Project Portugal 2030

Summary

The objectives of this project were designed in order to address sustainability, climate action, and resilient infrastructure - major worldwide UN Sustainable Development Goals. They comprise the following: 1. Enhancing Climate Resilience: Improve the resilience of infrastructure against climate change-induced thermal stresses by engineering mortars with controlled thermal expansion characteristics, thus contributing to SDG 13 - Climate Action. 2. Increasing Durability and Longevity: Develop mortars that can withstand thermal cycling and extreme weather conditions, thereby increasing the lifespan of infrastructure and reducing the need for frequent repairs or replacements, in alignment with SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure. 3. Promoting Sustainable Construction Practices: Encourage the adoption of 3D printing technology in construction, which can reduce material waste, energy consumption, and carbon emissions compared to traditional construction methods, contributing to SDG 9 and SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities. 4. Supporting Disaster Resilience: Develop resilient infrastructure materials that can withstand thermal stresses and temperature fluctuations, thus enhancing the ability of communities to recover from natural disasters and climate-related events, in line with SDG 11. 5. Capacity Building and Knowledge Sharing: Disseminate the findings, methodologies, and best practices from the project to stakeholders, policymakers, and communities to facilitate the adoption of innovative solutions for building more resilient infrastructure, contributing to SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals. 6. Reducing Environmental Impact: Develop modified 3D printed mortars with tailored thermal expansion properties that minimize environmental impact by using sustainable materials and manufacturing processes, contributing to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production. By focusing on these objectives, the project can contribute to addressing multiple UN Societal Challenges while advancing the development of more sustainable and resilient infrastructure systems. In general, this project falls within the scope of cement/concrete production – a heavy polluter industry responsible for 4-8 % of all carbon emissions by human activities and for 10% of global industrial water use. In order to mitigate global warming, it is therefore urgent to undertake major actions to enhance both the cement/concrete production efficiency and performance. This project aims to simultaneously tackle these two major specific challenges by optimizing 3D printed cement/concrete production while significantly improving its resilience with novel negative thermal expansion additive.