Final Report

STORING CO2 IN BUILT INFRASTRUCTURE:

CO2 CARBONATION OF PRECAST CONCRETE PRODUCTS

January 2023

DOE Award Number: DE-FE0030684

Report Number: DOE-UMICH-30684

Project period: October 1, 2017 – August 31, 2022

Submitted by:

Brian R. Ellis

University of Michigan
Disclaimer

This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States
Government. Neither the United States government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees,
makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy,
completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents
that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial
product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily
constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or
any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or
reflect those of the United States Government of any agency thereof.

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Abstract

The overall objective of the proposed study was to advance the technical understanding of CO2
incorporation into novel cementitious materials for the development of high value products that provide
a net reduction in carbon emissions. This project combined two primary phases of research that
addressed technical barriers related to (i) optimizing CO2 storage capability of cementitious materials,
(ii) evaluating and enhancing physical properties of novel carbonated materials, and (iii) assessing the
reductions in life cycle CO2 emissions attributed to CO2 carbonation of precast cementitious materials.
Engineered cementitious composites (ECC) are a class of highly ductile concrete composites that have
been shown to be very durable when used in the built environment. CO2 carbonation of ECC was
examined in this study and it was found that precast ECC specimens could sequester up to 35% CO2
by cement mass after 24 hours of curing at a CO2 pressure of 0.5 MPa and 23°C and had a strain
capacity of 3%. Carbonation conditions were optimized at the bench-scale and then utilized to create
full-scale CO2-cured ECC railroad ties that were field tested on a train track. Rail ties were selected for
this initial assessment of CO2 storage in precast concrete materials due to the large market for concrete
ties in the railroad industry. Although the full-scale rail ties passed all of the required American Railway
Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association qualifying mechanical tests, on-track testing of the
CO2-cured ECC rail ties was unsuccessful due to fiber alignment in the ECC the during the rail tie
casting process which prevented the material from achieving the expected level of strain capacity. This
result highlights the challenge in scaling up bench-scale processes to full-scale product manufacturing
and requires additional investigation into the casting process of large-scale infrastructure elements
using ECC combined with carbonation curing. Life cycle assessment of a CO2-cured ECC rail tie versus
a traditional concrete rail tie indicates that the ECC tie can have lifecycle carbon savings of between
11% and 51% depending on how much longer its useful lifetime is compared to traditional concrete
rail ties. Both carbon and cost savings are driven by a reduction in the need to replace broken rail ties,
so the key factor is the extent to which a CO2-cured ECC rail tie will have increased lifetime durability
compared to alternative rail ties.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………………........ 4
EXPERIMENTAL METHODS ……………………………………………………………………. 5
Carbonation of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC)…………………………………. 5
Mechanical Testing …….………………………………………………………………………. 6
Material Characterization ……………………………………………………………………… 7
Design of Life Cycle Assessment ……………………………………………………………… 7
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION……………………………………………………………………... 8
Carbonation Efficiency.………………………………………………………………………… 8
Mechanical Performance of CO2-cured ECC at the Bench-scale ……………………………… 10
Mechanical Performance of Carbonated ECC Railroad Ties…………………………………… 12
Life Cycle Assessment and Technoeconomic Analysis………………………………………… 14
CONCLUSIONS……………………………………………………………….………………….. 17
References ……………………………………………………………………………………… 19

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1. INTRODUCTION
The U.S. National Academy of Engineering (National Academy of Engineering 2008) has
recognized the need to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions as one of the grand challenges facing
our society during the next century. For over the past two decades, research efforts have explored
ways to capture CO2 from point source emissions sites and sequester it safely, thereby preventing
further carbon emissions to the atmosphere. A vast majority of this work as focused on geologic
storage of the captured CO2, however, this type of storage faces challenges regarding leakage risk
of stored CO2 and lacks market incentives for geologic storage outside of using the CO2 for
enhanced oil recovery. CO2 sequestration efforts will therefore be supported if the stored CO2 is
utilized to develop high value, saleable products. Mineral carbonation of the sequestered CO2 will
further support the successful deployment of carbon mitigation strategies, as it provides a long-
term secure storage mechanism for CO2 emissions in the form of stable carbonate mineral
precipitates.
Concrete is the single most utilized construction material in the build environment and cement
manufacturing is responsible for approximately 8% of global CO2 emissions (Ellis et al. 2020).
Concrete also has the potential to sequester CO2 in the form of stable carbonate precipitates,
thereby lowering the carbon footprint of the built environment if CO2 is incorporated into concrete
materials. Engineered cementitious composites (ECC) are a novel fiber-reinforced cement that has
demonstrated excellent durability in the built environment due to its intrinsically tight crack width
and the ability to self-healing via mineral carbonation reaction (Zhang, Yu, et al. 2020). ECC
shows extreme tensile ductility (Li, Wang, and Wu 2001; Li 2008), about 500 times that of normal
concrete, which makes ECC a potential material choice for carbon storage without danger of
embrittlement resulting from the carbonation process without any steel reinforcement. The
potential for avoiding having to use steel reinforcement also mitigates the concern for steel
corrosion in typical reinforced concrete elements associated with a reduction in pore water pH due
to carbonation. The superior mechanical performance and durability of ECC make it a competitive
candidate for further investigation in this study.
A goal of this work is to promote the development of concrete materials that have a long
service life and directly sequester CO2 such that they will reduce the life cycle CO2 emissions of
the built environment. Precast concrete elements, such as railroad ties, offer great potential to be a
marketable product that is also a sink for coal-fired powerplant CO2 emissions via mineral
carbonation. Successful integration of precast concrete product sequestration of CO2 emissions
into existing power plant infrastructure will require advancements in our understanding of mineral
carbonation chemistry, carbonated material properties, and life cycle CO2 emissions reductions.
Market adoption of these new materials will also require a thorough investigation of product
durability and price competiveness. This study sought to undertake this challenge in an effort to
develop economically viable, secure CO2 storage technologies. This project evaluated the CO2
sequestration potential of ECC materials used for the production of railroad ties, as the rail tie
market presents a substantial opportunity for growth in the use of carbonated precast concrete
materials and will serve as a fertile proving ground for this nascent transformative CO2
sequestration technology.

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2. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
A brief overview of the experimental methods and testing protocols used in the project are
provided in this section. The specific experimental methods are described in detail in the peer-
reviewed publications that resulted from this project, with publications clearly noted where
applicable. Readers are referred to the published works for additional details.

2.1 Carbonation of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC)

Three different bench-scale carbonation reactors were utilized in this study. The first is a
chamber that operates under ambient pressure and temperature conditions. This sealed chamber
(45.5 ´ 36.5 ´ 114 cm) was built with acrylic sheets and contains fans at both the top and bottom
to ensure the chamber is well-mixed throughout the carbonation experiments (Neves Junior et al.
2019). A humidifier is used to provide controlled humidity to the chamber. The second reactor is
a 58 cm long and 20 cm diameter cylindrical chamber capable of maintaining CO2 pressures up to
0.9 MPa and is suitable for the carbonation of precast ECC specimens (Wu et al. 2018). The reactor
is customized with the capability of monitoring the temperature. Relative humidity can be
controlled via a saturated salt solution. The third reactor is a 12 cm height and 8.1 cm diameter
600 ml high-pressure batch reactor (Parr Instruments) (Adeoye et al. 2019). The high-pressure
capability of this reactor (up to 48 MPa) and a broad temperature range from 25 to 160ºC allowed
for parametric studies on the carbonation reactivity of solid wastes and alternative binders.
A large-scale carbonation chamber was constructed by Shandong Chonhunteda Composite
Co., Ltd and is 3 m in length and has a diameter of 1.5 m. This large-scale chamber can hold a
pressure up to 1.45 MPa and was used to CO2-cure the full-size ECC railway ties in this project.
The CO2 gas is continuously replenished to maintain a constant pressure of 0.5 MPa over the
carbonation period. A broad range of carbonation conditions were examined (Zhang, Li, and Ellis
2018; Neves Junior et al. 2019; Adeoye et al. 2019; Zhang et al. 2021) and the following 4-step
process was found to optimize CO2 carbonation efficiency of ECC materials. The purpose and
operation of each step of carbonation curing is illustrated as follows:
1. Step 1: In-mold conditioning was designed to achieve sufficient early strength for demolding.
The trowel-finished surface was exposed to room conditions (temperature of 23±2°C and
relative humidity of 55±5%) for 18 hours.
2. Step 2: Specimens were demolded and transferred to the step of de-mold conditioning. The
purpose of de-mold conditioning was to create an optimal condition in the ECC specimens
for the impending carbonation reaction. A fan drying method was applied to remove excess
free water in ECC’s microporous space to facilitate the diffusion of CO2 gas into the ECC
specimens. Fan drying for approximately 4-hours was found to be effective in achieving
desirable carbonation efficiency.
3. Step 3: Carbonation was performed with pure CO2 gas at a pressure of 0.5 MPa for 24 hours.
This elevated CO2 pressure environment was designed to achieve a maximum degree of
carbonation in the dogbone-shaped specimen.
4. Step 4: Post-carbonation hydration of cement was enabled due to the remaining free water in
ECC after early-age carbonation. Specimens were kept at room condition until 28 days.

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2.2 Mechanical Testing
Direct uniaxial tension test
In this project, a Material Testing Systems (MTS) loading frame with a 100 kN capacity was
used. Uniaxial tension tests were conducted on the dogbone-shaped specimens with displacement
control at a rate of 0.5 mm/min following JSCE. The deformation was measured by two linear
variable displacement transducers (LVDT) with a gauge length of 80 mm. The geometry of the
tension test and sample dimensions are described in Hu et al. (2023).
Compressive strength test
50 ´ 50 ´ 50 mm cube specimens were prepared to observe the compressive strength. The
compression test was conducted using a Forney loading machine at a loading rate of 0.5 MPa/s
following ASTM C109.
Fracture toughness test
Matrix fracture toughness experiments were conducted using a 3-point bending configuration
recommended by ASTM E399. Specimen dimensions were 305 ´ 76 ´ 38 mm. Beam specimens
were pre-notched at the tension surface and the notch depth to beam height ratio was kept 0.4 for
all specimens. Carbonation occurs to the greatest extent on surface of a given sample and the
lowest in core of the material due to slow diffusion of CO2 into the cement matrix. To ensure the
material adjacent to the notch tip was carbonated effectively, matrix specimens were pre-notched
before carbonation. The loading process was displacement-controlled at a rate of 0.5 mm/min.
Static flexural strength test
Four-point flexural static tests were conducted under displacement control to determine the
flexural strength of ECC specimens following the ASTM D6272. All specimens had a span length
(L) of 254 mm with two-point loads at one half of the span. An Optotrak Certus from NDI was
installed to measure the midspan deflection of specimens by captured the displacement of each
marker at 40 Hz. Further detail on testing setup and the calculation method for determining
midspan deflection can be found in Hu et al. (2023).
Fatigue performance test
Flexural fatigue tests were carried out using sinusoidal cyclic load at 8Hz (Hu et al. 2023).
The maximum to minimum fatigue load ratio was 0.1. The fatigue test began with a ramp up force
to maximum fatigue load at a rate of 100 N/sec followed by the sinusoidal waveform fatigue
loading. The fatigue tests stopped either when the specimen failed or after it reached three million
cycles. An Optotrak Certus from NDI was also used to measure the midspan deflection of
specimens.
Single fiber pull-out test
A single fiber pull-out test was used to determine the interfacial bonding between fibers and
the cementitious matrix. Fibers are glued onto the steel plate and connected to an actuator. Pull-
out curves can be obtained after the fibers pull out of the sample. Furthermore, the chemical
debonding energy value, Gd, and frictional bond strength, τ0, can be calculated according to the
single fiber pull-out curves (Wu et al. 2018; Zhang et al. 2021).

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2.3 Material Characterization
Mineralogical characterization via x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy
X-ray diffraction (XRD) was performed using powder samples on a Rigaku SmartLab XRD
with CuKα radiation. The X-rays were generated at 40 mA and 45 kV. The powdered samples
were thoroughly mixed with 10% lithium fluoride (LiF) as an internal reference for conducting
quantitative XRD. The diffraction pattern was collected in the range of 5°–70° 2θ with a step size
of 0.02° 2θ. Phase quantification was carried out using MDI Jade 2010. A JEOL IT500 scanning
electron microscope (SEM) was used to examine the surface morphology of samples at
5 kV accelerating voltage. The SEM was also used to image the sample using backscattered
electron (BSE) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The combination of BSE/EDS imaging
coupled with known mineralogy from XRD can be used to track mineral phases at high resolution
across the surface of the ECC matrix.
Mass gain method and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for CO2 uptake
For the mass gain method, CO2 uptake per cement mass is determined following equation
where m2 and m1 are the sample masses weighed before and after carbonation, respectively:
!"#!$%&'( )!*
CO2 uptake (%) = !+','-&
× 100%

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is also used to determine carbonation efficiency. For

TGA, approximately 100 g of the carbonated sample is heated from 20 ◦C to 950 ◦C. The mass
change between 20 ◦C 450 ◦C is associated with dehydration of the sample, while the mass change
from 550 ◦C and 950 ◦C is assumed to be the mass of CO2 released from the sample. The amount
of CO2 sequestered in the sample can thus be obtained through use of this method. Further details
regarding this method and how it was used to determine CO2 carbonation efficiency are presented
in (Neves Junior et al. 2019).

2.4 Design of Life Cycle and Technoeconomic Analyses

The study by Lim et al. (2023) provides a detailed description of the life cycle assessment
(LCA) approach and technoeconomic analysis (TEA) used in this study to determine net carbon
emissions reductions and cost estimates associated with switching from the state-of-the-art
concrete rail tie with prestressing wires to a CO2-cured ECC rail tie without steel wire
reinforcement. The scope of the LCA and TEA incorporates the lifecycle of rail ties as well as
train operation on a track built with either concrete or CO2-cured ECC rail ties. A functional unit
of providing train service on 1-km of track section in the U.S. for 100 years was chosen for the
LCA study. Rail tie manufacturing and disposal processes are modeled based on literature review
and commercial processes in the U.S. A stochastic use-phase model was developed to evaluate
systems-level impacts associated with rail tie failures, replacements and subsequent delays in train
travel associated with the stochastic nature of rail tie failures. A total of 2,000 realizations were
completed to determine use-phase greenhouse gas emissions and lifecycle costs from tie failures.
Results were generated through iteratively running the model while randomizing key parameters
related to tie degradation, tie replacement (and method of replacement), and train operation.
The stochastic failure of rail ties was estimated following a Weibull distribution that included
parameters for average service life of a tie and temporal distribution of failures. Weibull parameter
values are estimated from available historic data on the failure and replacement of about 11 million

7
concrete railroad ties installed in the U.S. The average expected service lifetime for concrete ties
was between 40-60 years, while the expected lifetime of ECC ties ranged from 40-100 years. A
rail track is installed with new ties, either concrete or CO2-cured ECC ties, at year 1 and each
installed tie independently follows a Weibull distribution. When ties fail in the model they can
either (i) be replaced on an individual tie basis (spot replacement), or (ii) be replaced with use of
a track laying system (TLS) that replaces all ties within a given section of track regardless of
individual tie degradation status, or (iii) cause a slow order when maximum replacement capacities
are reached, thereby reducing the train speed within a given section of track. The degree of the
train slow order is based on incumbent safety regulations (Cloutier 2014; Federal Railroad
Administration 2012) as well as the acceleration profile of trains. Replacing a tie with TLS is
cheaper than spot replacement but at a risk of prematurely replacing adjacent ties. The flexibility
of the model enables exploring different tie replacement strategies relevant to real world scenarios,
such as preemptive replacement of aging ties or prioritizing between spot replacement and TLS.
A detailed cost and process model was constructed based on available industrial data
(Grimbergen 2007; Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute 2021) with a model concrete rail tie
plant operating non-stop outputting 250,000 rail ties per year. CO2-cured ECC ties will require a
longer time to complete due to the drying and CO2-curing stages; as such, the equivalent ECC rail
tie facility was assumed to produce 180,000 ties per year. At its end of life, the concrete tie is
crushed to be recycled or landfilled. ECC ties are also assumed to be landfilled. Materials, energy,
and operations/maintenance costs used in the TEA and LCA are provided in Lim et al. (2023). For
the LCA, the Ecoinvent 3 database and Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and
Other Environmental Impacts (TRACI) methodology were used to evaluate the life cycle
emissions and energy use associated with other materials used across the respective rail tie life
cycles (Wernet et al. 2016). Mid-point indicators for the LCA include global warming potential
(GWP), ozone depletion potential (ODP), acidification potential (AP), and eutrophication potential
(EP). A discount rate of 5% is used for all of the economic analyses.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The following sections present a summary of the main findings from this study and the
subsequent implications for developing CO2-cured precast ECC infrastructure materials. Peer-
reviewed publications submitted by the project team contain detailed presentation of the results
and further discussion; each section references the respective publications where the reader can
find further information on specific results from this project.

3.1 Carbonation Efficiency

Zhang et al. (2021) reported on how the carbonation curing process described in Section 2.1
was optimized for maximal CO2 storage through extending carbonation time, elevating CO2 partial
pressure and tailoring binder composition. Further, Zhang et al. (2018) discovered a new parameter
that potentially impacts CO2 storage efficiency as well as governs mechanical integrity of the cured
cementitious materials. The new parameter is named as the “pre-hydration period”, which
represents the hydration age of Portland cement (PC) when intentionally exposed to high-purity
CO2 carbonation. The experimental results suggest that the CO2 uptake clearly decreased with a
longer pre-hydration period (Zhang, Li, and Ellis 2018). This agrees with the declining trend of

8
the carbonation-induced water evaporation, suggesting the carbonation intensity reduces as the
prehydration time is extended. With the assistance of thermal analysis, it was concluded that the
calcium carbonate precipitated from CO2 carbonation could potentially induce nucleation seeding
effect by depositing sub-micron calcite solids and therefore accelerate the development of post-
carbonation binding property.
Bench-scale carbonation tests were performed using the three different experimental
chambers described in Section 2.1 (Adeoye et al. 2019; Neves Junior et al. 2019; Zhang et al.
2021). One chamber allowed for carbonation at ambient pressure and temperature for controlled
gas composition and relative humidity; a second chamber allowed for carbonation at ambient
temperature and PCO2 pressures up to 0.9 MPa; a third chamber allowed for carbonation of small
sample sizes under elevated temperature and pressure, up to conditions of 48 MPa and 160ºC.
Various combinations of temperature and PCO2 pressures were evaluated and CO2 carbonation
efficiency was not found to be substantially improved at high CO2 partial pressures beyond 0.5
MPa or at elevated temperatures beyond 23ºC. As such, PCO2 of 0.5 MPa and 23ºC were chosen as
the conditions for continued assessment in this project.
Zhang et al. (2021) presented results of carbonation curing of two conventional PC-based
ECC versions, i.e., M45 and M45-high volume fly ash (HVFA), were developed and optimized.
M45 has a fly ash-to-cement ratio of 1.2, while M45-HVFA has a ratio of 2.2. More detailed mix
proportions can be found in Zhang et al. (2021). All mixtures were cast into dogbone-shaped
specimens, which were treated with a 4-step of carbonation curing process as described in Section
2.1. The mechanical properties and CO2 uptake of the CO2-cured ECC samples were then
evaluated.
After a 24-hour period of carbonation, the averaged CO2 uptake for M45 and M45-HVFA
ECC mix proportion attained around 35% CO2 sequestered by cement mass for dogbone-shaped
specimens. It is important to note that this high degree of carbonation efficiency was achieved for
thin samples (13 mm). When sample volume is increased, carbonation efficiency decreases due to
slow diffusion of CO2 into the cement matrix.
Based on the mass gain method and TGA results, carbonation-cured ECC can achieve 21.2%
and 14.5% CO2 uptake by cement mass for cube and beam specimens, respectively, after a 24-
hour carbonation curing period which can lower the embodied carbon footprint of typical M45
ECC from 600 kg CO2/m3 to 472 kg CO2/m3 and 513 kg CO2/m3. However, this CO2 uptake is
limited to laboratory-scale material. When scaling up to field-scale dimensions, i.e., full-size
railway ties, the amount of CO2 sequestered per cement mass through carbonation curing will
significantly decrease due to diffusion limitations of CO2 into larger volume materials.
Considering that the cross-sectional area for full-scale railway ties is twenty times that of the beam
specimen, a 10-inch cubic sample was made and tested within the carbonation reactor under
varying degrees of drying and times of CO2 exposure. Under the same conditions for which 14.5%
CO2 uptake was achieved in the beam specimen, the cubic specimen reached a carbonation depth
of only 5 mm (6 mm decrease compared to the beam specimen), and the CO2 uptake also decreased
to 3.2 %. It was thus necessary to modify the carbonation process to improve the carbonation depth
and CO2 uptake for full-scale railway ties.
Drying time (i.e., 8 hours and 32 hours) and carbonation time (i.e., 24 hours, 48 hours, and
144 hours) were investigated to find a suitable duration for full-size railway tie CO2-curing. With
32 hours of drying and 48 hours of carbonation, the 10-inch cubic specimen can achieve

9
approximately 8.4 % CO2 uptake for the railway ties (i.e., 9 kg CO2 capture). Phenolphthalein was
used to evaluate the depth of carbonation on a cross section of the CO2-cured cube. The carbonated
region was found to be of uniform thickness. XRD analysis confirmed the presence of calcite in
the carbonated region (gray color after phenolphthalein exposure) and no calcite was observed via
XRD in the uncarbonated region (pink color after phenolphthalein exposure). The results suggest
that if the carbonation time is long enough (e.g., 48 hours), the drying time will be the main factor
impacting CO2 uptake for the full-size railway ties. The reason is that the carbonation of the ECC
is highly dependent on the mixture's water content. According to T.C. Power’s empirical formula
for component volume changes during cement hydration, a longer drying time allows more water
in capillary pores to evaporate from the mixture. Therefore, there is more contact surface area for
the mixture and CO2 gas to react, resulting in more CO2 uptake and greater depth of carbonation.
Since no significant CO2 uptake increase was observed when the carbonation time was extended
from 48 hours to 144 hours, 32 hours of drying and 48 hours of carbonation time were chosen for
carbonation of the full-scale rail ties in this study.
In order to sequester a higher amount of CO2 into larger volume ECC specimens, ground
granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) was selected as a candidate material for pre-carbonation
and incorporation into the ECC mixture prior to casting and CO2-curing. GGBFS contains nearly
50% of CaO and MgO, which is available for CO2 sequestration before concrete mixing. The
GGBFS is first mixed with water and put into a chamber with 0.5 MPa CO2 pressure for 24 hours.
After 24 hours of carbonation, GGBFS is put into an oven to dry before use. According to test
results using phenolphthalein indicator, GGBFS shows possible carbonation after curing. XRD
analysis was used to verify that the CO2 was sequestered as CaCO3 and MgCO3 after pre-
carbonation treatment of GGBFS. The test results indicate that the carbonation product for pre-
carbonated GGBFS can reach as high as 20% weight CO2 per GGBFS mass; the weight percentage
of calcite, nesquehonite, hydromagnesite, and dypingite is 11.2, 6.8, 2.3, and 1 wt%, respectively.
This pre-carbonated GGBFS was tested as a substitute for 30% of cement weight in the M45 mix
proportion. The CO2 uptake for this pre-carbonated GGBFS ECC increased from 21.2% to 44.5 %
per cement mass, significantly reducing the embodied CO2 footprint of typical M45 ECC from
600 kg CO2/m3 to 209 kg CO2/m3. The carbonation depth also increased from 11mm to 20 mm.

3.2 Mechanical Performance of CO2-cured ECC at the Bench-scale

M45 can achieve a tensile strain capacity of 3% (meeting the criteria of 2% of tensile strain)
after carbonation curing at 28 days and a 5 MPa tensile stress. M45-HVFA also achieves a tensile
strain capacity of 3%. However, its tensile stress decreased to 3 MPa after carbonation curing. A
similar performance drop can be found in the fracture toughness and compressive strength of the
M45-HVFA matrix.
The fracture toughness of ECC matrix materials was measured following ASTM E399.
Carbonation curing was found to slightly decrease the fracture toughness at 28 days for the M45-
HVFA mixture but did not induce significant impacts on the M45 mixture. The fracture toughness
of M45 is around 0.426 MPa∙m1/2 and 0.415 MPa∙m1/2 before and after carbonation curing. The
results of the compressive strength test also show that the 28-day strengths were close between the
carbonation-cured (54 MPa) and air-cured M45 specimens (52.6 MPa) but were found
comparatively lower for the M45-HVFA specimens subjected to carbonation curing (36.1MPa
compared to air-cured 42.7 MPa). The lower 28-day strength of the carbonation-cured M45-HVFA

10
matrix is due to the lessened pozzolanic reaction of fly ash. With a fly ash to cement mass ratio of
1.2, the pozzolanic reaction of fly ash was eliminated after 24-hour CO2 carbonation. The low
portlandite intensity in the carbonated system, even after 28-day subsequent hydration, impeded
the fly ash reactions. The low reaction degrees of fly ash led to a relatively coarse microstructure,
which could be densified by calcium carbonate precipitation during the CO2 carbonation.
Therefore, carbonation curing led to a similar compressive strength and fracture toughness for
M45. As the fly ash content increases and cement content decreases (HVFA ECC), the
densification effect by carbonation curing poses a reduced impact with respect to the effect of the
fly ash reaction. In this regard, carbonation curing is more favorable for applications on the typical
M45 ECC than the high-volume fly ash ECC.
Additional ECC mixtures were tested without clinker and with the addition of MgO. The
clinker-free ECC achieved a greater tensile strain capacity of 4.6% for air-cured and 4% for
carbonation cured compared to PC-based ECC (M45 and M45-HVFA), however, it only attained
a CO2 uptake of 7% based on the mass of FA-1 fly ash, which is significantly lower than the PC
based ECC. Incorporations of MgO into the PC-free ECC mixtures improved CO2 sequestration
potential (Wu et al. 2018; Zhang, Wu, et al. 2020). However, these mixtures were unsuccessful
due to the substantial reduction in tensile strain capacity (less than 2%). When GGBFS was
incorporated into ECC the tensile performance exceeded 3% of tensile strain and 4 MPa of tensile
stress after carbonation-curing, showing comparable mechanical performance to typical M45
ECC.
Additional results regarding the mechanical performance of carbonate ECC are given in Hu
et al. (2023) and discussed here. To determine the mechanical behavior, including tensile, flexural,
and fatigue performance of ECC after carbonation curing, carbonation-cured ECC samples were
fabricated following the carbonation process presented in Zhang et al. (2021) with fan drying after
demolding and then cured under 0.5 MPa CO2 pressure for 24 hours. Flexural performances,
including static and fatigue load conditions, are the critical requirements for railway ties. Despite
the presence of a body of literature on the flexural performance of water or air-cured ECC, the
flexural performance of carbonation-cured ECC has not been studied. It was necessary to conduct
experiments to examine carbonation-cured ECC's flexural/fatigue performance before scaling up
to the full-size railway ties. A typical M45 PVA ECC mix with a 1.2 fly ash-to-cement ratio was
used in this research. A total of sixty 30.5 ´ 7.6 ´ 3.8 cm beam specimens were prepared to examine
the mechanical performance of carbonation-cured ECC. Five single fiber pull-out test specimens
were used to evaluate the fiber bridging and interfacial bond between fibers and the cementitious
matrix as affected by the carbonation curing. Finally, three 2.54 ´ 2.54 ´ 2.54 cm cube and
dogbone-shaped specimens were made to investigate the CO2 uptake of carbonation-cured ECC
by mass gain method and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA).
The results showed that the first crack strength of carbonation-cured ECC increased by 27%
from 5.66 MPa to 7.17 MPa compared to air-cured ECC specimens. Under static loading, the
ultimate flexural strength increased by 32% from 10.01 MPa to 13.18 MPa. CO2 curing also
improved the deformation capacity with a 69% midspan deflection increase. During fatigue
loading conditions, carbonation-cured ECC also demonstrated more durable and ductile behaviors
than air-cured ECC. The fatigue life as a function of flexural stress suggests that carbonation curing
had a minimal impact on ECC's fatigue behaviors at a low stress (< 8 MPa) or stress level (< 0.5)
but significantly enhanced the fatigue life when imposed by higher flexural stress. The
carbonation-cured ECC exhibited a maximum crack opening of 76 µm, whereas non-carbonated

11
ECC showed a broad range of crack widths up to 148 µm. Also, the average crack width decreased
from 62 µm to 30 µm after carbonation curing.
The results indicate that carbonation curing strengthened ECC's crack width control
capability under fatigue conditions. The failure type for both carbonated and air-cured ECC fibers
was also examined. Compared to air-cured ECC, PVA fibers for carbonation-cured ECC tend to
have more rupture failure which is attributed to the increased interfacial bond between PVA fibers
and carbonated ECC matrix after carbonation curing based on the single fiber test results. The
average values of chemical debonding energy Gd and frictional bond strength τ0 increased from
0.37 J/m2 to 2.42 J/m2 and from 1.32 MPa to 2.24 MPa, respectively, indicating a stronger
resistance to fiber debonding and slippage.

3.3 Mechanical Performance of Carbonated ECC Railroad Ties

Considering CO2 sequestration efficiency and mechanical performance, the M45 mix
proportion following the optimized carbonation curing process was chosen as the optimal
composition for this project. This project selected railway ties as a test case product for storing
CO2. The rail industry has been transitioning from wood ties to concrete ties over the last thirty
years. This transition is driven in large part by the increasing difficulty in acquiring quality wood
and the promise of a significant increase in service life by concrete ties of up to fifty years.
Unfortunately, the experience so far has been uneven. Some concrete ties fail within the first few
years due to cracking. The solution so far has been the use of a large amount of steel prestressing,
which introduces another problem given the tendency for bond failure under dynamic rail loading.
A CO2-sequestrated and steel prestressing-free railway tie that can meet all the American Railroad
Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) standards may be one of the
solutions to achieve a more durable concrete rail tie (AREMA 2019). Therefore, the carbonation-
cured M45 ECC mix proportion was chosen to build the real-size ECC railway ties in this project.
The dimension of the full-size rail tie for this research is 7’9” ´ 12” ´ 10”, which meets the
American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) standard for
concrete railway ties. The relevant equipment necessary for full-size rail tie construction includes
(but is not limited to) a rail fastener system, cast-in shoulders, concrete/ECC molds, and vibration
tools. Based on the literature review and iterations of communication with industrial specialists,
the E-Clip fastener (donated by Pandrol) was selected for this project. This type of fastener system
has been widely adopted in North America and can be easily installed and removed without special
tools. Helser Industry built a custom mold due to the unique design of our railway ties (no
prestressed wires). The rail that will be used for the qualification lab tests before in-track testing
of the carbonated ties is AREMA 141 RE rail.
Sixteen carbonation-cured ECC railway ties were prepared. Before Transportation
Technology Center, Inc. (MxV Rai, TTCI) provided the single tie push test (STPT), the following
prerequisite laboratory tests were conducted according to AREMA standards to a preliminary
assess the railway tie’s performance before installation in track (AREMA 2019). Three of the
sixteen full-scale ECC railway ties were prepared and examined following the AREMA standards:
1. Test 1A: Bending-Rail seat Positive
2. Test 1C: Bending-Center Negative

12
 3. Test 5A: Fastener Uplift Test
4. Test 6: Tie and Fastener System Wear/Deterioration Test
5. Test 7: Fastener Electrical Impedance Test
According to AREMA standards, the ECC railway ties passed tests 1A and 1C since no crack
was observed after MTS held the required load P for 3 minutes. For test 5A, ECC railway ties also
passed the standard that no inserts were pulled out or loosened in the tie, and no components of
the fastening system were fractured. Finally, for test 7, the railway ties will meet the requirements
if a minimum impedance value of 20,000 ohms has been measured. The impedance value for
carbonation-cured ECC railway ties exceeded 200,000 ohms. The main reason for this is that there
are no prestressed wires in our railway ties. Carbonation-cured ECC also passed Test 6. Only 1
marker reached 0.52 cm at 2.7 million cycles which is acceptable for the wear/deterioration test,
showing promising wear resistance. All laboratory test results were reviewed and accepted by
MxV Rail engineers.
After passing all the prerequisite laboratory tests, the remaining 13 carbonation-cured ECC
railway ties were sent to TTCI to conduct STPT on the High Tonnage Loop (HTL) at the Facility
for Accelerated Service Testing (FAST) located in Pueblo, Colorado and included the following
activities:
1. A test section with 13 concrete ties was established on the HTL at FAST.
2. Single tie push testing at 0 million gross tons (MGT) was conducted to characterize the
track lateral stability of the concrete ties.
3. Inspections during and after the train operation were performed to document the
conditions of the ECC tie section.
After the ties arrived, they were unloaded and visually inspected. The visual inspection
showed the ties were intact and in good physical condition. A hydraulic tie inserter was used to
install the ties in the track. The claw of the tie inserter caused the tie surface indentation/damage.
Therefore, the installation method was changed to push the tie ends laterally using a speed swing
to avoid tie damage. One tie experienced breakage during the speed swing push. Based on the
observations made during the installation, to ensure the ties’ in-track performance, one tie was
selected to conduct AREMA bending tests 1A and 1C at the MxV Rail’s Component Testing
Laboratory. Both tests met the AREMA test recommendations and the tie section remained
installed in the track for the duration of the testing.
After the installation of the 13 ties in the test zone, STP testing in accordance with the
AREMA Manual for Railway Engineering, Chapter 30, Part 2, Test 8 – Single Tie Lateral Push
(STP) Test1 was performed at 0 MGT (AREMA 2019). In the test, the force required to push the
tie laterally through the ballast section was measured as a function of the tie’s lateral displacement.
The hydraulic piston was attached to the tie that was then pushed against the rail. The STP tests
were conducted for 0 MGT only. Every other tie in the 13-tie section was pushed for a total of six
pushed ties. During tie pushing, the push forces and tie lateral displacement for each of the six ties
was recorded. In general, the peak forces between 0 and 0.64 cm of the tie lateral displacement are
tracked and evaluated at FAST. The average value of the peak forces was 2.76 kips, an amount
above the required tie lateral resistance of 2 kips for FAST.

13
 After verifying that the carbonated ECC railway ties passed the STP standard, the train
operation began. The track condition, including tie surface condition and track gauge, was
monitored, especially during the first 40 train laps. Several observations were made during this
early inspection: hairline cracks were detected near the rail seat and center of ties and the cracks
grew broader as tonnage accumulated. One tie pad and one insulator were broken in the first 10
laps of train travel. Track gauge was monitored during the entire operation. The track gauge was
maintained within 56.5–57.0 inches in the test section. Thirteen concrete ties were able to hold the
track for the first night. After the first night of operation, however, 12 of the 13 ties had cracks, 8
of the 12 were fully cracked, and 4 of the 12 were half-cracked. Due to safety concerns related to
the presence of these cracks, the entire test section had to be removed from the track and the STP
test at 10 MGT was canceled. Upon its removal, the tie section had accumulated 2.5 MGT.
The carbonated ECC railway ties met the test requirements of the AREMA laboratory design
tests for prestressed concrete ties. Based on the test results, the AREMA tests for prestressed
concrete ties are not indicative of the in-track performance of ECC railway ties. Therefore, post-
test observations were made to clarify the problems with the carbonation-cured ECC railway ties.
The cross-sectional area of the critical crack showed an unexpected non-uniform fiber dispersion
where the fibers were aligned in the same direction as the casting; this limited the performance of
the full-scale railway ties and prevented the ECC from being able to control crack width as it is
designed to do. When scaled up to the larger structural elements, this remains a technical challenge
that may need to be solved in the future. Also, when scaling up to field-scale dimensions, the
amount of CO2 sequestrated per cement mass will likely be lower. Though we can achieve 10 %
CO2 uptake for full-size railway ties (i.e., 12 kg of CO2 capture) by adjusting the carbonation
process, there is still a need to find a way to enhance the carbon sequestration to further decrease
the CO2 footprint for larger ECC precast elements. One solution to achieving greater CO2
sequestration capacity in the carbonated rail ties would be to directly incorporate pre-carbonated
aggregate materials into ECC such as GGBFS (see section 3.1). Since CO2 sequestration capacity
can be limited by slow diffusion into the material, this strategy would allow for the storage of CO2
via mineral carbonation of the aggregate further into large-volume specimens.

3.4 Life Cycle Assessment and Technoeconomic Analyses

Manufacturing cost of a traditional prestressed steal wire concrete tie is estimated to $41/tie.
This estimate includes cost of raw materials, wages, and manufacturing overhead, with the primary
factor being cost of raw materials (75% total cost). The manufacturing cost of a CO2-cured ECC
rail tie is estimated to be $67/tie and is higher due to the greater amount of PC used in ECC and
the addition of PVA fibers. Assuming a cost of CO2 of $440/tCO2 based on cost of recovery and
transport from industrial processes, 11% of the total cost of the CO2-cured ECC tie is due to
purchasing CO2. Estimated cost uncertainty is within 30% and is due mostly to material cost
uncertainties (Lim, Ellis, and Skerlos 2023).
The environmental impact of both the concrete tie and the ECC tie is due primarily to the
amount of PC used in the production of each tie. Across all four mid-point impact categories
(GWP, ODP, AP, EP), the environmental impact increased with ECC by 17-68% due to the
higher amount of PC used in manufacturing of the ECC ties. If CO2 were captured directly from
the air versus from the flue gas emissions of a coal-fired powerplant, only 11.4 kgCO2eq can be
offset by incorporation of 12 kg of air-sourced CO2 into the ECC tie; this results in CO2-cured

14
ECC ties using air-sourced CO2 still having 38% greater GWP than a traditional concrete tie.
concrete tie when use-phase benefits are not accounted.
Switching to CO2-cured ECC ties is estimated to require 45% fewer ties over a 100-year time
horizon based on the median values of the 2,000 iterations for tie failure (see Section 2.4). Use of
fewer ties over this 100-year period would result in an 11% reduction in GWP for ECC ties
compared to concrete ties. These results support prior work that demonstrated the majority of CO2
savings (or emissions reduction) associated with CO2-curing of concrete materials is due to
changes in the physical properties of the material and not the amount of CO2 actually stored (Lim,
Ellis, and Skerlos 2019). Although the cost per tie for ECC is 63% higher than that of a concrete
tie, the total cost of building and maintenance on a 100 km of track made with ECC ties is 12%
less than that when using concrete ties over 100 years. Reductions in cost and CO2 emissions are
driven by enhanced durability and longer service life of ECC ties, which require fewer ties over
the lifetime of the track operation.
Given that tie longevity is the key parameter driving potential benefits of using ECC for
rail tie construction, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to test uncertainties around the
assumption that ECC ties will be more durable in the field. Additional sets of results (1,000
iterations per analysis) were conducted where the average lifespan of ECC ties was continually
decreased from the initially assume 60-year average service life to the point where the lifecycle
cost and GWP of CO2-cured ECC ties becomes higher than that of the concrete ties. It was found
that the ECC ties need to last 25% longer than the concrete ties (60 years average lifespan for ECC
ties vs 40 years average lifespan for concrete ties) in order to achieve a net reduction in CO2eq
emissions. If the CO2-cured ECC ties are able to last an average of 100 years while in service on
the track, there could be a reduction in GWP of 51% and cost savings of 24% over 100 years of
service if ECC ties were used instead of traditional concrete ties (Lim, Ellis, and Skerlos 2023).
Market assessment
North American railroads purchase about 24 million new rail ties each year mainly to replace
degraded ties on the track. According to a recent survey that collected purchase information of 15
million ties in 2017, about 95% of the purchased ties were wood ties. Prestressed concrete ties
represented only 4.7% of the total purchase. Applying this to 24 million total new tie purchases
yields 1.1 million concrete tie sales. Assuming a $100 purchase price of a concrete tie, the annual
concrete tie market in the U.S. can be approximated as 110 million USD/year. On the other hand,
Amtrak has recently announced its plan to replace all wood ties in its busiest northeast corridor
with concrete ties as a part of its infrastructure upgrade efforts. Amtrak currently has
approximately 2.9 million concrete ties installed along its 2,364 track miles (Amtrak 2020).
Assuming 2,640 concrete ties are needed to sustain a mile of track, Amtrak is expected to purchase
3.3 million new concrete ties to replace its current wood ties in the coming decades. This new
demand from Amtrak is driven by multiple factors including rising cost of wood ties and superior
quality of concrete ties. If ECC ties can be proven in the field for its enhanced durability and
become available for mass productions, ECC ties can potentially replace not only concrete but also
wood ties. If all 24 million ties annually being purchased in North American market can be
replaced with ECC ties, the total market size would be about 1.67 billion USD/year assuming 126
$/tie for an ECC tie and accounting for reduced tie needs due to its superior durability.
According to the TEA/LCA model used developed in this project, designing a track with
CO2-cured ECC ties would require 45% less ties over 100 years compared to concrete ties due to

15
their enhanced lifespan. If ECC ties were to be mass-produced to replace new concrete tie demand
for NEC, about 1.8 million ECC ties would be needed. Manufacturing this amount of ECC ties
would permanently sequester 22,000 tonnes of CO2 through carbonation curing. Taking 126 $/tie
as a manufacturing cost of an ECC tie, replacing wood ties in the North East Corridor with ECC
ties would cost 2.8 million USD, which is 16.5% lower than the expected cost with concrete ties.
If ECC ties can be scaled to target the entire North American tie market, nearly 288,000 tonnes of
CO2 would be sequestered.
Key performance metrics
45 67 895 :;<=<>?@
CO2 utilization intensity = ABC.E 67 F88 ;<?
∗ 100 = 3.16%

*" NOPQ" *SSS ,TU * UWX,TU *

4KL ;<?M∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ =b)!c=/ef
&R' VV NOPQ" VYZ.Y[ ,TU V\ ](
CO2 integration reaction rate = "^V.*_" O%U = 1.21 ∗ 10)a 7g=
BL.B !A∗
* ,Z

- CO2 integration reaction rate is based on CO2 curing of 180 ECC ties over 48 hours inside
a single carbonation chamber whose interior volume is 70.7 m3.

55 6h 6h
CO2 energy utilization = S.S*" &PQ" * = 1100 ;cii?M/ec:f 895 :;<=<>?@
KL ;<?M∗ ∗
&R' V\ ](

- CO2 energy utilization only accounts for energy required to recover residual CO2 inside
the carbonation chamber upon completion of curing using a vacuum pump. This value
represents maximum energy requirement from vacuum pump operation.

$ $
4LL ∗(4)L.4)#(EB)a4)
Product marketability = &R'
$ $
&R'
∗ 100 = 92%
4LL # (EB)a4)
&R' &R'

- The manufacturing cost and market value of a conventional tie are estimated as 90 $/tie
and 100 $/tie assuming 10% profit margin (“Benchmarking Report: Precast Industry
Grew by 5% in 2016 - NPCA” n.d.). Note that a 10% profit margin is chosen as a point of
reference and may not represent the margin of the actual ECC plant.
- The manufacturing cost and market value of an ECC tie are estimated by adding
manufacturing cost difference of an ECC tie relative to a concrete tie to the manufacturing
and market value of a concrete tie, respectively.
Incremental cost reduction = 41 – 67 $/tie = -26 $/tie
- Incremental cost reduction is based on manufacturing a single tie only, not accounting for
its use-phase cost reduction opportunities highlighted in the main text of Lim et al. (2023).
Negative value indicates that CO2-cured ECC tie costs more to manufacture compared to
a concrete tie.
CO2 emissions reduction is +60% during manufacturing, meaning 60% more CO2 is emitted when
manufacturing an ECC tie compared to a concrete tie; however, CO2 emissions reduction is -12%
over the lifecycle of ties due to enhanced lifespan of an ECC tie.

16
Technology gap analysis
The process of creating a CO2-cured concrete rail tie does not currently exist in the market
and was tested in this study for the first time. ECC was used as the material of the rail tie and its
unique strain-hardening properties and ability to control crack width allowed for the creation of a
concrete rail tie without the integration of pre-stressing steel wires. As noted in the results of the
LCA and TEA (Lim, Ellis, and Skerlos 2023), the carbonated ECC tie has environmental benefits
over traditional steel-reinforced ties if it is able to have a useful median lifetime of 40% longer
than that of a traditional concrete tie. Bench-scale results for the carbonated ECC showed a high
degree of durability with strain capacity of 3%, which is orders of magnitude higher than traditional
concrete, suggesting the ECC ties may outperform concrete ties in the field from the standpoint of
durability. However, on-track testing of the carbonated ECC ties demonstrated that the ties were
unable to perform as expected and thus additional experimentation is needed to develop a casting
procedure that prevents fiber alignment during pouring of the ECC. This is not an insurmountable
challenge, as there are large-scale demonstrations where ECC has been used in buildings and in
roadways, however, the lack of commercial-scale mixing equipment hindered the ability to achieve
a randomized homogeneous distribution of the fibers within the ECC matrix of the precast rail ties
in this study. Further, full-scale testing of CO2-cured precast materials that incorporate pre-
carbonated aggregate materials is needed to achieve a higher amount of sequestered CO2 in large
volume infrastructure elements.
There is also a remaining challenge with coupling CO2-curing of precast concrete elements
with flue gas gathered directly from a coal-fired powerplant. Pure CO2 was used in this study and
it was found that carbonation was enhanced up to a CO2 partial pressure of 0.5 MPa. Lower PCO2
would slow the rate of CO2 ingress into the cement matrix and result in either a lower total amount
of sequestered CO2 or require longer exposure (curing) times for the precast materials. In this
study, interaction between ECC and gas mixtures that may be more representative of untreated
flue gas streams were not tested in the carbonation experiments. The presence of gases such as
SO2 may lead to lower cement porewater pH values and increased concentrations of SO42- which
could simultaneously inhibit carbonate precipitation (due to lower pH) and potentially increase
formation of deleterious products such as ettringite (Zhang, Li, and Ellis 2019). These challenges
will need to be addressed in further research.

4. Conclusions
This project sought to address technical barriers related to (i) optimizing CO2 carbonation of
cementitious materials, (ii) evaluating physical properties of novel carbonated materials, (iii)
assessing the reductions in life cycle CO2 emissions attributed to CO2 carbonation of precast
cementitious materials. The research approach combined a series of experimental investigations
that examined and sought to optimize the extent of CO2 mineral carbonation of ECC materials.
Incorporation of other industrial solid waste products, including fly ash and ground-granulated
blast furnace slag, into carbonated ECC mixtures was evaluated in an effort to further reduce the
embodied life cycle CO2 emissions of the precast concrete end products. An extensive suite of
characterization techniques was employed to determine if carbonated ECC products will meet or
exceed required industry standards. Based on bench-scale experimental results, an ECC mixture
and optimized carbonation procedure were used to cast full-scale rail road ties that were lab-tested
to meet American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association standards and

17
tested on an actual train track to evaluate performance field performance. At the bench-scale, CO2
sequestration in ECC could achieve 35% CO2 stored per cement mass, while in larger volume
precast products only 8.4% CO2 sequestered per cement mass. This is due to diffusion limitations
of CO2 into the cement matrix and densification of the matrix associated with precipitation of
CaCO3. The CO2-cured ECC retained the durability characteristics of air-cured ECC with a strain
capacity of 3% and ultimate tensile strength of 5 MPa. It also reached a compressive strength of
54 MPa.
Net CO2 emission reductions attributable to CO2 storage in the novel ECC precast rail ties
were evaluated through completion of a full life cycle analysis. Depending on the lifespan of the
CO2-cured ECC ties, there is a potential for net CO2eq emissions of between 11% and 51% over a
100-year time period. Cost reductions are estimated to be on the order of 12% to 24% if ECC ties
are used in place of traditional concrete ties. Tie durability is the key parameter driving CO2 and
cost reductions; the ECC ties would have to have an average service life that is a minimum of 25%
longer than the concrete ties in order to achieve net CO2 reductions and cost savings over a 100-
year period. The CO2-cured ECC ties produced and tested on-track as part of this study lacked the
expected durability due to the occurrence of fiber alignment during tie casting. These ties were not
able to represent the performance characteristics of ECC materials and highlight challenges with
scaling production from bench-scale to full-scale infrastructure elements. Future efforts will need
to overcome this challenge in order to test the true viability of this novel cementitious material for
rail tie manufacturing.

Acknowledgements:
The work conducted in this study was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under award
number DE-FE0030684. The following authors contributed to the work performed in this project
and presented in this final report: Brian R. Ellis (PI), Victor C. Li (co-PI), Steven J. Skerlos (co-PI),
Duo Zhang, Wei-Hsiu Hu, Tae Lim, Haoliang Wu, Jubilee Adeoye, and Alex Neves Junior.

18
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