Amazon seals agreement for low-carbon cement with Brimstone
Amazon has entered into a commercial agreement with Brimstone, a company dedicated to providing sustainable industrial solutions. This agreement marks a significant step towards reducing the carbon footprint of concrete in Amazon's building portfolio.
Cement production accounts for approximately 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions, with over 900kg of CO2 emissions generated for every 1,000kg of cement material produced. Brimstone's innovative approach to cement production seeks to address this issue.
Brimstone has developed a process to refine a single rock into multiple industrial products, including portland cement, supplementary cementitious materials (SCM), and alumina. The company's process replaces limestone, typically used in cement production and accounting for 60% of emissions, with carbon-free, calcium-bearing silicate rocks.
Amazon is currently in a testing and early adoption phase of Brimstone's low-carbon Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) for its concrete construction projects. They have completed successful third-party tests confirming Brimstone’s cement meets ASTM C150 standards and performs comparably to traditional materials.
The initial results demonstrate the potential for Brimstone's innovative materials to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete in Amazon's buildings portfolio. The tests were developed in collaboration with Amazon's concrete consultants and assessed workability, compressive strength, and other key properties based on Amazon slab mix designs.
Amazon has signed a commercial agreement to reserve annual volumes of Brimstone's low-carbon cement for future use, contingent on ongoing testing and scaling up production from Brimstone’s Oakland, California facility. The impact so far includes validating the workability, compressive strength, and compatibility of Brimstone’s cement with Amazon’s slab mix designs.
Plans include expanded testing in 2025 and 2026 to assess durability, sulfate resistance, and other critical concrete properties, aiming to incorporate this low-carbon cement broadly across Amazon’s projects. Brimstone's commercial demonstration plant, with an investment of $378 million, is expected to be operational by the end of this decade, securing a long-term supply for Amazon’s low-carbon building materials.
Asad Jafry, Director of Global Energy, Sustainability and Automation at Amazon, commented on the results of these tests, saying they are encouraging. The agreement reserves annual volumes of Brimstone's low-carbon cement from its forthcoming plant. Amazon plans to conduct more extensive concrete tests to evaluate durability, sulfate resistance, aggregate reactivity potential, and other key properties across a broader range of concrete mix designs and applications.
Cody Finke, Co-Founder and CEO of Brimstone, expressed his delight at the partnership, stating that it is a testament to the potential of their technology to make a real impact on the construction industry's carbon footprint. This partnership serves as a significant step towards Amazon's broader sustainability goals by supporting lower embodied carbon in construction.
[1] Brimstone Press Release, "Brimstone and Amazon Announce Commercial Agreement for Low-Carbon Building Materials," 2023. [2] Amazon Press Release, "Amazon and Brimstone Partner to Reduce Carbon Footprint of Concrete in Building Portfolio," 2023. [3] "Concrete Production and CO2 Emissions," United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2021. [4] "Brimstone Raises $378 Million to Build Commercial Demonstration Plant," Green Tech Media, 2022.
- Brimstone's innovative low-carbon Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is set to have a significant impact on Amazon's carbon footprint, as the e-commerce giant has signed a commercial agreement to reserve annual volumes for future use.
- The environmental science community is watching with interest as Amazon and Brimstone, a leading company in sustainable industrial solutions, work together to lower the carbon footprint in the construction industry.
- The partnership between Amazon and Brimstone not only demonstrates progress in addressing climate-change concerns within the business sector, but also pioneers advancements in technology, environmental-science, and finance, aiming to transform the concrete industry.
