Rutgers Start-up Receives $14.5M Grant from U.S. Department of Energy

Queens Carbon will use the funds to advance its plan to create carbon-neurtral cement

Rutgers start-up Queens Carbon will receive $14.5 million in government funding to advance its groundbreaking technology that aims to eliminate carbon emissions from the cement industry.

The grant comes from U.S. Department of Energy's SCALEUP program that funds the research, development and commercialization of new energy-efficient technologies. Queens Carbon, based in Pine Brook, N.J., was among four companies sharing $63.5 million in this year's funding.

Queens Carbon will use the funding to pilot its novel low-temperature, zero-carbon-dioxide technology in collaboration with a commercial partner in the cement industry. The technology was developed by now-CEO Daniel Kopp when he was a doctoral student at Rutgers while working with Distinguished Professor Richard Riman in his lab at the Department of Engineering.

"The SCALEUP grant is a tremendous step forward on our path to commercialization," Kopp said.

Manufacturing large-volume products, such as cement, results in billions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, according to the company's website. Carbonation, the forming of carbonate materials, helps solve this problem by capturing carbon dioxide in minerals such as limestone. The problem with carbonation is that it requires substantial amounts of heat and energy to release the carbon in these materials.

That's where Queens Carbon's hydrothermal technology comes in. It can reduce the temperature of carbonate mineral processing to less than 1000 F compared with typical calcination temperatures of greater than 1800 F. Additionally, this game-changing technology is also capable of producing carbon-neutral cement at less than 1000 F, which is substantially lower than typical cement production temperatures of over 2700 F.

"We know that cement manufacturing requires innovative, scalable solutions to overcome the environmental impacts and logistical hurdles of traditional cement production. Queens Carbon is committed to tackling these challenges," said Evelyn N. Wang, director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) at U.S. Department of Energy.

Once adopted on a global scale, the website added, Queens Carbon's technology will enable decarbonization and defossilization of the chemical industry without compromising on cost or product performance.

"Queens Carbon's technology has the potential to impact climate change in a significant and positive way by making the cement production process carbon neutral," said Deborah Perez Fernandez, executive director of Technology Transfer at Rutgers Office of Research.

Rutgers Office for Research handled the patent applications process and executed the exclusive license between the university and the company for this technology. Entrepreneur David Gersholowitz helped launch the start-up and now serves as its chief financial officer and chief operating officer.

"The Technology Transfer and New Ventures teams are proud to have supported doctors Kopp and Riman through the development of their technology and launch of their company," said Vince Smeraglia, executive director of New Ventures.

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