Aquatic larvae of many vertebrate lineages develop specialized, cranially located cement or attachment glands which allow them to remain attached to a substrate by means of polysaccharide secretion. The larvae can thus remain still and safe in well-oxygenated water out of reach of any predators until the digestive and locomotory apparatus fully develops. Xenopus cement gland is the most thoroughly studied example of this type of glands, since it was used as a model for the anteriormost patterning of the developing head. Based on shared expression patterns of key transcription factors and a similar ectodermal origin it has been repeatedly suggested that Xenopus cement gland is homologous to adhesive organs of teleosts and adhesive papillae of ascidians. The lack of comprehensive knowledge on this type of glands in other lineages however rendered any considerations of homology among such a distant lineages rather inconclusive. In the present work I have focused on a detailed study of the cement glands and other corresponding structures in three representatives of basal actinopterygian lineages: Senegal bichir (Polypterus senegalus), sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus), and tropical gar (Atractosteus tropicus). Using a combination of in vivo fate-mapping approaches with a Micro-CT imaging of cranial endoderm...

The report investigates the feasibility of accessing waste heat at kiln 7 in the Cementa AB cement plant in Slite, Gotland. The background is provided, with a description of the cement manufacturing process. Most of the report concerns itself with the heat transfer capabilities of the plant, therefore a short description of the heat flow within the most essential equipment is provided. The investigation follows a set of steps to derive the conclusion. The first step investigates previous studies to obtain the three most feasible heat sources. The second step investigates the available heat of the selected sources. In the third step, accessing the source is discussed and investigated for both convection and radiation heat transfer methods. It also includes the sizing of the required heat exchangers. Using the new sources, the connection possibilities to existing infrastructure and its benefits are investigated in step four. The connections were made to the existing infrastructure used at kiln 8 for electrical generation and district heating supply. The selections of the most feasible solutions are provided based on heat recovery, payback period and practicality. The final step in the study provides for the final design, which consists of three possible connections or all of them combined. In the conclusion, the final design would provide for a reduction in oil burned, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions and an increase in electricity generated by the existing system. It is recommended that only one of the three connections be installed. / <p>The thesis was conducted at Cementa AB in Slite, Gotland. The supervisor at the plant was Fred Grönwall.</p>

Concrete structures have the largest surface area of all human made structures. Large surface area makes concrete capable to absorb CO2 from environment during its lifetime. It is estimated that concrete during its lifetime can absorb about 15-20% of CO2 which had produced in cement production. In Sweden the CO2 uptake by concrete construction is estimated to 300 000 tons annually. This study aims to investigate the influences of fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag on carbonation. Accelerated carbonation with 65% relative humidity and 10% CO2 concentration was utilized to simulate the carbonation in cement pastes and cement mortars. Series of experiments have accomplished by collaborating with RISE and university of Borås. In this study cement pastes crushed into three fractions in order to evaluate the impact of particle size and influence of blended cement in CO2 uptake. Lastly, carbonation depth of mortars after 14 days accelerated carbonation were analyzed. Experimental results show that the increasing CO2 uptake induced by adding mineral admixture such fly ash in cement pastes. In this study cement paste with 30% fly ash replacement and fraction lower than 2 mm exhibit the highest CO2 uptake compared to other cement paste in this study. Moreover, carbonation depth of cement mortar was also increased three times more in mortar with 30% fly ash compared with mortar with 100% Portland cement. Therefore, incorporation of mineral admixture in cement pastes can improve the CO2 uptake and moreover, CO2 uptake can be more efficient if more surface area be involved with CO2 by crushing cement paste into lower 2 mm. / Betongkonstruktioner har den största ytan av alla människor gjorda strukturer. Stor yta gör att betong kan absorbera CO2 från luften under betongens hela livstid. Det uppskattas att betong under sin livstid kan absorbera cirka 15–20 % av CO2 som hade producerats i cementproduktionen. I Sverige uppskattas CO2-upptaget till 300 000 ton per år. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka den optimala kombinationen som kan påverka karbonatisering. Accelererad karbonatisering med 65% relativ luftfuktighet och 10% CO2-koncentration utfördes för att kunna simulera upptaget av koldioxid i cementpastor och cementbruk. En rad experiment har genomförts tillsammans med RISE och Högskolan i Borås. I denna studie krossades cementpastor i tre olika fraktioner för att utvärdera effekten av kornstorlek och påverkan av cementpastasinnehål i upptaget av CO2. Slutligen analyserades karboneringsdjupen för cementbruk efter 14 dagar accelererad karbonatisering. De experimentella resultaten från accelererad karbonatisering visar att med ökad halt av flygaska kan CO2-upptaget ökas. Cementpastan med 30 % flygaska och fraktionen lägre än två mm uppvisar det högsta CO2-upptaget jämfört med andra cementpastor med grövre fraktioner i denna studie. Dessutom ökade karbonatiseringsdjupet i cementbruk med 30% flygaska cirka tre gånger mer jämfört med cementbruk med 100% Portlandcement. Utifrån dessa resultat kan det konstateras att inblandning av tillsattmaterial i cementpasta kan förbättra CO2-upptaget och dessutom kan CO2-upptaget sker effektivare om mer kontaktytor blir involverade med CO2 genom att krossa cementpastan i fraktionen 0–2 mm.

The European Commission adopted the first action plan for the transition to a circular economy in 2015. As a result, the concrete industry’s goal is for all concrete produced in Sweden to be climate neutral by 2045. Cement production is the third-largest carbon dioxide emitter in Sweden and accounts for 90% of concrete’s carbon dioxide emissions. Thus, to lower the climate footprint of concrete, it is necessary to find alternatives to cement. The potential of the use of wood ash in cement as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM) has been investigated in several studies. Due to Sweden's nature and wood industry, a comprehensive study has been done to investigate the possibility of using wood ash as an SCM in Sweden based on availability and efficiency. This work aims to investigate the obstacles and driving forces that concrete producers face when transitioning to a circular economy by partially replacing cement with new potential SCMs. The aim is also to investigate the availability of wood ash generated in Sweden and account for the potential to be used as an SCM. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were conducted to determine the obstacles and drivers that concrete producers in Sweden face when converting to a circular economy by partially replacing cement with new potential SCMs. The amount of ash produced in Sweden was estimated based on the value of ash content and the potential annual supply of wood fuels in Sweden. In addition, a literature review was performed to investigate the properties of wood ash. The economic and environmental aspects, as well as the fact that the supply of fly ash and slag is likely to decrease in the future form the main driving forces for concrete producers. The obstacles raised by the correspondents were the availability of SCMs, technical barriers, logistics, and standards. The amount of the annual production of wood ash in Sweden is estimated to be between 851 450 and 1 232 950 tons. The chemical characteristics of wood ash did not meet the requirements according to European standard (EN450-1). However, the reviewed articles indicated a potential for wood ash to be used as a supplementary cementitious material due to the indication of some hydraulic and pozzolanic activities. The combination of fly ash and wood ash in concrete is considered viable due to promising results based on mechanical strength. / EU-kommissionen antog den första handlingsplanen för omställningen till en cirkulär ekonomi 2015. Som ett resultat av detta är betongindustrins mål att all betong som används i Sverige ska vara klimatneutral år 2045. Cementindustrin är den tredje största koldioxidutsläpparen i Sverige och står för 90 % av betongens koldioxidutsläpp. För att sänka betongens klimatavtryck är det nödvändigt att hitta alternativ till cement. Potentialen för användningen av träaska i cement som ett alternativt bindemedel har undersökts i flera studier. Med hänsyn till Sveriges natur- och träindustri har en omfattande studie gjorts för att undersöka möjligheten att använda träaska som alternativ bindemedel i Sverige utifrån tillgänglighet och effektivitet. Arbetet syftar till att undersöka de hinder och drivkrafter som betongföretag möter vidövergången till en cirkulär ekonomi genom att delvis ersätta cement med nya alternativa bindemedel. Syftet är också att undersöka tillgången på träaska som genereras i Sverige och redogöra för potentialen att användas som ett bindemedel. Kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med öppna frågor genomfördes för att fastställa de hinder och drivkrafter som företag inom betongtillverkning i Sverige möter vid en omställning där cement ersätts delvis med nya bindemedel. Mängden aska som produceras i Sverige har uppskattats utifrån värden på askhalt och den potentiella årliga tillgången på trädbränslen i Sverige. Dessutom har en litteraturöversikt genomförts för att undersöka träaskans egenskaper. Drivkrafterna för en omställning till cirkulär ekonomi hos betongindustrier genom delvis ersättning av cement med nya alternativa bindemedel är de ekonomiska och miljömässiga aspekterna samt det faktum att tillgången på flygaska och slagg riskerar att sjunka i framtiden. Hindren som korrespondenterna tog upp var tillgången till alternativa bindemedel, tekniska barriärer, logistik och standarder. Mängden av den årliga produktionen av träaska i Sverige uppskattas mellan 851 450 och 1 232 950 ton. Kemiska egenskaper hos de undersökta träaskorna uppfyller inte kraven enligt europeisk standard (EN450-1). Litteraturöversikten visar dock en potential för träaska att användas som ett alternativt bindemedel till följd av en viss hydraulisk och puzzolanisk aktivitet. Kombinationen av flygaska och träaska i betong anses lönsam på grund av lovande resultat baserade på mekanisk hållfasthet.

I det här examensarbetet undersöks möjligheterna med framtida storskaliga 3D-skrivare i byggindustrin. Mycket händer just nu på området och vi är på väg mot en ny revolution i byggnadskonsten där robotarna och 3D-skrivarna kommer att ha en allt mer betydande roll. Arbetet undersöker i detalj hur vi skulle kunna använda oss av tekniken. En villa har fått stå modell för olika typer av experiment och redovisar olika tankar och idéer kring ämnet. / This Master Thesis project examines the opportunities with future large scale 3D-printing in the construction industry. A lot is happening with new 3D-printers and materials and we are on our way towards a revolution in the art of construction. A future world where the robots and 3D-printers will play a big role. The project examines in detail how we can use this new technique. A villa have been a model for different types of experiments and shows different thoughts and ideas around the subject.

An underground installation with too much inflow can lead to dangerous consequences for around environment, therefore a well-sealed construction results in appropriate inflows. To mitigate movement of ground water table in underground constructions, it is necessary to seal the rock mass by grout injection. To fulfill the inflow requirement, cement based grouting is both practical and economical solution and is used in Sweden as permanent solution because of the good quality rock mass of Nordic countries. To achieve an effective and more economical grouting process, the method of stop criteria named GIN has been developed for underground constructions. "GIN method" is a method in formulating grouting works which provides possibility for minimizing the risk of hydro fracturing and hydro jacking in grouting process to optimize it in performance and cost of construction process. In this report the effort is testing the validity of this method in City banan project which is situated in Stockholm. Data are taken from the City banan project which is under construction by Traffikverket in Stockholm. To attain this aim, data from monitoring of grouting process was collected and Pressure and flow values were obtained and have been employed as input data in this report. After applying GIN method, results have been analyzed and discussed in detail. It has been shown that in studied cases, the theory cannot provide promising results and this method is difficult to be applicable in this project. Therefore, additional tests are needed to the exact suitable GIN number for the project.

The increasing need for watertight underground works, such as tunnel excavations, has sparked an interest in a number of research studies with grout penetrability being the focus. The research has so far contributed to a deeper understanding regarding the assessment of a successful grouting operation from different perspectives such as choice of equipment, material properties, phase planning and performance.  It is well established that several crucial factors influence the penetrability of grouts with pressure type and magnitude being two of them. Researchers have examined this issue from different perspectives and with different instruments. Previous research has shown that the increase of pressure has yielded better grout penetration both in the laboratory and the field. According to studies that dealt with dynamic pressure application, superimposed oscillatory pressure of high frequency resulted in grouts with decreased viscosity and better penetration. However, there is still need for further investigation in terms of lower frequencies, different pressure profiles and magnitudes and possible alternatives regarding the filtration and erosion mechanism. The present study aims to examine the penetrability of grouts under dynamic conditions of predefined peak and rest pressure intervals with frequencies lower than 0.5 Hz. The mechanism of action assumes active decomposition of any partially built plug in the vicinity of a narrowing in a rock fracture caused by the change in flow type before the constriction. The chosen method included the development of a laboratory grout injection system with a pneumatic valve and a pressure control rig. Tests were performed with both constant and varying pressure utilizing different periods of peak and rest intervals. The results showed an overall improvement of penetrability under dynamic conditions compared to the static. The decrease in peak – rest durations from [2 – 2] to [4 – 8] s yielded almost 11 times more material penetrating the 30μm aperture size.  The developed method utilized a pneumatic injection system which culminated in better penetration when tuned at [2 – 2] s of [peak – rest] durations with specific material properties. This study presents an indication that further research towards the direction of dynamic pressure application could be proven beneficial in the grouting industry.

Concrete in Sweden has traditionally been manufactured with natural aggregate from glaciofluvial eskers. There is a need to preserve the remaining eskers because of their cultural value and importance for water filtration, thus natural aggregate has to be replaced. The most realistic alternative is to use crushed rocks. The major problem with crushed rocks in concrete production is the workability. This is because crushed rocks have less favorable properties. The fragments are flakier and have a rougher surface than natural aggregates that have been rounded in water. Without any amelioration of the crushed rock, to reach a certain workability and strength, the amount of cement in the mix has to be increased. Cement production requires large amounts of energy and the decarbonation of limestone releases large amounts of CO2. Combined, the release of CO2, due to burning and decarbonation of limestone, accounts for about 5% of the global CO2 emissions. An increase in cement consumptions is less desirable. Thus to replace natural aggregates, the use of crushed rocks has to be optimized as regard cement consumption. Several crushed aggregates, most from granitic rocks, from all over Sweden were analysed in this study. These crushed rocks were characterized according to their grading, specific surface, shape and petrography and compared to natural sand. Rheological tests that reveals the workability in detail was performed on mortars. The tests showed that as regard workability the 0-2 mm fraction is the most important factor. Further, the maximum aggregate size was gradually increased up to 16 mm, to have a more realistic approach to the concrete produced by the building industry. The results showed that with grading optimization and superplasticizer, some crushed rocks can be used for concrete production without increasing, and even decreasing, the cement consumption. This research also contemplated the use of filler. As a mineral admixture it can improve the compressive strength. It can also be used to replace cement; a replacement up to 20 kg/m3 of cement by filler can be done without significant effect on compressive strength.

Rock grouting is a commonly used process for sealing rocks in tunnels to reduce water ingress. In order to achieve sufficient sealing level the grout must effectively penetrate into rock fractures while the limiting factor is filtration of cement based grout. Many devices and measuring methods have been developed to study filtration and to measure the penetrability. The filter pump and the penetrability meter are two of the most commonly used instruments for measuring filtration tendency in the field and in the lab, while short slot is used mainly in the lab. The results obtained from these devices have relatively different estimations of the penetrability partly due to the weaknesses in measuring methods and test procedures. Furthermore, there are no clear criteria to find out which of the results are closer to the reality or how much the results differ among these instruments. The aim of this study is comparing, and evaluating the results of these devices in relatively similar conditions while using more accurate methods of weight-time and pressure-time compared to the less reliable total volume method. The filter pump and the penetrability meter were modified In order to fulfill the requirement of testing in similar conditions and to improve their accuracy and versatility. The results show that increasing the pressure improves the penetrability significantly. The modification of the filter pump results in reducing many uncertainties related to the testing procedure. Probably the modified filter pump has higher accuracy in measuring the penetrability compared to regular filter pump. The short slot has the highest accuracy in estimating penetrability of cement based grout especially at higher pressures, furthermore, the short slot provides a more flexible way to measure penetrability with different pressures in the range of 1-15 bars.

Betong är ett material som vid framtagning av huvudråvaran cementklinker släpper ut stora mängder koldioxid. Enligt nationella klimatmål ska det finnas klimatneutral betong på svenska marknaden till år 2030 och betongen ska nå nettonollutsläpp till år 2045. Ett intensivt utvecklingsarbete pågår i betongbranschen och olika strategier diskuteras för att uppnå lägre klimatpåverkan. Syftet med arbetet är att undersöka hur betongbranschen arbetar mot klimatneutralitet och se hur långt aktörerna kommit i det arbetet. Syftet är även att öka statistiken för klimatförbättrad betong samt se hur den klimatförbättrade betongen står sig mot standarden ftSS 137003:2020 som är under revidering. Arbetet genomfördes genom litteraturstudier, enkätundersökning och dokumentanalys. Litteraturstudien har legat till grund för den teoretiska bakgrunden. Enkätundersökningen som skickades ut till betongtillverkare är primärkällan i studien och har gett en bild av hur branschen ligger till i dagsläget gällande användning av klimatförbättrad betong. Studien kompletterades med en dokumentanalys i form av granskning av EPD:er samt den reviderade standarden. Dokumentanalysen undersökte vilken klimatförbättrad betong som finns redan idag samt hur ändringar i standarden påverkar förutsättningarna för klimatförbättrad betong. Enkätundersökningen och granskningen av EPD:erna visade att viss klimatförbättrad betong redan finns i dagsläget, men att det inte används i så stor utsträckning. Drygt hälften av betongproducenterna hade inte någon klimatförbättrad betong på marknaden i nuläget, men merparten arbetar med att ta fram det och de flesta beräknar att ha det på marknaden inom ett till tre år. Majoriteten av betongtillverkarna var positiva till att all deras betong kommer vara klimatneutral till år 2045. Något som både litteraturstudien och enkätundersökningen fastställde var att samverkan mellan olika aktörer i ett tidigt skede är viktigt för att uppnå klimatneutralitet. För att nå klimatmålen krävs dessutom både att producenterna fortsätter arbeta mot klimatmålen men också mer kunskap och medvetenhet hos konsumenterna. / During the production of concrete, a large amount of carbon dioxide is emitted. The Swedish national climate target goal aims for climate-neutral concrete on the Swedish market by 2030 and to further attain a net zero emission by 2045. The concrete production industry is working on strategies to reach these goals and thereby attain a lower climate impact. This study aims to examine how the concrete industry works towards climate neutrality and to see how far they have come in accordance to this goal. A further purpose for this study is to increase the statistics for climate improved concrete and to compare how the climate improved concrete measures up to the revised standard ftSS 137003:2020. The study made use of a literature review, a survey and a document analysis. Through the literature review, information was acquired on theoretical background relating to the interest of study. The data obtained from the survey sent out to concrete producers constituted the primary source. This provided information regarding the current situation in relation to climate improved concrete. As a complement to the survey, the study also did a document analysis of EPDs as well as the revised standard. This tool was used to analyse existing climate improved concrete respectively to examine the revised standard in order to establish how alterations in the standard affects the conditions for climate improved concrete. Based on the results obtained from the survey and analysis of the EPDs, some climate improved concrete are currently available, yet in limited usage. Most of the concrete producers are lacking climate improved concrete on the market, but most of them are working towards this goal with the aim to have such a product on the market within one to three years. The majority of concrete producers are convinced that their concrete will be climate-neutral by the year 2045. Both the literature review and the survey confirmed the importance of collaboration between different actors during an early stage in order to attain climate neutrality in concrete production. To attain the climate goals it requires that concrete producers continue to work towards the climate goals, but moreover, the knowledge and awareness among consumers is also essential.