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Dive brief:
- The U.S. Department of Energy selected Sublime Systems for an award of up to $87 million to accelerate construction of a low carbon cement manufacturing plant in Holyoke, Mass., the company said in a news release Monday.
- Sublime’s first commercial facility, based in Somerville, Mass., will open in early 2026, according to the release, and will produce up to 30,000 tons per year of low-carbon cement.
- The funding is part of $6 billion from the Jobs and Infrastructure Investments and Inflation Reduction Act Act intended for projects that shift energy-intensive industries towards net zero emissions.
Diving knowledge:
Sublime’s low-carbon cement was used in January in a mud mat under the foundation of a commercial construction project in Boston, Sublime Systems spokeswoman Erin Glabets said in an email. New York City-based Turner Construction Co. is the project’s general contractor, while Boston Sand and Gravel mixed the cement at its batching plant and Hudson, Mass.-based S&F Concrete served as a concrete finisher.
Concrete is the basis of the modern building, but it is also very polluting, contributing at least 8% of all human-caused carbon emissions, according to a study from the University of Rochester. The cement sector is the third industrial source of pollution in the US, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, they emit more than 500,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide annually.
Although not yet the norm in workplaces, the the use of greener cement mixes is growing quickly, driven in part by the federal government. There are now a wide variety of low-carbon mixes and methods on the market that have a lower environmental impact than standard Portland cement.
Portland cement is made by thermally decomposing limestone, a rock that is almost half carbon dioxide by weight, usually in fossil fuel kilns that reach 2,642 degrees Fahrenheit. Sublime, on the other hand, uses an electrochemical process that avoids the need for extreme heat and limestone, and instead extracts reactive calcium and silicates from non-carbonate rocks at room temperature.
Feds push for greener industry
The Holyoke plant is one of 33 projects in more than 20 states that the DOE The Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations has been chosen Monday to accelerate commercial-scale decarbonization solutions with a total of $6 billion in funding. Other awardees include greener projects in aluminum, iron, steel, glass chemicals and other industrial projects.
Sublime Systems CEO and co-founder Leah Ellis said the DOE funds will allow it to ramp up production more quickly.
“Access to sufficient capital for industrial-scale demonstrations is the biggest obstacle preventing breakthrough innovations from reaching the scale humanity needs to combat the climate crisis,” Ellis said in the statement.
Grant applicants were required to submit community benefit plans showing how they will engage communities and work, create quality jobs and prioritize economic and environmental justice for disadvantaged groups, according to the release.
Sublime expects to create hundreds of jobs during the construction phase of the project, the statement said, and has committed to negotiating project labor agreements with the region’s construction unions. The company has raised more than $140 million in total from the DOE, as well as climate technology investors and Bangkok, Thailand-based Siam Cement Group.
