Ecocem’s breakthrough low-carbon cement technology has successfully completed its first industrial-scale trial in the precast concrete sector, marking another important milestone on the path to commercial deployment.
The trial, carried out in partnership with Belgian precast concrete specialist C-concrete, demonstrated that ACT can be successfully manufactured under real production conditions while delivering substantial carbon savings without requiring changes to established manufacturing processes.
Two full-scale precast elements were produced at C-concrete’s manufacturing facility in Temse, Belgium:
The trial represents the first time ACT has been successfully produced at industrial scale in a precast concrete environment, an important step for a sector where production demands present unique technical challenges.
Demonstrating performance under real manufacturing conditionsUnlike ready-mix concrete, precast manufacturers rely on rapid strength development to enable daily demoulding and maintain production efficiency. Successfully introducing lower-clinker cement technologies into this environment requires careful optimisation of concrete mix design and curing conditions.
The trial confirmed that ACT can meet these demanding production requirements.
“We’re delighted that ACT performed at factory scale exactly as it did in the laboratory, with no surprises and no production issues,” said Jaouad Nadah, Head of ACT Implementation at Ecocem. “This is another important demonstration that deep carbon reductions can be achieved without disrupting established manufacturing processes.”
Nikolas Schack, Quality Manager and Concrete Technologist at C-concrete, added:
“ACT performed just like conventional cement during production while delivering a significantly lower carbon footprint.” For production teams, the manufacturing process remained largely unchanged, an important consideration for industrial adoption.
A Life Cycle Assessment comparing the ACT concrete with C-concrete’s standard production mix found that the ACT mix reduced the concrete’s embodied carbon footprint by 67.5%.
The trial also demonstrated excellent surface finish quality, making ACT suitable for architectural precast applications where appearance is critical alongside performance.
The successful trial demonstrates ACT’s potential to help accelerate decarbonisation across another important segment of the construction industry.
Developed following more than a decade of research and investment by Ecocem, ACT replaces up to 70% of clinker, the most carbon-intensive component of cement, with a combination of widely available low-carbon supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) and limestone filler. The result is a low-carbon cement that delivers the strength, durability and workability required by industry while significantly reducing CO₂ emissions.
Because ACT can be used as a one-to-one replacement for conventional Portland cement without requiring changes to manufacturing or construction practices, it offers a practical pathway to reducing emissions at scale.
The first commercial ACT production facility is currently under construction at Ecocem’s Dunkirk plant in France and is expected to become operational later this year.
The precast elements produced during the trial will continue to be monitored as part of an ongoing performance assessment programme, with C-concrete aiming to incorporate ACT into commercial precast projects by the end of the year.
To get in touch directly with an Ecocem spokesperson, contact us here
The consortium of Cairn, UCD, Kilsaran, and Ecocem has secured €50,000 in funding from Construct Innovate, Ireland’s national Construction Technology Centre, to validate an innovative low-carbon cement capable of significantly cutting Ireland’s CO2 emissions from the construction sector.
In her latest blog, Ecocem’s Director of Public Affairs and Sustainability, Susan McGarry, discusses Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra’s recent visit to our Dunkirk production facility
