CarbonCure Technologies strengthens concrete and the fight against global warming

Canada in Asia-Pacific
Trade diversification | February 2019

Rob Niven, CarbonCure Founder & CEO, demonstrating the CarbonCure Technology at Butler Brothers Concrete, our concrete producer partner in Victoria, BC.

CarbonCure Technologies is bringing a breath of fresh air, both literally and figuratively, to the global concrete industry.

Headquartered in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, CarbonCure uses technology to convert polluters' carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, the chief villain of global warming, into an environmentally friendly strengthening agent for concrete.

The process involves injecting liquefied CO₂ into the concrete mix, causing it to react with calcium ions and water to produce limestone. “We can turn the CO₂, which is essentially pollution, into a mineral that becomes permanently embedded in the concrete,” says Christie Gamble, CarbonCure's director of sustainability.

Gamble says that the enhanced strength of the material improves manufacturing efficiencies, offsetting the cost of the technology and keeping overall costs about the same as traditional concrete. The technology can be installed in a single day and requires no changes in materials or production processes.

CarbonCure, which currently employs about 30 people, has signed licensing agreements with more than 130 concrete plants in North America and three in Singapore. The technology was installed in the Singapore plants, CarbonCure's first overseas projects, in February 2019.

“Well-respected concrete producers have validated our technology,” Gamble notes. “Through that validation it's becoming easier to grow our partnerships. We're starting to see accelerated adoption of the technology.”

The Strategic Partnership Agreement signing ceremony took place on November 15, 2018 in Singapore between Pan-United and CarbonCure. It was jointly witnessed by the Honourable James Gordon Carr, Canada’s Minister of International Trade Diversification, and Mr. Png Cheong Boon, Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Singapore, the Singapore government agency championing enterprise development. CarbonCure Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Robert Niven, was represented by Mr. Christian Weisenburger, CarbonCure General Counsel. The Pan-United signatory was its Executive Director, Mr. Ken Loh.

The company is now stepping up its drive into overseas markets, especially Southeast Asia and Europe. “We're very excited about the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and are closely following the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership,” Gamble says. “We'd like to see measures around clean government procurement and alignment of clean technology regulations included in those agreements.”

CarbonCure has come to view the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service as an extension of its own team. The trade commissioner in Chicago, for example, has introduced the company to local developers interested in promoting sustainable building design. “We've been able to work with those developers to reduce the carbon footprint of the concrete that went into their buildings,” Gamble notes.