THE ROYAL Society Enterprise Fund says it has made its first investment into Novacem, a start-up company developing green cement systems.
According to the Royal Society, Novacem has raised more than £1m (A$1.97m) in equity from a syndicate comprising The Royal Society Enterprise Fund, Imperial Innovations Group and the London Technology Fund.
The Royal Society says Novacem is developing a new generation of carbon negative cement systems, based on research from the top rated Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Imperial College London.
The purpose of developing green cement systems is said to be because the annual production of over 2.5b tons of Portland cement is already responsible for 5% of global CO2 emissions, and cement volumes are expected to double by 2050.
The Society says Novacem cement absorbs more CO2 over its life cycle than it emits. For every tonne of ordinary Portland cement replaced by Novacem cement, around 0.75 tonne of CO2 could be captured and stored indefinitely in construction products.
The green cement systems technology can be used as an alternative landscaping material for a greener garden. The technology is said to transform the cement industry from a significant emitter to a significant absorber of CO2.