Pozzotive In The News

The funding, from the Department of Energy’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC), will advance the development of two manufacturing plants in FL and MD to produce a high performance, low-carbon cement replacement while expanding economic opportunities for both of these former coal communities.

Urban Mining Industries was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) to negotiate a $37 million cost-sharing grant. Urban Mining was one of 14 recipients receiving a total of $428 million intended to accelerate domestic clean energy manufacturing in 15 communities across the US with decommissioned coal facilities.
Urban Mining Industries (UMI) manufactures Pozzotive® , a ground glass pozzolan (GGP) made from recycled glass that can replace cement in concrete. Leading sustainability projects across the Northeast have utilized Pozzotive® because it produces superior concrete with fewer emissions and at a cost-effective price. Pozzotive® can now be found in major projects throughout the NY Metro area such as the JP Morgan Chase Global Headquarters (the largest net-zero emissions building in New York City and a project in which 40% of the cement in every floor of this 2.2 million SF tower was replaced with Pozzotive®), every station in the 2nd Avenue Subway line and the United Nations Plaza. Harvard University’s new Treehouse Conference Center in Boston and Yale’s new Science Building are the latest high-profile applications, joining Connecticut’s award-winning New Canaan Library and the many other projects that have prioritized the use of sustainable building technologies.

Amanda Kaminsky, LEED AP, CPHT, Director of Sustainability at Consigli Construction stated, “This grant is pivotal to expanding the availability of lower carbon concrete options and the positive impacts of ground-glass pozzolan cement replacement along the East Coast where we build. We’ve sourced Pozzotive®, produced from regional recycled glass, to replace energy-intensive cement as well as slag produced abroad. This Pozzotive® ground-glass pozzolan is improving the performance and durability of our concrete mixes in part by reducing chloride permeability and is well within our budgets. Am looking forward to their expanded presence to aid collective progress in both our construction and glass recycling.”

The DOE grant is intended to help UMI broaden its reach with manufacturing facilities in both Florida and Maryland, which will serve both of those states and beyond. The two proposed Pozzotive® plants will be in, or adjacent to, disadvantaged communities and, in addition to the significant environmental benefits that Pozzotive® delivers, these projects will include a Community Benefits Plan developed to maximize economic and health benefits in these former coal communities that have powered our nation for generations.

Urban Mining Industries developed Pozzotive® GGP to address sustainability challenges in two major industries, cement production and glass recycling. For more than 20 years it has invested in refining its patented process to convert a problematic recyclable, waste glass, into a consistent, clean and high-performing substitute for cement, growing from a pilot plant in upstate New York to a first-of-its-kind, commercial-scale product validation plant in Beacon Falls, CT. Extensive third party testing led to the development of ASTM Standard C1866 for use in concrete, earning Pozzotive® market acceptance by some of the leading architects and real estate companies in the country.

To understand its environmental impact, you need to start with cement, the key ingredient in concrete — the most abundant building material on Earth— which is currently responsible for 8% of the world’s CO2 emissions. In the past, Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) has been replaced in concrete mixes by other supplemental cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag, by-products of coal-fired power plants and the steel manufacturing process, which help offset CO2 emissions and add strength and durability to concrete. With the closure of coal-fired power plants, and the modernization of steel manufacturing, these materials are in diminishing supply, and the industry has been challenged to find alternatives. Pozzotive® GGP not only reduces up to 42% of the CO2e from concrete when replacing 50% of the cement in a concrete mix, it adds significant performance attributes to the concrete: it is longer lasting, more durable and 5x more resistant to the corrosive effects of chlorides than a cement-only concrete mix.

“Concrete with Pozzotive® is not only reducing CO2, it’s proven to be stronger, longer lasting and more resistant to the elements, a perfect solution for today’s sustainable building and our state DOT’s transportation infrastructure projects. We look forward to expanding the availability of this innovative technology to the Maryland/VA and Florida markets.” said Lou Grasso Jr., LEED AP, Inventor and a UMI Co-Managing Partner.

In addition to creating a superior, high performance low-CO2 concrete, Pozzotive® solves a major glass recycling challenge in communities across the globe. Ground glass pozzolans (GGPs) such as Pozzotive® are made from post-consumer, recycled glass, a problematic recyclable that is more often diverted to overburdened landfills. The US alone generates more than 12 million tons of waste glass each year, and only about 1/4 is captured to turn back into bottles and fiberglass, an inefficient and CO2-intensive process. The remaining 9mm tons of glass goes directly to landfills. Urban Mining can use 100% of waste glass to economically and safely create low carbon, high-performance concrete. UMI’s patented process can handle ceramics, porcelains, panel glass and construction and demolition glass as well. In an effort to expand feedstock, UMI is developing a process to take in decommissioned solar panel glass which is set to grow exponentially in volume as solar farms proliferate and panels reach their end of life.

Patrick Grasso, UMI Co-Managing Partner, adds, “We use domestically sourced waste, giving a beneficial use to something that had mostly been mostly going to landfill, while also securing the domestic supply chain of critical high-performance, decarbonization construction materials. Compared to the historic alternatives, glass in concrete provides, by far, the best climate solution for recycled glass.”

About Urban Mining Industries

Urban Mining Industries produces Pozzotive®, a ground-glass pozzolan made from post-consumer waste glass that replaces cement in concrete. It is a ready-to-deliver, proven, safer, sustainable, and higher-performing material that can dramatically reduce the embodied CO2 emissions in concrete by up to 42% while providing a large-scale solution to the ongoing challenges that waste glass creates in our recycling stream. The company operates a full-scale production facility in Beacon Falls, CT and is actively pursuing new markets in which to expand. For more information, visit www.pozzotive.com