service life prediction models are becoming available.63
These advanced service life prediction models require
www.ceramics.org/ACT Sustainable Infrastructure Materials
Fig. 3. Molecular model of C-S-H – blue: oxygen of water
molecules, white: hydrogen of water molecules, green: interlayer
calcium ions, gray: intralayer calcium ions, yellow: silicon in sil-
ica tetrahedral, red: oxygen atoms in silica tetrahedral (courtesy
of Dr H. Jennings1).
more data and more extensive experimental support
compared with more traditional service life prediction
models. Multiphysics multiscale modeling can be used
to obtain the required data for more advanced service
life prediction models, and as a larger number of prop-
erties of materials can be quantified, more advanced
service life predictions that consider multiple degrada-
tion mechanisms can be developed and used.
While promising, developing multiphysics multi-
scale modeling approaches are challenging. For more
than five decades, perhaps starting with the earlier work
of Powers,64 researchers have been trying to understand
and quantify the microstructure of the cement paste
(the term microstructure is used rather liberally herein,
and it implicitly encompasses smaller length scales as
well). Different models have been discussed in litera-
ture, and they provide different views of the micro-
structure of C-S-H or cement paste,65–67 but only
recently quantitative molecular models of cement paste
have become available through computer modeling and
simulations (Fig. 3).68 While these contributions are
significant milestones in cement science, yet there is a
need for more advanced models that can take into
account the interaction of pore solution with C-S-H
and provide more insight to the role of pore solution
on the mechanical properties and long-term perfor-
mance of C-S-H.1 One of the first detailed molecular
dynamic studies on the interactions of water molecules
with tobermorite has been presented by Kalinichev
7
Fig. 4. Schematic illustration of the mesoscale gap in multi-
physics multiscale modeling of cementitious materials (courtesy of
Dr. H. Jennings1).
et al. (2007).69 While structure of C-S-H is signifi-
cantly more complex and disordered compared with to-
bermorite (or jennite),70 Kalinichev et al. (2007)69
provided significant insight to the behavior of water in
nano-sized pores of C-S-H.
Perhaps even more significant challenge in multi-
physics multiscale modeling is bridging the gap at
mesoscale and developing a comprehensive model that
can link the mechanistic models at different length
scales to each other.1,62 Figure 4 illustrates a plot that
schematically illustrates current modeling capabilities
verses complexity axis. This schematic illustration
clearly shows the missing link at mesoscale modeling.62
Summary
In the three infrastructure sessions of the Fourth
International Congress on Ceramics (ICC4), scientists
and engineers identified major challenges in developing
sustainable infrastructure materials and discussed the
emerging opportunities in this area.
The major challenges identified in the area of sus-
tainable construction materials include characterizing
the new low carbon footprint materials as they become
available, predicting the long-term performance of new
materials, uncertainties associated with utilizing indus-
trial byproducts in construction materials, dispersion of
engineered nanoparticles in cementitious materials,
environmental emission implications of engineered
nanoparticles, and acceptance of new materials by
practitioners.
8 International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology—Pour-Ghaz
The emerging opportunities identified in the area
of sustainable construction materials include utilizing
innovative approaches to reduce the environmental
loadings of the use stage of buildings and infrastruc-
ture, development and application of multifunctional
bio-inspired materials, development of carbon seques-
tering construction materials, development of advanced
material processing techniques to utilize available engi-
neered nanoparticles, and development of multiphysics
multiscale modeling for material characterization and
predicting the long-term performance of new materials.
Acknowledgments
This article presents the ideas discussed in the
infrastructure sessions of the Fourth International Con-
gress on Ceramics (ICC4). More specifically this article
provides ideas presented by Dr. H. Jennings, Dr. R.
Moon, Mr. L. Lemay, Dr. L. Barcelo, Dr. A. Tselebi-
dis, Mr. T. S. Rushing, Dr. M. Raimondo, and Dr.
W. Vichit-Vadakan. The author is grateful for their
contributions. The author also thanks Dr. K. Faber,
Dr. W. J. Weiss, Mr. Greg Geiger, Mr. Mark Meck-
lenborg, and other members of the technical committee
of ICC4. The author also acknowledges the helpful
discussions with Dr. R. Ranjithan, Dr. J. Ducoste, and
Dr. M. Barlaz.
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