On 12 December, The 1st International Conference on Research and Application of Carbonation Technology for Wastes and Concrete (ReACT 2024) was held at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). The event was organised by the PolyU and Solid Waste Subcommittee of The Chinese Ceramic Society. The conference brings together top experts, scholars and industry elites, aiming to jointly explore the research and application of solid waste resource utilisation and carbon mineralisation of building materials.

The conference had 16 sub-topics and 8 keynote speeches on the core topics of waste recycling and concrete carbonation technology.

On behalf of Prof Zhou Jianting’s team, postdoctoral fellow Du Jiang gave a presentation entitled ‘Valorization of Wasted-derived Biochar in Ultra-High-Performance Concrete (UHPC): Pretreatment,Characterization, and Environmental Benefits’. This study describes the feasibility of utilising waste-derived biochar in UHPC to mitigate self-shrinkage and environmental impacts, and further improve mechanical properties. The results of the study showed that the addition of 1% pre-saturated biochar to the UHPC ratio could achieve a compressive strength of 128 MPa at 28 days and reduce CO2 emissions by about 6%.

During the conference, exchanges were made with a number of participating professors and scholars to expand the influence of our university in this academic field and to promote possible academic cooperation and exchanges in this research field.