Objective and hypothesis This project aims to demonstrate the potential of using biochar as a component in building materials. Specifically, the goal is to explore the possibility of utilising biochar for carbon-sequestering in lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC) elements and wood-based particle boards (WPBs) – without compromising material properties such as durability, strength, and fire resistance.
Approach The influence of biochar variability in terms of chemical composition, particle size distribution, morphology, etc., will be investigated by parametric lab experiments. This includes the characterisation of various biochar products by chemical analysis and physical testing of the biochar in lab-scale samples of LWAC and WFBs. Furthermore, the project will carry out experiments with crushing, milling, and sieving of biochar to investigate the effect of such pre-processing techniques on the properties of the resulting building materials. Additionally, LCA analysis will be used as an important tool to assess the environmental impact that can be achieved from using biochar in LWAC elements and WFBs.
Expected impact/output The use of biochar as a component in building materials has several positive impacts. It achieves benefits in terms of a significantly reduced CO2 footprint of the building sector, saving natural resources as well as beneficial properties of the resulting materials, e.g., an inherent ability to reduce harmful volatile chemicals from the indoor climate of buildings. A substitution of 10-20% of the raw materials with biochar would create a new market demand of up to 6 Gt/year on an EU scale and thus improve the market condition for biochar producers, leveraging a faster growth in capacity, and thus, in the overall capacity to store CO2 in biochar. Finally, this project will contribute towards bringing Denmark among the frontrunners in finding solutions to reduce CO2 emissions from the building sector significantly.
