AMU faculty members get patent for environment-friendly cement

Aligarh: Eyes on climate change, experts were dabbling with technologies for several decades to lesser the cement’s enormous contribution to air pollution and greenhouse emissions. Now, a team of three faculty members of the Department of Civil Engineering, Z H College of Engineering and Technology (ZHCET), Aligarh Muslim University and three alumni have found a way to obtain environment-friendly modified cement with desired structural properties.

Faculty members Prof Mohammad Arif, Prof Abdul Baqi and Dr M Shariq and alumni, Er Mohammad Gamal Al-Hagri, Er Amer Saleh Ali Hasan and Dr Ibadur Rahman have patented their invention as ‘A Method for Preparing Modified Cement and Evaluating Mechanical and Chemical Properties’ as an intellectual property at the Patent Office, Government of Australia.

“The objective of the invention is to reduce carbon emissions. There is a pressing need for the construction and other industries to go through green revolution-in other words, industries need to adopt and introduce environment-friendly materials”, said the inventors.

They added: “This invention focuses on the effect of cement replacement with micro-silica fume, nano-silica fume and fly ash in a combination of two additives on the mechanical properties such as split, flexural tensile and comprehensive strengths and of 22 modified concrete mixes”.

“The combination of micro and nano-silica fumes improves the mechanical properties of concrete and eventually the microstructure and chemical analysis of the modified concrete show enhancement in the morphological properties of concrete owing to pore filling with dense and compact structure”, further said the inventors.