Volcanic Saltwater Concrete

Exploring alternative building materials.

At the exhibition '70 % Less CO2' you can explore the project 'Volcanic Saltwater Concrete'.

Concrete is an unsustainable building material, responsible for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. It is incredibly resource-intensive, demanding great amounts of raw materials such as clean water and sand. These raw materials are not equally accessible around the world. Therefore, it is necessary to explore alternative building materials with the resources at hand.

This project tests an alternative concrete made from saltwater and basalt powder. The investigation took place in Copenhagen, Denmark and the Atacama Desert, Chile – the latter a site where clean water and sand are scarce yet saltwater and basalt are found naturally. The hypothesis of the study is that the sulphate-resistant properties of basalt will counterbalance sulphate corrosion caused by saltwater, creating concrete with normal compressive strength.