Cement has an emissions problem. Can tech that mimics coral fix it? (Fortera)

Already, the startup has worked with ready-mix suppliers to provide its cement for projects with Caltrans, the City of Santa Cruz, and the City of Berkeley, alongside various California-based contracting companies. Last year, Fortera received $85 million in series C funding to expand operations beyond its plant in Redding, California. Since then, it has begun engineering an expanded plant at an undisclosed location in the Western U.S., with the capacity to produce 400,000 tons of cement per year. (The Redding plant produces 15,000 tons per year.)

The inspiration for Fortera came from the oceans. In the early 2000s, entrepreneur Brent Constantz, who holds a PhD in geography and biological sciences, became fascinated by corals, tiny creatures that make up the ocean’s colorful reefs. Corals absorb carbon dioxide from the sea as they build their hard skeletons — the structures we think of when we imagine coral — and these skeletons are made of calcium carbonate, cement’s essential ingredient. Constantz wanted to know: If corals can build sturdy structures while cleaning up the environment, why can’t we? He founded the company Calera in 2007 aiming to do exactly that. In 2019, the company was rebranded as Fortera.

Calera saw itself as a carbon capture and sequestration company. Its first partners and investors were coal plants. Fortera, in contrast, is working with manufacturers of traditional cement, also called Portland cement. Brand-new Fortera plants, called ReCarb plants, are bolted onto already existing Portland cement plants. Fortera’s technology then takes the carbon dioxide emitted by the existing plant and incorporates that gas into its product, ReAct Cement. This cement can then be used on its own or mixed with Portland cement to form a hybrid product.