Equipment and methods proved at commercial scale to mineralize and sequester carbon dioxide gas in finished concrete have earned their developers, CarbonBuilt and CarbonCure Technologies, top honors in NRG Cosia Carbon Xprize, a $20 million global competition centered on managing and monetizing emissions from coal and natural gas combustion.
The companies will receive $7.5 million each to further develop their technologies for ready mixed and manufactured concrete production and curing. They prevailed among eight other finalists three from the United States, two from Canada, one from China, India, and United Kingdom in a six-year competition to see which team could capture the most carbon dioxide in the highest valued product(s). The 10 finalists received $500,000 for reaching the third (2019-2020) of three Carbon Xprize rounds. Launched in 2015 with 47 submissions from teams in seven countries, the competition progressed under the carbon-minded Xprize Foundation of Culver City, Cal
Carbon-sucking concrete is capturing attention and funding
Heather Clancy, GreenBiz.com
Share
Credit: Carboncure
Investment is starting to flow into the carbon capture and utilisation space following a number of landmark deals
Carbon-sequestering concrete is having a moment.
In mid-April, two climate-tech startups focused on decarbonizing the world s most widely used construction material, CarbonCure Technologies and UCLA CarbonBuilt, split the top prize in the $20m NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE competition. Each will receive $7.5m to further the development and commercialization of their approaches.
ADVERTISEMENT
Both startups address CO2 at the manufacturing site. The UCLA CarbonBuilt approach captures CO2 generated during production and then infuses it into the concrete, using hydrated lime. The process uses 60 to 90 per cent less ordinary portland cement (aka calcium silicate cement), and it doesn t require as much heat, which has an energy efficiency benefit. CarbonCure als