IN Brief:
- LKAB Minerals and Real Green Concrete have signed an MoU covering cement-free concrete development.
- The partnership will focus on OPC-free mixes using industrial by-products and LKAB cementitious materials.
- Trials are being carried out at LKAB’s Flixborough site near Scunthorpe, with customer engagement under way.
LKAB Minerals and Real Green Concrete have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop and supply low-carbon, cement-free concrete solutions for construction applications.
The partnership combines LKAB Minerals’ industrial minerals and cementitious materials capability with Real Green Concrete’s Ordinary Portland Cement-free binder technology. The companies will work on concrete mixes designed to reduce embodied carbon while preserving the strength, consistency, and durability required for construction use.
Concrete remains the most widely used material after water, forming the structural basis of buildings, infrastructure, foundations, highways, utilities, and public works. The cement and concrete sector is responsible for a significant share of global CO₂ emissions, with Ordinary Portland Cement accounting for most of the footprint associated with conventional concrete production.
Real Green Concrete’s technology removes the need for OPC entirely, using by-products that would otherwise be diverted to landfill. The approach is intended to reduce embodied carbon and lower water consumption by up to 30%, while giving contractors and clients a potential route to more resource-efficient construction.
The initial focus of the collaboration will be customer-led mix development, with trial blends being produced at LKAB’s Flixborough site near Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire. The mixes will use LKAB Minerals’ cementitious materials, with trials continuing alongside engagement from customers and industry stakeholders.
The companies are also positioning the partnership as a platform for continued technical development as sustainability targets and regulatory requirements evolve. Low-carbon concrete adoption is increasingly shaped by specification, testing, standards, warranties, and procurement confidence, rather than binder chemistry alone.
Dr Aissa Bouaissi, founder and inventor at Real Green Concrete, said: “Our partnership with LKAB Minerals brings together industrial scale and cement-free innovation, helping move sustainable concrete from concept to commercial reality. By combining expertise and local supply capability, we can support customers looking to reduce impact without compromising performance.”
Steve Handscomb, cementitious managing director at LKAB Minerals, said: “Decarbonising concrete requires practical alternatives that can perform at scale. Real Green Concrete has developed an exciting cement-free approach, and through this partnership we can help bring this innovation closer to mainstream construction applications. Partnerships like this are essential if the industry is going to decarbonise at the pace required.”
The partnership joins a broader move towards lower-carbon material systems that can work on live projects rather than in isolated trials. Heidelberg Materials and Kenson Highways have already demonstrated that approach in Redbridge, where a lower-carbon road scheme combined carbon-captured cement, reclaimed asphalt, warm-mix asphalt, and a bio-based binder. The LKAB and Real Green Concrete collaboration takes a different route by seeking to remove OPC from the binder altogether.
Cement-free concrete carries a demanding technical and commercial brief. It must satisfy strength, curing, durability, workability, availability, cost, standards acceptance, and client confidence before it can be used at scale. It also needs to fit into batching, delivery, placing, finishing, and quality assurance processes that contractors already understand.
The use of industrial by-products adds a circular economy dimension, but it also places greater emphasis on feedstock consistency. Materials diverted from landfill can reduce waste and embodied carbon, yet alternative inputs still need reliable chemical and physical performance. Construction products must behave predictably under real site conditions, not only under controlled testing.
For contractors, the value of cement-free concrete will depend on whether it can be specified, sourced, placed, and certified without adding programme or liability risk. The Flixborough trials therefore carry practical weight. If the companies can demonstrate repeatable performance at mix level, the technology could become another credible route for clients seeking carbon reduction in concrete-heavy projects.
The concrete sector’s 2050 decarbonisation pathway will involve several overlapping routes, including clinker reduction, supplementary cementitious materials, carbon capture, alternative binders, mix optimisation, design efficiency, reuse, and procurement reform. Cement-free systems remain one of the more ambitious options, but partnerships between mineral suppliers and binder innovators will influence how quickly they move from promising technology into mainstream construction supply.
