Canada’s Calgary International Airport has unveiled a Canadian first having completed the installation of a high-tech, low-carbon concrete project in partnership with Canadian cleantech company CarbonCure Technologies. The new deicing pad was built with reduced-carbon concrete in August and September of 2019 with the first aircraft making use of the facility this year.
Commenting on the partnership, Robert Niven, CarbonCure’s founder and CEO said: “2019 was a record year for CarbonCure, as our producer partners’ total production volume and the associated carbon savings nearly doubled from that of 2018… We are proud that a project based in Canada was such a large contributor to these milestones. This is yet another instance of CarbonCure concrete easily meeting rigorous performance standards, including the top-tier design and engineering standards required for airport paving.”
The amount of concrete poured to build the East Deicing Apron was the second largest pour of CarbonCure concrete in a single project, and the largest quantity to be used at an airport in Canada. Waste CO2 captured by industrial gas suppliers is injected into concrete during mixing, enabling the production of stronger, more sustainable concrete. Every cubic metre of concrete made with this technology reduces an average of 16 kg of carbon emissions.
More than 25,000 cubic metres of CarbonCure concrete was poured for the construction of Calgary’s East Deicing Apron project. This resulted in 160 tonnes of carbon savings. That’s equivalent to 209 acres of forest absorbing CO2 over the course of a year.
“YYC Calgary International Airport is pleased to be a leader as the largest airport user to-date of CarbonCure in Canada,” said Carmelle Hunka, General Counsel, Vice President, Risk and Compliance of the Calgary Airport Authority. “As YYC strives to be a leader in airport sustainability, we fully supported our airline partners in the decision to inject captured carbon into the new East Deicing Apron’s concrete pavement,” she added.
