Sublime Systems has laid off around two-thirds of its workforce after losing an US$87m federal grant that had been earmarked to support construction of a commercial-scale cement facility in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
The company had already paused construction of the planned plant in December after the funding—originally awarded by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations—was withdrawn as part of broader cuts to federal support for industrial decarbonisation projects.
Sublime said the loss of the grant created significant difficulties in securing the financing needed to scale up its technology. The Holyoke facility had been expected to create hundreds of direct and indirect jobs in the region.
The six-year-old company, a spinout from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has raised more than US$200m in total funding and is developing an alternative cement production process designed to avoid the high CO2 emissions associated with conventional clinker manufacture.
The layoffs highlight the financial challenges facing emerging low-carbon cement technologies as developers seek to move from pilot projects to commercial-scale production.
