Introducing Material Progress
Introducing Material Progress
After a 50-year hiatus, the materials industry is once again becoming sexy. Materials that we have taken for granted to run our daily lives and maintain our standard of living, such as cement, steel, aluminum, and fertilizers, have production and supply chains with significant carbon footprints. We will need to reinvent these materials and their production processes to have any chance of meaningfully reducing global carbon emissions.
Material Progress will examine the economic and environmental impacts of these materials, learn about new technologies aimed at decarbonizing their production, and meet the innovators who are developing the next generation of materials and production processes. You have probably seen articles in the press and social media over the past few years about decarbonization but may not have an overview of the big picture. We will attempt to have the discussion at a layman’s level in order to be accessible to everyone, especially for those without a technical background.
The Past
Growing up near Pittsburgh in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, a big thrill was the drive through the Fort Pitt Tunnel from the suburbs into downtown Pittsburgh. The sky on the Pittsburgh side of the tunnel erupted into a kaleidoscope of colors – reds, browns, yellows, and greys – from the steel mills, coal-fired power plants, and coke ovens along the three rivers. Office workers in downtown Pittsburgh would pack an extra shirt to change into because the commuting shirt would be dirty from soot and smoke. This is where our journey began.
In 1970, the US Clean Air Act created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and gave the federal government the authority to regulate air quality and emissions of pollutants. Industries such as the steel and electric power were required to install pollution control equipment to reduce the amount of pollution entering the atmosphere. During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, cheap imported steel from Asia and South America replaced domestic steel production, and cities such as Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Youngstown turned into the Rust Belt. The air in those cities became clean, but their economies were also hollowed out. The same story played out in other industries across the US Midwest, such as autos, tires & rubber, and cement. Materials and heavy manufacturing became industries to avoid for young technical and business talent.
The Present
Today’s supply chains span the globe. Combining lean, just-in-time inventories with long supply chains can easily lead to supply chain disruptions and skyrocketing transportation costs, borne out during the recent pandemic. This is leading both US companies and the federal government to find ways to re-shore production within North America to provide resilient supply networks. However, the job skills and infrastructure that left the US since the late 1970’s is proving to be a challenge as we re-industrialize.
At the same time, many years’ worth of carbon emissions has altered the environment to warm the atmosphere, cause droughts and severe weather events, and raise sea levels. Significant reduction of carbon emissions from traditional materials industries will be required limit atmospheric warming to less than 2oC from pre-industrialization levels and avoid extreme impacts of global warming.
The combination of re-industrialization and de-carbonization is simultaneously providing both challenges and opportunities to companies, employees (especially those in technical specialties), innovators, and investors. The Present is proving to be an interesting time for materials industries. Material Progress will provide commentary and insights on the state of change and highlight opportunities available to those who want to make a difference.
The Future
In future editions of Material Progress, we will explore the materials and industries which are in the midst of change and the new technologies and innovators who are at the forefront of innovation.
Areas of our initial focus will include:
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Cement is a ubiquitous building material that has existed for many centuries with minor improvements to the technology over time. The World Economic Forum (WEF) estimates that cement production accounts for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with CO2 released both from the significant energy required to drive the production process, as well from the chemical reaction to convert limestone into cement. The International Energy Agency (IEA), which tracks progress toward decarbonization, estimates that carbon intensity per ton of cement is currently increasing at 1.5% annually, compared with 3.0% annual reductions needed to meet targets for Net Zero Emissions by 2050. We’ll explore innovations in green energy and carbon capture to reduce carbon emissions from current cement production processes, as well as new “green” materials being developed to replace some or all of the current “grey” cement used in concrete. We’ll also see that some of the solutions currently marketed by cement producers as “green” are actually byproducts of dirty industries, such as coal-fired power and steel production.
Nitrogen Fertilizer based on ammonia is a relatively young product compared with cement, developed at commercial scale during the first half of the 20th century. Ammonia fertilizer has had a profound impact on food production and society, resulting in a significant increase in agricultural efficiency, doubling the amount of food that can be grown on an acre of land and enabling farmers to feed a rapidly growing global population. Most ammonia production currently uses natural gas as both a material feedstock to provide hydrogen and as a fuel to drive the chemical reaction with nitrogen. Similar as with cement production, CO2 is a byproduct of both burning natural gas to fuel the process and the chemical reaction that uses natural gas to produce ammonia. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology estimates that ammonia production accounts for about 2% of global CO2 emissions. We’ll explore innovations underway to commercialize production of “blue” and “green” ammonia from alternative raw materials and renewable energy sources. We’ll also look at green ammonia as a clean fuel – ammonia is energy-dense, easier to transport than hydrogen, and can be stored using current infrastructure.
Battery Minerals, such as lithium and cobalt, are quite literally the dirty secret of the clean energy and electric vehicle revolutions. We will look at the environmental and economic impact of using these materials and explore energy storage alternatives to reduce the environment impact and efforts underway to develop new, greener, energy storage materials.
About Your Tour Guide
Craig Smith is Managing Partner of GraniteView Partners, where he consults on the materials industry, particularly on heavy construction materials and green innovation. He is also an angel investor whose investments include materials start-ups.
Craig has over 30 years of experience working in both engineering and business roles within materials-intensive industries, including cement, plastics, tires & rubber, and automotive. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and worked as a Materials Engineer in the tire industry and as a Process Engineer with Allied-Signal’s (now Honeywell’s) Engineered Materials business unit. After earning an MBA from Carnegie Mellon, Craig worked in financial roles for Ford Motor Company, which is now close to the forefront of vehicle electrification, and in corporate development for CEMEX, the global cement and heavy building materials company.
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