Carbo Culture launches a new R&D program on carbon materials, aims to decarbonize concrete
We’re thrilled to announce that we have been accepted into Stage 2 of the Carbon-To-Value challenge hosted by SPRIND, the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation.
Our claim: we can decarbonize the concrete industry by replacing cement with biochar, and we can do that while adding unique benefits to the material by leveraging Carbo Culture biochar’s conductive properties.
Concrete is one of the most widely used materials in the world, accounting for 5–8% of global CO2 emissions. Cement, which is our area of focus, makes up most of those emissions in concrete. Our research has shown that we can substitute 10% of cement with biochar without any adverse effects to the resulting mechanical strength.
This is what makes the concrete sector so compelling. The widespread use of concrete means that our built environment can become a massive store of carbon, and integrating biochar even in small amounts, like 10%, can have a huge impact. By combining the reduction in cement emissions with the carbon stored in biochar, we are targeting the creation of carbon neutral concrete.
While our R&D efforts are extremely encouraging, during Stage 2, we’ll be working on further optimizing the cement recipe, translating our results to concrete, and further exploring the benefits biochar will have in concrete.
This is no easy feat, but we have the right team of scientists and material experts working on the solution.
If you are a materials researcher or work at a sustainability focused cement company please reach out to us (matthew@carboculture.com) to help build the future of low carbon cement.
