CURA Raises $10 Million to Electrify Core Cement Production Process

CURA Climate has raised $10 million in financing led by Zacua Ventures, with participation from Sandpiper Ventures, Amplify Capital and Vantage Futures, to advance its technology for electrifying and decarbonising cement production. The funding will support the build and commissioning of CURA's 100 tonnes per year pilot plant in Taber, Alberta, developed in partnership with Grand Forks Concrete, alongside engineering design for the company's first 30,000-tonne-per-year commercial demonstration facility and expansion of its technical and business teams.

 

Cement production is responsible for approximately 8 percent of global CO2 emissions, including process emissions inherent to the decomposition of limestone, with more than 4.5 billion tonnes of cement produced globally each year. CURA's technology replaces the most carbon-intensive step in cement production with an electrified process using renewable power instead of high-temperature combustion, which the company says can reduce cement emissions by up to 85 percent while producing a concentrated CO2 stream and a low-carbon calcium product. The system is designed to work with a range of calcium-rich feedstocks, including lower-purity limestone and industrial waste streams, and to integrate with existing cement and lime production infrastructure rather than requiring entirely new feedstocks or replacement building materials.

 

Read more: Byrne Energy and Climate Foundation Launches to Fund Interdisciplinary Climate PhDs

 

CURA co-founder and CEO Erin Bobicki said the financing allows the company "to move into the next phase" of "demonstrating that electrifying the core chemical step in cement production can deliver the performance, scale, and economics the industry needs." Zacua Ventures Founding Partner Juan Nieto said "our team has spent years embedded within CURA's future clients," adding that "CURA understands that reality deeply, and it shows in how they have approached building this technology." CURA has signed memorandums of understanding with multinational partners including ACCIONA, Aecon and Titan Cement.

 

Source: CURA Climate