Smog-Eating Cement

Smog-Eating Cement to help cities stay pollution-free!

Italcementi has after 10 years of research developed a special cement product aimed at providing a genuine industrialized solution to the problem of pollution in cities. Apart from being a material that essentially cleans itself, minimizing the need for maintenance, the substance TX active, which contains titanium dioxide, is a photocatalytic principle for cement products which can reduce organic and inorganic pollutants that are present in the air.

Extensive testing, sponsored in part by a European Union research project into "smart" antipollution materials, has since determined that construction products containing titanium dioxide help to destroy air pollutants found in car exhaust and heating emissions, scientists say. The substance can be used not just for the facades of buildings, but also in paint, plaster, and paving materials for roads. In one test, paving material using photocatalytic cement was used to cover the asphalt surface of a 230-meter- long stretch of road outside Milan with an average traffic flow of 1,000 vehicles per hour. Tests showed a reduction in nitrogen oxides at street level of about 60 percent, according to Italcementi. TX Active's effectiveness has been verified by independent bodies like the National Research Council (CNR).

TX Active costs about 10 times as much as normal cement, or about €1, or $1.30, per kilogram. But since the photocatalytic concrete is applied very thinly and only to areas that are exposed to the atmosphere, officials at Italcementi say, the cost of treating the façade of a five-story building with the product would be just €100 higher than with traditional paint or plaster. Paving with photocatalytic blocks would raise the price by 10 to 20 percent.
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