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UK scientists developed a way to produce low carbon cement 英国科学家研究出低排放再生水泥的方法

文字稿

Concrete is everywhere, but it is very polluting.

混凝土无处不在，但生产这种建材造成的污染却非常严重。

Making the cement that binds it all together produces lots of CO2.

制造水泥这种用于粘合混凝土的材料会产生大量的二氧化碳。

A team from Cambridge University have a plan to sidestep all of that polluting chemistry by reactivating this stuff: used cement.

剑桥大学的一个研究小组找到了一个方法，可以避免那些在生产水泥过程中产生的污染化学物质：重熔废水泥。

Now it has been done before in cement kilns.

虽然人们以前用过这种方法在水泥窑中生产混凝土。

The Cambridge breakthrough was to realise they could piggyback on another heavy industry: steel recycling.

但剑桥大学取得的突破在于他们意识到可以借助另一个重工业的力量：钢铁回收。

The electric arc furnaces used for steel recycling are hot enough and can be powered with renewable energy.

用于回收钢铁的电弧炉内的温度可以熔水泥，电弧炉本身可以靠可再生能源供电。

And the composition of used cement is almost exactly the same as chemicals steelmakers add to their furnaces to stop impurities.

废水泥的成分与钢铁制造商添加到电弧炉中去杂质的化学物质几乎完全相同。

So using it instead could cut costs and reduce emissions for steelmakers too. But will the process work?

因此，使用废水泥还可以降低钢铁制造商的生产成本、减少碳排放。但这种方法能产出水泥吗？

Dr Cyrille Dunant, University of Cambridge
"That's the first sample of low carbon Portland cement produced in an electric arc furnace, ever, ever. "

西里尔·杜南特博士     英国剑桥大学
“我手中拿的是低碳波特兰水泥的第一个样本，在电弧炉内生产出来的。”

Justin Rowlatt, BBC reporter
"So, this is a world first."

贾斯汀·罗拉特     BBC 通讯员
“所以，这是世界第一个低碳水泥样本。”

Dr Cyrille Dunant, University of Cambridge
"This is a world first."

西里尔·杜南特博士     英国剑桥大学
“这就是首个样本。”

He believes it could mark the beginning of a revolution.

杜南特博士认为这个样本可能标志着一场产业变革的开端。

Dr Cyrille Dunant, University of Cambridge
"If you can make the cement with no carbon, that means we can keep on living with all the stuff we expect. It's quite important to be able to make cement with no carbon in the future."

西里尔·杜南特博士     英国剑桥大学
“如果你能制造出零碳排放的水泥，那就意味着我们可以延续现有的生活方式，并继续使用我们习以为常的事物。未来重要的是能制造零排放的水泥。”

The first full-scale trials will be in Cardiff later this week. The hope is this low carbon cement could meet up to a quarter of UK demand.

这个新方法的首次全面试验将于本周晚些时候在英国卡迪夫进行。研究人员希望这种低排放水泥在未来能满足英国水泥需求的四分之一。

And because so much steel is now recycled, the process could be rolled out all over the world, massively reducing emissions from one of the world's most polluting materials.

由于现在钢铁回收量很高，这种低排放再生水泥的生产方法可以在世界各地推广，从而大大减少造成污染最严重材料之一——水泥的制造过程中所产生的碳排放。