[October 31, 2014]

Purdue University Engineers Report Superior Performance of Solidia's CO2-Cured Concrete over Traditional Concretes to American Concrete Institute

Engineers from Purdue University reported that carbon dioxide (CO₂)-cured concrete performed comparably or better than traditional ordinary Portland Cement-based concrete for resistance to cold weather and exposure to extreme conditions during presentations to the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Fall 2014 Convention taking place this week in Washington, DC. Using the same raw materials and existing equipment as traditional concretes, the patented processes of Solidia Technologies® under investigation by the team of researchers starts with a sustainable cement, cures concrete with CO₂ instead of water, reduces carbon emissions up to 70 percent, and recycles 60 to 100 percent of the water used in production.

"On multiple indicators, our findings underscore comparable or favorable performance of the calcium silicate-based carbonated concrete under severe conditions," said Purdue University (News - Alert) Professor of Civil Engineering Jan Olek, Ph.D., P.E., who co-directs the ongoing research with Purdue Professor Jason Weiss, Ph.D. The Purdue-Solidia team is conducting long-term investigations exploring "Failure Mechanisms in Concrete: A Comparative Study of the Ordinary Portland Cement and Solidia Cement™ Concretes."

Presenting findings of "Freeze-Thaw and Scaling Resistance of Calcium Silicate-based Carbonated Concretes," Purdue Research Assistant HyunGu Jeong reported that the investigators examined the durability of Solidia Cement-based concrete and traditional OPC-based concretes under various conditions, including exposure to freezing and thawing (F/T) cycles and scaling in the presence of four percent CaCl₂ solution. "The Solidia Concrete™ that has been tested performed better (or similar to) OPC concrete specimens with 20 percent fly ash in terms of scaling and F/T resistances," said Jeong.

Presenting findings of "An Experimental Investigation of the Selected Properties of Calcium Silicate-Based Carbonated Concrete (CSCC) Systems," Purdue Research Assistant Warda Ashraf reported that investigators identified the microstructural phases of the CSCC System and studied mechanical properties. They found that the mechanical properties of CSCC System were comparable with the conventional OPC system, and that, under the same exposure condition, OPC pavers showed higher efflorescence than the CSCC pavers.

Another Purdue Ph.D. student, Raikhan Tokpatayeva, also working on the project won the American Ceramic Society Best Student Poster Award during the meeting held at Tennessee Technological University in July 2014. The investigative team includes researchers from Solidia Technologies, including Director of R&D Vahit Atakan, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist Jitendra Jain, Ph.D., and Research Scientist Deepak Ravikumar, as well as Purdue Professor Emeritus Sidney Diamond, Ph.D.

About Solidia Technologies®

Solidia Technologies® makes it easy and profitable to use CO₂ to create superior and sustainable building materials. Solidia's patented technology starts with a sustainable cement, cures concrete with CO₂ instead of water, reduces carbon emissions up to 70%, and recycles 60 to 100% of the water used in production. Using the same raw materials and existing equipment as traditional concretes, the resulting CO₂-cured concrete products are higher performing, cost less to produce, and cure in less than 24 hours. Currently in commercialization for large- and small-scale applications, Solidia's R&D collaborators include Lafarge, The Linde Group, DOT's Federal Highway Administration, DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory, Rutgers University, Purdue University, Ohio University, and the University of South Florida. Solidia was named to the 2014 Global Cleantech 100, the 2013 R&D Top 100, a 2014 Best Place to Work in NJ, a finalist in both the 2014 CCEMC Grand Challenge First Round and the 2013 Katerva Award, and shortlisted to MIT's (News - Alert) Climate CoLab. Based in Piscataway, N.J. (USA), Solidia's investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Bright Capital, BASF, and BP. Follow Solidia Technologies at www.solidiatech.com and on LinkedIn and Twitter (News - Alert): @SolidiaCO2.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a state-assisted doctoral-granting institution founded in 1869. It is a leading research institution with a system-wide enrollment of more than 69,000 students from 50 states and 130 countries. Twenty-three Purdue alumni have become NASA astronauts, including Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, and Eugene Cernan, the last to do so. Purdue's engineering program is one of the largest in the nation. Forty-seven Purdue faculty, students, and staff had discoveries that were patented in 2012. The Purdue Research Foundation reported 356 invention disclosures, 446 patent applications worldwide, 95 issued patents worldwide and the creation of five startups from Purdue-licensed technologies.

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