An Alabama cement plant is part of a team that has been selected as a semifinalist in the $20 million, global NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE competition.

Argos, located in Calera, is part of the team led by clean technology developer CarbonCure Technologies. The team is among 27 from across the globe that has made it to the second round of the prestigious competition.

The Carbon XPRIZE challenges inventors to develop breakthrough technologies that convert the most carbon dioxide (CO₂) into one or more products with the highest net value. The CarbonCure team has developed a way to recycle CO₂ into better building materials. They must now demonstrate their technology at pilot scale over the coming year in order to compete for the first $5 million of prize money.

The CarbonCure team visited the National Carbon Capture Center in Wilsonville. (contributed)

Argos isn’t the only Alabama connection to the competition. The team has met at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC), located next to Alabama Power’s Plant Gaston in Wilsonville. Southern Company, Alabama Power’s parent company, manages and operates the NCCC for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Southern Company’s carbon capture experts, based in Alabama, have aided the team.

Other companies participating in the CarbonCure team include Sustainable Energy Solutions (SES), Praxair, BURNCO Rock Products and several leading engineering and architectural firms. CarbonCure will provide the primary technology for the competition. Its innovative CO₂-utilization technology sequesters waste CO₂ into concrete. Once introduced into the concrete mix, the CO₂ chemically and permanently converts into a solid mineral.

The project will also feature several other innovative elements, including the demonstration of SES’ CO₂-capture technology at Argos’ Calera cement plant in 2017. The CO₂ captured at the Calera facility will then be sequestered into ready-mixed concrete produced at Argos’ concrete plants in the Atlanta region.

Southern Company research and development will provide CO₂ capture expertise on scale-up of the technology. The NCCC, which has completed more than 40 successful CO₂ capture test campaigns, could serve as a host site, pending DOE approval.

“Southern Company has been a leader in the development of carbon capture technology, and we are proud to have contributed to the efforts of the CarbonCure team so far,” said Richard Esposito, consulting research and technology engineer. “We look forward to seeing the results of all the semifinalists during this next stage of the competition.”

Other semifinalists are researching the use of CO₂ to develop a wide variety of products including biofuels, toothpaste, nanotubes, fish food, health supplements, paint and fertilizer.