Blocks will be used in ongoing construction projects in Alabama.
LOS ANGELES | September 21, 2023
CarbonBuilt® today announced that it has accomplished a key technical milestone: commercial production of a 100% Ordinary Portland cement (OPC)-free binder that integrates seamlessly with existing concrete manufacturing equipment and the company’s CO2 sequestration technology.
Leveraging the company’s core technology, this low-cost, low-carbon cement alternative chemically reacts with captured CO2 to create concrete blocks that perform the same as and cost no more to make than traditional products, yet contain near zero-to-negative embodied carbon.
CarbonBuilt’s first commercial partner, Blair Block, located in Childersburg, Alabama, used the cement-free binder and retrofitted CO2 curing chambers to produce the blocks during routine production runs to confirm that no additional process adjustments would be necessary.
CarbonBuilt and Blair Block intend to produce these near-zero embodied carbon concrete blocks at commercial volume in early 2024.
“Our technology enables the concrete industry to decarbonize profitably. While carbon-negative concrete is not a prerequisite for this to happen, it has been our goal to demonstrate no-compromise carbon-negative concrete, and eliminating OPC from the mix demonstrates that it is possible.”
— Rahul Shendure, CEO of CarbonBuilt
“Combining this cement-free mix design with the low-cost utilization of CO2,” said Shendure, “gives us a clear path to the commercial production of carbon-negative concrete at scale.
CarbonBuilt’s core technology replaces high-cost and high-carbon cement with a low-cost, low-carbon cement alternative.
During the manufacturing process, CarbonBuilt’s binder hardens by chemically reacting with captured atmospheric CO2 which not only strengthens the blocks, but also permanently stores the CO2 in solid, mineral form.
The resulting near-zero embodied carbon concrete blocks look the same, perform the same and meet all the same building and industry standards as traditional products, but with 70-100+% less embodied carbon.
CarbonBuilt’s curing technology bolts on to existing concrete manufacturing plants where the combination of lower input costs and shared carbon credit revenue enables producers to make ultra-low carbon concrete without any compromises.
Products made with CarbonBuilt technology do not require special orders and are currently flowing into projects in the area, including a new firehouse in West Montgomery, Alabama.
ABOUT CARBONBUILT®
CarbonBuilt, winner of the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, enables concrete manufacturers to produce ultra-low carbon concrete products with 70-100+% less embodied carbon.
CarbonBuilt’s technology replaces most of the expensive, high-carbon Portland cement typically used during concrete manufacturing with a proprietary low-cost cement alternative made from widely-available low carbon materials.
These materials harden after chemically reacting with CO2, to not only strengthen the blocks, but also permanently store the CO2 in solid form, diverting it from the atmosphere.
Because it can be cost-effectively installed at existing concrete manufacturing plants and delivers products that meet ASTM C90 and other applicable industry standards without increasing costs, CarbonBuilt’s technology can be rapidly adopted by the nearly 800 concrete plants in the U.S. alone. More information is available at www.carbonbuilt.com
MEDIA CONTACT
John Williams, Scoville PR for CarbonBuilt
jwilliams@scovillepr.co
+1-206-660-5503
