Investments and R&D bring cement closer to green

Carbon Upcycling has raised $26 million in series A funding. The firm is advancing two commercial-scale projects at cement plants that will incorporate carbon dioxide into cement. The firm says the process permanently removes the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere while replacing other carbon-intensive concrete components. One of the investors, Cemex, is separately promoting another technology to cut concrete’s carbon footprint. The firm and the solar heat specialist Synhelion plan to build a plant that will use sunlight instead of fossil fuels as a heat source for the 1,500 °C rotary kilns used to make clinker, an ingredient in cement.