A Montreal-based concrete decarbonization company has been awarded capital through Natural Resources Canada’s Energy Innovation Program to develop new cleantech processes.
Supported by $700,000 from the EIP, Quebec’s CarbiCrete will aim to create opportunities for industrial operations to utilize lower-carbon concrete.
“We are tremendously grateful for this funding,” stated Gary Belisle, CarbiCrete’s chief executive officer.
CarbiCrete’s technology replaces 100% of the cement content in masonry and hardscape products with a steel-making by-product, avoiding all cement-related emissions.
The company then uses carbon dioxide to cure its concrete, permanently sequestering CO₂ within the products.
Moving forward, “the ability to use flue gas directly as our CO₂ feedstock will be a transformative milestone for CarbiCrete,” posits Belisle.
“It will allow virtually any industrial emitter to turn its own byproduct emissions into an input for making cement-free concrete,” he says.
This will unlock “a more scalable, cost‑effective pathway to decarbonizing the built environment, and accelerating the pace at which heavy industries can participate in the circular economy,” according to Belisle.
CarbiCrete’s technology is being deployed at two Canadian locations: Patio Drummond, located in Quebec, and Canal Block in Ontario.
The Energy Innovation Program was created to advance clean energy technologies that will help Canada maintain a reliable and affordable energy system while transitioning to a low-carbon economy.
The CarbiCrete project was among 12 EIP-funded initiatives totalling $28.9 million in investments announced by Tim Hodgson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.
“We are investing to provide reliable, affordable, and clean power across the country that will propel our economic growth, protect affordability for Canadian families and make Canada a low-risk, low-cost, low-carbon energy superpower,” remarked Hodgson.
In 2024, CarbiCrete partnered with Meta. The company was founded in 2016.