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    1. Energy Efficiency

    Heirloom and CarbonCure Partner to Permanently Store Atmospheric CO2 in Concrete

    Nov. 3, 2023
    Heirloom uses limestone to attract CO2 from the air, and the CarbonCure process ensures that the stored CO2 is not returned to the atmosphere even if the concrete is demolished
    Image Source: CarbonCure Technologies
    Carbon Cure Technologies 6545020bc4471

    CarbonCure Technologies and Heirloom have partnered to permanently store atmospheric CO2 captured by Heirloom’s Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology in concrete using CarbonCure’s carbon mineralization technologies. The partnership will operate under an agreement through 2025 and improvize the DAC-to-concrete storage pathway showcased by both companies.

    Heirloom uses limestone to attract CO2 from the air, which is then broken down into calcium oxide rock and CO2 gas using heat from a renewable-energy-powered electric kiln. The calcium-based material is spread onto vertically stacked trays where it acts like a sponge, helping pull CO2 from the air before it is returned to the kiln, and the process starts again.

    The CarbonCure process ensures that the stored CO2 is not returned to the atmosphere even if the concrete is demolished.

    “The urgency of deploying and scaling removal technologies becomes more clear with each temperature record that is broken,” said Shashank Samala, CEO of Heirloom. “Being able to immediately move forward with real-world deployments that permanently sequester CO2 will be invaluable as we race to meet the urgency that climate change requires.”

    This process was successfully demonstrated when CO2 was captured at Heirloom’s DAC facility in Brisbane, California. By using CarbonCure’s Reclaimed Water Technology, that CO2 was permanently stored in concrete and then supplied to construction projects across San Jose, CA.

    While CarbonCure provides a proven, immediately available, and verifiable concrete storage solution, Heirloom plans to introduce its first commercial facility.

    Additionally, Heirloom and CarbonCure are working together on a DAC Hub project in Illinois, post a notification of selection by the Department of Energy.

    CarbonCure’s global network of concrete producer partners has produced more than five million truckloads of carbon mineralized concrete, reducing more than 365,000 metric tons of CO2, equivalent to removing more than 80,000 gas-powered cars from the roads for a year.

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.