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Biobrick

Over 1 trillion clay bricks and 4 billion tons of cement are produced annually, emitting large amounts of CO2 and particulate matter into the atmosphere. Alternatively, bacteria can produce durable biological cements similar to coral without environmental impacts. bioMASON has developed a technology using bacteria to produce cement between aggregate grains, providing a green alternative to masonry products. The inputs are inexpensive, globally abundant materials that can be sourced from waste, and bacteria cement hardens aggregate in 5 days at ambient temperatures. bioMASON's business model involves manufacturing biologics and licensing the technology to existing masonry manufacturers.

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Juan Jose Granados Quiroz
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42 views1 page

Biobrick

Over 1 trillion clay bricks and 4 billion tons of cement are produced annually, emitting large amounts of CO2 and particulate matter into the atmosphere. Alternatively, bacteria can produce durable biological cements similar to coral without environmental impacts. bioMASON has developed a technology using bacteria to produce cement between aggregate grains, providing a green alternative to masonry products. The inputs are inexpensive, globally abundant materials that can be sourced from waste, and bacteria cement hardens aggregate in 5 days at ambient temperatures. bioMASON's business model involves manufacturing biologics and licensing the technology to existing masonry manufacturers.

Uploaded by

Juan Jose Granados Quiroz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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bioMASON biobrick

Over 1.23 trillion fired clay bricks are produced each year, sending over 800 million tons of CO 2 into
the atmosphere due to the burning of fuel in the firing process. Additionally, the production of Portland
cement-based products emits over 4 billion tons of anthropogenic CO2 due to the high fuel
consumption in the fired conversion of limestone and shale production of Portland cement. The
production of both clay brick and Portland cement also produces PM (particulate matter), attributing to
further human health risks—2.4 million premature deaths can be attributed to black carbon every
year.

Alternatively, nature is able to produce high-strength natural


biological cements, such as coral, without negative impacts to the
surrounding environment. At bioMASON, we have developed a
technology that utilizes bacteria to produce durable cements in
between grains of aggregate as a market-viable, green alternative to
cement-based masonry products. Bacteria, which provide a precise
environment to form in combination with a nutrient, nitrogen and
calcium source allow for the formation of natural cement in ambient
temperatures, taking less than 5 days to produce a pre-cast material, currently in masonry form.

The inputs for biocements are inexpensive, globally abundant, and may be sourced from waste
byproducts. Our business model includes manufacturing the biologics (bacteria and nutrient feed
stocks) and providing proprietary technical licenses for existing masonry manufacturers. There are
over 67,500 masonry manufacturers (including both clay and concrete block) in the US alone. Over
40% of the cost of manufacturing traditional brick is in the fuel for kiln firing, and manufacturers are
seeking alternative solutions to harden final product while reducing commodity-driven fuel
dependency.

The raw input materials used in biocement production include sporosarcina pasteurii (bacteria
anaerobically grown with NaCl, yeast extract), while cementation feed stocks include yeast extract,
urea, and calcium chloride. These inputs are inexpensive, globally abundant, and manufactured in
ambient temperatures. The water component used to deliver the cementation reagents is recycled in
a closed-loop system and reused in the manufacturing process. Biomass ammonium byproducts are
captured in a closed-loop system.

Since biological cements are formed in a different crystalline process than Portland based cements,
recent tests have been successful with seawater. The production of yeast extract is a byproduct of
the brewing industry and/or fermented in high volumes with yeast cells lysed with sodium chloride.
The nitrogen component is currently sourced from urea, and may be sourced from wastewater (each
human produces over 20g/L daily) or agricultural resources from swine and poultry production.
Calcium, the final input for cementation is sourced from industrial grade Calcium Chloride, and can be
sourced from an array of waste byproducts ranging from desalination brine effluent to calcium
acetate.

All of the biologics are sourced from the US close to our Research Triangle Park laboratory high-
volume fermenters. Additional cementation and water sources for growing cements, and aggregates,
are locally sourced on-site. bioMASON is continuously working to reduce costs in the production of
biologics and currently produces materials at .22/standard brick unit at small volume scale.

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