A prominent Bongeen grain and cotton farmer continued his long standing business relationship with Wagners by opting for the award winning Earth Friendly Concrete (EFC) to construct footings for several new grain silo’s. EFC contains no ordinary Portland cement which greatly reduces the carbon emissions associated with standard cement based concrete. The binder in EFC is made from combining two major wastes recycled from industry, slag and fly ash, with a proprietary alkaline chemical solution which starts a geopolymer reaction that leads to the formation of a hard crystalline matrix. The resulting concrete has excellent structural performance and far greater resistance to common durability issues like acid and sulfate attack.

120 m³ of high flow grade 32 MPa EFC was supplied from Wagners Wellcamp EFC plant in one continuous pour on a hot 390 C Bongeen day. The EFC was delivered into the deep raft footing trenches using both concrete pump and chute as dictated by the available access. After a 45 minute drive time in hot summer conditions the concrete showed excellent flow characteristics at the project site and was perfectly suited to trench footing placement. By using EFC over conventional concrete, 27 tonnes of CO₂ emission were saved from polluting the environment, and 46 tonnes of slag and fly ash were given a high technology re-use instead of going to landfill. Considering the high performance of EFC, that is WIN WIN all-round!