CEMCO

CEMCO offers use for organic fly ash, to create, in combination with other admixtures, a concrete that is resistant to coastal zone conditions.

Industrial waste

Obtaining energy by burning organic waste from crops is very common in coastal areas. Industries produce large quantities of ash, most of which are not properly utilized. As the need for energy continues to grow, this material will continue to be produced and, therefore, more unused waste will be produced. 

Likewise, the need for concrete production continues to grow. Unfortunately, concrete production not only consumes too much energy but also emits too many environmentally harmful gases. It was necessary to find an alternative to ordinary concrete. One solution is the use of ash in the binder needed to make concrete. The use of this material not only reduces CO2 emissions but also utilizes a material that is normally wasted.

Deterioration of Concrete in Coastal Areas

Living in a coastal zone exposes the infrastructure to many chemical processes that can deteriorate it, as they are severely affected by sulfates and chlorides, causing long-term corrosion and affecting the durability of the structure. Water enters and corrodes the steel, expands it, and causes the concrete to crack and break. This means high maintenance and replacement costs that could be avoided if these factors were taken into account from the construction stage. All sectors of society are affected by these problems, from family wealth to the economic infrastructure that supports society. Focusing on the family sector, many families see their assets deteriorating without being able to do anything about it, assets in which they may have invested their life savings. This problem must be solved so that the new families that emerge and want to invest in a patrimony can have houses and businesses for a long time without having to worry day by day about the state of their infrastructure, and thus be able to have an acceptable quality of life and contribute to the economy of the same community.

Solution

CEMCO is a type of concrete made from an ash-based geopolymer that does not use portland cement in its production. As such, it offers economic advantages over other types of cement, as the price per ton of ash is only a small fraction of the price per ton of Portland cement. Also, because it is based on minimally processed natural materials or industrial by-products, it significantly reduces its carbon footprint. All of this offers a material that is resistant to many of the durability problems of conventional concrete, such as low drying shrinkage, low creep, resistance to sulfate attack, and good acid resistance, making it a material with great benefits when used in infrastructure applications, mainly in environments with high volumes of seawater. Due to these factors, this concrete presents a solution to the problems of industrial waste utilization and concrete deterioration in coastal areas, allowing efficient use of industrial waste and, at the same time, offering an alternative for families to build a heritage that will last for a long time.

Our collection process

CEMCO collects ash waste generated in the process to obtain energy and uses it as an ingredient in the creation of concrete with properties that resist the environmental conditions found in coastal areas.

This concrete allows us to provide the constructions in which it is used with characteristics that make it an essential construction material in coastal areas or areas with high concentrations of certain chemical substances that affect structures.

The characteristics of CEMCO

CEMCO is made from a combination of ash, an alkaline solution that helps activate the properties of the ash, a binder that works as a reducer in the size of concrete pores, and traditional aggregates.

It provides excellent resistance to sulfate attack, which occurs in humid areas or areas submerged in the sea; resistance to acids, a characteristic expected in structures in aggressive environments; low creep; low drying shrinkage due to the processes used to obtain it; and resistance to corrosion, which can be useful in marine environments and areas with a shortage of fresh water.

CEMCO prototypes

We currently have 3 prototypes for the application of CESCO which has shown better properties than traditional concrete. 

• The traditional concrete block. 

• Cylinders that simulate the load-bearing walls of the structures.

• Road plates.

What makes CEMCO different from others concretes?

All these characteristics are accompanied by the low production cost of this concrete, due to its readily available materials. As a result, it is a building material that could make it easier for many families who cannot afford their own homes to acquire one, thus improving their quality of life and securing their patrimony.

Target Population

Our solution focuses most of its efforts on ensuring that the homes of families living in the coastal areas of the country are not damaged in the long term by the chemical agents to which the concrete of their infrastructure is exposed, whether they are homes, businesses, or recreational spaces. The vast majority of these families only have the resources to buy one house in their lifetime, and cannot afford the high maintenance costs that result from corrosion, sulfate attack, and expansion of the concrete in their homes caused by living near the sea.

Without neglecting the climate factor, our solution takes advantage of the ashes produced by burning organic matter to obtain energy, since this waste tends to be disposed of in a landfill without being put to any use. As energy needs increase, the volume of ash will increase accordingly. It was necessary to find a service for this material, and we found it.

Who are they, and in what ways are they currently underserved?

They are fathers and mothers who expect their first and possibly only investment in housing during their lifetime, expecting it to last and serve their children and grandchildren for many years without any problems. This population cannot afford the opportunity to frequently maintain their infrastructure, as they often have other expenses on which they have to concentrate a larger portion of their income.

The pandemic is an example of a hard blow to the economy of people who had a family business in the tourist areas of the region, which usually constituted the only source of income for these families. Mexico's National Institute of Statistics and Geography explained that 99.8% of Mexican establishments are micro, small or medium-sized, which is why they tend to show greater changes concerning large companies in their income, employed personnel, location, and closures.

Due to the drop in income, some families were unable to afford the proper maintenance of their establishments, which led to the wear and tear of their infrastructure and, as a consequence, the closure of their only source of income. In a state where 89.0 % of the houses are built with concrete (Source: INEGI. Population and Housing Census 2020.), the minimum that can be expected is that this material has a useful life of several years, and does not wear out easily due to the environmental conditions in which it is found.

Despite the above, construction companies or material suppliers do not look for an alternative to offer our population a material resistant to the conditions of the area, to ensure that families have a heritage of several years for themselves and their families. This action on the part of the concrete companies is due to the need to give a limited useful life to their products and thus be able to guarantee the sale of their materials for a much longer period of time.

How will the solution address their needs?

With CEMCO we are committed to offering a construction material that is resistant to the climatic conditions of living in a coastal area, this will allow us through the chemistry with which CEMCO is developed not to allow the infrastructure to deteriorate in the short term as it would with other concretes, since this does not allow water retention, thus avoiding corrosion and therefore the fracture of the concrete, resulting in longer life of the rods and concrete. This will allow families that use this construction material to save costs at the beginning of their construction work and extend the useful life of their homes. Likewise, the labor needed to obtain this concrete will be hired, prioritizing the workers who were left unemployed by the COVID-19 pandemic in the coastal area, since the support to boost the economy must begin and end in the affected areas, to increase the economic flow in vulnerable communities.

As of right now, we have 2 co-founders and a half-time collaborator

Both of us have lived all our lives in the city where the problem we want to solve takes place, so we share experiences of economic limitations with the population we want to help with this solution. Because of this, we know firsthand the needs of our community. Being in the engineering sector, we have been able to acquire certain knowledge to be able to reach a solution, and having certain facilities to analyze it both physically and chemically, we could find the most optimal way to develop and deliver it.

Jose Torres, Team Leader, and Co-Founder He is a Chemical Engineering undergraduate student with outstanding leadership, project management, and time management skills. He is analytical about situations and empathetic with people. Because of his skills, we have been able to connect with the people we want to help and get feedback from them.

Cristopher Vega, Co-Founder He is a Chemical Engineering undergraduate student, delighted with the idea from the first minute, and he has put all his knowledge into the improvement of this solution. Specialized in the field of chemistry and processes, thanks to him we have been able to do chemical experiments with great precision. 

Juan Zúñiga, Collaborator  He is a student of civil engineering, and during his stay at the university has collaborated with various professors in the development of methodologies or projects to help improve the quality of the environment in the city.

Throughout our lives, we have always sought the betterment of our community, volunteering in beach clean-ups, painting houses for the poor, donating food to food banks, and attending charity events.

ADVISORS

1. Dr. Jose Terrazas

• Ph.D. in chemistry at the Universidad de Guanajuato
• Master's degree in mineral engineering at the Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi.

2. Leonardo Martinez, MID.

• Master´s degree in industrial design and production at the Universidad Gestalt de Diseño 

Have you volunteered or worked with an existing organization working on this problem?

The team in charge of this solution participated in a volunteer program in which they tried to restore popular infrastructure affected by the environmental conditions of the region. After this experience, the team realized that the vulnerable sectors of the population with lower economic income are usually the most affected by these conditions since they do not have the economic conditions to provide regular maintenance to the infrastructure. 

Due to this time spent observing the needs, we decided to put our knowledge into practice and started to investigate how we could use some material that was being ignored and implement it in some solutions to prevent damage to the structures, taking into account the climatic conditions.
After some time researching, we came to the conclusion of using fly ashes to create concrete, thus initiating experiments to know its physicochemical characteristics and thus be able to put into practice this product.

After identifying a favorable solution, we set out to make contact with the populations we could help to learn about their needs and how they could be met with our product.

Have you done research with potential users?

A popular survey was carried out with the help of non-profit companies in order to obtain information about the vulnerable sectors in the southern region of the state. The results showed that family businesses were the most affected, along with relatively old houses because according to the inhabitants of the region, the more time passes, the more difficult it is to restore their homes to an optimal state.

Many of the people interviewed were interested in acquiring chemical-resistant construction materials and products that could give extra protection to their infrastructure since it is easier to prevent attacks from substances present in the environment than to eliminate them.

What makes CEMCO different from the rest?

Our solution offers a new way to obtain concrete at a lower cost, with better characteristics and that supports society, especially people in vulnerable situations that due to their economic situation, geographic location or external situations, have problems with the infrastructure of their homes, businesses or any other type of heritage. Currently, the ecological footprint represented by the cement industries is very large and this greatly harms our planet, as the emissions of harmful gases that occur in the cement production process are very large.

Our solution, on the contrary, makes the most of the resources available in society, the project is so innovative that we have reached the point that what many consider a waste product, we use it in combination with other products to obtain a concrete that offers better characteristics than those manufactured with traditional cement.

What is CEMCO's goal?

We hope that with the idea presented, the market can expand to one with greater responsibility towards the environment, otherwise we will end up with the planet faster than we think. The construction industry is currently stagnant, which is why CEMCO hopes to become a catalyst to promote the use of more environmentally responsible materials to protect and repair damage that has been caused over the years.

CEMCO's goal

The main objective is to be able to take the advances obtained so far towards an industrial environment and with greater volumes, it is important to continue growing because the project seeks to help society in the best way, moving from volumes used in a laboratory to volumes used in infrastructure for common use by society is a clear goal for CEMCO, throughout the year 2023 will begin by introducing small structures such as tables, benches, paths in green areas and more that are approved by the government to be able to offer a benefit.

How will this goal be achieved?

With the support and authorization of the government to be able to install structures that benefit society, these would be previously assembled in a designated area, and thanks to CEMCO's characteristics their installation would be easy. 

In addition to using this first approach with the government to demonstrate the good characteristics of the concrete and thus obtain the authorization and economic support to be able to continue with the renovation of the infrastructure designated for recreational spaces for the inhabitants of the coastal zone.

CEMCO's basics

The project is based on the creation of a new type of concrete making the most of the resources available in the coastal zone of any part of the world, industrial waste that does not have a defined use and easily accessible raw materials.

CEMCO is not a technological innovation as it could be a new application for medical, scientific or dissemination purposes to raise awareness of a particular issue, CEMCO is an innovation that seeks to offer a benefit to the inhabitants of coastal areas and with it a benefit for the planet by reducing the emissions of harmful gases produced in the manufacture of traditional concrete.

The techniques of creating concrete

As previously mentioned, CEMCO seeks to support everyone by making available to society a product that offers superior benefits to those currently found in the market, CEMCO makes use of ancient techniques that guarantee that anyone can be able to create and to manipulate the product in a simple way and at the same time the reduction of expenses in the creation of teams for new tasks that require specific characteristics.

Developing new equipment to be able to implement a new product is often an impediment to its development, which is why CEMCO is based on manufacturing processes that are already available throughout the world and innovative ideas in raw materials that do not affect the process.

The current situation of CEMCO

At this moment we are not helping people because our project is at a very low level due to the budget we have, although the prototypes created with CEMCO have been successful, its implementation is complicated due to the equipment necessary to work with larger volumes, we are not referring to the price, we are referring to the availability of the equipment to be able to do it on our own.

On the other hand, CEMCO's goal is to support a population of 25,000 inhabitants in general, although all this indirectly, since we seek to implement concrete in areas of the boardwalk in the city of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico throughout the year 2023. This in order to provide protection to the tourist area of the municipality and thus directly support its economy by increasing the number of people who will attend this area and thereby create a constant flow of people.

Economic barriers

Currently the work team is limited by the lack of economic resources to be able to make the transition to the industrial environment, since we do not have the necessary equipment to work with large volumes of concrete or to transport and implement it quickly, since the results we have obtained After more than half a year experimenting in the laboratory and recreating the environmental circumstances to which the concrete would be exposed, it is impossible to deny that carrying out a transition of this level is complex.

Legal barriers

The permits that we need to be able to implement our project in our city are also an impediment, although to a lesser extent, since the government tends to promote and encourage young people to take care of the city.

Current market barriers

Added to the above, we have clear competition from specific companies that are consolidated in the country that do not allow the entry of new products to guarantee their economic power. We see this with sadness, since they put their economic interests before the preservation of the planet.

Project collaborators. 

We are currently developing the CEMCO project privately, without the support of organizations or companies external to our university, because we want to maintain the project in the safest way without the intervention of third parties that could profit and thus compromise and divert CEMCO from its main objectives. 

Business model

We do not have a fixed business model proposition as our goal is to make a contribution to society to benefit both people and the planet.

The idea of seeing ourselves benefited and profiting from an idea that we propose as a support for society seems to us to be a breach of our morals and ethics, which is why CEMCO has not yet developed clear strategies that involve a "business model".

Government supports

CEMCO will base its economic income on the support of the government of the area that requires the implementation of concrete in its area, since the benefit is for the citizens and everything that involves the ecosystem created in the locations where we will arrive.

Research grants

We will not stop with the results currently obtained, as we have mentioned, the goal of both CEMCO founders is to nurture our minds and become useful beings that contribute ideas and products to society that promote care for the planet and help develop as a society. That is why another source of income that we see as feasible is grants to continue developing research for much longer.

Private industry

Although CEMCO has not been created for profit, we cannot close ourselves to the idea of obtaining benefits from the private sector, since any source of income that helps develop and improve ideas is good.