Digital modelling reduces CO2 in cement production
A research team at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) is looking for cement formulations that reduce CO2-intensive clinker in cement mixtures. The researchers used a modelling method supported by artificial intelligence (AI).
A PSI research team is looking for formulations that reduce the proportion of CO2-intensive clinker in the cement mix. Alternatives to clinker are already in use, but can only cover a fraction of the cement requirement. The researchers are looking for material combinations that are available in large quantities and allow high-quality cement production. They are using an AI-supported modelling method to do this. They want to improve the CO2 balance of the formulations while maintaining the same material quality, according to a press release. “Instead of testing thousands of variants in the laboratory, our model generates concrete recipe suggestions within seconds – like a digital cookbook for climate-friendly cement,” said lead author and mathematician Romana Boiger in the press release.
The researchers use artificial neural networks to replace computationally intensive physical modelling. The AI models are trained with known data and learn by adjusting the weighting of their links to predict similar relationships.
The researchers trained their AI model with the open source software GEMS for thermodynamic modelling. They used it to calculate mineral formation and geochemical processes in various cement formulations and combined this with experimental data and mechanical models. This made it possible to estimate the material quality of different cement formulations. The researchers also determined the CO2 emissions of the formulations. The AI model learnt from this data. “Basically, we are looking for a maximum and a minimum – from this we can directly deduce the desired recipe,” says Boiger. To do this, they use genetic algorithms, another AI method, to identify recipes that combine both target values.
The researchers have already discovered promising cement formulations that are still being tested in the laboratory to finalise the development cycle. The study was conducted as part of the interdisciplinary SCENE project (Swiss Centre of Excellence on Net Zero Emissions).