Blue Planet: Cost-Effective Carbon Sequestration

Reducing the amount of carbon that enters our atmosphere is one of the world’s greatest challenges, and two of the building industry’s primary materials—steel and cement—are responsible for a significant portion of those emissions. These industries burn fossil fuels for manufacturing, which can in some cases be replaced by renewable energy, but both materials also release carbon as an inherent part of the materials’ chemical processes. Those material challenges are harder to solve at scale. So how can we reduce manufacturing emissions from these necessary materials?

Approximately 10%–15% of concrete is Portland cement—the portion responsible for carbon emissions—but 60%–75% of concrete is aggregate in the form of sand and gravel (these proportions vary depending on performance requirements). There is only so much one can do to reduce the carbon footprint of Portland cement, but there is untapped opportunity in the aggregate.  Blue Planet’s carbon capture method uses a chemical process to convert CO2 from industrial sources into calcium carbonate aggregate, creating a marketable carbon-sequestering product that can be used in concrete and other applications.