Pan-United boosts decarbonisation as Singapore’s largest supplier of CO2 mineralised concrete for Tuas port
– The Tuas Port Phase One project will use 360,000m3 of low-carbon CO2 mineralised concrete, coupled with green cement1, from Pan-United
– In total, over 113.8 million kg of CO2 will be prevented from entering the atmosphere, equivalent to planting 1.9 million trees or removing 24,500 cars
An artist’s impression of Tuas Port after it is fully completed. Photo credit: PSA
Pan-United Corporation Ltd (泛联集团, “Pan-United”) is driving sustainable change in Singapore’s built environment with the use of 360,000m3 of carbon dioxide (CO2) mineralised concrete over a 2.5-year period for Tuas Port. This specialised low-carbon concrete is a building material for the berths and stacking yards at the Phase One container berth project by PSA Corporation Ltd (“PSA”).
Upon completion in early 2024, Tuas Port Phase One will effectively become a man-made carbon sink that prevents the emission of over 113.8 million kg of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. This is equivalent to planting 1.9 million tree seedlings or removing 24,500 cars from the road2. When fully completed in the 2040s, Tuas Port will be the world’s largest fully automated port capable of handling 65 million TEUs (20-ft equivalent units) annually.
Ms May Ng (黄美美), CEO of Pan-United, said: “We are delighted at PSA’s commitment to the use of our CO2 mineralised concrete for its Tuas Port Phase One project. It will contribute to PSA’s efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. We will continue to champion sustainability in Singapore and globally, and work alongside fellow industry leaders in our journey to reach new frontiers in decarbonising Singapore’s built environment.”
CO2 mineralised concrete: lower embodied carbon emissions and higher strength
Unlike operational carbon emitted from buildings in use, embodied carbon is emitted throughout the construction process before a building is completed, i.e. from the manufacture of building materials right up to onsite work on a new building project. This fact makes it possible, during the design stage, to choose building materials and methods that can lower embodied carbon. Once a building is operational, carbon emissions can only be reduced from energy used in lighting, power and air conditioning.
Ms Ng added: “So far, greening initiatives have focused largely on reducing operational carbon after the building is completed. Yet the best results can be achieved as early as the design stage if builders opt for low-carbon materials such as CO2 mineralised concrete, to incur the lowest possible embodied carbon footprint for a building even before it comes in use.”
The production of CO2 mineralised concrete is a carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technology that permanently embeds industrial waste CO2 as a mineral in concrete, making it a carbon sink for embodied carbon emissions.
Pan-United’s CO2 mineralised concrete is the first and only such concrete to be inducted into the Singapore Green Building Council’s new Ready-Mix Concrete (Carbon Capture & Utilisation) category. In the Green Mark 2021, CO2 mineralisation technology is listed in a newly-created “Whole Life Carbon” category under an “Innovation” section.
Beyond Tuas Port, other notable developments in Singapore like the JTC semiconSpace, Avenue South Residence, Linde’s gasification complex at Jurong Island and CapitaLand’s 15-storey building at 3 Science Park Drive, have also used CO2 mineralised concrete.
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1 Green cement is a low-clinker cementitious material
2 United States Environmental Protection Agency Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator
