A new startup could revolutionize how we process the planet's most abundant human-made material, turning industrial waste into sustainable building materials.
United Kingdom-based Cocoon plans to use slag, a byproduct of making steel in a traditional blast furnace, in lieu of cement for concrete, per TechCrunch.
And with steel manufacturers in the U.S. and Europe pivoting to electric arc furnaces that rely on renewable energy instead of coal, Cocoon believes it can make operations even more eco-friendly by taking advantage of molten runoff.
The firm will implement its technology into steel production workflows, collecting slag with a shipping container in a pit after the molten material gets dumped from pots. It will then allow the slag to cool to be combined with water and carbon dioxide to make cement.
Not only does this method eliminate waste that could contribute to the planet's overheating, but it also permanently stores CO2 in its material.
"The challenge with steel slag is that it's got a higher iron content. That's one of the things that limits its ability to react as a cementitious material," Cocoon co-founder and CEO Eliot Brooks told TechCrunch. "We have a two-step process that looks to address that high iron content and the challenge it creates, and also then get the cementitious reactivity at the other end of the process."
Slag has been touted as an eco-friendly alternative, as cement is responsible for 90% of concrete's emissions despite making up just 10%-15% of the final product. Much of the pollution is released when raw materials are heated to 2,642 degrees, according to earth.com.
Cocoon added that steel and cement production generates 14% of annual carbon dioxide emissions worldwide.
The pollution created by the industry has spurred efforts from other organizations seeking eco-friendly alternatives to cement. Researchers have turned to scallop and whelk shells and fly ash as replacements for traditional methods.
Meanwhile, the University of Cambridge is recycling old concrete from old roads and buildings to build new infrastructure, while Princeton University has found inspiration in seashells to design more flexible and durable cement.
Cocoon recently received $5.4 million in pre-seed funding to build a research and development facility in London, and it plans to test its tech at a steel mill in northern England before having trials in the U.S.
Brooks envisions the company partnering with a pilot plant by late 2025.
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