Thursday, December 3, 2020
Soumitra Das
Storing CO2 in the Built Environment Profitably
Blue Planet, a Silicon Valley company, has developed viable carbon capture systems that remove carbon dioxide from the flue gas of large stationary industrial emitters that is economically profitable and can be deployed at a commercial scale rapidly. The process converts carbon dioxide captured from these dilute flue gas streams to carbonate for mineralization into aggregate as a synthetic limestone (CaCO3). The aggregate can replace the natural mined limestone as the principal constituent of concrete, permanently sequestering the captured carbon dioxide. The CEO of Blue Planet will discuss the technology behind manufacturing “green” concrete profitably while saving humanity from climate change.
Brent Constantz, Ph.D., founder and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Planet, Systems Corporation, is a serial entrepreneur with expertise in the area of biomineralization, the process by which living organisms produce minerals such as the formation of calcite (calcium carbonate) from carbon dioxide and calcium. Over the past 25 years, Dr. Constantz has founded and led three medical device companies that pioneered advanced mineralization technologies for orthopedic bone cement.
More recently, Dr. Constantz has re-directed his attention to address the concerns of global climate change. With aspirations to sequester gigaton quantities of carbon dioxide in the form of carbonate minerals that were to be used in the built environment, he founded Calera. Blue Planet is the second-generation technology to Calera, and it is inspired by the natural biomineralization of carbonate materials under mild conditions, similar to the way corals use carbon dioxide and calcium to grow carbonate minerals in the oceans. He received his doctorate in Earth Sciences at the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1986 and went on to study biomineralization as a Fulbright Scholar at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
EVENT DETAILS:
Event Host: Penn Alumni
Date: Thursday, December 3
Time: 7:00 PM CT
Location: Virtual (Zoom Meeting details will be sent to registrants prior to the event. Please check your inbox!)
Cost: Members: Free / Non-Members: $5.00 (non-refundable)
Space is limited!!
If you have not already, please visit the Climate Change Affinity Group page.
