When you add water to dry concrete mix, it reacts with chemical components of the cement - calcium, silicon and aluminum oxides - to form a paste which thickens around the aggregate, binding it together as the mixture hardens. Without this hydration reaction, the concrete can't properly bind and remains soupy. Sugar molecules interfere with this process, possibly by preventing the particles in the cement from clumping. However, there may be a more chemistry-based explanation. Aluminum and calcium can react with sugar to form insoluble chemical complexes, meaning they cannot be readily dissolved in water

Apparently, refined white sugar works best, while lactose has only minor effects. Setting can be increasingly delayed by adding more sugar, up to 1% of the cement volume. After this, the concrete will not harden at all! I learned about this from a facebook-circulating antifa post, with the intent of getting activists to use sugar to sabotage a border wall

[–] stinky@redlemmy.com 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Companies building plants of this size are likely to have law enforcement or private security protecting the build operation. It would be illegal and dangerous to go anywhere near that site with white sugar while concrete trucks are turning.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You can edit your earlier comments, it's not necessary to reply to yourself

[–] stinky@redlemmy.com 2 points 6 days ago

I do it out of courtesy when the follow-up comment is not strictly related, so that it can be folded away by readers

[–] stinky@redlemmy.com 3 points 1 week ago

The article cites a corporate document which lists a large number of proposed plants:

LNG Projects:

Guyana

Start-up: 2025 to 2027

Brazil (Bacalhau Phase 1)

Start-up: 2025

Papua

Start-up: 2025

Rovuma Phase 1

Start-up: 2025 and beyond

Product Solutions:

China Chemical Complex

Start-up: 2025

Fawley Hydrofiner

Start-up: 2025

Singapore Resid Upgrade

Start-up: 2025

Strathcona Renewable Diesel

Start-up: 2025

Advanced Recycling

Start-up: 2025-2027

U.S. Gulf Coast Asset Reconfiguration

Start-up: 2028-2030

Next Renewable Fuels

Start-up: 2028-2030

Specialty Products:

Proxxima™ Thermoset Resins

Start-up: 2025-2030

Advanced Coke for Battery Anode Materials (Carbon Materials)

Start-up: 2028-2030

Low Carbon Solutions:

Donaldsonville, Louisiana (CF Industries)

Start-up: 2025

Convent, Louisiana (Nucor Steel)

Start-up: 2026

Beaumont, Texas (Linde)

Start-up: 2026

Gillis, Louisiana (New Generation Gas Gathering - NG3)

Start-up: 2026

Yazoo City, Mississippi (CF Industries)

Start-up: 2028

Baytown, Texas (Blue Hydrogen)

Start-up: 2029

Lafayette County, Arkansas (Lithium Deep Brine Direct Lithium Extraction)

Start-up: 2028

Summary:

ExxonMobil is expanding its operations across Guyana, Brazil, Papua, Rovuma, China, Singapore, the U.S. Gulf Coast (Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas), and Beaumont with new plants expected to start up between 2025 and 2030.