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Sugarcrete

About Sugarcrete®

Sugarcrete® provides a low-carbon alternative to bricks and concrete blockwork developed by the University of East London (UEL). The material combines sugarcane fibres left over after sugar production, with sand-mineral binders to produce blocks that have a carbon footprint six times smaller than traditionally made clay bricks.

This low-carbon material is just a part of the project's ambitions. The project seeks to offer different viable, sustainable, and safe construction solutions, using bio-waste as the core resource, to enhance community wellbeing and security.

The project has been developed as a collaboration between the UEL MArch Architecture programme and the Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) with the support of Tate & Lyle Sugars and Chemical Systems Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Project details

The aim of the project is to develop ultra-low carbon building components using sugarcane bio-waste (bagasse), allowing the storage of biogenic carbon from fast-growing plants in construction materials as an effective strategy to delay carbon emissions.

Sugarcane is the world's largest crop by production volume. The processing of sugarcane to produce sugar generates enough raw material to partially replace high-energy-demanding construction systems such as concrete or brick. Sugarcane growth provides one of the fastest CO2-to-biomass conversion mediums available, up to 50 times more efficient than forestry.

Research developed at UEL demonstrates how this residue stream can provide a sustainable construction material. The new Sugarcrete® material, prototyped using the Sustainability Research Institute’s advanced laboratory, presents high-quality mechanical, acoustic, fire and thermal properties, and has been tested to industry standards for fire resistance (ISO 1716:2021), compressive strength (ASTM C39), thermal conductivity (Hot-Box method) and durability (BS EN 927-6). The testing has shown promising results for Sugarcrete® to be used as insulation panels, lightweight blocks, load-bearing blockwork and structural floor and roof slabs.

Sugarcrete® research will benefit local manufacturers in the global south, where construction materials are frequently imported, environmentally poor performing, high-cost, and high-carbon, minimising transportation costs. Local producers can make radically new, affordable and ultra-low carbon ‘vernacular’ building materials that can create new income streams via export to the global North. 

As such, Sugarcrete® is not patented. It is purposely ‘open access’ to establish partnerships to produce new bio-waste-based construction materials where sugar cane is grown, and the benefit is greatest.

Play

Sugarcane® India - mini documentary

Learn about the world's first building constructed with Sugarcane®

Sugarcrete®, a low-carbon alternative to bricks and concrete blockwork developed by the University of East London (UEL), has been used to build a school in India in collaboration with Chemical Systems Technologies. The building is the first Sugarcrete® prototype which will enable the team to test the operational performance of the material. As part of the Panchsheel Inter College, it will be used as a sustainability laboratory for the students in this sugar-producing region of India.

Project highlights

Highlights and updates

Sugarcrete® gallery

  • Sugarcrete blocks
    Sugarcrete® Cube
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    Sugarcrete® Components
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    Built by Bagasse Acoustic Panel
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    Built by Bagasse Acoustic Samples
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    Sugarcane processing, Daurala factory, Uttar Pradesh, India
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    Sugarcrete® Blocks
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  • Hands stacking two Sugarcrete blocks together
    Sugarcrete® Standard Block
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    Sugarcrete® Manufacturing Facility, Chemical Systems Technologies, India
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    Sugarcrete® Blocks Installation, Panchsheel Inter College, Noida
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    Sugarcrete® Slab, Top View
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    Sugarcrete® Slab, Block Layout
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    Sugarcrete® Slab, Block Assembly
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    Built by Bagasse Acoustic Panel
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    Sugarcrete® Testing Samples
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    Sugarcrete® Testing Samples
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FAQs

So what is Sugarcrete®?

Sugarcane is the world's largest crop by production volume, with 1.9bnt (2020), and it absorbs CO2 50x faster than traditional forestry. Sugarcrete® is an ultra-low-carbon bio-based material which upcycles sugarcane waste bagasse into construction components. It uses mineral binders to achieve different degrees of structural strength, depending on specific applications. Sugarcrete® can be used for new or existing buildings and has passed tests for ISO construction standards with excellent thermal, acoustic, and fire-resistant properties. The global warming reduction potential of Sugarcrete® is significant: using 30% of the global bagasse waste (0.6bn tonnes in 2023), carbon-intensive industries such as brickmaking could theoretically be entirely replaced. 

Why is a solution like this needed?

Local communities in Global South sugarcane producing countries are encouraged to use carbon-intensive materials in their building projects, presenting poor thermal efficiency, seismic shock or flood resistance. By marrying agricultural waste with local mineral binders and geometry innovation, Sugarcrete® provides an alternative to address these context-specific requirements. In Uttar Pradesh, India, the location of our first Sugarcrete® building project, you cannot obtain a mortgage for a house unless it is made from concrete, which overheats during the day and is cold at night. Changing perceptions about using viable agricultural by-products for construction is, therefore, as much about communication as it is about material science. Utilising UEL’s open-source R&D, Sugarcrete® can be fabricated within the majority of sugarcane-producing countries to meet specific contextual requirements.

Why hasn’t this problem been addressed yet?

The global construction sector is responsible for nearly 40% of CO2 emissions, with the current focus on carbon reduction concentrated on emissions from building operations, materials, and construction methods. The global cement industry continues to promote high-carbon construction, while alternative timber products sequester carbon relatively inefficiently and take up precious land. Timber alternatives such as hemp-flax are currently used to store carbon; however, this brings significant environmental and social issues associated with the displacement of food crops and the climate impact of changing land use/ ownership. Hemp crops would need to expand x16,000 to match the current sugarcane production globally.

What is the Sugarcrete® value proposition?

The use of highly abundant, ideally processed, bagasse waste streams in Sugarcrete® construction components provides a unique opportunity to address the issues of land use change prevalent in other novel plant-fibre building materials and the timber sector. Sugarcrete® exploits properties that have evolved in nature, such as fibre length and strength, to provide excellent performance characteristics, including breathability, compressive and tensile strength and good balance between low mass and heat storage capacity compared with other insulation materials. Our innovative quick-drying mineral binder provides fire resistance through mineralisation of the bio-component and reduced curing time (48h). Research carried out at the Sustainability Research Institute (UEL) and at the AFITI Centre for Fire Testing Investigation in Madrid demonstrates high-quality mechanical, acoustic, fire and thermal properties. Sugarcrete® has been successfully tested to industry standards for fire resistance (ISO 1716:2021 A1 Classification), compressive strength (ASTM C39), thermal conductivity and durability (BS EN 927-6). 

What are Sugarcrete®’s carbon credentials?

Sugarcrete® combines carbon-sequestering bagasse and low-carbon binders that absorb CO2 as they cure. 1 m3 of Sugarcrete® results in up to 170kg of CO2 emissions avoided. If utilised to replace clay bricks in a single-story house, this amounts to approximately 120t of avoided CO2 emissions. Taking Vietnam as an example of a top cement-manufacturing country (114.7 mt production in 2021) where sugarcane is also a significant crop (127,000ha of plantation), replacing 10% of the concrete market in Vietnam with Sugarcrete® has the potential to save over 15 mt of CO2 per year from the atmosphere. Up to 30% of bagasse waste streams globally have little to no economic value, with sugarcane furnaces extending burning periods beyond requirements just to eliminate excess. If utilised as Sugarcrete®, it could result in 1.1 Gt CO2eq or a 3% reduction of CO2 globally.

What is Sugarcrete®’s business model?

Sugarcrete® is a principle as much as a product. Our role is to partner with local sugarcane producers and construction industry partners to support research, development and implementation – the revenue stream is collaborative via licence agreements, with proportionate funds supporting research and development work to further expand product development and new deployments through partnerships in the Global South. 

  • Retaining the trademark via licence ensures our goals of equity and the replacement of high-cost/ high-carbon construction materials are hardwired into the use of Sugarcrete®.
  • Certifications to verify the insulation efficiency, durability, and other relevant performance metrics of Sugarcrete®, demonstrating that they meet or exceed industry standards.
  • Benefit maximisation via carbon-storing technology, with additional profit generated via carbon credit market trading.
  • The cost advantages of Sugarcrete® over traditional alternatives and alignment with local regulations and building codes.
  • Partnerships with construction companies, architects, and builders who endorse Sugarcrete®.
  • Showcase the positive impact on local economies, including job creation and support for local farmers.
  • Localised, small-scale production creates an ‘ordinariness’ about using Sugarcrete® so that replacing concrete is seen by all as ‘inevitable’. Projects in the UK, Spain, Nicaragua, Honduras, Brazil, Mexico, India, South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, Pakistan and Fiji are under development, with trademarks under registration in India, Nigeria, Brazil, the USA and the EU.

Team

Sugarcrete® Project (Lead) Team

  • Armor Gutierrez Rivas, UEL SRI Associate, Sugarcrete® Co-creator
  • Alan Chandler, UEL SRI Associate, Sugarcrete® Co-creator
  • Bamdad Ayati, UEL SRI Senior Research Fellow, Sugarcrete® Co-creator
  • Oluchukwu Okonkwo, UEL Sugarcrete® PhD student and researcher
  • Susan Keeping, UEL SRI Project Delivery Manager
  • Jude Adoasi, UEL videography

Sugarcrete® Project Collaborators

  • John Kerr, Vice President, Research & Technology, Tate & Lyle Sugars
  • David Watson, Director, AKTII
  • Nicolo Bencini, Senior Structural Engineer, AKTII
  • Leonel Mimendi, Senior Structural Engineer, AKTII
  • Sunil Singhal, Founder, Chemical Systems Technologies, India Pvt Ltd
  • Julia Steketee, Founder, The Bagaceira Project
  • Anil Kumar, Founder, Paryatan Foundation, India

UEL Master of Architecture Students Team:

Faith Omowunmi Ogundare, Busra Ciftci, Amy Gillespie, Hinal Arvindkumar Patel, Rova Taha, Dodangodagamage Kawan Roger Ranasinghe, Manoj Sai Ganji, Mohan Ukabhai Dungrani, Anca-Madalina Borda, Alina Klimenteva, Rashmi Madagamage Gunathilaka, Orseer Isreal Gbashah, Mahmoud Sayed Abdellattif, Mert Manas Erten, Hidayati Yazmin Binti Abdul Halim, Oluchukwu Judith Obiejesi, Svetoslav Georgie Slav, Mihriban Ustun, Sinan Aldulaymi, Francesco Stefan, Cristian Severin, Shushant Jadhav, Twinkle Shah, Jason Tshibangu, Dhanuj Basavenahlli Govinda Gowda, Megan Jones, Alina Obreja, Gideon Olufemi Oluwole-Wise, Nauma Patel, Hinal Arvindkumar Patel, Nishant Bharatbhai Thakkar, Sharanya Rajashekhar, Elsa Lea Sebille, Sumaya Sheikh-Ali, Joshua Vediena.

Key partnerships

Sugarcrete® partnerships

  • Chemical Systems Technologies PVT (India) with Daurala Industries - Delhi, India

Co-creating production facilities and developing the ability to upscale manufacturing and research with one of India's largest sugarcane producers.

  • Panchsheel Balk Inter College - Noida, India

(A sustainability hub for a significant State School near Delhi, realised as the first Sugarcrete® building in partnership with CST)

  • Paryatan Foundation - Hisar, India

Design and development of a Sugarcrete® and bamboo community and learning centre, and a safe space with a respected NGO working with underprivileged children on the periphery of Hisar.

  • Tate & Lyle Sugars (ASR) - UK and USA with the London Borough of Newham

The primary source for sugar innovation, local to UEL and an enabler of local initiatives in Silvertown, East London, partnering with Newham for community benefit.

  • AKTII Engineers – London, UK

Engineers committed to low and zero-carbon engineering solutions, co-supervisors of PhD students developing structural potential for Sugarcrete® in combination with bamboo. 

  • Sugarcrete Spain with Bagaceira, Ron El Mondero and Ayuntamiento de Motril - Spain

Developing a business consortium in the Costa Tropical with agriculture, manufacturing and municipality partners, establishing a centre for biomaterial innovation in Andalusia.

  • Xandia Algarve with Val Kempadoo - Portugal

Working with an eminent regenerative housing developer to realise 40 ultra-low carbon homes on the South coast. 

  • EcoBuild Africa and APEX Carbon with Kenyatta University - Nairobi, Kenya

Partnering with a UN-Habitat affordable housing programme and developing action research exchanges around 1:1 prototyping.

  • Nenita Sa Education/Engineering Foundation - Guinea-Bissau

Working towards establishing mineral and earth blends for hyper-local production of insulated wall and roof systems for a socially engaged NGO.

  • VRXP and Palis Arquitetura - Sao Paolo, Brazil

Establishing Sugarcrete® within Brazil, the world's largest sugar-producing country.

Awards and nominations

Sugarcrete® in the news

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