INKAS® Research with Canadian Scientists Identifies Breakthrough Opportunity to Reduce Cement Emissions

Article content

TORONTO, March 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —  INKAS®, in collaboration with Canadian materials scientists and industry partners, has identified a scalable method to significantly reduce cement-related emissions by reactivating waste concrete materials, positioning Canada to unlock a major climate opportunity already within its existing infrastructure cycle.

Article content

The findings highlight a timely and critical issue: Canada cannot meet its climate commitments while ignoring one of the largest sources of industrial emissions hiding in plain sight.

Article content

Article content

Article content

Cement production accounts for roughly 7–8 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, more than aviation. Every time we build a bridge, a hospital, a transit corridor, or desperately needed housing, we are also embedding significant carbon into that structure. As governments accelerate infrastructure spending, the climate cost of concrete quietly scales with it.

Article content

Article content

If we are serious about net-zero, we cannot afford to treat concrete as untouchable.

Article content

Each year, enormous volumes of demolished concrete are crushed and reused as road base or low-grade aggregate. While that keeps material out of landfill, it leaves the most carbon-intensive ingredient, cement, effectively wasted.

Article content

For decades, the assumption has been that once cement hardens, its chemical life is over. Old concrete becomes inert stone. We crush it and move on.

Article content

At INKAS®, a Canadian industrial manufacturer working in complex engineering environments, we began asking a different question: what if that assumption is wrong?

Article content

What if the cement locked inside old concrete isn’t dead, just dormant?

Article content

Article content

Working alongside Canadian materials scientists and industry partners, we focused on the fine particles generated during demolition, the portion typically considered least valuable. These fines can represent up to half of crushed concrete and are often discarded or downcycled because of weaker structural performance.

Article content

Yet these same particles contain the highest concentration of original cement.

Article content

Through advanced mechanical processing using equipment already common in Canada’s mining and cement sectors, we found that these recycled fines could be transformed into a reactive supplementary cementitious material. In practical terms, this allows up to 40 per cent of newly manufactured Portland cement to be replaced in new concrete without compromising strength or durability.

Article content

According to INKAS®’s research findings, this approach demonstrates immediate potential for large-scale emissions reduction across Canadian infrastructure projects without requiring entirely new supply chains or materials.

Article content

The environmental implications are significant.