I’m trying to find the best way to utilize the community for my company, Kepler Carbon ReCapture and our carbon removal technology. Using our self-generated emission-free energy, our innovative technology extracts excess CO2 (from the air and the oceans). Once extracted, CO2 is then transformed into durable carbon products as an alternative to existing carbon-based products. We’re still in the technology demonstration phase and deployment of the first offshore platform is a year or more away. We anticipate a wide array of Carbon-based products for bulk volume Geopolymers for construction will be a major commodity. The recipes will be focused on high durability and long live plus marine tolerant for in harbor and shoreline construction projects. Please advise as to the interest and engagement in the forum. Is it too focused on removal to fit? Too early to engage on the construction side? Happy to kick it around? Want to help make it happen?
Hi Debi-Lee, welcome to the forum, we are always interested in low EC and negative EC building materials. Do you have any information on the carbon balance of production - in particular how energy intensive is the CO2 extraction process?
It would also be critical to understand the building materials, you mention bulk volume geopolymers, how are you achieving high durability products? I know in the past there have been questions about geopolymer durability when used with steel reinforcing due to the lack of hydroxyl reserves at the steel interface - so even with very low chloride diffusion coefficients there is concern about a low chloride corrosion initiation threshold.
Thank you, Will. I forwarded the second half of your question to the engineering team. We are very much still in the development stage to ensure durability and resilience to seawater. The plant will be deployed in deep channels offshore, so we have copies amounts of emissions free energy, perhaps enough to export and that would be the only reason it might be connected to the grid. No doubt the more efficient the more can be done with the same energy. And some carbon emissions could occur after delivery to shore or downstream production. We are well positioned to raise the bar over the next few years and facing a to many unknowns for any form of numerical projection. We are a technology development company which may be rare on this platform, hence the “knocking on the door” approach to my post. We are looking for partners and perhaps some bridge funds to accelerate specific work, like the geopolymers, while the commercialization company for investors is launched.
I might also mention that steel will not be used for reinforcement. We will be making our own reinforcement material, or we are back to the embedded carbon problem (however reduced) instead of the emissions free energy we rely on. I noticed the opportunity to pitch an initiative and I was wondering what an appropriate angle might be - something consistent with the interests on the forum. Perhaps funding geopolymer research vs carbon removal would the salient approach. Providing supporters the ability to follow the research and track progress and be engaged in meeting this challenge. Last week we began discussions to work with Oak Ridge Labs and they have already picked up the task of why current attempts have fallen short. For a small fund-raising effort, we could be the liaison to the results for this forum. Or help us get the jump start on carbon free reinforcement material. With some traction on the subject, our commercialization company can pick up the funding ball giving supporters a high leverage bridge fund opportunity towards a marketable product to replace steel as an early step in the forum’s embedded carbon reduction goals. I want to draft something for the committee that might be welcomed so just feeling out the idea here, replies encouraged both positive and negative. Thanks.