(T) Cement and steel represent together 16% of our total worldwide greenhouses emissions. The consumption of fossil fuels to produce steel has not decreased since the 1970s. And, the production of cement is consuming more fossil fuels as we have improved the quality of the cement with clinker. In addition, the production of cement has shifted toward developing countries which are using more coals for its production.

There are fortunately a few universities and start-ups which are working on producing low-carbon emission cement and steel. Unfortunately, there are not enough of them.

But one of them is Sublime Systems which was founded by two MIT battery scientists – Leah Ellis and Yet-Ming Chiang.

The January/February issue of the MIT Technology Review had an excellent article on Sublime Systems:

“The startup is developing an entirely new way to make cement. Instead of heating crushed-up rocks in lava-hot kilns, Sublime’s technology zaps them in water with electricity, kicking off chemical reactions that form the main ingredients in its cement.

Over the course of the past several years, the startup has gone from making batches of cement that could fit in the palm of your hand to starting up a pilot facility that can produce around 100 tons each year. While it’s still tiny compared with traditional cement plants, which can churn out a million tons or more annually, the pilot line represents the first crucial step to proving that electrochemistry can stand up to the challenge of producing one of the world’s most important building materials.

By the end of the decade, Sublime plans to have a full-scale manufacturing facility up and running that’s capable of producing a million tons of material each year. But traditional large-scale cement plants can cost over a billion dollars to build and outfit. Competing with established industry players will require Sublime to scale fast while raising the additional funding it will need to support that growth. The end of 0% interest rates makes such a task increasingly difficult for any business, but especially for one producing a commodity like cement. And in a high-stakes, low-margin industry like construction, Sublime will need to persuade builders to use its material in the first place.”

Here is an another introduction about Sublime from Dr. Ellis:

And in a published paper, the key technology of Sublime:

• Toward electrochemical synthesis of cement — An electrolyzer-based process for decarbonating CaCO₃ while producing useful gas streams

Stanford University has as well a few researchers working on low-carbon emission cement – but their approach is quite different from Sublime.

Stanford’s Professor Vanario and her team are investigating “a cement-processing technique that replaces limestone with carbon-free volcanic rocks and mimics how fibrous microstructures effectively reinforce rocks. The new process significantly slashes carbon dioxide emissions during manufacturing allowing for reductions of 70% of CO2 emissions, and can potentially increase durability“.

For more:

• Tiziana Vanorio: Low-carbon cement for a better world

Note: The picture above is the Water Lilly Pond from Claude Monet’s house in Giverny.

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