, a Canadian carbon-tech company, makes a cement-like material from CO2 that reduces the carbon footprint of concrete. The material has attracted a lot of attention since it acquired a large investment from Amazon’s $2-billion Climate Pledge Fund in 2020, and the company is also backed by Bill Gates.
The resulting cement, however, is stronger than conventionally manufactured concrete, so builders can use smaller amounts of it in their mixes. The company says CarbonCure concrete has a 5-percent lower footprint than regular concrete. CarbonCure has developed a technology for manufacturing an additive from carbon dioxide extracted from the stacks of such emitters as fertilizer plants and industrial gas manufacturers, the company explains. It provides environmental benefit twice, by diverting the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere and converting it into a mineral, then locking the resulting product away in concrete to use it as a replacement for the Portland cement.
The cement industry has always been among the biggest CO2 discharge sources with 1984 lbs CO2 released with each production per one metric ton of cement. CarbonCure is one solution among many for cutting emissions from cement, which account for as much as 8 percent of the global total.
'It provides environmental benefit twice, by diverting the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere and converting it into a mineral, then locking the resulting product away in concrete to use it as a replacement for the Portland cement.' Planeteers would love to read this.