Material Evolution is launching a pilot project of its ultra-low carbon cement, MevoCem, in partnership with leading building materials solutions company CRH and its UK operating company Tarmac.
The low-carbon cement project will test MevoCem’s performance under the new BSI Code of Practice Flex 350 permitting specification of a broader range of lower-carbon concrete to support decarbonisation of construction projects. The low-carbon cement project can assist in offering the information required for Flex350 to be integrated into the broader BS8500 concrete standard – the equivalent of the EU’s EN206 – to make it easier to execute projects utilizing the most up-to-date low-carbon innovations. Through the application of proprietary alkali fusion technology to manufacture MevoCem, Material Evolution has done away with heat as a requirement in the cement manufacturing process, achieving up to 85% less CO2 emission than conventional cement.
The low-carbon cement project follows the announcement of Material Evolution as a winner in the recent Sustainable Materials Accelerator Program, led by CRH Ventures – the venture capital arm of CRH – that recognized emerging materials and applications to decrease emissions, minimize waste and enhance the use of energy throughout the construction industry.
Liz Gilligan, CEO and co-founder of Material Evolution, said: “This partnership is a major milestone for our team, and we’re excited to deepen our relationship with CRH and Tarmac as we scale MevoCem at a commercial level. CRH’s commitment as an early adopter of our next-generation ultra-low carbon cement products is especially significant – it supports not just our growth, but the continued research required to deliver a true net zero cement alternative.”
“Decarbonising the construction industry is one of the most urgent environmental challenges we face. It’s only through partnerships, collaboration, and innovation with industry leaders that we can accelerate the adoption of ultra-low carbon cement across the sector.”
Eduardo Gomez, head of CRH Ventures, commented: “Through our accelerator programmes CRH is supporting the delivery of market-ready innovation to our customers across the construction value chain.”
“Winners gain access to CRH’s extensive network and expertise to drive forward the availability of smarter solutions to support a more resilient built environment.”
Josh Bennett, national technical manager for Ready-Mix at Tarmac, commented: “We are looking forward to collaborating with the team at Material Evolution to pilot the next-generation of ultra-low carbon cement products currently under development, and continuing to advance progress in the materials science of low carbon products.”
Being the largest UK manufacturer of low-carbon cement, Material Evolution’s Wrexham Mevo A1 Production Facility has a potential production capacity for 120000 tpy of MevoCem, making the firm the largest UK ultra-low carbon cement producer.