The Daily Dig
Fortera has signed a development agreement with lime and limestone producer MLC to build what the companies call the world's first industry-scale plant turning waste CO2 into cement. The facility is designed to produce more than 300,000 tons of low-carbon ReAct cement annually.
Here's how it works. Fortera's ReCarb technology captures industrial CO2 from MLC's production of high-calcium lime. That CO2 gets converted directly into ready-to-use cement.
Domestic Deficit
The U.S. currently imports roughly a quarter of the cement it consumes each year. This project aims to chip away at that number with domestic production instead.
Fortera's ReAct cement is nearly 50% captured CO2 by weight. It has been extensively third-party tested and complies with ASTM standards. It can be used as a standalone cement or blended with ordinary Portland cement.
The deal reflects Fortera's broader approach to the roughly 4 billion ton per year global cement market. Rather than building everything from the ground up, they're partnering with existing producers and leaning on feedstocks, infrastructure, and logistics that are already in place.
"This partnership gives us the opportunity to scale our production to meet demand that already exists," said Ryan Gilliam, CEO and co-founder of Fortera.
MLC's CEO, Paul Hogan, framed the deal as an extension of the company's core business. "Lime and cement are chemically similar businesses, and we've spent over a century perfecting our end of that process," he said. "Partnering with Fortera lets us put that expertise to work in a new market and gives us a real path to help decarbonize a hard-to-abate industry."
The companies say more details on the project are coming in the months ahead.
Snapshot:
Project: First full-scale commercial ReAct cement plant
Technology partner: Fortera (ReCarb technology, ReAct cement)
Feedstock partner: MLC (high-calcium lime producer)
Planned annual capacity: More than 300,000 tons of ReAct cement
Process: Captures industrial CO2 from MLC's lime production and converts it into cement
Cement composition: Nearly 50% captured CO2 by weight
Standards compliance: Complies with ASTM standards
Product use: Standalone or blended with ordinary Portland cement
U.S. cement import share: Roughly 25% of annual consumption
Global cement market size: Roughly 4 billion tons per year
Fortera existing facility: 15,000 ton per year plant in Redding, California
MLC headquarters: St. Louis, Missouri
MLC facility network: U.S. and U.K. (via Singleton Birch business)
MLC parent company: HBM Holdings
Status: Development agreement signed. Additional project details expected in coming months.
TheJobWalk Thoughts
A plant sized at more than 300,000 tons a year is the number that matters here. The companies are calling this a full-scale commercial facility, not a pilot, and that scale is what gives carbon-capture cement a real shot at being something specifiers and GCs actually plan around, instead of a sustainability footnote.
The partnership structure is worth watching too. Fortera is leaning on MLC's existing feedstocks, infrastructure, and logistics rather than building a standalone operation from scratch. That kind of asset-sharing model tends to move faster than a from-the-ground-up build, since so much of the heavy lifting is already in place on MLC's side.
For subs and suppliers, ASTM compliance paired with Portland-blend compatibility is the detail worth tracking. A product that meets existing standards and can blend into current cement supply has a real path onto job specs. Whether it changes bidding or procurement in practice will depend on the details Fortera and MLC haven't released yet, but this is the kind of deal worth watching before those details land.
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