{"id":89208,"date":"2026-10-09T10:26:42","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T07:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/news\/frost-resistant-cement-from-power-industry-waste-novosibirsk-scientists-show-results\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T11:31:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T08:31:30","slug":"frost-resistant-cement-from-power-industry-waste-novosibirsk-scientists-show-results","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/news\/frost-resistant-cement-from-power-industry-waste-novosibirsk-scientists-show-results\/","title":{"rendered":"Frost-Resistant Cement from Power Industry Waste: Novosibirsk Scientists Show Results"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Arctic builders have long been searching for a material that sets in the cold. A group of researchers at Novosibirsk State University has proposed a composition based on magnesium oxide and coal-fired power plant ash that continues to gain strength at minus 34 degrees Celsius. How durable it is remains an open question.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/shorts\/melting-permafrost-why-soils-cannot-be-strengthened-but-can-be-stabilized\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/shorts\/tayanie-vechnoy-merzloty-stabilizatsiya\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Frost interferes<\/a> with ordinary cement: the water in the mixture turns to ice, chemical reactions slow down, and the structure fails to reach the required strength. The new composition works on a different principle.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The researchers ground magnesium oxide and ash together. Mechanical activation increased the reactivity of the particles, which accelerated the growth of K-struvite crystals \u2014 these create the material\u2019s dense, strong framework. Low-grade magnesium oxide was used, and the ash served both as a component and as a way of disposing of power industry waste.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The best composition gained more than 28 megapascals in a day at room temperature. It also continued to harden in severe frost. After one day, the activated mixture was 74% stronger than the control sample, which contained neither ash nor co-grinding.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The scientists cannot yet say how the material will behave under repeated <a href=\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/shorts\/izmenenie-klimata-v-rossii\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/shorts\/izmenenie-klimata-v-rossii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">freeze-thaw cycles<\/a> or how durable it is in real-world conditions. Without this data, it is too early to recommend it for critical structures.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The development shows that the problem of cold-weather concrete can be solved. If tests confirm the composition\u2019s resilience, Arctic construction and emergency repairs will gain a material that does not fear frost, and the power industry will gain a way to put ash to productive use.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Source: Novosibirsk State University<br\/>Image: Sergey Volynkin<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arctic builders have long been searching for a material that sets in the cold. A group of researchers at Novosibirsk State University has proposed a composition based on magnesium oxide and coal-fired power plant ash that continues to gain strength at minus 34 degrees Celsius. How durable it is remains an open question. Frost interferes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":89147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"Frost-Resistant Cement from Power Plant Ash: What Tests Showed","_seopress_titles_desc":"Novosibirsk scientists created a composition that hardens at minus 34. Learn about mechanical activation, 28 MPa strength, and open durability questions.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[566,1],"tags":[642,620],"class_list":["post-89208","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","category-ecology","category-engineering-surveys","tag-advanced-materials","tag-green-technologies"],"acf":[],"pbg_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tsement-zola-tes-arktika-ispytaniya-scaled.webp",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tsement-zola-tes-arktika-ispytaniya-150x100.webp",150,100,true],"medium":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tsement-zola-tes-arktika-ispytaniya-300x200.webp",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tsement-zola-tes-arktika-ispytaniya-768x512.webp",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tsement-zola-tes-arktika-ispytaniya-1024x683.webp",1024,683,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tsement-zola-tes-arktika-ispytaniya-1536x1024.webp",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tsement-zola-tes-arktika-ispytaniya-2048x1366.webp",2048,1366,true],"bricks_large_16x9":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tsement-zola-tes-arktika-ispytaniya-1200x675.webp",1200,675,true],"bricks_large":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tsement-zola-tes-arktika-ispytaniya-1200x800.webp",1200,800,true],"bricks_large_square":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tsement-zola-tes-arktika-ispytaniya-1200x1200.webp",1200,1200,true],"bricks_medium":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tsement-zola-tes-arktika-ispytaniya-600x400.webp",600,400,true],"bricks_medium_square":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tsement-zola-tes-arktika-ispytaniya-600x600.webp",600,600,true]},"pbg_author_info":{"display_name":"Yulia Frolova","author_link":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/author\/giulia-nikolaevna\/","author_img":false},"pbg_comment_info":" No Comments","pbg_excerpt":"Arctic builders have long been searching for a material that sets in the cold. A group of researchers at Novosibirsk State University has proposed a composition based on magnesium oxide and coal-fired power plant ash that continues to gain strength at minus 34 degrees Celsius. How durable it is remains an open question. Frost interferes&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/89208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/89208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89209,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/89208\/revisions\/89209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}