After water, concrete is the most used material on earth. Cement the primary ingredient of concrete is not kind to the planet. The global cement production industry accounts for about 8% of carbon emissions annually. It’s usually made by heating limestone, a carbonate rock, using fossil fuel-fired kilns.
In order to decarbonize the cement industry which is worth $410 billion dollars scientists are creating new ways to produce it, and startups like Brimstone, Fortera and Massachusetts-based Sublime Systems are putting those new methods to work. CEO of Sublime Systems Leah Ellis said “Our process doesn’t emit CO2. It avoids all CO2 emissions, both from the fossil fuel and from the limestone.”
Sublime uses chemicals instead of heat and other minerals instead of limestone. Ellis further explained “By decomposing minerals at ambient temperature using electrochemistry, it actually allows us to use minerals that contain calcium for cement that aren’t limestone, and that’s what makes us true zero as opposed to net zero.”
Other new technologies are new and expensive to use but companies like WS Development in Boston are willing to pay more for the cement. One Boston Wharf building will be the largest net-zero office building in the city with Sublime cement in the ground floor public space. Yanni Tsipis, a senior vice president with WS Development quoted “As people walk through this building on a day-to-day basis, they’ll be able to interact with the product and learn more about a net zero carbon future in the built environment.”
An $87 million award was given by the US Department of Energy to Sublime that would cover the cost of its first commercial plant in the state. Its venture capital backers are Lower Carbon Capital, Engine Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, Prime Impact Fund, Siam Cement Group and MCJ Collective. It has raised $45 million in funding so far. Ellis further added that Sublime Systems has done formidable testing on the durability of the product and expects at scale to be competitive with its rival Portland cement. Once the new plant is up and running the production could increase 30,000 tons of clean cement per year.
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