• Thursday, May 21, 2009 Latest Update: 12:11PM

Greentech Enterprise

Enterprise

(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) May 21, 2009 5 Comments

More Clues in Calera Cement Controversy

A few more details about Calera, the secretive and controversial company that wants to make cement without a lot of energy, have leaked out, courtesy of its investors. One of the clues: There’s pixie dust in it! And the company might owe royalties to the Egyptian deity Anubis.

The outside world doesn’t know a lot of about the formulas being used by Calera, the secretive company that wants to make cement out of seawater and carbon dioxide, but now know that it has nothing to do with microbes.

Speaking at the Green is Gold event in San Jose, Calif. on Wednesday, Khosla Ventures’ Alex Kinnier said that the process does not involve microorganisms. Earlier in the year, some sources indicated that plankton or other microbes might be crucial to the process: coral, after all, metabolically transform minerals, nutrients and gases into massive reefs. Founder Brent Constantz is also an expert in biomineralization. (Disclosure: This was also a theory I had advocated.)

Without a biological agent, however, the controversy between Constantz and Ken Caldeira, a well-regarded and notable climate scientist with the Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, will continue until even more details emerge.  Caldeira has examined the public documents that Calera has released and argued that they do not appear to reduce carbon dioxide.

Caldeira has said that Calera may just be taking calcium carbonate, the principal ingredient in cement, putting it through chemical reactions with other materials like magnesium hydroxide to get magnesium oxide, calcium and carbon dioxide. The company then likely remixes to get calcium carbonate.

"They are just putting back what they started out with," he said in April. "I think all they are doing is taking alkaline minerals and returning them back to be carbonate materials."

Calera has strongly denied and refuted Caldeira’s claims. It has also pointed out that it is producing batches of cement at a prototype factory in Moss Landing, California. Still, has not trotted out its formulas in detail.

Even if Calera can make cement, the company will then face an uphill climb in testing and validation. Contractors and architects – who have to build structures that last for decades – are notoriously conservative. Thus, it might appear in sidewalks long before it shows up in buildings. Zeobond, an Australian green cement company with a process from the 1940s, is taking this approach.

Kinnier did not break from that tradition. He said that Constantz originally approached Khosla by stating that he had been studying how Egyptians made cement.

“The Egyptians didn’t have furnaces that we have to create cement, but its structure seems to be holding up pretty well,” said Kinnier.

Kinnier then added: "I can take CO2 – and I don’t have to separate out CO – and put that through sea water and sprinkle some pixie dust, and I can get calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate out of that." By his math, you can make a ton of cement and emit no CO2. It’s moving to market.

In an earlier patent application, Calera did not identify its pixie dust by name, but it did outline some of the things it might be working on. See the full application here. One section reads:

"[0049]In normal sea water 93% of the dissolved CO.sub.2 is in the form of bicarbonate ions (HCO.sub.3.sup.-) and 6% is in the form of carbonate ions (CO.sub.3.sup.-2). When calcium carbonate precipitates from normal sea water, CO.sub.2 is released. Above pH 10.33, greater than 90% of the carbonate is in the form of carbonate ion, and no CO.sub.2 is released during the precipitation of calcium carbonate. While the pH of the water employed in methods may range from 5 to 14 during a given precipitation process, in certain embodiments the pH is raised to alkaline levels in order to drive the precipitation of carbonate compounds, as well as other compounds, e.g., hydroxide compounds, as desired. In certain of these embodiments, the pH is raised to a level which minimizes if not eliminates CO.sub.2 production during precipitation, causing dissolved CO.sub.2, e.g., in the form of carbonate and bicarbonate, to be trapped in the carbonate compound precipitate. In these embodiments, the pH may be raised to 10 or higher, such as 11 or higher."

Comments [5]

  • Ken Caldeira 05/22/09 12:42 AM

    If Calera is to be taken seriously, they need to answer two questions about their process:

    1. What are the inputs to and outputs from the Calera process, stated with enough specificity to allow allow overall mass and energy balances to be independently assessed?

    2. From where does Calera intend to get these inputs and to where do they intend to put these outputs?

    They can be secretive about their process if they want to, and that can be reasonable in some circumstances.

    But, it is one thing to claim a secret black box that performs a magical transformation. It is another thing entirely to refuse to be specific about what is supposed to be transformed into what.

    Even secretive alchemists would tell you the input to their process was lead and the output would be gold.  Perhaps Calera could be at least as forthcoming as alchemists of yore.

    The evidence suggests a scam. I suspect the key input to the black box is money from gullible investors.

     Reply
  • gwashtracker 05/22/09 12:55 PM

    The Calera story gets more preposterous by the minute.

    Recall that for the last two years Brent has been saying how he had developed his cement process after years of studying carbonate biomineralization in corals.  After his biomineral/biomimetic cement was debunked, and the falsehoods of a synthetic/biomimetic carbon-neutral marine- carbonate cement were exposed, he backed off claiming a cement and downgraded his product to an aggregate. 

    Now Brent is claiming that he had been studying how Egyptians made cement.  So now we have to invoke some cryptic nexus that logically explains Brent’s transition from coral cement to Egyptian cement?  What Egyptian cement?  There is no serious scientific support for “concept” of Egyptian cement – it is a pseudoscience developed years ago by the self-promoting Joseph Davidovits who claimed that the pyramids were constructed of limestone/sandstone geopolymer concretes – a theory that has been debunked many times by geologists, chemists, archeologists and anthropologists.  It is astounding that Brent is now subscribing to the Egyptian cement theory of Davidovits.  Or perhaps it is not so surprising – considering the pseudoscience that Brent and Calera have been serving up. 

    The fact that he has now moved onto geopolymers shows very clearly that Brent’s original cement was, as we expected, a failure, and that he is desperate to shore up his technology however he can.  Unfortunately for Brent, geopolymer compositions are characterized by the use of highly alkaline additives that have large carbon footprints, and are not Green nor sustainable. 

    One can only question Brent’s wisdom in following in the footsteps of a pseudoscientist of the likes of Davidovits – vivid proof of the nonsense of “Egyptian cement” is the fact that several geopolymer cement companies were started in the 70s and 80s in Europe and the US, and all failed - their products exhibited massive short-term structural failure. 

    One must also comment on the “Pixie Dust” concept introduced by Kinnier.  The rabidly-guarded secret of Brent’s carbonate/geopolymer cement is “Pixie Dust”?  And this “magical” dust converts seawater salts into a carbon-neutral cement?  And Brent claims that he is a scientist and has a serious company with a serious, climate-mending product?  Should one enquire whether this is “Egyptian Pixie Dust”?  Perhaps it is a long-lost alien technology that was entombed in the (concrete) pyramids? 

    The Calera story has now gone well past any reasonable bounds of credibility – Brent’s and his backers increasingly by-turns rabid and fantastic pronouncements only serve to convince one that they are running a scam operation. 

    One only wonders what manner of Greenwashed Snake-Oil they will be “moving to market”.

    It is a great pity that Brent, Calera and his financers have degenerated to such a sorry state.

     Reply
  • Neil Farbstein 05/26/09 11:10 PM

    VULVOX Inc.s breakthrough collectors will be able to generate electricity with 55% efficiency or greater.
    The dual solar thermal-photovoltaic system will wrest approximately twice as much power from an area as regular solar thermal or photovoltaic energy systems. Our technology can be used to retrofit existing parabolic troughs and solar power towers to increase their efficiency. Besides applications at utility scale solar power plants that are contributing electricity to the California power grid, they will also have an important advantage in the upcoming industry of rooftop solar power.  Apartment buildings, offices and industrial buildings all have flat roofs that can accommodate our solar power systems and the greater efficiency of dual thermal-photovoltaic energy generation systems will make it cost competitive with other generation systems.  Between 2009 and 2012 it is expected that the amount of installed CSP solar thermal power in the United States will grow 14 times!
    The Vulvox collectors will not depend upon complicated advances in quantum or solid state physics. Our novel combination photovoltaic-solar thermal collectors will achieve the unprecedented efficiencies predicted here by means of relatively simple modifications to solar energy equipment; modifications that can be developed at a moderate cost.
    The Vulvox solar system will generate higher power levels than competing parabolic troughs and solar power towers, while retaining all of the storage capabilities of solar thermal power.
    Besides the inherent efficiency advantages of this collection system, we are sure we can add other modifications that will increase energy collection and electricity generation beyond those efficiencies. Modifications to increase the heat flow rate of the thermal collectors are an example.
    Every time a photovoltaic panel system is upgraded and increases in power we can substitute it for a lower power panels used in previous “builds.” and the higher power panels can be used in upgraded combination PV-solar thermal collectors with higher efficiency. Also, every time solar thermal systems are upgraded they can be combined with the latest practical photovoltaic collectors to keep the next generation combination systems cost competitive and to keep their efficiency higher than all other collection systems.
    Contact us for more information.
    http://VULVOX.TRIPOD.COM
    (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

     Reply
      • N O M 06/2/09 3:44 PM

        Oh dear. I’ve found more lying spam by vulvox’s so-called president Neil Farbstein.
        A company with no employees, but a president - go figure.

        Neil spams tech websites with fraudulent claims of research. Nanothechnology, genetics, cold fusion - he’s claimed it all.
  • jefegeuse 09/13/09 7:10 PM

    gwashtracker:  “One can only question Brent’s wisdom in following in the footsteps of a pseudoscientist of the likes of Davidovits – vivid proof of the nonsense of “Egyptian cement” is the fact that several geopolymer cement companies were started in the 70s and 80s in Europe and the US, and all failed - their products exhibited massive short-term structural failure.”

    Can you please provide any links to expand on this, or company names from the 70s-80s?  I’m doing related research and it’s slow-going.  Thanks!

     Reply

Related Content

Most Popular

    Articles

  1. Cleantech Open: It’s All About the Chemicals

    November 17, 2009

  2. Sewage to Drinking Water: Singapore Paves the Way

    November 17, 2009

  3. Giants vs. Startups: SAP Stakes Carbon Accounting Claim

    November 19, 2009

  4. Starbucks Goes Bonkers for LED Lights

    November 12, 2009

    Discussions

  1. Sewage to Drinking Water: Singapore Paves the Way

    November 17, 2009 5 Comments

  2. Greentech for Social Good

    November 19, 2009 2 Comments

  3. Top Five Reasons Your Business Needs an Energy-Efficiency System

    November 9, 2009 1 Comment

  4. How to Count Carbon? How About Gross Profit?

    November 9, 2009 1 Comment

Copyright © 2009 Greentech Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

.