Concrete, second only to water in its usage, relies heavily on cement\u2014a material traditionally produced through a process that significantly impacts the environment. The global cement production industry is responsible for about 8% of annual carbon emissions, primarily due to the use of fossil fuel-fired kilns to heat limestone, a process that emits large amounts of CO2.<\/p>\n
In an effort to decarbonize the $410 billion global cement industry, innovative methods are being developed, and startups like Brimstone, Fortera, and Massachusetts-based Sublime Systems are at the forefront of this transformation.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur process doesn\u2019t emit CO2. It avoids all CO2 emissions, both from the fossil fuel and from the limestone,\u201d said Leah Ellis, CEO of Sublime Systems. Sublime employs chemicals instead of heat and uses alternative minerals rather than limestone.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy decomposing minerals at ambient temperature using electrochemistry, it actually allows us to use minerals that contain calcium for cement that aren\u2019t limestone, and that\u2019s what makes us true zero as opposed to net zero,\u201d Ellis explained.<\/p>\n
As with other new technologies, this approach is more expensive. However, climate-conscious companies like WS Development in Boston are willing to invest in this sustainable cement. WS Development\u2019s One Boston Wharf Road will be the largest net zero office building in the city, featuring Sublime cement in its ground floor public space.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs people walk through this building on a day-to-day basis, they\u2019ll be able to interact with the product and learn more about a net zero carbon future in the built environment,\u201d said Yanni Tsipis, a senior vice president with WS Development.<\/p>\n
Sublime Systems recently received an $87 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy to cover half the cost of its first commercial plant in the state. The company has raised $45 million in funding from venture capital backers, including Lower Carbon Capital, Engine Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, Prime Impact Fund, Siam Cement Group, and MCJ Collective.<\/p>\n
Ellis noted that Sublime Systems has conducted extensive testing on the product\u2019s durability and anticipates being competitive with traditional Portland cement at scale. The new plant is expected to produce 30,000 tons of clean cement per year, compared to the 90 million tons of cement produced annually in the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a first-of-a-kind process, and we\u2019re competing with technologies that have been scaled to a million tons per year plus for decades. So, in the beginning, just like solar panels and wind turbines, we will have a cost premium, but our goal is to have a swift and massive impact,\u201d Ellis said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Revolutionizing the $410 Billion Cement Industry with Carbon-Free Cement Production<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":331,"featured_media":48092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[10590,15001,4745],"class_list":["post-48091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech","tag-startup","tag-sublime-systems","tag-tech"],"reading_time":"3 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}