Officials from Los Gatos, Calif.-based Calera outlined research aimed at commercial production of concrete-grade calcium or magnesium carbonate aggregate or binder agents derived from seawater and power plants’ carbon dioxide-bearing flue gas or waste heat
Officials from Los Gatos, Calif.-based Calera outlined research aimed at commercial production of concrete-grade calcium or magnesium carbonate aggregate or binder agents derived from seawater and power plantsÌ carbon dioxide-bearing flue gas or waste heat. Early testing has entailed a production assembly at California’s largest power plant, Moss Landing, located next to an idle oceanfront industrial site. Investigators are testing the means for production of aggregate or powder, and the potential for finished material to capture much of the carbon dioxide that would otherwise be released into the environment.
Calera has a cement and concrete testing lab at its nearby headquarters in Los Gatos, monitoring especially the consistency and gradation of finished materials, and treatment methods to neutralize the effect of chlorides. Assisting Calera as interim vice president of materials is Ohio-based consultant Terence Holland, chairman of ACI Committee 318 Subcommittee A, Materials & Construction, and former Master Builders director of engineering. He anticipates process refinement will yield consistent binder and aggregate material for full cement and concrete specimen testing by late 2009. Holland joined Calera founder and geochemist Dr. Brent Constantz for an overview of the aggregate and binder production at a World of Concrete briefing.