2023年5月18日

混凝土制造商在世界各地竞相从无处不在但hard-to-decarbonize行业减排。本周,全球努力迈出了重要的一步,在阿拉巴马州中部设施。启动CarbonBuilt周三称,商业生产的低碳混凝土已经开始在植物Childersburg的城市。布莱尔,当地砌体制造商制造厚的灰色块使用CarbonBuilt的小说技术,启动索赔可以降低整体concrete-making二氧化碳排放量到70年提高到100%。“这不仅是一个里程碑CarbonBuilt和布莱尔,也为更广泛的混凝土和建筑材料行业,“拉胡尔Shendure, CarbonBuilt的CEO,在一份声明中说。“我们已经表明,可以大大减少碳排放从混凝土生产成本或性能的前提下。“订阅接收CarbonBuilt金丝雀的最新消息是在一个快速增长的集团公司和研究机构致力于解决最concrete-making过程的碳密集型组件:波特兰水泥。石灰石和粘土的融合是一个重要的成分,但它加热时释放出大量的二氧化碳。今天,世界每年生产超过40亿吨的水泥。因此,水泥生产占全球二氧化碳排放量的7 - 8%。 CarbonBuilt’s own alternative-cement process involves using calcium-rich industrial waste materials, which are then combined with water and aggregates. The mixture is pressed into molds and placed inside a temperature-controlled chamber. The startup then flows CO2 into the chamber, driving a chemical reaction that forms solid concrete and permanently traps carbon in the blocks. The startup formed in UCLA’s engineering school in 2014, then spun out in 2019. The Los Angeles–based company previously demonstrated its technology at coal- and gas-fired power plants in northern Wyoming and in Wilsonville, Alabama, where the U.S. Department of Energy operates the National Carbon Capture Center. In 2021, CarbonBuilt won $7.5 million from the NRG Cosia Carbon Xprize for its technology. Get Caught Up Blair Block retrofitted an existing production line to use CarbonBuilt's novel technology in Alabama. (CarbonBuilt) Along with the Childersburg project, CarbonBuilt is also participating in a new high-tech initiative in Flagstaff, Arizona, as Canary Media reported in March. Block-Lite , a local masonry business, said it plans to produce concrete by combining CarbonBuilt’s unique process with technology that removes carbon dioxide directly from the sky. The Alabama project will source its CO2 not from fledgling “direct air capture” facilities but from forestry waste that’s processed in an on-site furnace. CarbonBuilt and Blair Block retrofitted an existing commercial plant, which Shendure said cost a couple of million dollars to build. However, the low-carbon concrete blocks themselves won’t cost any more to produce than traditional concrete. CarbonBuilt didn’t say exactly how much low-carbon concrete the facility will produce on the retrofitted line. Whatever the number is, it’s likely to barely even scratch the surface compared to the 1.5 billion concrete blocks produced in the U.S. alone every year. The startup says the first converted line at Blair Block will avoid at least 2,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions, roughly equal to the annual emissions from 252 average U.S. homes. It will also remove another 500 metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere through the forestry waste it uses as an input. C&C Masonry , a leading contractor across Alabama, said it plans to use the alternative blocks for its upcoming projects. The company is building or bidding for several projects this year that could require using up to 100,000 concrete blocks for use in large public projects around the state, a representative said by email. At 29 pounds a piece, this would translate into nearly 1,500 metric tons of low-carbon blocks. For CarbonBuilt, the launch of its first commercial production line could help pave the way for retrofitting more of the nation’s 800 or so concrete plants. Many of them are local, family-run businesses like the companies CarbonBuilt is partnering with in Alabama and Arizona. “We look forward to replicating this success at concrete masonry plants around the country,” Shendure said in the statement.