Carbon uptake, or carbonation, is a natural process of permanently sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere by hardened cement-based products like concretes and mortars. Through this reaction, these products form different kinds of limes or calcium carbonates. This uptake occurs slowly but significantly during two phases of the life cycle of cement-based products: the use phase and the end-of-life phase. The CSHub is investigating the impact of carbon uptake on concrete’s life cycle.
News
- MIT expert explains how concrete can serve as a natural ‘carbon sink’ (World Economic Forum, August 2023)
- 3 Questions: Boosting concrete’s ability to serve as a natural “carbon sink” (MIT News, August 2023)
- 3 Questions: Leveraging carbon uptake to lower concrete’s carbon footprint. (MIT News, March 2023)
- Leveraging carbon uptake to lower concrete’s carbon footprint (Building Resilience Coalition, April 2023)
Videos
Research Briefs
- Towards Accurate End-of-Life Carbon Uptake Modeling (August 2025)
- Natural carbon uptake in single-family homes: An element-level assessment approach (July 2024)
- Carbonation Before Curing: A New Path to Concrete Sustainability (June 2023)
Reports
Publications
- Stefaniuk, D., Hajduczek, M., Weaver, J. C., Ulm, F. J., & Masic, A. (2023). Cementing CO2 into CSH: A step toward concrete carbon neutrality. PNAS nexus, 2(3), pgad052.
- AzariJafari, H., Guo, F., Gregory, J., & Kirchain, R. (2023). Solutions to achieve carbon-neutral mixtures for the US pavement network. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 1-14.
