Concrete - Sustainability

Event Summary

Join us for an enlightening evening seminar on concrete sustainability, where we delve into the pivotal role of this vital construction material in fostering environmental stewardship and resource conservation. Discover what concrete sustainability entails, from optimizing material composition to reducing carbon emissions in production processes, and learn practical strategies for achieving it through innovative technologies and best practices. Explore why prioritizing concrete sustainability is imperative in addressing the challenges of climate change, resource scarcity, and urbanization, and how embracing sustainable concrete solutions can drive positive environmental, social, and economic outcomes for generations to come. Don't miss this opportunity to engage with industry experts and fellow professionals in advancing sustainability within the concrete sector.

Speakers

Dida Cheema

Didar Cheema has over 45 years of experience in investigation, design and construction of roads & bridges projects since 1978. Didar has PhD in Civil Engineering, (Material Science) from Curtin University 2014, Master of Engineering from Deakin University, PG in Environmental Science from Murdoch University and BE (Civil Engineering) Punjab University in 1978. He Joined Punjab PWD in 1978 and remained associated with State & National Highway major bridge & road until migration to Australia in 1990 and joined Main Roads Department WA in 1991 and since then worked on variety of roles in bridges & road design, construction, road planning, traffic engineering and from the last 22 years in geotechnical and pavement engineering area at Main Roads -Material Engineering Branch as Geotechnical Engineer covering variety of roles in geotechnical investigations and technical reviews of major metro & regional projects Also he is Visiting Research Fellow/University Research Associate, Curtin University from March 2016 in Geopolymer & Concrete R&D area & External Research Associate with Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne since Nov 2016 supporting and assisting higher degree research students. His other contributions & associations includes: · International Advisory Panel Member of Fifteenth International Conference 2021 (Milan-Italy) & on Recent Advances in Concrete Technology and Sustainability Issues and 7th International Conference Non-Traditional Cement and Concrete, Brno, Czech Republic. · Published 20 scientific journals & conferences papers, undertook scientific review of research papers and participated & presented many international, national conferences, CIA & MRWA technical sessions. · MIEAust CPeng NER APEC Engineer IntPE (AUS). · Former President of Sikh Association of WA (SAWA) and Council Member of Indian Society of WA and currently is a Board member/Trustee of SAWA.

Hazel Lim

 Dr. Hazel Lim is currently the R&D Team Lead of Tianqi Lithium Kwinana. She joined the company in 2017, working on the development of by-products from lithium (Li) refining process from spodumene, particularly on exploring industrial uses of lithium aluminosilicate leach residue. To date, Hazel co-authored three process patents on extracting values from lithium leach residue as well as technical papers on its supplementary cementitious properties.

Hazel is a metallurgist by background. She is a member of Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and had served as board member of Australasia Pozzolan Association (APozA) in 2023.

Lithium leach residue-decarbonisation opportunities as a new SCM

Australia is rich in in spodumene mineral resource for which lithium, a critical metal in the realisation of global net zero targets is extracted. In the production of lithium chemicals from spodumene, a significant amount of Li leach residue is generated. This aluminosilicate leach residue has found to have pozzolanic properties.

In this talk, Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia will share its learning journey, from knowing more about Li leach residue’s cementitious properties to the process modifications implemented for it to meet AS 3582.4 standard specification (Supplementary Cementitious Material: Manufactured Pozzolans) as well as the current challenges to its commercialisation. Li leach residue is a new supplementary cementitious material that has potential to reduce dependence if not replace the use of slag and fly ash and thereby contribute to lowering the carbon footprint of Australian cement and concrete industries.

Amy Elkington 

Amy Elkington's 16-year career includes integrating within project teams during planning, procurement, design and construction of major public infrastructure projects. Although originally focusing on the environmental compliance space, Amy has driven sustainable project outcomes even prior to the release of the IS rating. Upon its release, Amy immediately saw the potential to accelerate sustainable project outcomes, with hands on experience in leading the first IS As Built rating more than a decade ago.

Through the last ten years, Amy has continued to lead sustainability on major projects, with more than seven IS ratings across Planning, Design and As Built, including Gateway WA, Great Eastern Highway Upgrade, Metropolitan Road Improvement Alliance, and Forrestfield Airport Link. More recently Amy led the first Planning IS rating for the Bunbury Outer Ring Road, and the Gold IS Design rating for the Tonkin Gap and Associated Works project. A large part of Amy’s focus in recent years has been in working with technical specialists across industry to reduce the impacts of concrete use in our infrastructure projects.

In addition to taking Sustainability Manager roles on projects, Amy works directly with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council (ISC) as one of their longest serving verifiers, as well as recently working in close collaboration with the ISC in leading the consultant team in the update of the IS Planning Technical Manual v2.1.

Concrete volume vs. impact

A look at the impact of concrete in the context of its use within infrastructure, how are we solving it (including case studies) a how we can all work together to minimise this impact.

Les Marchant -