Brimstone, an emerging low-carbon cement company, announced a commercial agreement with Amazon to supply annual volumes of its cement production from its plant in Oakland, California.

Founded in 2019, Brimstone has pioneered a decarbonized method for refining a single rock into a variety of industrial products, including Portland cement, supplementary cementitious materials (SCM), and alumina. As evidence of its success, the company has raised more than $80 million across several funding rounds. It has secured backing from notable investors, including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Amazon Climate Pledge, and S2G Ventures. 

In a world where cement production accounts for approximately 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions, with over 900kg of CO2 emissions generated for every 1,000kg of material produced, Brimstone’s innovative approach utilizes carbon-free calcium silicate rock and magnesium compounds that naturally absorb CO2. Indeed, by replacing limestone, the traditional material in cement that contributes to 60% of emissions, Brimstone’s products are considered carbon negative, effectively offsetting a substantial amount of carbon emissions. 

The commercial agreement with Amazon was announced in the wake of successful third-party test results of Brimstone’s lower-carbon Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) for use in concrete construction.

“These initial results are encouraging and demonstrate the potential for Brimstone’s innovative materials to scale across our buildings portfolio and reduce the carbon footprint of concrete,” said Asad Jafry, director of Global Energy, Sustainability & Automation at Amazon.

Following the success of these early tests, both companies have outlined plans for further testing over the next two years. The upcoming tests will focus on evaluating durability, sulfate resistance, aggregate reactivity potential, and other key properties across a wider range of concrete mix designs and applications. If successful, the agreement will result in a future supply of Brimstone’s OPC for Amazon’s facilities, including its data centers.

Source:

https://www.esgtoday.com/amazon-signs-deal-for-low-carbon-cement-with-brimstone/

https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/amazon-partners-with-brimstone-for-supply-of-low-carbon-cement/