3 ms·

What’s the market size for concrete hardened with CO2? From what I’ve read this is a technique to lower the cost of concrete, so the added value would be cappe

What’s the market size for concrete hardened with CO2? From what I’ve read this is a technique to lower the cost of concrete, so the added value would be capped at roughly whatever the price of concrete without CO2 is. There’s also the possible substitute of CO2 derived from other sources with a lower recovery cost, such as sequestration at a plant as you mentioned. How much can be charged for captured CO2 and what’s the market price? The big difference between plant sequestered CO2 seems to be the need to sweep up and store the CO2 which will be stored across the country. How will the infrastructure for offloading into the tank and delivering the captured CO2 work? How many tanks and how many trucks for moving the liquified CO2?

HardEric 6y ago
the market for CO2 as a raw commodity is pretty large and growing significantly! I think your comment on the concrete capped price assumes that the price for producing CO2 does not increase. If current concrete produces CO2 (which it does produce a lot) and CO2 gets taxed, it makes concrete that sequesters CO2 very financially viable even if it cost more than the current concrete market price. Plus I know I would pay more for concrete that sequesters CO2 so maybe that's another competitive advantage that allows it to cost slightly more. Plants are great and we love and support using our lands more effectively, but there is not enough land to store the CO2 that has been emitted over the last century from fossil fuels, and keep up with the increasing energy demand from population growth as well as developing nations. So plants cannot do this on their own. There is such a large market for CO2 (and its growing!) that we can find users of the CO2 very near our storage tanks. For example one pilot program we are planning right now has a CO2 concrete producer only 6 miles away! Of course our CO2 hauling trucks will have our device and we will get better and better at leveraging existing infrastructure (pipe lines and trains) to transport CO2 efficiently.
- rossjudson 6y ago
  I say put this to work for fizzy drinks. Haul carbon dioxide to fizzy drink company, then pick up fizzy drinks. Profit.

HardEric 6y ago

the market for CO2 as a raw commodity is pretty large and growing significantly! I think your comment on the concrete capped price assumes that the price for producing CO2 does not increase. If current concrete produces CO2 (which it does produce a lot) and CO2 gets taxed, it makes concrete that sequesters CO2 very financially viable even if it cost more than the current concrete market price. Plus I know I would pay more for concrete that sequesters CO2 so maybe that's another competitive advantage that allows it to cost slightly more. Plants are great and we love and support using our lands more effectively, but there is not enough land to store the CO2 that has been emitted over the last century from fossil fuels, and keep up with the increasing energy demand from population growth as well as developing nations. So plants cannot do this on their own. There is such a large market for CO2 (and its growing!) that we can find users of the CO2 very near our storage tanks. For example one pilot program we are planning right now has a CO2 concrete producer only 6 miles away! Of course our CO2 hauling trucks will have our device and we will get better and better at leveraging existing infrastructure (pipe lines and trains) to transport CO2 efficiently.

rossjudson 6y ago
I say put this to work for fizzy drinks. Haul carbon dioxide to fizzy drink company, then pick up fizzy drinks. Profit.