Solidia Technologies, a provider of decarbonization technologies and sustainable, high-performance construction and building material solutions, has announced its first concrete products manufacturing plant. The plant will utilize an existing 53,000-square-foot building on rail-served acreage located at Alamo Junction in Elmendorf, Texas, near Solidia’s headquarters in San Antonio. The wholly owned commercial dry-cast facility will manufacture pavers and concrete products using Solidia Cement, a pioneering technology that solves crucial pain points for architects and contractors, including by providing greater strength and superior aesthetics, while dramatically reducing cement’s carbon footprint.
“The state-of-the-art manufacturing facility represents another significant milestone for Solidia, allowing us to independently produce concrete materials for the building industry using our revolutionary process,” says Devin Patten, Solidia’s senior commercial director. “It’s the culmination of years of investment to not only develop our technology but to do so in the right way that ensures optimal quality and higher performance.”
Solidia anticipates the facility will come online in Q3 2024. In the meantime, the company is actively engaging with potential distribution partners, specifiers, architects, contractors, and customers.
Game-Changing Product Technology
The Alamo Junction plant will manufacture the products using Solidia’s groundbreaking Solidia Cement and a process that cures concrete with CO2 rather than water. With this curing technology, products reach full strength in hours (rather than days with traditional cement), enabling faster delivery and better quality while reducing breakage issues. In addition, pavers and concrete products made with Solidia technology do not experience the efflorescence issues that can hinder the appearance of traditional concrete products.
Solidia Concrete products have properties similar to that of natural stone, and they are lighter in color than typical concrete, enabling a broader range of color options to meet customers’ design needs.
“In designing and building this facility, we’re partnering with industry-leading equipment providers and engineering firms to implement the highest-quality, most-efficient production processes in keeping with the innovation of our product line,” says Fred Dunand, senior director of Operations for Solidia. “The manufacturing plant will have built-in flexibility to produce a range of Solidia technology-driven products, with the versatility to accommodate additional products and developments down the road.”
The performance and aesthetic benefits of Solidia Concrete products are in addition to the technology’s significant decarbonization and sustainability benefits. The use of Solidia’s low-emissions cement coupled with CO2 mineralization during curing combines to reduce the global warming potential (GWP) of Solidia’s concrete products by 50 percent or more—making them some of the most sustainable concrete products on the market.
