The year is off to an auspicious start for Carbicrete, whose made-at-不良研究所 technology could make concrete products more environmentally friendly.
The Montreal startup was named this month to the 2020聽, a list compiled by San Francisco-based research firm Cleantech Group as 鈥渁 guide to the most innovative and promising companies poised to impact the market and the future of global industries in the next five to ten years.鈥�
Carbicrete鈥檚 debut in the Cleantech 100 comes on the heels of several pivotal developments in the three-year-old company鈥檚 drive to turn its potential into commercial reality. It also comes as a growing number of corporations are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint..Microsoft, for instance, said last week it aims to聽聽by 2030.
Last month, Harsco Corp., a Pennsylvania-based company that operates in more than 30 countries, announced a聽聽by its Environmental division in Carbicrete. That coincided with a $2.1 million grant from the Government of Canada鈥檚 Sustainable Development Technology Canada foundation.
Pilot project in Drummondville
The recent investments will enable Carbicrete to launch an industrial-scale pilot project in partnership with Patio Drummond, a Drummondville, Que., maker of paving stones and other concrete products. Carbicrete plans to begin production of 鈥渃oncrete masonry units鈥� 鈥� better known as cinder blocks 鈥� at the Drummondville plant in mid-2020, with a goal of building toward output of 25,000 blocks per day, Yuri Mytko (BA鈥�99), Carbicrete鈥檚 chief marketing officer, said in a telephone interview.
Carbicrete鈥檚 technology, first developed in a 不良研究所 Engineering lab, is designed to make carbon-negative precast concrete products for the building industry. Unlike conventional blocks, which use Portland cement to bind the concrete together, Carbicrete鈥檚 blocks use steel slag 鈥� a waste material from steel-making plants.
The process of making cement is a major contributor to climate change. Each year, more than four billion tons of cement are produced, accounting for around 8 per cent of global carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions, according to a聽, the London-based policy institute.
By eliminating cement from its concrete mix, Carbicrete cuts CO2聽emissions from the production process. On top of that, while conventional concrete is cured using heat and steam, Carbicrete instead uses carbon-dioxide to cure its concrete 鈥� thereby permanently sequestering the CO2.
Carbon-negative footprint
The combination of cement-free production and CO2聽utilization results in a carbon-negative footprint. 鈥淧roduction of a conventional concrete block results in about 2 kilograms of CO2聽emissions,鈥� says Mehrdad Mahoutian, Carbicrete鈥檚 co-founder and Chief Technology Officer. 鈥淓ach of our blocks actually stores about a kilogram of CO2.鈥�
Mahoutian (PhD鈥�14) worked on the technology as a PhD student with 不良研究所 engineering professor Yixin Shao, with whom he shared a 2015-2016 William and Rhea Seath Award in Engineering Innovation from the聽Faculty of Engineering鈥檚 Innovation and Entrepreneurship hub.
In 2018, Carbicrete was selected as one of 10 finalist teams from five countries in the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, a four-and-a-half-year global competition challenging teams to transform the way the world addresses CO2听emissions with breakthrough technologies that convert carbon dioxide emissions from power plants into valuable products.
With the Harsco and Government of Canada investments in place, Carbicrete is now focusing its development efforts on the pilot project in Drummondville, says Chris Stern (BEng鈥�94), Carbicrete鈥檚 chief executive officer. 鈥淗arsco Environmental鈥檚 world-leading materials processing experience and commitment to clean technology make them an ideal partner as we work toward bringing a cost-effective, cement-free concrete solution to the global construction industry.鈥�
This article was originally published in the .