## 4 Technological Developments of Sulfur in Construction  
### Modified Sulfur Cake Concrete  
The potential use of sulfur concrete technologies as a durable and sustainable alternative to conventional Portland cement concrete, particularly in infrastructure exposed to an aggressive environment, has garnered substantial attention. The main ingredient of the sulfur concrete is a molten thermoplastic binder with sulfur, that can be supplemented with other materials in the form of additives by way of improved performance of the composite made of the sulfur concrete and modified sulfur cake. Sulfur concrete commonly follows a mix design, utilizing binder to aggregate ratios of 1:3 to 1:5, depending on the required  
Figure 4: Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of (**a**) olefinic hydrocarbon and (**b**) modified sulfur, illustrating the characteristic functional group vibrations and chemical modifications associated with sulfur incorporation. Both images are reproduced from [PERSON] et al., 2015 [50], in their original form under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). mechanical properties and usage. To place sulfur concrete's mechanical and durability performance into perspective, a comparative review of various modified concrete is provided in Table 7. In addition to its mechanical and chemical advantages, sulfur concrete offers significant environmental benefits--most notably in reducing CO\({}_{2}\) emissions. Unlike Portland cement, whose production is responsible for approximately 0.8-1 ton of CO\({}_{2}\) per ton of cement due to limestone calcination and energy-intensive kiln operations, sulfur concrete requires no hydration reaction, no water, and no high-temperature clinker production [3]. The primary binder for elemental sulfur or modified sulfur cake is often a by-product of oil refining or gas desulfurization, representing a waste-to-resource approach that offsets industrial disposal needs while minimizing raw material extraction [1; 4]. When sulfur is sourced from industrial residues like modified sulfur cake, the associated carbon footprint is further reduced, as the production process becomes a low-energy, circular economy model. Life-cycle analyses from the recent literature suggest that sulfur concrete can lead to 60-80% lower embodied CO\({}_{2}\) emissions compared to ordinary Portland cement concrete, especially when manufactured and applied under ambient or mildly elevated temperatures [67]. Moreover, the rapid-setting and reusable nature of sulfur concrete contributes to reduced construction time and lower on-site energy consumption, supporting sustainable infrastructure goals [68]. These attributes make sulfur-based composites particularly promising for environmentally sensitive applications such as coastal structures, desert regions, and fast-deployable military or emergency infrastructure, where both durability and carbon efficiency are paramount [51; 69]. This ratio is an important parameter to optimize because a higher sulfur content, in general, increases workability and chemical resistance, whereas excessive amounts of sulfur can discourage compressive strength because of decreased rigidity in the matrix [70].