Sulfoaluminate Cement: An Alternative to Portland Cement

Abstract

Cement industry is blamed for contributing heavily to climate change, environmental deterioration and excessive energy consumption, to find alternative cements, which are environmentally friendly and low energy consumption, is scientist’s effort over last several decades and for next decades to come. Sulfoaluminate cement, invented by Chinese scientists in 1970s, is a very promising cement material as alternative to Portland cement because of its high early strength development, excellent durability, remarkable performance in aggressive exposure conditions, low energy consumption as well as low atmospheric releases. However, its expertise was not fully exercised in the past decades because it is relatively new cement material and people are short of experiences in using it. As people are facing severe challenges from environmental deterioration and energy crisis, sulfoaluminate cement sheds bright light on energy saving and greenhouse gas mitigation for the countries like China, producing massive cement each year for its superstructure and infrastructure construction. So, now is the time to turn to sulfoaluminate cement for help. This paper presents the development and application of sulfoaluminate cement in China, the properties and performances of sulfoaluminate cement, and difficulties and challenges facing us in using sulfoaluminate cement as well. Hopefully, more efforts will be exerted on its extensive application to engineering practices in foreseeable future.