Interview with Solidia, developing sustainable cement
Solidia is a cement and concrete company that uses proprietary technology to make cement and concrete production as sustainable as possible.
One important note is to understand (and articulate in your report) the difference between cement and concrete. Cement is used as the binder in concrete….the glue that holds concrete together. Cement is a key element of concrete’s supply chain. Cement emits carbon; concrete does not. In an effort to overcome the barriers to adoption and scale the two technologies that Solidia offers, they addressed pain points faced respectively by cement and concrete manufacturers….in addition to offering a vastly superior sustainability profile.
1. Solidia’s main goal is to make cement more sustainable. What about cement makes it so unsustainable to either manufacture or use?
Carbon pollution, water scarcity, energy use and solid waste rank among humanity’s most dire global challenges. Few solutions have enough impact to reverse them fast enough, and few single markets are large enough to make a meaningful impact. Concrete is the most widely used material in the world. The production of cement, which is used to make concrete, is responsible for 8% of total global carbon emissions, ranking it as the world’s 2nd largest CO₂ emitter. For every tonne of cement produced, a tonne of CO₂ is released into the atmosphere. Additionally, each year, 3 trillion liters of fresh water are consumed during concrete production. With rapid urbanization and population growth across the world, concrete demand is expected to grow. The world needs a solution. Solidia has a viable one.
At scale, each year Solidia’s technologies will be able to reduce:
the carbon footprint of concrete by up to 70%, equaling 1.5 gigatonnes or ~4% of the world’s CO2 emissions, with the potential to do more;
water usage up to 100%, avoiding the consumption of 3 trillion liters of fresh water…enough to fill 1 million Olympic swimming pools;
energy consumption at cement plants equal to ~260 million barrels of oil (or 67 million tonnes of coal)…especially critical in developing markets where cement production represents almost 50% of industrial energy use; and
landfills by eliminating at least 100 million tonnes of concrete waste.
2. Where did the inspiration come from to make cement more sustainable, as not many people think of cement as unsustainable?
The industry has been well aware of its carbon emissions issue for quite some time. For years, cement manufacturers have been working internally on innovative processes, practices and technologies that have made cement more environmentally friendly. The industry also invests in new technologies, just cement industry leader LafargeHolcim has with Solidia. Consumers are just recently starting to understand the issues surrounding cement.
3. What about Solidia’s cement differentiates it from regular cement in terms of sustainability?
Solidia Cement™ requires less energy to produce, and, consequently, emits less carbon than traditional cement which is called ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Solidia Concrete™ cures with carbon dioxide (CO2) instead of water and performs better. A durable replacement for OPC-based concrete, Solidia Concrete actually consumes CO2 during curing, permanently transforming it.
Solidia’s CO2 curing process is an excellent example of carbon utilization. There is a large emphasis now on promoting Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS). Solidia’s curing process represents the U (utilization) in CCUS.
4. When using Solidia’s cement, are there any differences in cost or quality?
Both of Solidia’s technologies for cement and concrete production save manufacturers time and money while improving production and enhancing product performance.
Solidia Cement™ saves energy. Currently sold in the US, Solidia Concrete™ products are higher performing, cost less to produce, and cure in less than 24 hours compared to the traditional 28 days. Our technologies are easy to adopt, using the industry’s existing infrastructure, raw materials, formulations, production methods, and specifications. We can measure and prove our impact and performance, and we can scale quickly.
Solidia Concrete can be designed for compressive strength, abrasion resistance and freeze-thaw cycling resilience that are equal to, or better than, that of traditional concrete. The many value-added benefits to manufacturers include:
No primary efflorescence
Brighter colors
Cures faster
Uses less energy
Uses less water / recycles water
5. A part of Solidia’s process implements artificial intelligence into concrete production and curing. How exactly are you using cutting-edge software while producing concrete?
Solidia’s “Intelligent Curing” process uses censors in the curing chambers to ascertain the ideal point at which the CO2 should be injected into the chamber. They wait until enough of the water used to form the products has evaporated to make “room,” if you will, for the CO2 molecules, which are then broken apart and transformed. These sensors give manufacturers eyes on the process, which enables quality control and improvements in manufacturing.
Solidia has also teamed with Uncountable to speed the process for testing formulas for concrete. Employing data science, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Uncountable’s web platform and service enables Solidia and its customers to improve production and products by trialing myriad concrete formulations without years of experimentation. It serves as a bridge between R&D at Solidia and optimization at customer facilities during pilot and commercial phases.
“Because our chemistry is simple, we can model, measure and predict the manufacturing process and quantify and prove all performance and impact improvements,” said Solidia CEO Tom Schuler. “Uncountable helps us accelerate product development by dramatically speeding data analysis, helping us predict iterations and move much more quickly.”
Using the same raw materials and equipment of concrete plants, Solidia tailors its technology to customers’ existing formulations and manufacturing processes. Solidia is working with Uncountable to expedite evaluation of the broad space of chemistries available for concrete formulations. “Never before has the industry had eyes inside the curing chamber or a means of rapid-fire testing that can expedite production upgrades and efficiencies, new recipes, and improved performance in concrete,” explained Schuler.
“Uncountable’s R&D and optimization tools accelerate development of the most robust process for manufacturing Solidia Concrete,” explained Uncountable Founder Noel Hollingsworth. “Powered by AI algorithms, our platform mitigates the need for tedious, manual tweaking of individual ingredients. Complicated development processes that would involve tens or hundreds of experiments are now conducted by Solidia in half the time utilizing advanced machine learning models.”
Data from Solidia’s curing processes serve as the backbone for Intelligent Curing and formulation. “We’re excited to be working with Uncountable, spearheading the data revolution in cement and concrete, bringing sustainable solutions and process optimization faster to a global industry,” said Schuler.
6. A broad adoption of Solidia’s cement would undoubtedly be incredibly sustainable, but how exactly are you planning to expand Solidia so that more manufacturers adopt its technology into their own processes? (See above comments about overcoming barriers to adoption by improving process and products, speeding the production process, and saving manufacturers time, water and money.)
7. Going back to the process of coming up with Solidia’s technology, how difficult was it to create something that competes with traditional cement, and what was the process like for the patents?
It is not easy to disrupt an industry that hasn’t changed much in 200 years, since the introduction of OPC which is still in use today. Experts have known for year that carbon can be used to make materials stronger; Solidia was the first to make this process economically viable for cement and concrete. Solidia’s intellectual property portfolio (its patents) are a key strategic tool for growth. Solidia’s current IP portfolio comprises 363 patents filed worldwide. The process is no different than any patent process.
This interview was conducted over email.