The city of Magna, Utah, was once home to a massive coal-fired power plant that powered Rio Tinto’s giant copper mine next door. However, in 2019, the company With shutter The last of the four coal plants chose to use wind and solar energy for their mining operations.
Plans are currently underway to open another type of industrial facility in the former coal area. The facility will use waste rock from the Kennecott Copper Mine to make low-carbon concrete.
on tuesday, Terra CO2 Technology has been selected to receive a $52.6 million federal grant to build a new manufacturing plant just west of Salt Lake City. company devised a method It turns a common mineral into an additive that can help replace Portland cement, a key ingredient in concrete and one of the most carbon-intensive materials in the world.
“Most of our focus is on reducing the carbon footprint of cement and concrete,” Terra CO2 CEO Bill Yearsley told Canary Media. “But this is a unique situation at the Kennecott Mine, because this is also an opportunity to reuse some of the mine’s tailings…and has some real environmental benefits.” is.”
The Utah facility is 1 of 14 projects was tentatively selected this week to receive awards totaling $428 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains. The initiative, funded by bipartisan infrastructure legislation, aims to accelerate clean energy production in U.S. communities with decommissioned coal facilities. Officials said the projects are expected to create more than 1,900 quality jobs in 12 states.
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“America’s transition to a clean energy future is being shaped by a community filled with invaluable talent and experience that has powered our nation for decades,” said Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Secretary of Energy. said in an interview Tuesday. news release.
The selected projects involve small and medium-sized enterprises focused on five key supply chains: low-carbon materials, grid components, batteries, clean power generation, and energy-efficient products.
In addition to Terra CO2, two other concrete-related initiatives are eligible for federal cost-sharing awards. urban mining industry $37 million could be available to develop convertible factories in Baltimore and Indiantown, Fla. recycled glass For cement additives. furno material It could receive $20 million to build a Chicago facility that turns industrial waste into low-carbon cement.
The announcement comes as the global construction industry struggles with how to replace cheap and plentiful Portland cement. Portland cement, coincidentally, was developed by British bricklayer Joseph Aspdin 200 years ago this week. cooked the first batch A look at the fusion of clay and limestone in his kitchen.
Cement production accounts for about 8% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions each year. That’s partly because cement is made in scorching hot gas-fired kilns, but also because the limestone used to make it releases carbon dioxide.2 When it burns.
Terra CO2 is working to curb these emissions by developing supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) that can partially replace the Portland cement used in concrete.
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Industry already uses millions of tons of SCM each year, both to reduce the carbon footprint of products and to cost-effectively enhance materials. However, most SCMs today are made from fly ash and slag, which are byproducts from coal-fired power plants and steel mills. Global competition and local climate policies are increasing the closure of these facilities in the United States, making these materials difficult and expensive to obtain.
Golden, Colorado-based Terra CO2 manufactures SCM from a variety of silicate rocks, including granite, basalt, alluvial sand and gravel, and clay and sand mixtures. The company puts these rocks into a reactor that heats them to their melting point, producing a glassy powder that can replace 25 to 40 percent of the Portland cement needed in various concrete mixes.
Mr Yearsley estimates that replacing cement with his SCM will reduce CO2 by 70% for every tonne.2 emissions compared to pure portland cement.
To date, Terra CO2 has secured approximately $160 million in commitments from project finance partners to fund commercial-scale projects, including mining giant Rio Tinto and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, founded by Bill Gates. has raised approximately $61 million in venture capital.
The startup is about to begin construction on its first commercial facility in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. The project is expected to break ground in January 2025 and begin shipping materials by late summer 2026, Yearsley said. Once completed, the facility will be able to produce up to 240,000 tonnes of SCM per year, enough to serve approximately half of the local metropolitan market.
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Yearsley said Terra CO2 was already considering building a second plant near Salt Lake City when the federal funding opportunity came up. The company was working with Rio Tinto to explore ways to use tailings from the Kennecott Copper Mine as a raw material for SCM. Then they discovered that the Department of Energy had recognized Magna as a coal community, making it eligible for cost-sharing subsidies.
“The stars aligned, but that doesn’t always happen in early-stage companies,” Yearsley said. “Subsidies are important because they help us roll out on a larger scale and improve economics,” he said, but Terra CO2’s products are already cost-competitive and will be available before the war “green incentives.” to,” he pointed out.
Yearsley did not disclose the expected total cost of the Utah facility, which could produce up to 240,000 tons of SCM per year. However, he noted that Terra CO2 has already made financial commitments that will cover most of the remaining capital costs of the project.
“If we can deliver cost-competitive climate solutions for big-ticket items like concrete, that’s really important,” he says.
