Vulcan Materials, Superior Block test carbon dioxide-dosed ready mixed, CMU

Vulcan Materials Co. is the first ready mixed producer to license technology in which industrial process-sourced carbon dioxide is injected into fresh concrete mixes, thereby offsetting water requirements; forming additional limestone in the matrix; and, sequestering the greenhouse gas in a hardened slab or structure.

The producer is deploying the CarbonCure Technologies process at its Springfield, Va., plant—strategic to the northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. market, where federal agencies, developers and the design community drive project specifications friendly to reduced-carbon building materials, methods and products. Vulcan Mideast Division President Diggs Bishop credits the CO2 recycling process with improving concrete sustainability and strength, and calls it “the future of the industry.”

Licensing for ready mixed production extends a presence Halifax, Nova Scotia-based CarbonCure has built through licensing and equipment installations involving U.S. and Canadian concrete masonry producers Basalite Concrete Products, Ernst Maier, Mutual Materials, Oldcastle Architectural (Anchor, Northfield, Permacon) and Shaw Brick.

Superior Block Corp. of Brooklyn, N.Y., became the latest North American concrete masonry producer to incorporate the CarbonCure technology last month. Citing the company’s tradition of introducing sustainable concepts into its products and manufacturing processes, Superior Block President Connie Cincotta notes: “We’ve been offering products made with a high percentage of recycled and supplementary cementitious material for years. With CarbonCure, we introduce captured carbon dioxide gas into our mix and reduce the carbon footprint of our concrete masonry products.”

Within the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, Superior Block joins CarbonCure licensees serving the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic markets: Anchor in New Jersey, Oneonta Block in upstate New York, and Massachusetts’ A. Jandris & Sons.