Envisioning a world where concrete buildings and the world’s infrastructure are carbon-storing rather than carbon-emitting, Minus Materials is cultivating a carbon-negative limestone from algae. This biorenewable limestone performs the same as quarried limestone – the key feedstock in cement production - and meets essential standards, but without the embodied carbon penalties. When heated, it only releases CO2 that was previously sequestered from the atmosphere during the algae’s lifetime. This stands in contrast to the production of cement from quarried limestone, which causes a new release of carbon dioxide – a reaction that is responsible for 60% of the emission associated with portland cement production. And because it is a limestone, this step on the path to producing carbon-negative cement will not require process disruptions by cement manufacturers.
