News & Press

CarbonCure's Robert Niven thinks his firm's concrete is far more environmentally friendly. The company is currently working with partners in industry to introduce its technology to market.

CarbonCure Technologies strengthens concrete while reducing its carbon footprint. This feature on a new use for the ethanol coproduct appears in the February print issue of Ethanol Producer Magazine.

A company in Halifax is getting international recognition and praise for developing a green technology that aides in reducing greenhouse gas emissions during the concrete manufacturing phase, the most common construction material in the world.

The CarbonCure technology, which has been installed in concrete plants across North America, has recently been recognized for a series of awards, including most recently the 2016 Ernest C. Manning Innovation Award. The Manning Awards annually recognizes Canadian innovation across multiple disciplines. CarbonCure CEO Robert Niven, an outdoor adventure enthusiast, proudly describes the evolution of CarbonCure in this video produced by the Manning Foundation:

CarbonCure Technologies manufactures a retrofit carbon dioxide recycling technology for existing masonry and ready-mixed concrete plants. CarbonCure’s technology recycles CO₂, reducing the carbon footprint of the concrete industry by creating affordable, greener and stronger concrete products. Using CarbonCure’s technology, concrete manufacturers are able to permanently store CO₂ in their concrete as solid limestone. The addition of CO₂ also potentially reduces the need for some energy-intensive components in the concrete, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Advances in technology are self-perpetuating —  conducting research and development inevitably leads to discoveries that propel innovation forward. CarbonCure Technologies is no stranger to this cycle. The company’s technology started when their CEO, Robert Niven, began researching the chemical reaction between carbon dioxide (CO2), cement and water while earning his master’s degree at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

A breakthrough process for ready mixed gives John Cook, director of Technical Services at Atlanta’s Thomas Concrete, cause for enthusiasm this construction season. In late February, he and his team oversaw the installation of the CarbonCure Ready Mixed Technology at their Doraville, Ga. plant. They immediately began the process of lowering cementitious material content and dosing concrete mixes with carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas using the CarbonCure injection system. Later in March, Cook and colleagues eagerly reviewed the 28-day strength data and confirmed: CO₂ may be used as a viable cement replacement.

Environmentally-friendly design is an easy concept to support, but deciding which building materials are best for the environment is a tricky business. For its strength and durability, concrete has long been the top choice for new construction, despite its large carbon footprint.

A roomful of materials scientists, gathered at UCLA for a recent conference on “grand challenges in construction materials,” slowly passed a brick-size white block around the room. They held in their hands, briefly, part of the solution to one of those grand challenges. The white block, rock solid and surprisingly lightweight, was a new alternative to cement, the glue that holds together aggregate, or crushed rock, to make the world’s most ubiquitous building material: concrete.

Argos, a multinational cement and concrete producer, is among the latest group of concrete producers to sign a licensee agreement with CarbonCure. To get the word out at Argos about the partnership, CarbonCure was invited to present the technology to its headquarters in Colombia. Argos released a video of the innovation summit which featured CarbonCure. Check it out!

CarbonCure's CEO Rob Niven recently attended the Globe 2016 Conference & Innovation Expo -  a leadership summit for sustainable business in Vancouver. Globe 2016 brings together high level business executives, government officials, and civil society leaders to collaborate and share ideas on how to leverage markets and innovation to turn environmental challenges into business opportunities.