Fundamental for the development of large metropolises as we know them today, cement is a material used historically, whose technological advances have revolutionized construction technique and technology of civil construction, enabling the verticalization of construction and the densification of urban centers. Cement, both added to water and sand to make mortar and combined with steel and aggregate to form concrete, performs different functions in a work, from structure to finish.
If, on the one hand, concrete is the second most used substance on the planet, after water, on the other hand, its production chain is among the most polluting in the world. The dependence that the urban environment created for cement and its derivatives, including concrete, began a long time ago. The civilizations of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, for example, already mixed different types of ground rocks with liquids to create adhesive mortars to assist in the construction of structures. The builders of the Roman Empire, in the 4th century BC, created a combination of lime, pozzolan and sand, experimenting with animal fat, milk and blood to incorporate air into the mixture and created what we now call concrete.
