This startup has revealed details of its production process that eliminates polluting Portland cement and offers USA builders a greener alternative
Meet the Los Angeles company that has eliminated the use of ‘ordinary’ Portland cement in its low-carbon concrete blocks. CarbonBuilt is claiming a dramatic reduction in the amount of embodied carbon in its products.
Nearly all of the world’s concrete contains Portland cement, a limestone and clay fusion that’s cheap, abundant — and extremely carbon-intensive to produce. As a result, cement and concrete production are responsible for roughly 8 percent of human-caused global CO2 emissions every year.
CarbonBuilt’s approach involves replacing traditional Portland cement with calcium-rich, low-carbon industrial waste materials. In May, the company began commercial production of its sustainable concrete at a partner facility in the city of Childersburg, Alabama.
Since then, CarbonBuilt has been working to gradually scale down the share of Portland cement in its mix and boost the percentage of alternative materials.
The achievement means “these blocks will now contain near-zero embodied carbon,” she added.
CarbonBuilt and its local partner Blair Block said they plan to produce the Portland-cement-free blocks at “commercial volume” in Alabama starting in early 2024.
Their goal is to steadily ramp up until they reach full capacity of 6,000 blocks per day.
At least a dozen other startups and manufacturers are working to develop their own concoctions to dramatically reduce or replace the use of carbon-intensive cement in concrete — the world’s most common building material, used in everything from buildings, bridges and roads to dams, power plants and wind-turbine foundations.
Read more on this story at the CarbonBuilt website HERE
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