C-Crete Pours 3,000 Tons of Near- Zero Concrete

SAN LEANDRO, CA -- C-Crete Technologies, a developer of sustainable building materials, has surpassed a groundbreaking milestone by pouring more than 3,000 tons of near-zero-emissions concrete — which is completely free of Portland cement.

"C-Crete has the potential to revolutionize the concrete industry by accelerating its decarbonization efforts," said Max Driscoll, VP of sustainability, AECOM Tishman. “The simplicity of the process has allowed us to move through common barriers toward implementation.”

For context, in early 2023 National Grid announced what was considered to be the world's largest pour of Portland-cement-free concrete. That project, in London, saved an estimated 82 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. By comparison, just since the beginning of 2023, C-Crete has saved nearly 500 tons of CO2 emissions across a number of high-profile projects.

Those recent projects and customers include:
•     JPMorganChase: C-Crete poured the world's first granite-based concrete for a floor slab in the new global headquarters of JPMorganChase at 270 Park Avenue in Manhattan, which will become one of the 10 tallest skyscrapers in New York City when completed in 2025.

•     San Francisco International Airport (SFO): C-Crete poured slabs and foundations at one of the world's busiest airports, making SFO the first major airport to move away from the use of Portland cement.

•     Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT): C-Crete completed a section of Highway I-94 Westbound in Minnesota, where motorists are now driving on a near-zero-emissions highway after that stretch of lanes was reopened in October 2024.

•     Habitat Los Angeles: At this sustainable "live-work-thrive campus" developed by Lendlease, C-Crete completed its pour of the first Portland cement-free concrete in Southern California.

•     Scottsdale Fashion Square: C-Crete completed a project for this Phoenix-based retail space where shoppers can experience walking on near-zero-emissions concrete. The retail space is currently being built by Macerich, the third-largest owner and operator of shopping centers in the US.

"Even today, the thought of any construction project not using Portland cement seems unfathomable to most of the industry. But that's exactly what we have done at C-Crete, and we offer the only scalable, commercially viable solution that is free of this ubiquitous climate hazard. Today's milestone goes to show that it is indeed possible to transcend the status quo and build the foundation of a cleaner society while maintaining comparable performance and cost."

The Portland cement patent turned 200 years old in 2024, and for two centuries, it has been the literal and metaphorical foundation of concrete and modern infrastructure in everything from homes to highways to schools. Yet producing Portland cement relies on burning limestone — a highly emissions-intense approach resulting in almost 3 billion tons of carbon emissions per year.

C-Crete's technology does away with Portland cement entirely. The company has developed an "activated rock" production process in which abundant, locally sourced, non-carbonate rocks are pulverized and then used as a binder.

C-Crete already holds 10 patents related to this process, which creates concrete with strength and other performance characteristics that exceed ASTM standards. The resulting product retains the original pigment of the rocks used without any dyes necessary; it is the first-ever natural color palette for concrete offered in the industry.

This consistency in color emphasizes one of C-Crete's most important differentiators; other sustainable concrete companies use chemical processes to fully dissolve and transform rocks, while C-Crete's process requires no change to the composition of the rocks.

C-Crete's founder thinks of this approach as similar to how Michelangelo reshaped marble, but the C-Crete process pulverizes and reassembles many non-carbonate rocks (granite, basalt, zeolite, and more) on a monumental scale. This results in a more efficient and environmentally friendly process.

C-Crete not only avoids CO2 emissions in its production process, its product also absorbs CO2 from the air, making it zero-carbon or carbon-negative over time. C-Crete's drop-in solution comes at cost parity with conventional cement/concrete, yet in comparison with these traditional options, almost one tonne of CO2 is saved per tonne of C-Crete binder.

"It feels like a win-win to find a product that is both environmentally friendly and performs just as well, if not better, than the typical options on the market. That's what we found in C-Crete's Portland cement-free concrete. It met or exceeded all of our necessary strength and durability metrics and had some added aesthetic appeal, given the lighter color used in our application," said John Haarala, assistant vice president at Macerich, which developed the Scottsdale Fashion Square project.

In addition to end-use customers, C-Crete also works with multinational and industry-leading ready-mix concrete partners, including SRM Concrete.

"In an ever-changing world of concrete construction, many are searching for better options for low- or zero-carbon concrete. C-Crete is providing a new option made possible through a cement replacement process. We have used their product at the JPMorganChase headquarters in New York City, and we look forward to continuing to work with C-Crete for future projects," said Michael Zagula, CTO of SRM Concrete.

C-Crete was originally founded based on Savary's PhD work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). While the company has been largely bootstrapped for its 15-year history, it recently received more than $10 million in grants from the California Energy Commission and the US Department of Energy to scale its products.

C-Crete won a 2024 Concrete Innovation Award from the US National Ready Mix Concrete Association and was the winner of the Build Better Innovation Challenge by Elemental Impact. Savary was also named a Top Visionary by Engineering-News Record in 2023.

For more information on C-Crete's products, visit www.ccretetech.com.