The purpose of the Telluride Innovation Workshop on Decarbonization of Cement is to bring academic, industrial and national laboratory leaders together to brainstorm pathways to decarbonize cement industry. The goal is to identify high-risk/high-reward technologies that have promise to reduce carbon intensity and increase energy efficiency of cement making process. Portland cement, used in concrete, is the most widely used man-made material. But it is also responsible for 5% of the global energy consumption and 8% of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions. In cement manufacturing, calcium oxide (CaO) is a major precursor to produce Portland cement. It currently is being produced via high-temperature, energy-intensive calcination of calcium carbonate (CaCO3).

This workshop will address methods that utilize novel electrochemical processes to produce cement precursors, electrified methods to generate heat for cement production or alternative CO2 storage methods. The organizer and co-organizer currently have an active NSF Future Manufacturing Seed Grant with sponsorship for participation of URM institutions. We envision participation of scientists from two communities: i) cement and ii) electrochemical/electrolysis fields. The goal would be to build a bridge between these two communities through this innovation workshop, as electrochemistry can play a big role in cement manufacturing over the course of next decades. We also envision to write a report from this workshop to inform a community of our findings and future advances that need to be made to produce clean cement.