Deal Marks Milestone for CarbonBuilt

Alabama facility will give technology a real-world test

Westwood-based CarbonBuilt, which has developed technology to inject carbon into concrete during the manufacturing process, announced an agreement on April 27 with concrete maker Blair Block to use CarbonBuilt’s low-carbon concrete technology at Blair Block’s concrete masonry production facility next to its Childersburg, Alabama, headquarters.

CarbonBuilt, which was spun off in 2019 from a UCLA research team led by civil engineering professor Gaurav Sant, has developed a process for injecting concrete with carbon dioxide emissions from power plants or other industrial facilities. The idea is to sequester the emissions into concrete that can be sold to builders and other construction contractors. This process reduces the cost for cement, concrete, power generation and other industrial plant operators to comply with mandates to reduce carbon emissions.

CarbonBuilt completed a $10 million fundraise last year. It had previously completed two pilot project tests of its technology at power-generation plants, but the Blair Block deal is the first full-scale commercial plant operation for the company.

At Blair Block’s plant, CarbonBuilt will take carbon dioxide emissions derived from forestry waste and inject it into concrete masonry during the curing process.

“This partnership is a critical step in our journey to reduce the carbon footprint of the concrete industry,” Rahul Shendure, CarbonBuilt’s chief executive, said in the announcement of the deal. “Our approach, which reduces the cost of concrete production while simultaneously reducing CO2 emissions, unlocks the potential of the concrete industry to drive gigaton-scale carbon removal in the coming years.”