Canada/US: Harsco’s Environmental division has invested US$2.3m in Carbicrete, a Canadian technology company developing concrete products made with steel slag for the construction industry. The investment will give Harsco Environmental a Board seat in Carbicrete and has been made in conjunction with a US$1.6m grant from the Government of Canada’s Sustainability Development Technology Canada Foundation and applications to further government grant programs. Harsco’s investment will aid the development of the technology through a demonstration program with support from a commercial concrete block manufacturer as part of a development consortium.
“This investment in innovation is aligned with Harsco’s on-going expansion into environmentally-focused products and services, and we are proud to support the development of this exciting technology,” said Harsco Environmental chief operating officer Russ Mitchell.
Carbicrete is developing a technology that allows the production of concrete without using cement by using steel slag instead. The concrete mix is poured into molds, like conventional concrete, and is then cured using CO2. During curing, the gas becomes a solid, binding together the slag granules, and giving the concrete its strength. Carbicrete says the process can be implemented in any precast concrete manufacturing plant. It also says that the technology is ‘carbon negative’ because more CO2 is consumed than emitted during the process.
