CRH Ventures has invested in Canadian company EnviCore to support development of a planned 200,000tpa supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) plant in Calgary. The investment amount and commissioning timetable were not disclosed.

EnviCore’s thermal and chemical process is designed to turn materials including clay, natural pozzolans, recycled concrete, glass and mine tailings into SCMs that can replace some of the clinker in cement. CRH says its teams have tested the technology with a range of feedstocks following EnviCore’s participation in the CRH Ventures Sustainable Building Materials Accelerator.

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The companies will continue evaluating the process as EnviCore works towards commercial production. The investment comes as cement producers seek additional SCM sources in regions where supplies of conventional materials such as fly ash and slag are constrained.