en.Wedoany.com Reported - Australian company MCi Carbon's mineral carbonation technology has completed a field trial at Boral's Maldon cement plant. The trial is part of a project led by the SmartCrete Cooperative Research Centre, with project partners including Transport for NSW and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). The project aims to develop new supplementary cementitious materials for use in low-carbon concrete in the infrastructure sector.
The concrete used in the trial incorporated MCi Carbon's synthetic pozzolanic material "Pozzlock," produced at the company's demonstration plant in Myrtle. The plant was officially inaugurated in June 2026 by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, with the aim of advancing the company's mineral carbonation technology from pilot research to industrial deployment.
According to MCi Carbon, its mineral carbonation process reacts carbon dioxide with mineral-rich feedstocks to form stable carbonates, while producing a cementitious material that can partially replace carbon-intensive clinker in concrete. The company stated that, in addition to the carbon dioxide mineralized during production, each ton of its cementitious material, when used in concrete, can avoid approximately 0.5 tons of CO2 emissions, providing a pathway for full lifecycle emission reductions as the technology scales.
The field trial used MCi's cementitious material at a 5% cement replacement rate, and the project also identified plans to evaluate replacement rates of up to 10% in future work. MCi Carbon Founder and CEO Marcus Dawe said producing Pozzlock at demonstration scale is a significant milestone for the company. He stated: "Producing Pozzlock at this scale is a key step in our commercialization journey. What makes this project special is that it brings together industry, research, and government to show how concrete innovation can be applied in practice. This is a powerful example of how new low-carbon materials can be validated and integrated into existing construction processes, accelerating their adoption."
Boral's Head of Sustainability and Innovation, Ali Nezhad, said the company is supporting the development of mineral carbonation technology as part of broader decarbonization efforts. He stated: "Boral is proud to support MCi Carbon in advancing its mineral carbonation carbon capture solution. Decarbonizing cement production operations is a key focus for us, and we are delighted to contribute to developing utilization pathways for products generated by the mineral carbonation carbon capture process." He added that this work complements Boral's development of low-carbon supplementary cementitious materials, including calcined clay, helping to reduce emissions in concrete manufacturing.
The testing followed a phased validation plan, starting with mortar tests and laboratory concrete trials, then progressing to larger-scale mixing tests. Early testing at UTS's technical laboratories in Sydney evaluated properties such as workability, slump retention, and compressive strength development, using fly ash reference mixtures as a benchmark. Subsequently, concrete was assessed using high-shear mixing equipment to simulate commercial batching conditions, and finally, the field trial was completed at Boral's Maldon cement plant.
The final phase produced two truckloads of concrete delivered back-to-back. One truck used traditional fly ash as a supplementary cementitious material, while the other incorporated MCi Carbon's cementitious material. Each truck produced approximately 3.5 cubic meters of concrete, which was pumped, poured, and finished into test slabs. According to MCi Carbon, the mixture containing its cementitious material showed comparable fresh concrete properties—including slump retention, air content, and density—to the fly ash reference. The company also reported that early-age compressive strength development and drying shrinkage were within expected ranges.
