Bioforcetech lands $310K Columbia grant to put sewage-derived carbon into concrete
What's the deal? BioforcetechDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a California clean technology company, has received a $310,000 Bridge Carbontech grant to support the use of wastewater biosolids-derived carbon material in concrete production. The grant was awarded through Columbia UniversityDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s Carbontech Development Initiative, a programme backed by the New York State Energy Research and Development AuthorityDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
What's the endgame? The funding will develop an industrial dosing system that lets concrete batch plants automatically add Bioforcetech's OurCarbon material into concrete mixes. The company will use the money for the design, prototyping, and production of a system that delivers the material into concrete trucks as part of normal workflows.
How does OurCarbon work? Bioforcetech processes biosolids on-site through biological drying, then high-temperature pyrolysis, producing a stable, carbon-rich biochar. The material can be used in concrete, inks, coatings, polymers, and fabric dyes.
Why now? PFAS contamination has become a major issue for wastewater utilities, complicating conventional disposal routes such as land application and landfilling. Bioforcetech says third-party testing by engineering firm Brown and CaldwellDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → found 99.98% PFAS removal efficiency across its full commercial system.
The carbon case: Bioforcetech says each tonne of OurCarbon sequesters 1.02 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent and can avoid up to 24 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent compared with landfill disposal, based on third-party environmental product declaration data. Once mixed into concrete, the company says the carbon is stored in a durable material, diverting biosolids from landfill.
What could go wrong? The project targets the final, hardest stage of the supply chain: convincing concrete producers to adopt a new input in routine batch plant operations. Regulatory scrutiny of biosolids and PFAS also continues to shift, though the US Environmental Protection Agency has studied pyrolysis as a possible treatment pathway.
The signal: The grant sits at the intersection of two growing pressures for cities: managing wastewater residuals and cutting the embodied carbon of construction materials. Linking the two could turn a disposal problem into a local, circular supply chain.
Read more: H2O Global News
Image credit: Ian Taylor
