It's a concrete that: 1) breaks down in water in a day(!), and 2) has a "5 times higher impact on human health and 3 times higher impact on eco-toxicity as compared to concrete.".

Cool research, but I'll pass on using it.

Interesting. The degradation in wet conditions seems like a major challenge to solve.

I initially was skeptical of the utility when I saw the mention of heating requirements, but the temperatures aren’t that extreme, and seem very reasonably achieved with electrified energy sources (which in turn can easily be supplied via renewables).

Being able to produce concrete without the emissions involved with the production of portland cement is a major goal of decarbonizing the building stock, so it’s always good to see new lines of research in this front, even if still in the germinal stages!

ARPA-E Hestia has some cool alternatives (a bit further along in research stages) for those interested:

https://arpa-e.energy.gov/technologies/programs/hestia

Stop using food for anything else than food, people. We don't have enough arable land to waste on this stuff.

Does the polymerization prevent biodegradation (e.g. digestion by fungus)

I don't think I have access to the full paper, but it is described as biodegradable, which seems to be the opposite of what you'd want your house to be made of?

A big possible issue with this is that cornstarch (at least the way it's currently produced) has the same carbon footprint as portland cement, which it replaces in this process.

https://apps.carboncloud.com/climatehub/product-reports/id/7....

> Under water submerged conditions (20˚C), hardened CoRncrete specimens showed partial to complete degradation within a day.

While this certainly isn't great for most obvious building use-cases, I wonder if it would have utility for ex. building a research base on the moon someday.

Corn-based electrical insulators proved problematic in cars due to rodents eating the tasty insulators. Something to check in testing this material. Mycelium based construction materials may be more beneficial due to fire resistance, insulation and excellent R values and relative unpalatability. Ecovative is a good place to learn about this (no personal affiliations, just a fan.)

This has been out for quite a while, there's even a YouTube video from 2015 showing how to make it using a microwave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7dYcJaCOMU

Full article here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09500...

HN meta: an actual research paper vs product posing as science. Nice.

I'm gonna guess it's more likely that it won't last as a building material, rather than believe no one thought to mix sand, cornstarch and water until now..

This is a thing not because it adds strength or sustainability. We produce way too much corn and they are looking for ways to use them up.

Portland cement is not easily replaceable in its main use (building construction) because concrete made with organic substances as sand grain binders, be it cornstarch or epoxy-polymer, isn't fire resistant.

The compressive strength of cornstarch concrete maxes out at 26 MPa according to the paper, while different Portland cement formulations range from 20-50 MPa, and epoxy-polymer can go up to > 100 MPa, though brittleness is a problem.

The optimal strategy for cleaning up Portland cement production is probably (1) renewable-based electrification of the kilns used to make CaO from CaCO3 (limestone), and (2) capture and stabilization of the CO2 from the kilns in a form like carbon fiber or diamond. Still a bit sci-fi but technologically feasible (but not economical at present).

Topsoil is very limited, this seems like a bad idea.

Do ants eat it? They eat some corn-based insulation I have.

please, let it be the registed commertial name. I would be awsome.

Encouraged to see the skepticism here.

Recalling when, after years of hype, the demand for corn-based ethanol as a fuel competed with corn for food, leading to even greater food insecurity world-wide.

Grifter's gotta grift, but that doesn't mean their BS gets to go unchallenged.

How does it handle water?

(2017)

Before you get too excited:

- Global production of corn: 1.2 gigatonnes, source https://ipad.fas.usda.gov/cropexplorer/cropview/commodityVie...

- Global production of Portland cement: 4.1 gigatonnes, source https://gccassociation.org/key-facts/

And of course, cornstarch is only about 70% of the weight of corn. IIRC grain production statistics are usually by dry weight, but if we assume wet weight, it's even worse. Even if we completely obliterated the meat and biofuel industries worldwide, we would struggle to meet a quarter of the current demand for cement, which anyway is forecast to increase.

Ohio has entered the chat

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