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Project # 82
Carbon-Smart Concrete Pavers: Bench-Scale CO₂ Curing to Reduce Embodied Carbon and Boost Early Strength
| Team Lead: | Mihika Gokhale |
| Other Team Members: | Sanskar Supe |
| Faculty Advisor(s): | Yao Wang |
| Department: | CE |
| Project Type: | REU |
| Title: | Carbon-Smart Concrete Pavers: Bench-Scale CO₂ Curing to Reduce Embodied Carbon and Boost Early Strength |
| Abstract: | Concrete pavers are high-volume, thin precast products that are ideal candidates for accelerated carbonation curing (ACC), a process that exposes early-age cementitious materials to CO₂ to form stable calcium carbonate in the matrix. This project will quantify the feasibility and benefit of low-pressure, room-temperature CO₂ curing for small pavers or 50-mm cubes produced with ordinary portland cement (OPC) and with supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs; e.g., 20% fly ash, 30% slag). We will fabricate matched sets of specimens, pre-condition the CO₂ set at ~50–70% RH, and expose them to CO₂ for 4–24 h in a vented, never-pressurized curing box with continuous telemetry (CO₂, temperature, humidity). We will track mass gain across exposure as a practical proxy for mineralized CO₂ and measure compressive strength at 3 and 7 days. A simple embodied-carbon sketch will combine cement-related emissions reduced by SCMs with the measured CO₂ stored in carbonated specimens. We expect equal or higher early strengths vs. ambient cure and a lower net GWP per paver due to both clinker reduction and CO₂ mineralization. The student team will design/assemble the curing box, run mixes, execute testing, and create open educational materials (SOPs, code, and plots). Results will provide quantitative bench-scale evidence that carbon-smart curing is practical and beneficial for small concrete products, informing future durability/LCA studies and potential technology transfer to campus makerspaces and local industry. |
| Poster: | View Poster #82 (PDF) |
| Judges Scoring: | Submit Evaluation (judges only) |